By Cathy Maestri
InstantRiverside.com
John Madden has his turducken and Sarah Palin her really fresh birds, but surely there is no Thanksgiving sitcom moment more enduring than that of WKRP’s infamous turkey drop.
Perhaps it was growing up on the outskirts of the city that so endeared “WKRP in Cincinnati” to our family; then again, perhaps it was just our warped sense of humor. But the Thanksgiving episode always had everyone in tears.
The plot: Station manager Arthur Carlson feels left out and comes up with a secret promotion that will make the WKRP famous — release turkeys from a helicopter and let them fly into a downtown parking lot.
When they plummet to the earth as horrified onlookers run for cover, intrepid newsman Les Nessman (Richard Sanders) offers a reportorial homage to the description of the Hindenburg disaster.
Unlike the Palin clip, all the gore and flying feathers are left to the imagination. The scene cuts from Nessman’s face to the silent reactions of the rest of the staff back in the studio.
Oh, the hilarity.
And then there’s the shell-shocked Mr. Carlson’s (Gordon Jump) classic closing line: “As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly.”
Here, for your viewing pleasure, is the entire episode.
Happy Thanksgiving.
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Tuesday, November 25, 2008
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