Dr. Johnny Fever - Other Jobs

Other Jobs

In an early episode, Johnny's new persona and his immediate popularity earn him a job offer from another station in L.A. -- the biggest competitor of the station that fired him. His co-workers at WKRP throw him a party where they try to convince him not to leave; he admits how much he loves and cares about the people he works with. But in a reversal of sitcom conventions, Johnny actually takes the job in L.A. However, in the next episode, Johnny returns: he is almost instantly fired in L.A. for saying something much worse than "booger" on the air.

Later in his WKRP career, Johnny Fever is approached by a female television producer (Mary Frann) to be a TV DJ for her disco program (based on Merv Griffin's Dance Fever) "Gotta Dance". "Rip Tide," his TV persona, is money-hungry, disco-loving, and has a very different voice and personality. In the two-part episode, Fever becomes Rip Tide during WKRP on-air time (he loses control of who he acts like). He seems to be totally taken over by the Rip Tide persona until sanity (in the persons of Andy Travis and Jennifer Marlowe) takes hold. He then defiantly turns down the big bucks from the TV producer, and Rip is R.I.P. for good.

Dr. Johnny Fever never leaves the WKRP "family" of employees for the duration of the series, but in the New WKRP in Cincinnati series, he has moved on to at least two more stations. He admits this is a good situation for him, but does wonder from time to time about what he is missing by being "under wraps" and largely out of the national limelight by staying.