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

rewatched the turkey bombing tonight
still excellent

"As God as my witness..."

https://variety.com/2021/tv/news/frank-bonner-dead-wkrp-in-cincinnati-1234999322/

so sad, he was the fucking best. Herb was so iconic!!!

i can still hear his voice when i read old quotes, his timing was so good

Les:
What is an executrix?

Herb:
I don't know. High heels and a whole lot of leather, something like that

never forget the dancing ducks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Tk6NpIncXg

BIG SNAKE SALE
SSSSSAAVE
SSSSSAVE
SSSSSAVE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGdWnCB5NFM

Great physical comedy from Bonner in this one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kalVG4XgIDM

Yeah, I was one of the viewers who laughed HIS ASS off at this episode. But also, I'd like to add, I was six years old when I first saw it.

I'll always remember Herb's dad telling him he had cancer... then telling him it was a joke... then saying he really DID have cancer... then telling him it was a joke again.

lol

Wish I could find the clip but someone telling Herb he didn't know they still made suits like his and Herb replying that there was one pro shop in Kentucky is a great line delivery.

^^That's from "3 Days of The Condo", the one where Johnny wins a lawsuit and buys a...wait for it...condo.

Speaking of Johnny, tonight Decades reran a Dick Cavett from 1969 featuring The Committee with Don Study aka Howard Hesseman.

This bit forecasts some of his scenes w/Reid at the KRP. Hesseman even drops a 'fellow baby' line!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UA3YXa_kLqg

And here Cavett and fellow guest Janis Joplin join the troupe for A Symphony of Emotions

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qJdNx8veDc

Fast Forward to 1:37 to see Hesseman respond to wiseguy in the audience.

"WKRP - The station with more music... and Les Nessman"

Buckeye News Hawk™️

The Coveted Silver Sow®

The Sneaky Snooper.

Les Nessman, award-winning journalist. pic.twitter.com/Dxomv3ZWLX

— Super 70s Sports (@Super70sSports) March 7, 2021

Anyone know an old folks' home with any openings for me? pic.twitter.com/zH3qbMftEk

— becca (@magicjewball) October 5, 2021

It was only minutes ago, after several decades of apparent semi-consciousness, that the joke hidden in WKRP finally dawned on me.

Crap or Karp?

Karp wouldn't all that much of a joke tbh.

Not that much WKRP material but the Tim Reid interview on Marc Maron's podcast has really interesting stuff about his 60s-70s work as part of a travelling interractial comedy duo. (Apparently he ripped off a joke from Howard Hesseman and had to apologize when they met at the beginning of KRP)

Baby, if you've ever wondered, wondered what ever became of Gary Sandy...

https://www.thespec.com/entertainment/stage/2021/10/25/theatre-aquarius-hamilton-wkrp-in-cincinnati-gary-sandy.html

It is funny that the guy is basically in the suburbs of Cincy.

Been thinking a bit about "In Concert" today...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSeWECDb3YM

love that episode so much ;_;

Many sad parallels. Like in Cincinnati, the Astroworld cops, security, and organizers -- that is, everyone supposedly trained in crowd management -- are all rushing to put all the blame on the fans. Obviously there were some asshole fans, but the situation was beyond out-of-control before those fans made things worse.

Chet Flippo's RS piece showed how fucked up the situation with cops and security in Cincinnati was, and this reminded me of the Travis Scott fans trying to get security and camerapeople to stop the show:

He couldn’t find his wife. He ran to the first policeman he saw and shouted, “What are you doing? People are getting trampled up there.” The policeman looked him over and asked, “What do you do for a living?” Klopp replied, almost in shock, “Working on a Ph.D. in language.” The policeman said, “Well, you just used a dangling participle.” Klopp, caught up in the absurdity, said, “I think I know more about language than you do.” The policeman smiled: “Well, don’t tell me how to do my job, then.” Klopp lost his temper: “People are getting hurt.” The policeman said, “Well, we can’t do anything.” Klopp finally got inside and found his wife.

A few feet away, Mark Helmkamp was pleading with a policeman to do something. He said to the cop, “Here, take my ID and bust me for false information if you don’t believe me.” He said the policeman told him to move along.

https://www.rollingstone.com/feature/rock-roll-tragedy-why-11-died-at-the-whos-cincinnati-concert-93437/

Today in 1979, Dr. Johnny Fever shows up at WKRP hung over and just does whatever the fuck he wants. pic.twitter.com/wLdo8HXxxZ

— Super 70s Sports (@Super70sSports) October 14, 2021

My man would've been around 39 years old in that shot.

He and Richard Sanders are/were basically the same age.

Aaaaand Gordon Jump was 47 in '79. Goodnight everyone!

Hesseman almost six months older than Sanders!

Held his own at the table with Jack and Kathy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bywUe7ZBAtU

RIP Johnny Fever

Only discovered this show in the last year, it’s so great. I kind of don’t want to watch all the episodes too quickly.

savor them like malt liquor

Black Death Malt Liquor!

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNzMwM2E4NWQtZTUzMi00YjU2LWJmOTQtNzY1YmE1ZmUxNjA5XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNjUxMjc1OTM@._V1_UY1200_CR576,0,630,1200_AL_.jpg

With his disdain for MOR, and his refusal to "play the hits", was Dr. Johnny Fever the first rockist character in popular culture?

Probably. Apparently Hesseman and Reid quickly became responsible for whatever their respective characters played on the show, with Dr. Fever hitting with an interesting mix of '50s Oldies (Bo Diddley, Elvis), Hippie Faves (Van Morrison, Grateful Dead, Hendrix), and most surprisingly, a good bit of New Wave (Pretenders, Blondie). He even plays the odd Rock-Disco track, despite being vehemently anti-Disco.

There's a funny moment in one ep where Andy Travis tells Johnny that he'll "shoot him if he plays that song again"; said song is not named, but it's implied that it's something from the first B-52's album, which we saw him cue up in the previous scene.

The Decades HD channel will be showing 24 Fever-centric episodes tommorow starting at 12:00 PM EST.

Here's today's schedule: https://www.decades.com/schedule/

Nicely picked, even though with 24 episodes we don't get the Rip Tide ep, the station bombing two-parter (PHONE COPS!), or the series finale, where Johnny saves the day and the station from a format change.

Also, for some reason the last one they're showing has the wrong title or episode description.

If you care more about musical cues than picture quality, Internet Archive has VHS rips with all the original music—albeit, two episodes per file, which makes it annoying to add to Plex or other home media servers.

was Dr. Johnny Fever the first rockist character in popular culture?

I might go with Paul LeMat/John Milner in American Graffiti, when "Surfin' Safari" comes over the car radio: "I don't like that surfing shit. Rock'n Roll's been going downhill ever since Buddy Holly died."

(Which only makes sense in the context of 1962--the Beach Boys, obviously, ended up on the other side of that divide.)

Milner is a good one, and taking it back to TV, I imagine Fonzie or Richie Cunningham was pretty '50s Rockist on Happy Days, which predates WKRP.

Ick, they're using the old syndication versions, and whoo-boy those replacement cues are awful!

One neat thing about this though is that the version of "The Contest Nobody Could Win" has the original, lighter ending with Vincent Schiavelli as the scammer who attempts to steal the prize money before getting found out by Johnny. This version wasn't included in the box set.

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

One last thought on the "first rockist" question. I really don't want to detour the WKRP thread--actually looked for an "origins of rockism" thread, and even though there are five screens of rockism threads, none are on the origins.

Anyway, a drunk David Proval/Tony in Mean Streets, same year as American Graffiti: "Play only old ones tonight...only old ones." I think there's sort of an implied rockism there. (His request is followed by the Chips' "Rubber Biscuit," vintage doo-wop.)

Had no idea there were two endings to The Contest!

I don’t know whose hand she’s holding but I invite you to join me in imagining it’s Herb Tarlek’s. pic.twitter.com/mrkQiVuFFv

— Super 70s Sports (@Super70sSports) March 7, 2022

https://i.imgur.com/2Nja7Vb.jpg

Well, it's not Herb Tarlek, but ... one of the Waltons?

(Hi, Lou.)