BOTNS Special Investigation: "Gordon Jump as himself" on "Caroline in the City"

Mike and I were both amused by the sheer randomness of one of Gordon Jump's appearance on a second-season episode of Caroline in the City as we considered his credits. The fact that he appears as himself somehow makes it even more random.

Of course, Jump, though best known for his role as Arthur Carlson on WKRP, made scores of guest appearances in his distinguished TV career. Still, this one is peculiar. We launched a Special Investigation to get the details. Why did Gordon Jump, of all people, make an appearance on Caroline in the City, of all shows, in 1997, of all years?

Well, we have no idea. Couldn't find anything explaining it.

But we did watch the episode!

Jump has but a small cameo in Season 2's  Caroline in the City, and he isn't even named. In fact, he's not even germane to the main plotline, that of Caroline's assistant/love interest Richard getting involved (professionally...or is it more?) with a wealthy art patron played by Ann Magnuson.

He's identified not as Gordon Jump, not as "Jumpman," not even as, "The guy from WKRP," but as the Maytag repairman! The joke is that Caroline's sassy friend Annie (Amy Pietz was not just sassy but SAUCY in this one--one of the more underrated 90s sitcom characters, for my money) lets the thrill of being recognized for a foot powder commercial go to her head.

She receives, then expects, preferential treatment. On a date, she drops the "Do you know who I am?" card and is denied, only to see Jump breeze right in and be seated.

 

"Thanks for fitting me in!"

It's an amusing gag, and while we can quibble about wasting the great Gordon Jump on a throwaway bit, that's the genius of it--that out of nowhere Gordon Jump shows up to this restaurant as the example of someone more famous than Annie.

How did this come about? Was he a big fan of the show? Was he a big fan of Amy Pietz (wouldn't blame him)? 

Sorry, we don't know. We DO know that he wasn't the only familiar face in Caroline and the Kept Man.

Comedy legend Rose Marie plays Stella, a senior Caroline is reading to as part of a volunteer program. Guess what? She's sassy, too, subbing the erotic A Tale of Two Cities for the Dickens novel Caroline thinks she is reading.

Sadly, Marie's Dick Van Dyke Show co-star Morey Amsterdam, who appeared with her in a season 1 episode of Caroline had died before this one was produced. However, another comic standout--less accomplished but with his own following--shows up as the maitre'd at the restaurant:

Yes, it's Larry Thomas, AKA the Soup Nazi from Seinfeld!

So we don't have answers about Jump's appearance, but we have several other familiar faces, making this a worthwhile journey out of the BOTNS era and into February 1996.

 

We regret to inform you we have one more unsolved mystery here: Why in the heck is he billed as playing "Himself" in quotation marks? Maybe this version is considered an alternate-universe Gordon Jump who should not be confused with "our" Earth-Prime version of Gordon Jump.

BOTNS Special Investigation: Was Redd Foxx really going to play Jethro Simpson on "Diff'rent Strokes"?

On our season 2 premiere, we discussed the report that Whitman Mayo, who is so stellar as con man and would-be Jackson adopter Jethro Simpson, was filling in for former Sanford and Son co-star Redd Foxx. I was skeptical and couldn't find much to support this online tidbit, so I instructed our famous crack research team to explore the issue.

According to Black and Blue: The Redd Foxx Story by Michael Seth Starr, this story is...TRUE! Yes, as effective as Mayo is in his guest shot on the two-part 'The Adoption," he stepped in at the last minute only after Foxx bailed.

Foxx became a sensation on NBC as Fred Sanford, but after numerous contract disputes (and sometimes missing episodes that would then be built around Mayo's Grady character), he jumped to ABC to lead a variety show (It was the 1970s, after all). When that tanked, another pilot failed, and ABC severed ties with him, Redd was having problems with the IRS--as in, he had a problem paying his taxes, and the IRS had a problem with that--he was looking for cash.

Starr writes that NBC "extended an olive branch" to its former star by offering him the role of Jethro Simpson. Foxx agreed, and NBC brass actually discussed making the character a regular or at least a recurring role if the episode turned out well. Only one problem: Foxx didn't bother to show up, calling in sick, and Mayo got the call.

Can you imagine Foxx and Gary Coleman as regular co-stars? I can, and I kind of like it.

Starr continues that later, Redd passed Todd Bridges at the studio and saw he was holding a motorcycle helmet the Strokes producers had given him for Christmas. When Foxx discovered that they only gave him the helmet--no motorcycle--he was "pissed," as Starr succinctly describes, and returned after a week "pushing a gas-powered three-wheeled motorbike" and telling Bridges, "I bought you something."

Was Foxx in one of those cantankerous/generous moods? What if he had run into Conrad Bain in the studio hallway that day? I picture Foxx coming into the studio a week later with a horse to go along with a new polo mallet Bain was carrying. "Hey, Connie, I bought you something."