I wonder what the law/rules are about that. My understanding is that anyone is allowed to cover a song but I still assume that you couldn’t just record the instrumental bit of Dogs note-for-note using the WKRP DVD Orchestra and present it on the show as though it’s Pink Floyd. Even if you didn’t use the name “Pink Floyd” (which they didn’t in the DVD scene).
Reading the comments on the Shout Factory blog about the music was absurd. It’s a great scene and all but people going ape irate if it wasn’t exactly as originally aired and declaring the entire three season set to be crap because of sixty seconds not being perfectly restored. Weirdos.
I’m on their side, in theory. I want the episodes exactly as they were. But I know I can’t have that. I’m not sure some of those posters in the Shout blog are aware of the real world and its limitations. Several of them come across as jackasses.
I started watching with Season 2, on the theory that series take a year to work out the kinks and starting with episode one is a sure way to kill a fond memory.
That said, season 2 is pretty good. The pace is much slower than contemporary shows and the laugh lines are good for smiles and chuckles, not rolling on the floor. The humor comes out of the characters’ interactions and general bafflement at finding themselves in the same room with one another, more than what they say. That gives the show its skewed personality, which is probably what we’re all fondly remembering.
It’s nice having the music match the words, especially when Johnny is singing along, which he does a lot. For a rock purist who never plays hits, Johnny likes awfully mellow music. The “Tiny Dancer” episode is one of the weakest ones, oddly. Several episodes make a big point of playing a request and those would really be hurt without the music. One scene with Venus’ voice obviously dubbed over music they couldn’t get the rights to sticks out so badly that the effort made to get the originals makes the new package worthwhile.
You’re right, of course. I was thinking my box had four DVDs (3 seasons + Extras) but it actually has five DVDs. The Extras DVD case is just really slim.
Season One has been holding up pretty well in my opinion. The pilot (two episodes, really) was a little uneven as pilots often are but it does okay after that. Even knowing all the gags from the famous Thanksgiving episode, I still laughed out loud throughout. The more smarmy heartwarming stuff didn’t age as well (Carlson telling a girl to go into her basement to avoid a tornado) but maybe we’re all just more cynical these days.
Episode 7 (?) was a friggin’ clip show which was surprising to me. Maybe they were trying to catch up late adopters of the show? Anyway, I skipped most of it since I had just watched those episodes.
Travis is injured and knocked unconscious in the tornado.
The men pick him up and move him onto a desk.
Jennifer says “You’re not supposed to move an injured person!”
So they pick him up again and move him back onto the floor.
It’s not only funny, it’s something I can totally imagine people who are well meaning but half panicked doing.
Mostly well, but there are some stinkers (that I remember as probably being stinkers when they were new) such as God Talks to Johnny and The Airplane Show. Also, the episodes that prominently features as a plot point someone going literally ga-ga over Jennifer, such as Jennifer Moves, get annoying, because she’s not* that *hot (YMMV).
OTOH, the way everyone takes different personas to fool The Consultant is still one of the best!
You can see the writers straining really hard to give each of the cast a fair share of episodes featuring them. Those usually involve the person dealing with some issue or person outside the regular cast. Since we really don’t care about Les or Herb or (fill in your own) those episodes just aren’t as good. The best ones concentrate on the dj’s and chaos inside WKRP. And if you think about it, those really should be the best. If they weren’t, that would imply some major problems with the show.
Picked this up at CostCo right before Christmas (it was the last one) and the missus and I are watching from the beginning. I’m surprised at how often I’m literally laughing out loud. I can’t remember the last modern comedy I did that with, even though a lot of them amuse me.
I hear about this on NPR a little while ago. They said that they were restored to full length. Some stations over the years are allowed to snip and cut to allow more commercials.
In the episode “The Contest Nobody Could Win” (Johnny accidentally announces the contest prize is $5000 instead of $50.00 and hilarity ensues), the ending is different than what I remember being shown.
The way I remember it, Johnny saved the day by realizing the guy who got the briefcase full of cash wasn’t the right guy.
On the disks, the guy gets away with it and the last scene is Johnny on the air playing a promo asking for money to reimburse him since the money is coming out of his paycheck.
Apparently there were two different versions shot, and Shout! used a different one than what was shown in reruns.
