Two best things about this wonderful show:
1. Bailey Quarters 2. Bailey Quarters
― David R., Wednesday, 18 July 2007 20:26 (sixteen years ago) link
Steve Carell is a perfect choice for Maxwell Smart, despite his recent Noah debacle.
How would you make a WKRP movie? Radio stations don't work like that anymore. And we already have FM and Private Parts if you want movies about radio people.
Two best things about FM:
1. Martin Mull 2. the theme song
― kenan, Wednesday, 18 July 2007 20:59 (sixteen years ago) link
How would you make a WKRP movie? Radio stations don't work like that anymore
WKRP at the University of Cincinatti
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 18 July 2007 21:01 (sixteen years ago) link
How would you make a WKRP movie?
duuuuuuuude you'd set it in the 70's duuuuude
― Mr. Que, Wednesday, 18 July 2007 21:02 (sixteen years ago) link
Fuckin' great, Will Ferrell as Johnny Fever.
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 18 July 2007 21:05 (sixteen years ago) link
yesssssssssssssss Jessica Simpson as Jennifer Marlowe
― Mr. Que, Wednesday, 18 July 2007 21:06 (sixteen years ago) link
Jamie Foxx as Venus Flytrap
― Mr. Que, Wednesday, 18 July 2007 21:07 (sixteen years ago) link
Howard Hessman as Mr. Carlson
― Pleasant Plains, Wednesday, 18 July 2007 21:10 (sixteen years ago) link
the episode with WREQ "Ramblin Wreck radio" is a reference to the station I work for!
― Curt1s Stephens, Wednesday, 18 July 2007 21:11 (sixteen years ago) link
Who is perfect enough to be Bailey?
― kenan, Wednesday, 18 July 2007 21:17 (sixteen years ago) link
Wait, I got it: Hope Davis.
― kenan, Wednesday, 18 July 2007 21:18 (sixteen years ago) link
I would prefer Anne Hathaway.
― Spencer Chow, Wednesday, 18 July 2007 21:37 (sixteen years ago) link
I think this must have been one of the first US comedies I saw (aprt from possibly Soap). Totally great. I assumed completely that this was what America was like.
― Ned Trifle II, Wednesday, 18 July 2007 21:59 (sixteen years ago) link
The Thanksgiving Day turkey drop -- "Oh the humanity!"
― nickn, Thursday, 19 July 2007 00:21 (sixteen years ago) link
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, Thursday, 19 July 2007 00:30 (sixteen years ago) link
I wish one of the cable networks had it on in reruns.
Wild guess: a problem with getting all the rights to all the music.
― kenan, Thursday, 19 July 2007 00:37 (sixteen years ago) link
Yeah, that's why it wasn't on DVD for the longest time. A problem since rectified.
― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 19 July 2007 00:48 (sixteen years ago) link
Same problem for the best show ever, China Beach.
― Spencer Chow, Thursday, 19 July 2007 00:48 (sixteen years ago) link
Some say it will never come out.
This thread needs more pictures.
― Spencer Chow, Thursday, 19 July 2007 00:49 (sixteen years ago) link
yeah, well, I still can't buy that set if there's no "Do you hear dogs barking?" "I do." scene.
― Pleasant Plains, Thursday, 19 July 2007 00:53 (sixteen years ago) link
xpost of Bailey
― kenan, Thursday, 19 July 2007 00:54 (sixteen years ago) link
My random favorite song drop-in:
"We've only just begunnnnnnnnnn..."
― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 19 July 2007 00:56 (sixteen years ago) link
Maura Tierney could be Bailey.
Favorite moment: Venus Flytrap: On the air? I AM the air!
― craven, Thursday, 19 July 2007 01:03 (sixteen years ago) link
I think Maura's too old now (she's married to Luka! And has a baby!), but she is the right type.
― nickn, Thursday, 19 July 2007 01:09 (sixteen years ago) link
I remember one guy's sunglasses but not much else.
― youn, Thursday, 19 July 2007 01:19 (sixteen years ago) link
....oh yeah, BOOOOOGERRRRRR!!!!!
― Sparkle Motion, Thursday, 19 July 2007 01:24 (sixteen years ago) link
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.
― chicago kevin, Thursday, 19 July 2007 01:33 (sixteen years ago) link
who is smarmy enough to play herb? i can totally see dwight from the office as les nesman.
― chicago kevin, Thursday, 19 July 2007 01:34 (sixteen years ago) link
"Hoodlum rock. Two steps below punk rock."
― Morley Timmons, Thursday, 19 July 2007 02:31 (sixteen years ago) link
I thought I read somewhere that the DVD sets have replaced original songs with "soundalikes."
― Johnny Fever, Thursday, 19 July 2007 02:56 (sixteen years ago) link
Sadly the case, it seems. Fuller details down towards the bottom:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WKRP
― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 19 July 2007 02:56 (sixteen years ago) link
"hit the road... DUNGAREE."
― chicago kevin, Thursday, 19 July 2007 03:26 (sixteen years ago) link
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!
― Johnny Fever, Thursday, 19 July 2007 03:56 (sixteen years ago) link
i loved this show when i was a kid i don't remember why or much about it though, which is weird
― rrrobyn, Thursday, 19 July 2007 04:10 (sixteen years ago) link
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).
― Spencer Chow, Thursday, 19 July 2007 04:16 (sixteen years ago) link
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.
― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 19 July 2007 04:20 (sixteen years ago) link
Wow, that's really interesting. This was a fantastic show.
― Bimble, Thursday, 19 July 2007 04:23 (sixteen years ago) link
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?
― GOTT PUNCH II HAWKWINDZ, Thursday, 19 July 2007 06:09 (sixteen years ago) link
WGN is now airing WKRP on Sundays (7pm eastern, 4 pacific)!
― kate78, Monday, 21 July 2008 17:52 (fifteen years ago) link
dammit, wgn america has a different broadcast schedule than local wgn.
― chicago kevin, Monday, 21 July 2008 20:04 (fifteen years ago) link
If you get the "American Life" network, they show it sometimes, including tonight at 10.
― The Yellow Kid, Monday, 21 July 2008 21:03 (fifteen years ago) link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8uH76COzk8
^^^ USEFUL
― Jimmy The Mod Awaits The Return Of His Beloved, Monday, 21 July 2008 23:23 (fifteen years ago) link
holy shit thats amazing
― roy division, Monday, 21 July 2008 23:25 (fifteen years ago) link
"As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly."
― Hubie Brown, Monday, 21 July 2008 23:36 (fifteen years ago) link
"Oh, the humanity!"
― kate78, Monday, 21 July 2008 23:42 (fifteen years ago) link
season one on hulu
― dell, Tuesday, 22 July 2008 01:05 (fifteen years ago) link
dude who wrote closing theme is the dad of girl i work with
― and what, Tuesday, 22 July 2008 01:12 (fifteen years ago) link
the lyrics to that are great
― dell, Tuesday, 22 July 2008 01:27 (fifteen years ago) link
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.
― omar little, Tuesday, 22 July 2008 01:45 (fifteen years ago) link
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.
― Precious, Grace, Hill & Beard LTD. (C. Grisso/McCain), Saturday, 5 February 2022 16:22 (two years ago) link
Ick, they're using the old syndication versions, and whoo-boy those replacement cues are awful!
― Precious, Grace, Hill & Beard LTD. (C. Grisso/McCain), Saturday, 5 February 2022 17:50 (two years ago) link
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.
― Precious, Grace, Hill & Beard LTD. (C. Grisso/McCain), Saturday, 5 February 2022 19:10 (two years ago) link
As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly.
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Saturday, 5 February 2022 19:21 (two years ago) link
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.)
― clemenza, Saturday, 5 February 2022 19:43 (two years ago) link
Had no idea there were two endings to The Contest!
― pplains, Saturday, 5 February 2022 19:44 (two years ago) link
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
― Precious, Grace, Hill & Beard LTD. (C. Grisso/McCain), Tuesday, 8 March 2022 01:33 (two years ago) link
https://i.imgur.com/2Nja7Vb.jpg
Well, it's not Herb Tarlek, but ... one of the Waltons?
(Hi, Lou.)
― pplains, Tuesday, 8 March 2022 02:38 (two years ago) link
Good catch--it was Judy Norton Taylor, a/k/a Mary Ellen Walton.
This was from the "Battle of the Network Stars," memorably sent up by SNL as "Battle of the Network Ts and As."
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Tuesday, 8 March 2022 02:48 (two years ago) link
Well, that's not a nice way to refer to Ed Asner!
― pplains, Tuesday, 8 March 2022 03:07 (two years ago) link
Don't devalue Asner's tits!
― more difficult than I look (Aimless), Tuesday, 8 March 2022 04:23 (two years ago) link
Anyone know what this shirt was about? Looks like it said "Firme" or something, very glittery.
https://i.imgur.com/P5Wvpmj.jpg
― made entirely of styrofoam (GOTT PUNCH II HAWKWINDZ), Saturday, 2 April 2022 15:24 (one year ago) link
This eBay store is selling off Howard Hesseman's record collection: https://www.ebay.com/str/bananalouiestore
― Precious, Grace, Hill & Beard LTD. (C. Grisso/McCain), Thursday, 28 April 2022 20:27 (one year ago) link
Some rad shit in there... hardly any bids, either
― Andy the Grasshopper, Thursday, 28 April 2022 20:53 (one year ago) link
wow he really was johnny fever eh?
― Daniel_Rf, Friday, 29 April 2022 09:40 (one year ago) link
Got my eye on that August 1979 Trouser Press.
― Eric B. Mash Up the Resident (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 29 April 2022 11:41 (one year ago) link
May and September 1979 too.
― Eric B. Mash Up the Resident (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 29 April 2022 11:43 (one year ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPibSwtZhzw
― an icon of a worried-looking, long-haired, bespectacled man (C. Grisso/McCain), Saturday, 18 June 2022 03:09 (one year ago) link
i die every timethe classic-est
― terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl), Saturday, 18 June 2022 03:19 (one year ago) link
They've started showing it on Decades, but they're the ones with the soundalikes. That episode was on tonight, with <the moment> now soundtracked by a similar riff and an ott cock rock vocal singing on the nose lyrics about how "You got style!"
Terrible, but still funny.
― an icon of a worried-looking, long-haired, bespectacled man (C. Grisso/McCain), Saturday, 18 June 2022 05:15 (one year ago) link
yeah foreigner makes it extra-funny
― terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl), Saturday, 18 June 2022 05:46 (one year ago) link
https://super70ssports.com/arcade/turkey-drop/
― an icon of a worried-looking, long-haired, bespectacled man (C. Grisso/McCain), Wednesday, 23 November 2022 03:23 (one year ago) link
Jan Smithers was a singer in a group called Hot Cup of Friends in 1973. She was the girlfriend of the band leader, who was Henry Mancini’s son
This was posted on fb, including a link to a Midnight Special in which this group appears (at about 37:00 if this link doesn't go the correct spot).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rR_XNR6QwMg
― nickn, Saturday, 16 December 2023 04:01 (three months ago) link
OK, may have to rewind a bit.