So last month I get a really strange typo-ridden email from someone at a PR firm. It seems that they read my blog and thought that I would like to review a copy of the WKRP In Cincinnati Season 1 DVD. How did they come to this determination? I think it was because I mentioned WKRP’s Howard Hesseman in a blog post a few months earlier. I guess they went through every single Blogger site that mentioned him and sent emails out. Nevermind that this is an MP3 blog and I rarely review anything but whatever.
Anyways, I had already heard that WKRP was coming to DVD, and I already decided that I wasn’t going to buy it because the selfish cockmongers at Fox decided that they didn’t want to shell out the money needed to get the rights to the original music in the show. Instead of hearing classics like ‘Hot Blooded’ and Pink Floyd’s ‘Dogs’ there would be generic stock music instead. Adding insult to injury was that several episodes would have cut scenes or pathetically redubbed dialog to remove music that couldn’t be easily replaced. But I never miss the opportunity for free stuff so I gladly replied and said I’d like a copy. Besides, I wanted to see how bad the edits were for myself.
Now, I never got to see WKRP the first time around, since it premiered a year before I was born. But even I noticed the awful edits and audio redubs. They completely ruin the feel and flow of the show. Jokes are removed, there are sudden cuts and the whole thing just feels funky (and not in the good George Clinton kind of way). I was so distracting and annoying that I couldn’t get all the way through the first disc. Fuck this weak shit.
If you’re a fan of the show do yourself a favor and avoid this shitstorm of a DVD like the plague. The worthless pricks at Fox didn’t even try to make this shit watchable for the show’s hardcore fanbase (which is large and vocal) and they don’t even cop up to the fact that the episodes are edited. There’s a disclaimer saying that some of the music had been replaced, but nothing is mentioned about the missing footage. How can they get away with calling this “The Complete First Season”? Complete pile of bullshit is more like it.
If this third-term abortion of a DVD release somehow sells enough to warrant a 2nd season release it ought to be very interesting. The second season of WKRP had a very powerful episode about The Who concert tragedy that featured music by The Who. Removing that music would be a disgrace and would destroy a powerful episode. Of course, that’s probably not going to happen because no one is going to buy this enema-bag of a box set.
If you really love WKRP and want to see the show as it should be, uncut and unedited then look online. You can get bootlegs of the entire series for the same price as this Season One set. And while the quality may not be picture perfect, at least you’ll be seeing the real shit. You know that’s the set that Johnny Rocket would buy.
On a slightly related note I doubt that I’ll be getting any more emails from Fox PR reps asking me if I want to review their product.
Richard Wright – Wet Dreams
In memory of WKRP I wanted to put up some ’70s rock tonight. I’m a pretty big fan of The Pink Floyd and was happy when I scored this debut record from their keyboardist. Originally released in 1978 (the same year WKRP first aired) it garnered no hit singles and quickly sank into obscurity, like most of the other solo albums by the members of Pink Floyd, but it’s actually pretty good and sounds more like Pink Floyd than Pink Floyd did at the time. With all the recent hubbub surrounding the band I’m surprised it hasn’t been re-released. I don’t put up full albums that much, but this sucker is OOP and I’ve seen it online for over a hundred bucks. That’s fucked up.