The Onion AV Club

[Banquet_Bear]

@Justin_Bailey

I don’t think it works that way for TV that is 40 years old. They probably rented the first season DVDs (which are available) and grumbled through the music removal the whole time.

…you don’t think what doesn’t work what way?

They are professional television reviewers. They all lived in different cities, and they all managed to watch the episode for the review. They obviously didn’t have that much of an issue getting to watch it. And in most cases the music was replaced by something else. So why would they grumble about something they most likely weren’t aware of?

[Push_You_Down]

Dude, we get it. You want those kids to get off your lawn.

[Quimby]

The episode in question is probably the most famous one of WKRP ever. It is on YouTube.

[installLSC]

The problem is not they haven’t watched WKRP, it’s that they’ve watched barely any TV from that area and basically consider anything from that era beneath them. Take these quotes:

Sitcoms from the ’70s are hard for me—the format seems so dated, somehow even more than black-and-white films or Victorian novels.

mostly I just feel disconnected from that era. It seems very foreign and ancient to me (there is no denying that I’m spoiled by today’s programs) and whenever I think of older TV shows, it’s hard to picture anything but The Brady Bunch kids singing about sunny days.

NewsRadio is basically my favorite show, so why would I watch another sitcom about radio production?

The Mary Tyler Moore Show (a show from the same era that I love to death) would not pull a stunt like this. It’d have everyone around a table, learning lessons, being happy, like Pilot said. That’s a necessary service and there always has to be shows like that on TV.

This isn’t people saying “I’ll give this thing a fair chance”, it’s people saying “old shows are so dumb, hur, hur”. Which is one thing if you’re a teenagers blog, but if you’re trying to sell yourself as a smart oasis of criticism is pathetic.

[Justin_Bailey]

@installLSC

The problem is not they haven’t watched WKRP, it’s that they’ve watched barely any TV from that area and basically consider anything from that era beneath them. Take these quotes:

Your last quote is someone saying how great The Mary Tyler Moore Show is.

And Banquet Bear, just because they’re professional reviewers doesn’t mean they can get their hands on “screeners” of a 40 year old show. That’s what doesn’t work that way. They likely all bought the first season DVD from Amazon and resold it after writing the article.

[Banquet_Bear]

@Justin_Bailey

Your last quote is someone saying how great The Mary Tyler Moore Show is.

…that last quote is simply another example of how they have a completely stereotypical view of television from the 70’s and 80’s.

And Banquet Bear, just because they’re professional reviewers doesn’t mean they can get their hands on “screeners” of a 40 year old show. That’s what doesn’t work that way. They likely all bought the first season DVD from Amazon and resold it after writing the article.

I’m sorry, who exactly are you arguing with? And why?

I never said they got their hands on 40 year old screeners. I said they are television reviewers, which means “unlike most of us they specialise in being able to get TV shows to watch.” I said that “They even get screeners of things before we get a chance to see them on TV. They can literally watch the future!” That last statement was obviously hyperbole. They aren’t literally watching the future. Just thought I’d spell that out to you. If they wanted to watch a TV show, they could. They have the resources to be able to track them down, and even the most busy of Television reviewers can make the time in a five year period to watch 22 minutes of television.

The person who claimed WKRP was hard to find was you.

@Justin_Bailey

There’s also the fact that WKRP is hard to find nowadays.

Now you’ve come back and debunked yourself. Congratulations. Finding WKRP isn’t as hard as you thought.

[Justin_Bailey]

@Banquet_Bear

I never said they got their hands on 40 year old screeners. I said they are television reviewers, which means “unlike most of us they specialise in being able to get TV shows to watch.” […] They have the resources to be able to track them down.

You can’t just snap your fingers and make something appear if you want to review it. Especially if it’s older and doubly especially if your editor thinks it isn’t worth it.

@Banquet_Bear

Now you’ve come back and debunked yourself. Congratulations. Finding WKRP isn’t as hard as you thought.

Only the first season is available in legal form. And it doesn’t appear to be shown regularly on any channel currently. It’s exactly as hard to find as I thought.

[Left_Hand_of_Dorkness]

Bickering aside, I love the review of Justified. We’re working our way through the fourth season, and the reviewer is thoughtful and is a great writer; I always find the reviews show me something in the episode I didn’t see on my own.

[Banquet_Bear]

@Justin_Bailey

You can’t just snap your fingers and make something appear if you want to review it. Especially if it’s older and doubly especially if your editor thinks it isn’t worth it.

…but you can type “first season WKRP” into google, and find the episode in question in less than ten seconds. And I can order it in less than a minute. And I’m not even a TV reviewer. And I don’t even live in the States. The reviewers in question actually did watch it.

Only the first season is available in legal form. And it doesn’t appear to be shown regularly on any channel currently. It’s exactly as hard to find as I thought.

Ten seconds of google searching and one minute typing in your credit card information is not hard. Its incredibly easy. And it was you proved exactly how easy it is. So you are arguing with yourself now?

[Neidhart]

@installLSC

It’ll get worse when Classic TV Club gets discontinued later this year.

That I didn’t know about. I wonder if that’s why the retrospective reviews of Season 2 of Friends never appeared as promised (they were supposed to start in October).

[BigT]

Am I the only one who finds it weird to see it called “The Onion AV Club”? It’s always just been “The A.V. Club.” I didn’t even know it had to do with the Onion until this thread. Heck, I didn’t even open the thread at first because I assumed it was about some site I hadn’t heard of.

And I’m in the age bracket as these writers. I’m pretty familiar with Classic TV, since Nick@Nite and TVLand have been around. I’m not all that familiar with WKRP, but I wouldn’t say the ignorant things these supposed TV experts said. And if I did have such a lack of knowledge, the first thing I would do is use the frickin’ Internet to look it up and become informed. I would never review something I was completely unfamiliar with unless going in blind was the entire point of the review.

Maybe having one person go in blind would make sense, but not having anyone who knows about the show? That’s ridiculous.