WKRP in Cin-ci-naaat-tiiiii....

This thread needs more pictures.

Yeah, that's why it wasn't on DVD for the longest time. A problem since rectified.

yeah, well, I still can't buy that set if there's no "Do you hear dogs barking?" "I do." scene.

xpost of Bailey

My random favorite song drop-in:

"We've only just begunnnnnnnnnn..."

Maura Tierney could be Bailey.

Favorite moment:
Venus Flytrap: On the air? I AM the air!

I think Maura's too old now (she's married to Luka! And has a baby!), but she is the right type.

I remember one guy's sunglasses but not much else.

....oh yeah, BOOOOOGERRRRRR!!!!!

the one where they fool the consultant that mother carlson hires slays me every time. the big guy is over worked, jennifer's a ditz, and the scene where venus pulls a switchblade on johnny fucking kills me.

who is smarmy enough to play herb? i can totally see dwight from the office as les nesman.

"Hoodlum rock. Two steps below punk rock."

Yeah, that's why it wasn't on DVD for the longest time. A problem since rectified.

I thought I read somewhere that the DVD sets have replaced original songs with "soundalikes."

Sadly the case, it seems. Fuller details down towards the bottom:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WKRP

"hit the road... DUNGAREE."

I thought this was interesting (http://members.allstream.net/~jacjud/wkrpmusic.html):

"WKRP was produced by MTM Enterprises, but in the mid-'90s MTM was bought out by Pat Robertson's International Family Entertainment (which also owned the Family Channel in the U.S.), and then in 1997 International Family Entertainment was bought by 20th Century-Fox. Fox soon shut down the struggling MTM Enterprises. So currently Fox owns the rights to WKRP, and since the "redubbed" versions did not start to appear until the videotape set in 1998, a year after Fox bought MTM, I think it's quite possible that the music changes were made by Fox (other MTM shows, like "St. Elsewhere," also had some music changed around this time). But on the other hand, it's equally possible that the changes were made while MTM was the nominally independent but financially-strapped property of International Family Entertainment."

PAT ROBERTSON IS BEHIND THIS!

i loved this show when i was a kid
i don't remember why or much about it though, which is weird

I've listened to two very different versions of the theme song. I'm wondering if it too was replaced (or perhaps re-recorded during the shows actual run).

I like this bit about the closing theme:

The closing theme, "WKRP In Cincinnati End Credits", was a hard rock number composed and performed by Jim Ellis, an Atlanta musician who recorded some of the incidental music for the show. According to people who attended the recording sessions, Ellis didn't yet have lyrics for the closing theme, so he sang nonsense words to give an idea of how it would sound. Wilson decided it would be funny to use lyrics that were deliberately gibberish, as a satire on the incomprehensibility of many rock songs.[3] Also, since CBS always had an announcer talking over the closing credits, Wilson knew that no one would actually hear the closing theme lyrics anyway. In one pop-cultural nod to the closing theme, a character performs the song in the film Ready to Rumble.

Wow, that's really interesting. This was a fantastic show.

i love this show and if it ever gets on cable again with the original music i'm taping every episode.

did "spap oop" from from WKRP?

WGN is now airing WKRP on Sundays (7pm eastern, 4 pacific)!

dammit, wgn america has a different broadcast schedule than local wgn.

If you get the "American Life" network, they show it sometimes, including tonight at 10.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8uH76COzk8

^^^ USEFUL

holy shit thats amazing

"As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly."

"Oh, the humanity!"

season one on hulu

dude who wrote closing theme is the dad of girl i work with

the lyrics to that are great

The closing theme, "WKRP In Cincinnati End Credits", was a hard rock number composed and performed by Jim Ellis, an Atlanta musician who recorded some of the incidental music for the show. According to people who attended the recording sessions, Ellis didn't yet have lyrics for the closing theme, so he sang nonsense words to give an idea of how it would sound. Wilson decided it would be funny to use lyrics that were deliberately gibberish, as a satire on the incomprehensibility of many rock songs.[8] Also, since CBS always had an announcer talking over the closing credits, Wilson knew that no one would actually hear the closing theme lyrics anyway. In one pop-cultural nod to the closing theme, a character performs the song in the film Ready to Rumble.

FM is about to come on VH1 Classic.

xpost
yeah, whatever. These are the lyrics:

Gotta foot Saturday and a little lack-of-silence affair
Going to this party got some gin and it'll be aw-haw
Gotta pull the socket me and peter pack some gin aw-haw
Said i'm good, good, and i'll do a lot of better aw-haw

season one on hulu

does it have the original music or did they have to replace the songs like on the dvd?

I haven't actually watched any episodes, so I'm not sure!

One of my favorites was the two parter where Venus and Johnny Fever end up at the transmitter where a bomb is located. The part where Fever comes running into the station office all druggy paranoid going off on how the phone cops are after him is fantastic.

There is also a hilarious scene where Les Nessman puts on a big curly toupee while the station is playing something like Foreigner's Hot Blooded.

I'm watching The Insider, and just spotted Gary Sandy in a small role. Checking online for confirmation, I was reminded of this 1966 Newsweek cover with Jan Smithers:

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_isUvlzkZPIQ/R0W0y4UcfEI/AAAAAAAABH8/zrmIhmmnQRk/s200/175px-Newsweek_March_21_1966.jpg

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_6hDZt1e0ofY/SqLjY8NMnWI/AAAAAAAAG-0/KMxGL8f4L7k/s400/jan+smithers.jpg

She kind of looks like the young Susan Dey in that photo.

Wanna Mr. Burns that Smithers.

I also remember that after the Who concert in Cincinatti where 11 people were killed in the crush at the doors, they did an episode that had that event as the main focus. Starts with someone mentioning it after getting a phone call and others in the office not believing it. It was done fairly soon after the real event. I was pretty impressed with a sitcom gettin' real like that.

Errmmm, and Bailey Quarters.

― nickn, Wednesday, July 18, 2007 8:30 PM (4 years ago) Bookmark

iirc, the plot revolved around the fact that the station had given away tickets to that show. But they never mentioned the Who by name, instead calling it "the big concert," and playing a lot of Who songs in the episode.

Wow, you're right.

And here's the entire episode rightcheer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ch92FIHx-Hs

12 year old me found loni anderson super repulsive,which in retrospect is really weird

xp Cool, thanks for posting that. Interesting, they did mention the Who a couple of times, but didn't play any of their songs. Looks like they have Herb taking the Walter Cronkite ("drug-crazed mob of kids") / Mike Royko ("barbarians") role.

found loni anderson super repulsive,which in retrospect is really weird

i dunno. Her helmet hair never really did much for me, either.

i'm sure that was it but odd to be so discerning at the outset of puberty

I feel it's my duty to at least make an appearance in this thread.

bailey quarters

So many misspellings of Cincinnati ;_;

As God is my witness

I did these shifts as well … this one at least has a song to reduce torpor as opposed to the 60 seconds non-musical vocal drone of Alperts Furniture spots

a cincinnati station that plays oldies has legally acquired the rights to the wkrp call letters. they play oldies from the 60s -80s, mostly focusing on the 70s. stuff like los bravos black is black and lonnie mack memphis, along with magnet and steel and i love you more than i can say and baby, come to me. so it's a decent mix of the obvious and some nuggets. not exactly dr. fever and venus flytrap, but close enough.

mostly i was stoked when i heard them play the opening notes to the long run. i believe i had the appropriate response:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIx2_QlWfHY

dammit, hopefully y'all can access that, fellow babies.

wkrp is way important. prolly the best ensemble sitcom ever, if only because gary sandy has the most iconic 70s haircut commuted to film or videotape.

committed. damn you, so co. although commuted also works.

i dunno if andy travis was supposed to be the breakout star character or not, but was overshadowed like fonzie to ritchie, but his neutral quality is the glue that held the show together. suits vs dungarees, he was both and neither. hawkeye pierce never assumed such quiet power from a background position; he was always up front with opinions about the insanity of war and whatnot plus martinis. not andy. such perfect hair. impeccable. unreproducable. andy was the strange attractor, the gravitational pull, the stitching that holds the panels of the quilt together. he's obviously the central character as implied by the opening theme song but his power is held in reserve, until he needs to be andy travis. he's superman if superman didn't like getting involved until completely necessary.

also his hair was great.