Of all the sitcoms I’ve ever seen over the years on TV, there were few that were actually funny. WKRP had a winning formula: a collective set of personalities at a radio station getting into various situations, backed by a music soundtrack that echoed the story line. Andy Travis (played by Gary Sandy) was almost like the administrator at the funny farm, with all of his “patients” finding themselves in all sorts of different situations: Herb forever chasing Jennifer, Les always wishing for this traffic helicopter and an office of his own, Mr. Carlson always trying to hustle for a dollar…it was a great show, and it is finally coming out on DVD! So, why are so many fans upset over the new DVD Season 1 box set?
Fox (the studio releasing the set) had a few years to clear the licensing for the songs used in the series, which supposedly was the hold-up to releasing this on DVD. So here it is, 2007, and we finally have the set. And what do we discover?
1) We are getting the “chopped” versions of the show, which were the versions released in syndication. Only, it is being reported that some of these episode are further chopped. Because…
2) The majority of the original music has been removed from the episodes. So when we see Les Nessman getting ready for a date, we no longer hear “Hot Blooded”. When Jennifer’s doorbell rings, we hear a public domain song rather than the 13 notes from “Fly Me To The Moon”. Songs were either replaced, or the scenes the songs were in, were cut from the episode. If anything, Fox (or the retailers) should put a prominent sticker on the package mentioning the episodes are not full-length, and missing the original music; truth in labeling.
For a great, in-depth overview of the cuts made to the first season, read the WKRP DVD Not OK article posted on the Something Old, Nothing New blog.
Amazon customers have already voted on this DVD set, and it’s overwhelmingly negative. Discussion boards around the internet are buzzing with the bad news about this set. This may be one set that fails in the marketplace once word gets out that it is butchered so heavily. Personally, I would only consider borrowing this set to watch it–I would not even pay to rent the bloody thing. If and when Fox ever gets it right and releases the episodes intact, as originally released, I’ll be first in line…and I’ll gladly pay extra to have the original music where it belongs.
Until then, forget it! We can only hope this DVD will be a “stiff” for Fox, and they’ll learn their lesson: give the fans what they want! I’ve already voted with my wallet and will not buy this set, and my posting here will hopefully help others to avoid making the mistake of buying this highly flawed DVD set.