liz_marcs: Jeff and Annie in Trobed's bathroom during Remedial Chaos Theory (Homicide_Quote_Work_To_Be_Stupid)
liz_marcs ([personal profile] liz_marcs) wrote2007-04-20 11:12 am

You Might Want To Cancel That WKRP in Cincinnati Order

Sorry for disappearing off everyone's radar this week. I got whammed with the flu pretty hard and couldn't even sit upright for extended periods of time until yesterday.

I know I've missed a ton (news-wise, life-wise, blood-pressure-raising-wise), but this little nugget came across my view before I got sick. I meant to post it but...well, the flu waits for no woman.

If you've ordered WKRP in Cincinnati, you may want to cancel your order. It appears that not only has all of the music been replaced, the episodes on the DVD have been butchered even worse than the versions used in the 1990 syndication packages to cover up for the loss of all that music.

Scroll down the Amazon product page and check out the number of customers who've canceled their orders in the wake of the news.

The proprietor of Against Monopoly, who claims to have worked for MTM and on the syndication package for WKRP explains that there's a good chance that the original as-aired series may not even officially exist at this point. (He originally wrote about the legal issues and problems in blog entry 2 years ago.)

Jaime Weinman over at Something Old, Something New received an advanced copy of the First Season DVD and has detailed the artistic butchery that makes the "official DVD release" an even lesser product than the WKRP in Cincinnati episodes you may have taped in the 1990s with your VCR. (If you're interested in seeing how the 1990 syndicated version butchered the original version, this page has the details.)

It appears that bootleg DVDs of WKRP in Cincinnati are about to get one hell of a sales boost.

At any rate, I've canceled my order with Amazon, primarily because if I'm going to be buying a television show on DVD, I want the whole damn thing. As aired. After all, that's what I'm paying for.

I can understand if some of the music had to be replaced, but the press release said era-appropriate music would be used if the rights to the originals couldn't be purchased. Nothing about ripping apart the actual show material on top of it.

I think this is called false advertising, right?
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[identity profile] lillian13.livejournal.com 2007-04-20 04:02 pm (UTC)(link)
Reminds me of how they've done some other shows. "Profit" was recorded at such poor quality that after seeing it at a friend's house I vowed not to buy it until they did a better transfer. And I adore that show.
The original "Highlander" movie is the same---muddy, bad tape-to-dvd conversion. (I can get those for free!) And it took until the latest release of "Jaws" to get all the original music back into that...sigh.

[identity profile] sunnyd-lite.livejournal.com 2007-04-20 04:19 pm (UTC)(link)
Sorry to hear you've had the flu. *sends brouth and crackers* Hope you're feeling more yourself soon

[identity profile] liz-marcs.livejournal.com 2007-04-20 04:21 pm (UTC)(link)
I blame the meds. I may have something to send you tonight. *evil grin*

[identity profile] halfmoon-mollie.livejournal.com 2007-04-20 04:29 pm (UTC)(link)
oh, thank you so much for posting this. I canceled my order...and in four days it would have been sent. HOW DISAPPOINTING IS THIS?

[identity profile] jeffreyab.livejournal.com 2007-04-20 04:35 pm (UTC)(link)
You would think in a show that played few songs complete that the music rights holders could regard them as free ads for their full length music and hence not charge.

[identity profile] halfmoon-mollie.livejournal.com 2007-04-20 04:46 pm (UTC)(link)
In this day of free downloads and streaming audio internet radio stations, I can understand WHY they don't.

Musicians, after all, work for their money.

But as mentioned earlier, if you're going to advertise something it should be the TRUTH. The law frowns on anything else.

[identity profile] texanfan.livejournal.com 2007-04-20 05:54 pm (UTC)(link)
Glad the flu has released it's grip on you.

That's horribly disappointing about the DVD release of WKRP. Even worse news is the fact that the original episodes may no longer exist. I'm usually completely against bootleg anything, but if it's impossible to get the product you want any other way, fair game I say.

[identity profile] desoto-hia873.livejournal.com 2007-04-20 08:12 pm (UTC)(link)
:-(

I am deeply tragified to read this. I was so looking forward to seeing the show again.

[identity profile] faithhopetricks.livejournal.com 2007-04-20 10:16 pm (UTC)(link)
Awww. Damn.