WKRP...Complete Series Coming Soon! (See Post #109) (1 Viewer)

[younger1968]

I heard the WKRP Season 1 DVD set was a disaster on all fronts and this is what has been hindering Happy Days from continuing onwards with future releases since the shows are so heavily music-based, but hoping this all gets somewhat cleared up to continue both series, but the chances might be slim to none at it happening.

The music rights/cuts caused issues with the quality. I will admit S1 could have been better, but people got to caught up with the music. Yes, I like the music, but the reality is the music did not make the show me! I glad I have S1 as it has the "Fish Story", "Turkey Drop", "The Commercial" , which are some of my favorite episodes. I would love further season, especially the episode with the phone cops!

Paul

 

[HenryDuBrow]

Because the music was always 'live' in the scenes and thus on the tape, many scenes/bits of dialog had to be removed completely so it wasn't just a matter of removing or replacing the music soundtrack. So much dialog had to be taken out, sadly.

 

[Vahan_Nisanain]

Because the music was always 'live' in the scenes and thus on the tape, many scenes/bits of dialog had to be removed completely so it wasn't just a matter of removing or replacing the music soundtrack. So much dialog had to be taken out, sadly.

And not only that, but they even had to go back and redub some of the dialogue with horrible (and I mean HORRIBLE) sound-a-like voice-actors.

The only sure way to see this show exactly as it originally aired would be to go back in time and record all 90 episodes from the original night-of-the-first-broadcast airings.

WKRP in Cincinnatti: The As Nature Intended Edition. Now THAT'S a homemade DVD set worth paying money for.

 

[JoeDoakes]

And not only that, but they even had to go back and redub some of the dialogue with horrible (and I mean HORRIBLE) sound-a-like voice-actors.

The only sure way to see this show exactly as it originally aired would be to go back in time and record all 90 episodes from the original night-of-the-first-broadcast airings.

WKRP in Cincinnatti: The As Nature Intended Edition. Now THAT'S a homemade DVD set worth paying money for.

Yes, I really wished that Time Life had gone for that rather than China Beach. As for recording it on original broadcast, I have heard that there was someone who did just that (not me).

 

[Scott511]

. As for recording it on original broadcast, I have heard that there was someone who did just that (not me).

I too have seen a few people say they have the whole CBS run, but I've never personally confirmed that.

I have the episodes all dubbed from the Victory Television syndication masters,(I was friend with a guy who worked at the station that ran them) but besides possible music substitutions, obviously a couple of minutes are cut from each episode.

Does anyone have a master list of all the original music featured in the original broadcasts? Episode by episode?

 

[Vahan_Nisanain]

Does anyone have a master list of all the original music featured in the original broadcasts? Episode by episode?

This might be it.

http://www.oocities.org/wkrpvote/music.htm

 

[derosa]

In addition to the site posted above, which has great info on the syndication changes,
this blog has extensive posts about the music substitution issues from wkrp on dvd.
http://zvbxrpl.blogspot.ca/2007/03/wkrp-dvd-not-ok.html

The original show episodes run about 25 minutes, the syndicated ones
are trimmed to about 22 minutes,. There are original versions "out there",
this blog has other links to some, a few episodes are on youtube.

 

[Vahan_Nisanain]

Honestly, I was most surprised at the Patton theme being replaced. You'd think that Fox would be able to clear it, given that Fox owns both this show and the movie Patton. But nope. No such thing.

 

[JMFabianoRPL]

And not only that, but they even had to go back and redub some of the dialogue with horrible (and I mean HORRIBLE) sound-a-like voice-actors.

This, and they would as such often dub over their lines with nonsense words, as in the Ivan example. Think: a network version of R-rated movies, Mister Falcon.

And I still want to know which version Antenna showed.

 

[Vahan_Nisanain]

Wikipedia says that some of the episodes on AntennaTV have the original music intact. But as we all know, Wikipedia is NOT 100% accurate.

For example, the Eight is Enough page claimed that the pilot episode was originally a special 90-minute episode (74 minutes without commercials), but in actuality, it was always a regular one-hour episode (followed by the half-hour premiere of Three's Comapny). I had to go and change that.

 

[Scott511]

Thanks for the links guys! I will check those out.

I can't say about the music heard in the episodes being broadcast by Antenna TV, but I can say some of the episodes are either uncut, or very close. I've been recording and at times they run 24 minutes and some change. I'd have to look to be sure, but my episodes from the 80's Victory Television masters I think run 22:13.

Also, the 2 episodes broadcast on CBS in a one hour format are shown on Antenna TV just like that, not in 2 parts. Probably the first time viewers have had a chance to see those shows in that manner since the CBS airing.

 

[HenryDuBrow]

And not only that, but they even had to go back and redub some of the dialogue with horrible (and I mean HORRIBLE) sound-a-like voice-actors.

The only sure way to see this show exactly as it originally aired would be to go back in time and record all 90 episodes from the original night-of-the-first-broadcast airings.

WKRP in Cincinnatti: The As Nature Intended Edition. Now THAT'S a homemade DVD set worth paying money for.

I'm wondering if foreign places where it was shown, might still have those uncut versions and with a bit of luck could show them again. Maybe even DVD releases due to different music rights. I wrote the R2 company that released Malcolm in the Middle and Chicago Hope, they initially claimed WKRP wasn't known in the UK but it turned out it was indeed aired there. As mentioned, it was also shown in its original form in the late 1980s in Scandinavia (where it also ran in the late 1970s/early '80s).

 

[Professor Echo]

As far as some comments regarding this topic where the feeling is that something is better than nothing, I think there is another side to this that I haven't seen mentioned. And that is that DVD's aren't the only use for this music. My guess is that the charge for a particular song is the same regardless of how it is going to be used. Whether that be in a Super Bowl ad costing millions of dollars or a DVD release of an obscure title. So in many of these cases it might just be smart business to keep the price at a higher standard to reap the benefits of what would be consider higher profit ventures, and risk losing out on some minor benefits gained in lesser DVD releases even if this doesn't sit well with classic TV collectors. Just a thought.

I believe this is accurate, but can't unequivocally say so. However, I will say that years ago when I was shooting a film for a non-profit organization, one that was only intended to be shown in film festivals and for which none of us were being paid, I wanted to incorporate about 45 seconds of a song from an obscure Australian band. I personally wrote to their representatives a long letter explaining about the project and our intentions with it, included all pertinent material to substantiate my claims and stated what we could afford to pay for the 45 seconds of excerpted music. A month later I received a form letter with two sentences saying what their standard fee was and it was outrageously expensive! Needless to say, I never responded and didn't use their music.

 

[HenryDuBrow]

Speaking of Australia, maybe Madman could do something with WKRP now that they're releasing The Ghost and Mrs. Muir which is a Fox show.

 

[JoeDoakes]

Speaking of Australia, maybe Madman could do something with WKRP now that they're releasing The Ghost and Mrs. Muir which is a Fox show.

Do they ever have any sales? Every time I look into ordering McCloud from them, it never seems to be less than about

$300.

 

[MatthewA]

Even though WKRP was shot on videotape, what would stop Fox from releasing the show in Europe where music copyright laws are different, on region free BDs & make us all happy to import?

Did they even air this show outside of North America? A lot of popular American sitcoms are virtually unknown in the UK.

 

[Sam Posten]

Neat:
http://kenlevine.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-inaccuracies-of-wkrp-in-cincinnati.html

 

[Lord Dalek]

Even though WKRP was shot on videotape, what would stop Fox from releasing the show in Europe where music copyright laws are different, on region free BDs & make us all happy to import?

Simple... PAL Standards.

 

[Frank Soyke]

Honestly, all this rights wrangling among these greedy folks is what forces honest collectors to find "alternative means" to get these shows either at all, or without music replacement. I know there are several shows that I can say with fairly decent certainty will never be properly released I have resorted to "creative means" to get. Distributors have to understand that a real fan of The Wonder Years or some other favorite series isn't going to wait forever to possibly never have their beloved show. Eventually, the fan will get frustrated and get it by whatever means they need to. That's millions the distributors and the rights holders will lose due to sheer greed and being stubborn. If you ask me, it was serve them right if they made nothing off these shows if that's the way they want to play it. I have other comments on this one but I'll leave it at that so as not to violate forum rules

 

[Hasslein]

Simple... PAL Standards.

I don't understand, what does PAL have to do with blu-ray, if everything is HD?