Dr. Johnny Fever - Personal Life

Personal Life

Johnny's persona is generally one of an aging burnt out ex-hippie. After spending most of his life in a nomadic existence "up and down the dial", WKRP settles Johnny down and establishes a relatively stable ensemble of friends and associates for him. Although the tradeoff is a cramped apartment and low pay, this arrangement doesn't seem to overly concern him much (at one point he describes himself as "a 40-year-old man who lives like a college student"). He is also believed to have been incarcerated at least twice; once in Mexico, where he says he was involved in a "minor misunderstanding with 145 Mexican cops," and another time in Massachusetts when he indicated that he, "Went through Harvard....It was in a car....A squad car actually!" He was a hippie in the 1960s, 10-12 years before the show's time frame. It is implied that he smokes marijuana by his overall character, and occasional references to drug culture (e.g. Mr. Carlson once dismissed a business as a front for selling drug paraphernalia, and Johnny immediately asked where it was.) In the first season episode, "Fish Story", he shows a near superhuman resistance to the effects of alcohol, apparently building up a high tolerance after years of heavy drinking. He is often seen wearing a Black Death Malt Liquor T-shirt, designed by Rip Off Press underground comic artist Dave Sheridan.

He has been married twice, with both of his ex-wives collecting alimony; he also has a college-age daughter, Laurie (Patrie Allen), who briefly moves in with him. There is some suggestion in one episode that he might still be in love with his first wife, Paula (Ruth Silveira), though they agree that their relationship is over, and Paula marries another man (Hamilton Camp). Johnny's second wife never makes an appearance. Their parting was not as amicable: she tried to kill Johnny with a Ronco Veg-O-Matic.

Beginning in the second season, he becomes on and off romantically involved with fellow employee, Bailey Quarters. Though the staff seems indifferent at first, the rumor mills begin humming when Bailey invites Johnny to stay at her apartment while his apartment is being fumigated (he claims it's for lizards). Though Johnny is flattered by the attention at first, he quickly tires of the leering gestures from some of the male staffers and tells Andy that the rumors of him and Bailey shacking up aren't true, and expresses his dissatisfaction of the treatment Bailey has been getting. Andy, knowing he can do nothing until the rumors die out, counters by giving Johnny (who is in a perpetual state of poverty from ongoing alimony payments) a raise of another $50 a week. At another point later in the series, Bailey and Johnny are again implied to be, if not an item, at least very close when Bailey asks Johnny "if I get some cutoffs, want to go with me?", and Johnny's non-verbal reaction clearly indicates they have an intense attraction to each other. The series left their relationship implied but ambiguous.

Out of all the staff, Johnny appears to be the closest to fellow DJ Venus Flytrap, to the point where Venus gives him financial advice, bets on horses and football games with him, and even knows which seedy bars Johnny spends time at (for his part, Venus once claimed that he came to WKRP specifically "to work with the Doctor").

In the second season episode, "God Talks to Johnny", after hearing a voice he believes to be God Himself, Johnny (and almost everyone else) is convinced he's going crazy; Johnny mentions that the voice said, "I love you, I want you to seek knowledge, and (though he's not certain) I want you to be a golf pro!". When Johnny admits himself into a hospital late at night, he is met by Mr. Carlson, a devoted Christian, who tells Johnny that there is nothing wrong with hearing God's voice, but doubted it was God, saying "If God had something He wanted to say, you'd hear it."

Johnny has also proven to be a shrewd judge of character. Case in point, in the series finale, "Up And Down The Dial", the latest ratings book lists Johnny as the #1 morning deejay in the Cincinnati market with the station itself now at #6 overall. But Mrs. Carlson suddenly decides to change the station's format from Top 40 to an all-news format. Slightly inebriated from the office party, Johnny confronts Mrs. Carlson at her home, at which point she admits to Johnny that WKRP was meant to be a liability to her business empire for tax write-off purposes; the surprise format change was meant to undo the station's unexpected affluence. Incredulous at her hypocrisy and cruel manipulation ("You are telling your son you want him to be the general manager of the number one station in the market, and you'd be happier if it was sixteenth?"), Johnny threatens blackmail by telling Arthur (Mr. Carlson) her true intentions behind the format change, but Mrs. Carlson undercuts Johnny and instead tells Arthur that WKRP can keep the rock format.