"I Thought Turkeys Could Fly"
Uncle George may have finally knuckled under and given the fanboys the ORIGINAL original trilogy on DVD, but there remain certain media properties I'd love to own but which are unlikely to ever appear on those shiny silver discs we love so much here at Simple Tricks. Like, for instance, WKRP in Cincinnati, one of my all-time favorite television shows as well as one of the best situation comedies of the late-70s/early-80s (and, arguably, of all time). Judging from what I read in various forums and message boards, there is strong consumer interest in WKRP on DVD, but part of what made the show so special is exactly what will probably keep it out of release forever: the music.
The kids out there in InternetLand, weaned on WB shows that regularly feature songs by up-and-coming bands (who, conveniently enough, are on the Warner Bros. label -- one big happy corporate family), won't remember this, but we older folks know that popular music, i.e., music that you could actually hear on the radio, recorded by artists whose records you could actually buy, used to be pretty rare on television. It was too expensive to license this "real" music, so most shows that featured a popular tune in an episode would have some unknown studio musicians throw together a quick and generic-sounding cover version that didn't cost the studio anything. Another of my favorite shows of the period, Magnum, PI, did that all the time. But not WKRP; set in a radio station, this show used the actual recordings, the same ones you knew and loved. It was incredibly cool to have Dr. Johnny Fever queue up Elton John or Pink Floyd or Bob Seger and hear exactly the same song we'd hear if we flipped on the stereo. And now that very same thing is preventing the show from coming to DVD, because (the studio says) licensing every song used in every episode of even a single season (usually 22 episodes per season) would be astronomically expensive, with no guaranteed return on investment. (In other words, they may not sell enough DVDs to cover the cost of producing them.)
Luckily, the boundless reaches of the Internet contain many curiosities. As we wrap things up for the weekend ahead, take a moment and enjoy two of my favorite clips from this wonderful show...
(Incidentally, I know I've been overkilling on the embeddable video players lately, but I just think these little things are so cool, and there are so many things to share...)
Up first is perhaps the show's most famous gag, the disastrous Thanksgiving Day promotion conceived in secret by 'KRP's slightly, ahem, out-of-touch general manager:
And now a segment that serves as excellent example of how using real music was so integral to this show. Terminally nerdy Les Nessman is preparing for a date to the sound of "Hot Blooded" by Foreigner:
And, on that note, I am outta here -- have a good one!