Rain

Series
Work In Progress
Original Broadcast Date
1986
Cast
Angel, Shawn, Dinah, Chantal, Lester Nafzger, Larry Massett, Scott Carrier, Joe Frank
Format
Real People, Telephone, 60 minutes
Preceded by:	Dear Annie
Followed by:	Pretender
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"Rain is very sexual to me..."

Rain is a program Joe Frank produced as part of the series Work In Progress. It was originally broadcast in 1986.

Synopsis

1:10: 3 young women talk about rain, how much of their bodies are water, how much they like night, parts of their bodies, sex, what makes them happy and unhappy…

8:10: Joe gets bathed by a professional bather, Chantal, a French woman, at the radio station. He asks her about her business, whether she swims, whether she's married, what she thinks of the rain, whether she rides a motorcycle…

14:10: Joe calls a porn number, hears the sounds of a woman getting off with her lover.

15:20: A fellow with an accent (Indian? possibly fake) has some consciousness-raising advice.

16:30: Scott Carrier talks about trout fishing.

18:20: Scott imagines aliens fishing for people in New York, getting hauled to another dimension; Larry Massett responds.

21:20: The 3 young women eat corn chips and talk about confession, why priests are celibate, their astrological signs…

25:10: Joe asks Chantal her astrological sign, whether she's Catholic. They eat chips.

31:50: A fellow (Lester Nafzger) tells about living with a woman in Ohio whose 16-year-old daughter flirted with him. He got her pregnant, fled to New York; she got an abortion.

36:00: The fellow with the accent returns with more consciousness-raising advice.

37:10: Scott Carrier talks about fly-fishing.

38:30: One of the young women tells about a guy who hijacked a cab she got into so he could meet her.

39:40: Another of the young women tells of the time she was a cabdriver, took a fare to Las Vegas, $375.

40:40: One of the young women is mad at her lover because he's too short; he used to be a jockey.

41:50: One of the young women talks about the attention she gets when she's riding her motorcycle.

43:40: Joe asks Chantal if he can wash her feet, whether her hands shrivel up in the water, to say something in French.

48:20: Joe is connected by phone to a woman in Australia. They talk about her life. She has 4 children, has just separated from her husband for faithlessness. Joe asks what she likes to drink, whether she likes to swim, whether she likes rain, Hawaii.

56:10: Scott Carrier observes that it's mostly men who fly-fish.

Legacy Synopsis

• A group of women talking about stuff. Water and rain, day and night. "I love my body." What makes them happy: sex, motorcycles, dancing, birthdays, friends, pets. What makes them unhappy: meat eaters, the news, death. Pain.
• We hear Joe being given a bath by Chantal, a professional bather, at the radio station. They chat about some of the same stuff the women were discussing. Joe calls a porno line during the bath.
• Wise, accented, enlightened-sounding voice: on the road to fulfillment.
• A fisherman talks about his friend who fished with a plastic frog. On trout swimming upstream. What if our lives were like fish, the constant possibility of eating something with a hook, being jerked into another dimension?
• The women: snacking noisily. They chat some more: confession and absolution. Lovemaking conversation.
• Joe's bath continues. He interviews the woman bathing him, then offers her a snack. After awhile Joe makes another phone call.
• Man on the phone: living with a woman in Ohio, her daughter constantly and inappropriately flirts with him. He eventually gives into temptation, impregnates her and flees to New York after her abortion.
• Wise man: suffering and the consequences of our actions.
• Fisherman: about flyfishing. The conditions are never right.
• Women again: riding in a stolen cab. Lovers. Motorcycles.
• "Do you have a lover?" "Mm hmmm. I'm extremely mad at him." "Why?" "Cause he's too short."
• Back to the bath. Joe wants to wash Chantal's feet, she refuses. She continues washing him. They exchange a couple of french phrases and he makes another call.
• While his call is being connected, Joe suggests to his audience that we listen to this program while taking a bath ourselves. Joe reaches a random person who happens to be in Sydney, Australia. She tells a touching story of her newly difficult life while Joe's bath continues. He then asks her the mundane questions considered earlier in the program, and the call ends very cordially.
• Fisherman: mostly it's men who flyfish.

Music

• "Automatic Writing" - Steve Kindler (from Automatic Writing, 1985) | YouTube [0:40]
• "Back Country" - Steve Kindler (from Automatic Writing, 1985) | YouTube [15:40]

Additional credits

The original broadcast credits state: "Appearing were Angel, Shawn, Dinah, Chantal, Lester Nafzger, Larry Massett, Scott Carrier, and Joe Frank. Special thanks to Tom Belton and Sheryl G. Technical production by Tom Strother."