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Enough already Fox. Are we EVER going to see WKRP released? (1 Viewer)

Dave Scarpa

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I'm not Saturday night Live alwaysd gravitated to the Alt-music scene some what, clearing Patty Smith and The Rembrandts are easier than Clearing 60's and 70's rock supergroups.
 

Derek K.

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I may be in the minority, but I say, release these puppies any way you can (with or without music replacements).
 

HenryDuBrow

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I agree with Derek, I'm a HUGE fan of this show and I want it no matter what, it's simply a too important show not to be released. Thank God, Fox are aware. The songs played were never that important to me, I love it for the jokes, and the superb ensamble cast. It's IMO the best sitcom ever, but even I can live with music replacements. What I can't live with though, is cut-out scenes. We demand this UNCUT, as far as scenes are concerned, no syndication editing can be accepted. Period. If they can clear the music rights, great, and I hope they can. Fingers crossed.
 

Dan*T

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How do we find out if this is still being pursued?
Gord, any chance you could look into this ( I know..again)

I'm with Henry on this one. I obviously want all the original music, but would buy it in a heartbeat. No matter what, as long as the scenes were not butchered. I'd take this show anyway I could get it.
As I'm sure plenty of the baby boomer generation who watched it every week would as well!

Thanks for all the input guys, this has turned out to be a great thread!
That's what this forum is all about!! :)
 

Linda Thompson

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But, you can't have it both ways. You simply cannot have both music substitutions AND unaltered scenes.

Did you check out the list to which I posted a link before? Even with the music alterations which have already had to be made for the show's latter-day syndication runs, there are many cases in which dialogue has had to be altered, left out, or re-recorded by vocal impersonators. To me, that definitely constitutes the sort of altering you both say you could NOT accept.

Consider this... Even something as simple as the scene in which Mr. Carlson walks into the booth while Johnny is playing Pink Floyd's "Dogs"...Mr. Carlson listens a moment and then asks "Do I hear dogs?" Johnny answers "I do."

If the rights to "Dogs" couldn't be negotiated, how would you suggest that scene be handled on a DVD release? Would the rest of the episode work without that one scene? In the overall scheme of things, yes. But, would I be satisfied if that scene were altered in any way, or left out completely? Absolutely not.

Several here (including the two I quoted above) have stated that they would accept music alterations but NOT cut or altered scenes, but that simply is not possible. That's just the way it is with shows like this...you CAN'T alter the music without altering the scenes themselves.
 

Kevin Segura

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Well, the reason they're able to do it for SNL is two-fold: a) Lorne Michaels is willing to put up the money to license the songs from the respective publishers; and b) Lorne **only** has to deal with the publishers, instead of the publishers **plus** the various record labels, which is what he'd have to do if he were trying to license the original hit recordings of those songs.

As an example, Lorne might have to pay a music publisher $10,000 (a fairly standard amount) to license Paul Simon's "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" for a live performance on his show, but if the producers of WKRP need to clear that same song, they've likely used the hit record version, so they'll pay Simon's publishers $10,000, plus an additional amount (which may equal or surpass the publisher's fee) to the record label to license the hit recording. As you might guess, with something as music-heavy as WKRP, there's practically no conceivable way they could recoup that investment from the existing fan base of the program... assuming, of course, that they could clear everything in the first place.

I'm afraid the economics of the music industry are going to be a continual stumbling block in the release of this series...

-Kevin
 

Dave Scarpa

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I also fear this series would look on par with another 70's series All in the Family. I believed this is another taped show and every syndication print I've seen, the show looks as thou it's being viewed thru a veil of haze. I wonder how good these would look on DVD
 

MatthewA

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Well, on the "Mama's Family" thread, someone said the syndication versions were at least 6 generations removed from the original.

Assuming their storage has been adequate, the original tapes to WKRP would be better quality (or at least a digi-beta transfer from the original 1" or 2" tapes, which a theoretical DVD release would use). "What's Happening," for instance was a taped sitcom from the same time (and actually used the same post-production facility as WKRP, Golden West) and the DVDs look far superior to syndicated versions.

"All in the Family" looks bad in any version because Norman Lear wanted it to look as ugly as possible. He didn't even want color; CBS made him shoot in color. Someone once commented that the Bunkers' living room looked like something out of the Great Depression. Other videotaped 1970s shows on DVD look better.
 

HenryDuBrow

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I think it could be done. In the dogs scene, just insert dogs barking instead of the Floyd song, wouldn't that be possible? It wouldn't be a biggie to me. Even altered dialogue I can live with, to be honest. I know it sounds terrible to say, but it'd just be a few snippets, nothing earthshattering or plot hurting (hopefully). It's either that or syndications, and I won't have those. Whole scenes left out, is what I won't accept.
 

george kaplan

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Wow! The degree to which people are willing to live with music replacement, edited episodes, etc., never fails to astound me. :frowning:
 

HenryDuBrow

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Depends on what you mean by 'edited', I don't think many here are willing to live with episodes missing scenes. That is my sole point. I love WKRP, I consider it the best sitcom ever, best written, best cast, it's just perfect and TV comedy doesn't get any better that this. But I'm also tired of waiting...still, I don't want some half-ass job by Fox, but want them to do the best they can to secure it as complete (and authentic) as possible.
 

Scott_F_S

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You seem to be contradicting yourself. You say it would be OK to replace the music, but you don't want some half-ass job and you want it complete and authentic? I'm confused.
 

HenryDuBrow

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I don't see it's contradictory, I won't mind good music replacements, not something half-baked. By authentic I mean, if they need to loop lines, that it's as authentic as can be. All this can hopefully be avoided (though I won't say no to it), if they can secure the music rights and thereby make it original and complete. In essence, I won't mind it either way, it's the shoddy syndications I don't want. :)
 

Curtis F

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That looks pretty promising, but I think I'll hold the applause until I see something more definite.
 

David Rain

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I like this show and am surprised that it's not currently airing in syndication on any of the big channels but I would not want this on DVD if there were a lot of changes done to it. If that would involve not only removing songs but also replacing dialogue and/or entire scenes then that could easily become a butcher job.

I shudder to think what a first season DVD release would look & sound like. Perhaps they've recast Loni Anderson with Ruth Buzzi.
 

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