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

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.)

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."

Well, that's not a nice way to refer to Ed Asner!

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.