WKRP TV show being bugged by the man

Factual Questions
1

I’d rather not post this right now- after a night of tearing one on. But hey, it’s the heat, right?

O.K., the question: The other day I was watching a repeat of WKRP in Cincinnati on TNN and the doctor- Docter Johnny Fever, that is- was doing a line I remember from years ago.

It basically had to do with a scene in which Johnny was alone in the booth getting stir crazy. At a point he busts out of his boredome and starts flying around the booth, getting more and more rilled up.

At one point, he says into the microphone, “What does the Doctor want? What does the Doctor need? I’ll tell you what I need….”

From what I can remember as a kid watching that show, what I remember the Doctor doing was spinning the, “Just take those rackets off the shelve” song off.

It was funny, in a way.

Not anything gut busting or anything, but something, or some line, that I remembered.

Now enter a couple of days ago. I’m sitting here, bored, watching TNN. They’re doing a WLRP thing and I’m willing to watch.

I start watching and see the show I mention above. Except in the version that I saw the other day, the song I distinctly remember hearing at that moment was replaced by some nonsensical choir piece.

Huh…

What the fuck, people? Did the recording industry swoop in a charge copyright laws against this deal?

Has it really gone that far?

2

Ummm…

So, were they being bugged by the man? Did they somehow getted bitched at by the current owners of “Just Take Those Rackets…” song?

What I was getting at, that got edited out above, is this: Did this really take place, or did I just imagine it?

If I didn’t imagine it, what the hell does this say about copyright laws today?

You can’t even include a copyrighted phrase in a joke?

3

It’s all got to do with licensing and money. Check out the write-up here:

http://members.attcanada.ca/~jacjud/wkrpmusic.html

Eric

4

Wow. It’s true. Everything can be found on the internet.

5

I also noticed that problem in a repeat showing of Saturday Night Live in Comedy Central.
I don’t remember who was the host. Originally on NBC, one sketch involved the Night at the Roxbury guys walking in the streets of new York, suddenly, they grab paint cans and do a hilarious impersonation of John Travolta’s walk from Saturday Night Fever, complete with the “staying alive” song.

Only that in the Comedy Central showing, the music was replaced with a terrible generic sounding disco song!!! Totally destroying the joke.

6

I’ve seen old TV programs recently in which a character gives a phone number (not a 555-****), and part of it is edited out. Also, when phone numbers are displayed (on these old programs), there “fuzzed over” so that you can’t see them. I doubt that they were like that originally.

7

For the record, it is “just take those old records off the shelf” and is Old Time Rock & Roll by Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band

8

It’s happened on the Simpsons as well.

In the episode where Homer moonlights with a job at the Quickie Mart, there is a scene with him falling asleep at the wheel while driving home.

The first time I remember seeing this, the scene was accompanied with a sleepy-rendition of the Beatles’ song “Golden Slumbers.”

Now while watching the episode in syndication, they feature instead some generic, sleepy, orchestral thing. Just not the same.

9

Man this is like 1984. History has been changed. We were never at war with Oceania we have always been allies with Oceania. I don’t like it.

On the other hand I thought this thread was going to be about the episode where Johnny broke the phone and thought the phone cops were after him. Kids today wouldn’t even understand it. Mom what the hell is Johnny whining about phones cost $3.95 at radio shack.

10

Wow, and WOW!

Interesting link, Santos L Halper, thanks. I had no idea. I feared it was something along those lines, but I was afraid to find out the truth.

Pretty amazing, if you ask me. Pretty sad, too, what this has come to.

11

Same thing happened on Dr. Who and The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Dr. Who had several episodes that featured Beatles songs (among others) that were replaced with synthisizer music in later re-broadcasts and on video. The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy radio show featured several Pink Floyd songs that were left off (the TV show may have also, but the radio show definately had the songs).

12

The only Pink Floyd song on the HHGTTG radio show was the synthesizer intro to “Shine on You Crazy Diamond,” played as mood music when they land on the legendary lost planet of Magrathea.

Arthur: Did you know that your robot can play Pink Floyd?

Ford: Hey, great! What else can you play, Marvin?

Marvin: Rock and roll. [Cue Chuck Berry (or maybe the Beatles) playing “Rock and Roll Music.”]

Both songs were excised when the radio series was packaged (and I think re-recorded) for sale. Adams once explained that it’s cheap to broadcast a song over the radio, but quite expensive when you’re using the song in a recording for sale to the public. But both songs were still there when my friend recorded the whole series off of a PBS broadcast in the mid-80s. Unfortunately, the tapes I made off of him finally bit the dust last year. :frowning: