Magnum Mania!

I've been watching a lot of WKRP lately. What an awesome show. I actually find myself laughing out loud at times - something I never do with modern sitcoms.

Seems like it was a mixture of great writing and great chemistry among the cast. Wonder why it only ran four seasons?

Herb Tarlick!

I love WKRP. It's still a wonderful show and if you google Gary Sandy, you'll see he looks fantastic. It was a hard gig he had, playing the straight guy... He was underrated.

I still remember the episode where they dropped live Turkeys out of a helicopter and the emotional episode about the tragic Who concert where many concert goers were trampled to death due to festival seating.............Great show!

It's a helicopter, and it's coming this way. It's flying something behind it, I can't quite make it out, it's a large banner and it says, uh - Happy... Thaaaaanksss... giving! ... From ... W ... K ... R ... P!! What a sight, ladies and gentlemen, what a sight. The ‘copter seems to be circling the parking area now, I guess it's looking for a place to land. No! Something just came out of the back of the helicopter! It's, uh, a dark object. Perhaps a skydiver. Plummeting to the earth from only two thousand feet in the air. A second, a third! No parachutes yet. Can't be skydivers... I can't tell just yet what they are, but - Oh my God, they're turkeys!! Johnny, can you get this? Oh, they're plunging to the earth right in front of our eyes! One just went through the windshield of a parked car! Oh, this is just terrible! The crowd is running around pushing each other! Oh, my goodness! Oh, the humanity! People are running about! The turkeys are hitting the ground like sacks of wet cement! Honestly, folks I don't know how much longer... the crowd is running for their lives.


, "As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly!"

That was the funniest episode I can recall.

I also remember the baseball episode with Les Nessman hearing the violin lessons (not little league) of his youth when he was at bat in a critical situation.

Fantastic show.

I have to tell y'all.I watched the episode today and it didn't hold up.I guess the funny memory is in the memory..

http://www.hulu.com/watch/322/wkrp-in-c ... rkeys-away

Fun show! Probably only saw a dozen episodes or so back in the day. I hear people talk about the "turkey" and "Who" episodes all the time, but I never had the privilege of watching them.

Jan Smithers was a real highlight for me.

I see that the show has had a heck of a hard time with all the music licensing. Sadly, they had to replace a lot of the original music with generic covers for both syndication and DVD (only Season 1 is out so far). Such a shame, as they used some really good, unconventional music. If you are a Rock fan, you gotta love Dr. Johnny Fever!

J.J. Walters wrote:I see that the show has had a heck of a hard time with all the music licensing. Sadly, they had to replace a lot of the original music with generic covers for both syndication and DVD (only Season 1 is out so far). Such a shame, as they used some really good, unconventional music. If you are a Rock fan, you gotta love Dr. Johnny Fever!

Not that I would condone it or anything, but there's a popular torrent you can find that has all the original broadcasts with the original music. Quality is like VHS that has been digitised, but it's not a problem.

Northern Exposure had a hell of a time as well with music licensing. In the end the DVDs lack the punch of the original broadcasts.

When it ran on American Life about 2 years ago, I am sure they used the original music. I think the rights only applied to the video release. It's so weird. 21 Jump Street had the same issue. They a very good job though, I have to admit, I hardly noticed it.

AmandaByNight wrote:When it ran on American Life about 2 years ago, I am sure they used the original music. I think the rights only applied to the video release.

Yes, for the most part, syndication usually contains the original music. I think there have been a few different cuts over the years which have resulted in changes to even syndicated epsiodes, though.

I picked up the first season on dvd and have been meaning to order a dvd-r set of the entire series for a while now. It's not exactly a laugh-a-minute type of series, but it does hold up quite well thanks to the memorable characters.

I always loved the "Scum of the Earth" punk band episode, and the one where Johnny does a live broadcast from a stereo store- only to watch as the sole customer proceeds to take everyone hostage. ("A man we believe might be a customer has just come back from freshening up...and it looks as though he's...leaving...no, hold it, he's pausing there, maybe he's going to buy something...no, no, he's pulled out a gun...)

J.J. Walters wrote:Jan Smithers was a real highlight for me.

I've long maintained that Bailey was hotter than Jennifer- particularly in the aforementioned baseball episode.

Shermy wrote:I've long maintained that Bailey was hotter than Jennifer- particularly in the aforementioned baseball episode.

Totally!

Years ago we saw Gary Sandy (Travis) at the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park in a production of 'the Glass Menagerie.'

And of course - this week was turkey day... OMG turkeys are smashing to the ground...!!!

I love the episode where they get Fever and Venus drunk to test their reaction time on air.......and the more Johnny drinks...the faster he gets....while Venus is obliterated.

Seaver41 wrote:I love the episode where they get Fever and Venus drunk to test their reaction time on air.......and the more Johnny drinks...the faster he gets....while Venus is obliterated.

I think that's my favourite episode. I wonder if you could even air that these days? Might be criticized for encouraging DUI.

J.J. Walters wrote: Jan Smithers was a real highlight for me.

Did you know Jan made the cover of Newsweek before she was famous?
Here's an interview where she explains how she was chosen:
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=H_ ... hers&hl=en