screwing with WKRP in Cincinnati . . . it's heresy, I tell ya! . . .

[OneBlueSky]

http://members.allstream.net/~jacjud/wkrpmusic.html

"If you've watched "WKRP In Cincinnati" on the Comedy Network in Canada, or on TNN in the United States, or on the commercial videotapes released in 1998, then you may have noticed that some of the music has been changed. You may have also noticed some dialogue changes, as in one episode that now has a nonsense line ("Hold my order, terrible dresser") replacing a quote from Elton John's "Tiny Dancer." This page will try to explain what's happened to the music on "WKRP," and why. Originally, nearly all the music played on the show was real rock music by real artists, both in "WKRP"'s CBS run and in the subsequent syndicated reruns. But in the last few years, a new package of "WKRP" episodes has been distributed, and much of the music has been replaced by generic instrumental music from a music library, or by sound-alike "fake" songs. Also, some of the dialogue has been redubbed by voice impersonators, usually when the actors were speaking over the music, but sometimes to remove references to songs that have been replaced. Since these "redubbed" versions of "WKRP" first appeared, the questions that have most often been asked are:

1) Who did this?
2) Why was the music replaced?
3) How come some stations still show "WKRP" with the original music?
4) Which episodes have had songs replaced?"

- much more . . .

http://members.allstream.net/~jacjud/wkrpmusic.html

[lazarus]

1. easily answered

1) The syndication company

2) They no longer held the rights to the music.

3) Only those stations that still have tapes from the earliest syndication deal have the original music.

4) I dunno.

[punpirate]

2. I was all set to buy the DVD of "1984" until...

... I discovered that the Eurythmics score had been removed in that release. The original was produced by Virgin Films and released by Orion, but the DVD version was released by MGM/UA. No real explanation for the change, and it could be that MGM/UA chose not to pay royalties to the Eurythmics, but it's just as likely that the Eurythmics were not signed with any MGM/UA subsidiary, and MGM thought that the original release would promote the intellectual property of a competitor.

So much for some things never changing....

[Systematic Chaos]

3. They butchered WKRP? Man that sucks!

I fell in love with that show at about the same time I became addicted to top-40 music in 1978 or '79. I have always wanted to collect the episodes of that show, especially since conversations I had with a former DJ a couple of years ago confirmed just how true to the radio scene that show usually was. I hope there's some completist out there who has good copies of the ORIGINAL shows before the butchering. I'd sure like to watch them again sometime.

[proud patriot]

4. Johnny Fever Raised me

LOL...My dad would get a kick out of that :-)

That's a bummer about the music ...

Remember the classic Thankgiving episode when the dropped
the Turkeys out of the airplane ..The absolute funniest moment
on T.V. you know the kind that puts tears in your eyes it's so funny .

[Buns_of_Fire]

5. Oh, the humanity!

(Truly a classic.)

[punpirate]

6. The Thanksgiving show...

... I have it on tape (for personal use only, according to law, of course).

Cheers.

[blondeatlast]

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

OhmiGod, that has got to be the funniest scene ever on the tube.

[FlashHarry]

7. WKRP never 'Jumped the Shark'

According to the site in question, and I happen to agree.

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

[blondeatlast]

9. Great site! Just one thing--There was one (precisely) "Blossom"

episode, the day she got her period. The only dream sequence that ever added to a show. Ever.