Synopsis
The character of Arthur Carlson, Jr., returns as an adult, but Sparky Marcus did not return to reprise the role that he had played as a ten-year-old in one episode of the original series. Newcomer Lightfield Lewis was signed on to assume the role of the character, modeled much after the Herb Tarlek character from the original series. Like Tarlek and his father before him, Art Jr. works as an advertising sales rep for WKRP, presumably grooming him to take over the business from his father.
The show underwent many cast changes during its run, and ended in 1993 after two seasons and 47 episodes (though it ran for another year in repeats on VH-1). Among the other notable actors that were cast members on the show were Mykelti Williamson as program director Donovan Aderhold, Tawny Kitaen as late night D.J. Mona Loveland, and French Stewart, who joined the cast in the second season as morning D.J. Razor Dee.
In the first season, Michael Des Barres played Jack Allen, half of the "Burns and Allen" (a play on George Burns and Gracie Allen) morning show. Des Barres had played Sir Charles "Dog" Weatherby, frontman for the fictional band Scum of the Earth in the "Hoodlum Rock" episode of the original series.
For the first several episodes, the series was still identified as WKRP in Cincinnati and used a nearly identical opening sequence to the original series, except with updated cast names; the The New portion was not added until later, when clips of the starring actors were added to the title sequence. Additionally, the familiar opening and closing themes of its parent series were retained; while a new arrangement/recording was used for the opening theme, the closing theme was the same version heard on the original series.
The series followed up on some details left unaddressed in the original series. For example, the actual frequency of WKRP was never revealed in the original series. In this version, the station is identified as being at 1530 AM, the actual home of WSAI (now WCKY), also licensed to Cincinnati.
Read more about this topic: The New WKRP In Cincinnati