WKRP

I suspect most people my age--over 40 and let's leave it at that, ok?--have fond memories of the radio station WKRP. Sure, it never really existed. It was just a tv show. But the characters were so easy to like and the 70s aspect lends itself well to camp these days.

The backstory of the show was quite funny though it took a while to build since it was relayed via a number of flashback episodes during the show's run. I'm sure much of this history wasn't "known" when the pilot was made but was written up in later seasons. It was a good technique to add depth to the characters and to the radio station itself.

The reason I mention the show is that the first season is finally available this week on DVD--nearly 30 years after it was originally broadcast. But, and it's a bigass BUT, the shows aren't intact. Dammit. Apparently 20th Century FOX, which owns the rights to the show, didn't want to or couldn't get the music rights to many songs that aired on WKRP so some songs were substituted and with others the entire scene using a song was just deleted.

I'd really like to buy the DVDs of WKRP but I'm going to wait and see if they're ever released without being hacked up. There's plenty of other stuff out there to watch so I can wait on this--but how can you ignore the music part of a show when the setting is a Rock 'n Roll radio station?? The music was quite integral.

The show launched Loni Anderson into fame, fortune, and the dubious benefit of being married to Burt Reynolds. But for me it was Jan Smithers that was the real highlight of the show. She was just as cute as could be. The picture below was of her about 12 years before she appeared on WKRP.



Here's some commentary from Amazon.com about the release:

One of DVD's most requested titles, WKRP in Cincinnati is a blast from the past and an absolutely golden oldie. But this first-season set is bound to cause static with fans who have eagerly anticipated its release. Because of pesky music rights, the songs don't remain the same. "Hot Blooded" is not playing when mild-mannered newsman Les Nessman (Richard Sanders) puts on a toupee in anticipation of an awards-dinner date with bombshell station receptionist Jennifer (Loni Anderson). It's "Beautiful Dreamer" and not "Fly Me to the Moon" that chimes when Jennifer's doorbell is sounded. Any number of generic songs have replaced the contemporary and classic rock so vital to WKRP, which is, after all, set at a radio station, albeit one that is best known for its farm reports.