"As God Is My Witness, I Thought Turkeys Could Fly"
Belated Turkey Day clip: One of the funniest TV moments of all-time.
Related: WKRP was probably my favorite show as a kid, though I'm pretty sure my interest started well after the show was canceled, and into syndication. There weren't enough O's in "cool" to describe Dr. Johnny Fever and Venus Flytrap. I was a Bailey guy, myself, but Jennifer Marlowe's tight sweaters sure could wreak havoc on a 14-year-old libido. Less Nessman's "walls," Herb Tarlek's suits. Good times. I nearly cried when Gordon Jump died a few years ago.
So I was pretty bummed when I stumbled across an article in Wired last year describing why WKRP will probably never make it to DVD. The reason? Big Music.
WKRP in Cincinnati was one of the most popular television shows of the late '70s and early '80s, but it is unlikely ever to be released on DVD because of high music-licensing costs.
The show, which centered on a fledging radio station with a nerdy news director and wild disc jockeys, had a lively soundtrack, playing tunes from rock 'n' rollers like Ted Nugent, Foreigner, Elton John and the Eagles.
For many TV shows, costs to license the original music for DVD are prohibitively high, so rights owners replace the music with cheaper tunes, much to the irritation of avid fans. And some shows, like WKRP, which is full of music, will probably never make it to DVD because of high licensing costs.
It sometimes seems like the recording industry actually sits around a table a few times a week to brainstorm new ways to make its customers hate it.