Venus Flytrap (WKRP in Cincinnati)

Venus Flytrap
WKRP in Cincinnati character
Portrayed by	Tim Reid
Information
Gender	Male
Occupation	disc jockey
Nationality	American

Venus Flytrap is a character on the television situation comedy WKRP in Cincinnati (1978–82), played by Tim Reid. He is the evening and early night-time disc jockey at WKRP, and during the course of the series he also becomes the assistant program director.

Concerning the shortage of roles for black actors on television in his era, Tim Reid said, "My character is one of very few in television today. It's not just regression, it's a push backward....My character has had some growing pains. My character went against the network's set pattern for a black character." He elaborates that Venus Flytrap "started out as a subordinate character, but he's grown with each episode....I'm a follower of Taoism and I've been able to work some of that into my character. He's relaxed, and sometimes you'll see the yin-yang (opposites that create all) symbol in the background. The character is being seen, but most people still seem to have a problem venturing into what a black person is really like. It would be interesting to go into that character's home."

"Venus Flytrap" is the pseudonym used by disc jockey Gordon Sims, the evening DJ at the radio station WKRP. His real name is not revealed until late in the show's first season. The background of his character is complicated, but can be pieced together from various episodes.

Gordon Sims is from New Orleans. His parents were divorced and his grandmother raised him. According to the episode "Venus and the Man" he graduated from Carlisle State Teachers College. In the episode "Sparky", he mentions having played baseball in the minor leagues (at the double-A level) in Texas for a couple of years; however, this is never mentioned again, and from the context of the conversation, it's possible Sims was exaggerating or even fibbing about this experience in order to make a connection with former baseball player/manager Sparky Anderson, who had just been hired at WKRP.

At the age of 22, Sims was drafted into the U. S. Army and served in the Vietnam War. After seeing another soldier called Weird Larry go crazy and commit suicide by jumping out of a helicopter, Gordon had enough of the war and deserted (with only three weeks remaining on his tour of duty, all Stateside, where he was to be processed for discharge, with no further combat obligations). He spent the next several years hiding out under assumed names, which explains why most of his colleagues at WKRP didn't know his real name at first. While he was on the lam, Gordon became a New Orleans schoolteacher and worked part-time as a disc jockey under the name "The Duke of Funk." He became frustrated with his inability to reach his students (whom he described as "hoodlums") and quit.

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