Pratt getting drunk this afternoon

[Soundy]

why don't they ever show reruns of this like other shows?

You will find few people who were bigger fans of this show than me.

The answer is, they have a great deal of difficulty getting clearance for the songs they used to play on the show from the record labels. It's part of the reason it's taken so long to get the show out on DVD.

I was just reading pretty much the same thing on the show's imdb entry:

In the 1990s, reissues of the syndication of WKRP had nearly all music played by the DJs changed. While the original run of the series prided itself in both writing and acting by using current hit songs, it was later deemed too expensive to keep the rights for the originals in syndication (hundreds of thousands of dollars were at stake). Instead, songs were removed and replaced with "generic" studio music; even original "generic" music was replaced to avoid any possibility of later lawsuits. Because the actors often spoke over the music, voice impersonators were hired to emulate the actors in those scenes. In some cases this meant revising lines so that jokes about the song just played were removed, and changed to often-meaningless new titles.

Unfortuantely the practice also completely ruined most episodes, to the point that I won't buy the DVD sets (and this was one of my all-time favorite shows as well). I've recorded most of them from when The Comedy Network was running the show, but still can barely watch many of them. Worst example: "The Americanization of Ivan", with the Russian visitor wanting to defect. A couple of times he quotes Elton John's "Tiny Dancer", except his words have been overdubbed from "Hold me closer, tiny dancer" to "Hold my order, terrible dresser." Not only does it make NO sense, but it absolutely destroys the joke in the final scene.

It wasn't a matter of "difficulty getting clearance" for the music, though, it was just a matter of not wanting to pay the license fees. This also had nothing to do with the length of time it took to release the DVDs, as the butchered versions were running in syndication long before old-TV-shows-on-DVD became a big deal. If the music licensing was paid for, the full, unedited versions could still be used.

(Sorry, didn't mean to further derail this thread, but this is a particular sore spot for me, since I'm probably one of the few that's actually a BIGGER fan of the show than cromartie )

[sj-roc]

You will find few people who were bigger fans of this show than me.

The answer is, they have a great deal of difficulty getting clearance for the songs they used to play on the show from the record labels. It's part of the reason it's taken so long to get the show out on DVD.

I was just reading pretty much the same thing on the show's imdb entry:

In the 1990s, reissues of the syndication of WKRP had nearly all music played by the DJs changed. While the original run of the series prided itself in both writing and acting by using current hit songs, it was later deemed too expensive to keep the rights for the originals in syndication (hundreds of thousands of dollars were at stake). Instead, songs were removed and replaced with "generic" studio music; even original "generic" music was replaced to avoid any possibility of later lawsuits. Because the actors often spoke over the music, voice impersonators were hired to emulate the actors in those scenes. In some cases this meant revising lines so that jokes about the song just played were removed, and changed to often-meaningless new titles.

Unfortuantely the practice also completely ruined most episodes, to the point that I won't buy the DVD sets (and this was one of my all-time favorite shows as well). I've recorded most of them from when The Comedy Network was running the show, but still can barely watch many of them. Worst example: "The Americanization of Ivan", with the Russian visitor wanting to defect. A couple of times he quotes Elton John's "Tiny Dancer", except his words have been overdubbed from "Hold me closer, tiny dancer" to "Hold my order, terrible dresser." Not only does it make NO sense, but it absolutely destroys the joke in the final scene.

It wasn't a matter of "difficulty getting clearance" for the music, though, it was just a matter of not wanting to pay the license fees. This also had nothing to do with the length of time it took to release the DVDs, as the butchered versions were running in syndication long before old-TV-shows-on-DVD became a big deal. If the music licensing was paid for, the full, unedited versions could still be used.

(Sorry, didn't mean to further derail this thread, but this is a particular sore spot for me, since I'm probably one of the few that's actually a BIGGER fan of the show than cromartie )

Not at all, Soundy, I loved the show, too... I was the one who brought it up in the first place, right from the very start of this thread!

When I lived back east in the 1980s and early 90s (way back east, I mean), the Halifax-based Atlantic Satellite Network (ASN) used to air syndicated episodes around 6pm weekdays, and I'm fairly sure they were unedited. I definitely remember the Elton John reference remaining intact. It's been a long time since I saw it (over 15 years, maybe even 20), but I seem to recall a snippet of the song itself played earlier in the episode as well.

The Thanksgiving episode is a classic television moment, with Nessman's live field report of the turkey carnage reminiscent of Herbert Morrison's account of the Hindenburg disaster ("Oh, the humanity!"), and Carlson sheepishly declaring, "With God as my witness, I swear I thought turkeys could fly."

I don't think I've ever seen the edited version of the censorship episode — in which John Lennon's Imagine figured prominently — but I suppose that one got hacked to death as well.

[Soundy]

I was just reading pretty much the same thing on the show's imdb entry:

Unfortuantely the practice also completely ruined most episodes, to the point that I won't buy the DVD sets (and this was one of my all-time favorite shows as well). I've recorded most of them from when The Comedy Network was running the show, but still can barely watch many of them. Worst example: "The Americanization of Ivan", with the Russian visitor wanting to defect. A couple of times he quotes Elton John's "Tiny Dancer", except his words have been overdubbed from "Hold me closer, tiny dancer" to "Hold my order, terrible dresser." Not only does it make NO sense, but it absolutely destroys the joke in the final scene.

It wasn't a matter of "difficulty getting clearance" for the music, though, it was just a matter of not wanting to pay the license fees. This also had nothing to do with the length of time it took to release the DVDs, as the butchered versions were running in syndication long before old-TV-shows-on-DVD became a big deal. If the music licensing was paid for, the full, unedited versions could still be used.

(Sorry, didn't mean to further derail this thread, but this is a particular sore spot for me, since I'm probably one of the few that's actually a BIGGER fan of the show than cromartie )

Not at all, Soundy, I loved the show, too... I was the one who brought it up in the first place, right from the very start of this thread!

I know that, didn't mean to suggest you weren't "one of the few" as well!

When I lived back east in the 1980s and early 90s (way back east, I mean), the Halifax-based Atlantic Satellite Network (ASN) used to air syndicated episodes around 6pm weekdays, and I'm fairly sure they were unedited. I definitely remember the Elton John reference remaining intact. It's been a long time since I saw it (over 15 years, maybe even 20), but I seem to recall a snippet of the song itself played earlier in the episode as well.

The song, I believe, was actually played twice in the episode, including once at the end, as Ivan leaves and the credits roll.

Pretty sure it was only within the last, oh, probably 10-12 years that the hacked versions appeared.

The Thanksgiving episode is a classic television moment, with Nessman's live field report of the turkey carnage reminiscent of Herbert Morrison's account of the Hindenburg disaster ("Oh, the humanity!"), and Carlson sheepishly declaring, "With God as my witness, I swear I thought turkeys could fly."

ROFL! That's one, at least, that doesn't suffer from the butchering

I don't think I've ever seen the edited version of the censorship episode — in which John Lennon's Imagine figured prominently — but I suppose that one got hacked to death as well.

Actually, it didn't. That one ("Clean Up Radio Everywhere", season 3, ep. 22) was left intact (at least the "Imagine" lyrics).

"'Image all the people, sharing all the world?' That sounds like Communism to me!"

[Soundy]

Actually, just remembered, they also changed Les Nessman's big "intro fanfare"... now THAT'S hurtin'!

But like I said, I have almost all the eps here, a few downloaded, most recorded off Comedy Network... if there's anything you're looking for, let me know And if you happen to have any old VHS copies of NON-BUTCHERED versions, I'd be glad to rip them to the computer.

[Bosco]

[The Thanksgiving episode is a classic television moment, with Nessman's live field report of the turkey carnage reminiscent of Herbert Morrison's account of the Hindenburg disaster ("Oh, the humanity!"), and Carlson sheepishly declaring, "With God as my witness, I swear I thought turkeys could fly."

.

Johnny Fever to Venus Flytrap before they went to Les at the Pinedale Shopping Centre: "Are you ready for ...whatever?"

Venus: "Always" :lol: