Herb's gone to see the Big Guy in the sky.

Frank Bonner, best known as lascivious sales manager Herb Tarlek on WKPR In Cincinnati, died on Wednesday, June 16th.

Bonner was a victim of his own success. He was so good at playing the tacky, egotistical Tarlek that he didn't get a lot of work in the 80's because people so quickly identified him with the character. And he was GREAT at playing Herb. Perfect casting.

Great line.

This might be his best episode

And you can't even see if his hair IS laid back, cuz he's wearing a hat!

Buy a batch of Red Wigglers in his honor.

Watched the show occasionally as a kid. That makes two of them from the new show that have passed in a few months time.

WKRP really is an underappreciated classic sitcom.

Absolutely. Was cancelled way too soon.

Loved Herb.

The last episode aired new ranked #7 for that week. #7! But the show was already canceled.

Lame.

I only know Bonner from WKRP. It's been decades since I even heard his name.

Sounds like he was in terrible pain and misery until his death. Glad he's not suffering anymore.

WKRP and Just Shoot Me. Two shows where the star/leading character was the most uninteresting person in the cast.

Too soon?


This was one of my favorites when I was a kid. The old mortician jamming in the booth to the jingle always killed me.

(And it wasn't until later that I finally figured out the joke in the "Ferryman" name.)

I haven't watched that episode in more than 30 years, but I had the jingle stuck in my head before I clicked the video.

You hadn't seen it since you were young and swingin'?

Late night syndication when I was in HS.

Like I said, young and swingin'.

I had a crush on Jan Smithers when I was a kid.

...Right before she turned 17

Both shows were really ensemble casts. The only one that I can think of that would have been intended to be the main star of WKRP wound be Andy Travis (Gary Sandy), but I don't think they ever really focused on him at all. I have no idea who was supposed to be the leading star of Just Shoot Me. Maybe Maya or David Spade's character, but they really focused on different characters in every episode, so i never considered any to be the lead character.

I'd also throw out Jerry Seinfeld as the least interesting character on Seinfeld.

On Just Shoot Me, I think that Maya was probably the lead character, and I'd say that Andy on WKRP was, too. WKRP is kind of a tricky one; it's definitely an ensemble, but Andy is sort of the lynchpin that holds everyone together. The same could also be said for Jerry and Maya on their respective series.

In the original opening credits of WKRP, Gary Sandy and Gordon Jump were the only credited cast members, and Sandy was billed first.


Later on, the credit were changed to include a montage of the other cast members, but Sandy and Jump remained the only credited cast.


On Just Shoot Me, Laura San Giacomo was the first-billed lead of the show.

While both shows became, in practice, true ensemble shows, Andy and Maya were both (envisioned as) the central character and audience POV, since they were the sane person entering this workplace filled with eccentric characters.

Yeah, I think originally WKRP was intended to have Andy as the main character, but it never seemed to pan out and they abandoned that idea early on. The theme song seemed to indicate that the show was about Andy. It was kinda like Family Ties was supposed to focus on the parents, but that concept never worked out and Alex became the main character instead.

JSM didn't really seem as clear to me. At first it seemed like they wanted to focus on Maya but in later seasons it seemed to be more about David Spade's character.

Andy is supposed to be the only, "Normal," one working for WKRP. He's surrounded by insanity. The show wouldn't have worked if his character were more, "Interesting." He had to be the normal guy in the middle of all the craziness. And he IS a very likeable character, so that works.

The show was never intended to be about Andy as a traditional main character. It was always intended to be an ensemble piece.

Well, in terms of defending my original point, I can only point out again that there were just two credited actors in the opening credits of WKRP, and Gary Sandy was first billed.

The original premise of the structure was that he filled the Mary Richards role, but the character never had any life away from the office to build him up, and (in my opinion) the balance was so tilted on WKRP with so many other eccentric or outlandish characters that Andy was a fucking bore. Dick Loudon on Newhart was the normal guy surrounded by insanity, but Bob Newhart was never boring.

Andy is really likeable. He's the rational, reasonable one on the show, holding everything together.

I don't think they ever saw him as the central, MAIN character like Mary Richards. Just the center of the insanity. The eye of the storm.