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

Wait, I got it: Hope Davis.

I would prefer Anne Hathaway.

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.

The Thanksgiving Day turkey drop -- "Oh the humanity!"

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.

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.

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

Same problem for the best show ever, China Beach.

Some say it will never come out.

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.

Don't devalue Asner's tits!

Anyone know what this shirt was about? Looks like it said "Firme" or something, very glittery.

https://i.imgur.com/P5Wvpmj.jpg

This eBay store is selling off Howard Hesseman's record collection: https://www.ebay.com/str/bananalouiestore

Some rad shit in there... hardly any bids, either

wow he really was johnny fever eh?

Got my eye on that August 1979 Trouser Press.

May and September 1979 too.

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

i die every time

the classic-est

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.

yeah foreigner makes it extra-funny

https://super70ssports.com/arcade/turkey-drop/

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

OK, may have to rewind a bit.