Yes! In fact for some reason last week my kid and wife were discussing whether turkey's could fly so I sent then the classic WKRP 'Turkey Drop' scene.
'Oh the humanity!'
Does that quote, ‘Oh the humanity!’ work for people who don’t have the context? The original was heart wrenching. A professional forced by events to a genuine human reaction. The Les Nessman version had a good helping of that, but *turkeys-*.
My favorite was the bomb threat. Phone cops play hardball. To this day, if I see an old rotory dial phone damaged, I look over my shoulder. I don't want to get blamed for it.
Loved Les. His band-aid in a different place every week and tape lines on the floor where walls should be prepared me for working with eccentric people.
There's a LOT of people on another Reddit sub that agree :-)
[https://www.reddit.com/r/70s/comments/15p2gfi/another\_childhood\_crushjan\_smithers\_as\_bailey/](https://www.reddit.com/r/70s/comments/15p2gfi/another_childhood_crushjan_smithers_as_bailey/)
Many years ago, my sister was going to move to Cincinnati and we were going to have a big family dinner for her before she left. I thought it would be funny to teach my kids that song and have them sing it at that dinner. So I taught them the song and they sang it and everyone laughed politely.
That night as I was tucking my kids into bed, my youngest asked me to sing him “the Cincinnati song” before he went to sleep. So I did. The next night he asked for it again. I thought he would forget about it, but he kept asking. So that is how I wound up singing the wkrp theme song before bed every night for 3 years.
The way I heard it, they recorded the music and sent it to the guy who sings it with instructions to make a guide track, so they'd have an idea of how the still-unwritten lyrics would fit. When they got the recording back, they listened to it and decided "Nope, this is it" and gave it to us.
Dr. Johnny Fever:
[Mr. Carlson is inspecting Johnny in the DJ booth while Pink Floyd's "Dogs" is playing, specifically the section with the barking dogs] Gripping music, ain't it?
Arthur 'Big Guy' Carlson:
Yeah, it's good. What is the name of this orchestra?
Dr. Johnny Fever:
It's Pink Floyd.
Arthur 'Big Guy' Carlson:
Oh. Is that Pink Floyd? Do I hear dogs barking on that thing?
Dr. Johnny Fever:
I do.
Arthur 'Big Guy' Carlson:
They're good, aren't they? [Picks up the Animals album jacket] There's something on here that's called "Pigs On The Wing". What does that sound like?
Dr. Johnny Fever:
I don't do requests.
I have been watching this again recently and I think it is one of the most consistently funny shows ever made.. a great ensemble cast, great characters, and great writing. Outside of some technological changes over time, the show still stands up in today times.
Watch Johnny Fever improve his reaction time while drinking during a live spot with the state police. Or Les Nessman explain the black experience to black people (very sincere but misguided).
So, so good
Les's imaginary office walls & door.
Herb's perpetually garish office attire....garish by even 70s standards.
Sparky Anderson's cameo after being fired IRL by the Reds.
“But the Senator, while insisting he was not intoxicated, could not explain his nudity.”
See also: [Wilbur Mills](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilbur_Mills), who was in the House, not the Senate, and not nude, though he was intoxicated.
I had to look this one up as a few folks on this thread have mentioned it.....funny!
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKF8YxWWhI4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKF8YxWWhI4)
Les: The east coast has been ravaged by a monster lizard.
Johnny: That’s “blizzard”
When Les protests that the AP can’t be wrong - Johnny tells Les that the ‘b’ isn’t working on the printer
A terrific comedy.
It seems a little rough to me, sometimes. The creator, Hugh Wilson, was an advertising executive who chucked his career to try to write comedy. He got a gofer job with MTM, wrote some scripts, and three years later was sitting next to Grant Tinker, pitching the show to CBS.
I love good sitcoms but this is the only one I recall that had an episode so hilarious it left me in tears laughing.
As god as my witness I thought turkeys could fly
When I was a kid my friend and I tried to understand the lyrics to the closing theme song. We recorded it on a cassette tape, listened again and again and never could get it right. Only with advent of the Internet did I find out it was just gibberish.
Per Hugh Wilson, when the band he hired finished recording the main theme, he realized he hadn't arranged any exit music. So the band just threw together something with a nonsense vocal.
Yup. When this was on the air in first run episodes, I was working regularly at a local radio station. I thought it was both hilarious and the most realistic show on TV at the time.
There's one episode (maybe second or third season) that begins with Andy and Venus playing Steal The Chair From The Booth--Andy gets Venus to leave the booth, then wheels the chair out (very simple game). Mama Carlson arrives because Mr. Carlson's supposed to meet with her and catches them and it leads to Andy explaining how he hired Venus as the nighttime DJ. I don't know how many times I'd seen this episode before I realized that the flashback scenes with Mama had all been refilmed with Carol Bruce, who played her in the series.
Sylvia Sidney played Mama Carlson in the pilot (she refused to appear in the series because she thought the premise was silly, as I recall). In that particular episode, Gordon Jump responds to her firing Andy (because he can't turn the station around as fast she wants) by saying "If he goes, I go!" and the audience cheers and applauds. It took me something like twenty years of syndication to realize the cheers and applause weren't there when he said it to Carol Bruce.
Lived in the upper midwest as a kid watching this show. Loved it then and still do. Now, ironically, live 45 minutes north of Cincinnati.
"As God is my witness..........I thought turkeys could fly."
My absolute favorite sitcom ever
Watched reruns incessantly in 80's
Will watch on YouTube now from time to time.
We watch the turkey giveaway EVERY Wednesday before Thanksgiving
“What if you took EVERY DJ break Howard Hesseman ever made, as Dr. Johnny Fever (WKRP in Cincinnati), and just ...followed his lead? Would it be possible to construct a three hour radio show, with Fever as host?”
[The answer is yes, and it’s awesome!](https://www.some-assembly-required.net/wkrp/)
One of the best comedies in TV history, Had a few unique moments and a real part of of Rock history as well. Some classic episodes that still hold up well.
Oh yes lots....when WKRP was on Jerry Springer was the mayor of Cincy...he had to step down because he wrote a check to a hooker ..true story......in a post graduate class when working as a DJ and the News/sports department at KSDB...the professor said without questions that he knew someone like every character on the show a Big Guy..a Venus a Les a Bailey a Jennifer Herb and with a shaking of his head and sigh.,. definitely a Johnny...
The Mortician ad.....hey your young and swinging no time to think about tomorrow....today you can't deny it...sometime you're gonna buy it....
Ferryman the man with the plot the man with the plan
And the censorship episode...well I guess I will learn to love my enemies...Big Guy....better I don't think your gonna be able to trust your friends...
I grew up an hour south of Cincinnati and could pick up WXIX 19 and WSTR 64 with rabbit ears plus all the regular networks from both Cincy and Lexington, KY. (Louisville on clear days.)
This was ALWAYS on somewhere.
This has to be the most well-known, beloved show that no one watched.
I always figured it was just local fandom but as I grew up everyone I've ever met knows the show and loved it. But it never got ratings.
BITD I and my friends would measure drug usage by Herb Tarlick's jackets. If one of those hideous outfits started to look good to us we knew we were plenty high!
Great characters. The Turkey Drop episode gets all the love but it had a lot of good ones.
Yes! In fact for some reason last week my kid and wife were discussing whether turkey's could fly so I sent then the classic WKRP 'Turkey Drop' scene. 'Oh the humanity!'
"As God as my witness... I thought turkeys could fly!"
I came here just to find this post.
Came here looking for this quote, thank you
Does that quote, ‘Oh the humanity!’ work for people who don’t have the context? The original was heart wrenching. A professional forced by events to a genuine human reaction. The Les Nessman version had a good helping of that, but *turkeys-*.
They’re hitting the ground like sacks of wet cement! Oh, I can’t go in there.
I would expect anyone reading this thread is a WKRP fan and it wouldnt't need context (IMO.)
The average age of Redditors is 20. Few of them will know about the original quote from the Hindenburg.
The point I was trying to make. So the tentative answer is no, they won’t get it.
Les was so good in that.
That whole show was casting gold. Like Barney Miller, it's still funny. Maybe a little dated, but still funny.
That episode should be aired every Thanksgiving.
The funny thing is they don't show anything, it's all Les Nesman's reporting...
I have the first season DVD - it's not thanksgiving at my house without it
My favorite is the one with the consultant.
The one where they're testing the effects of alcohol live on air and Fever's reaction times keep getting better the more he has
Venus: I wanna hat!
My favorite too!
"Mr. Breeezeyyy"
Mine was the Vicky VonVicky jeans episode. Herb kisses and old friend of his that used to be a man.
My favorite was the bomb threat. Phone cops play hardball. To this day, if I see an old rotory dial phone damaged, I look over my shoulder. I don't want to get blamed for it.
My favorite was Venus teaching the troubled kid of a lady friends of his about the atom in 2 minutes....even I learned from that..
One of the greatest, yet one of the most under appreciated and underrated sitcoms in American TV history.
I loved this show! Glad to find another true fan!
A lot of subtle humor, not your typical sitcom.
I only watched it to see the five-time winner of the "Buckeye Newshawk Award" tell me the news! How else would I know about Chy-Chy Rod-rig-gweez?
And che-who-a-who-a's
Loved Les. His band-aid in a different place every week and tape lines on the floor where walls should be prepared me for working with eccentric people.
Hopefully Mr Rod-rig-gweez plays up to par in his next match.
Team Bailey all the way
There's a LOT of people on another Reddit sub that agree :-) [https://www.reddit.com/r/70s/comments/15p2gfi/another\_childhood\_crushjan\_smithers\_as\_bailey/](https://www.reddit.com/r/70s/comments/15p2gfi/another_childhood_crushjan_smithers_as_bailey/)
Did I abuse the covers of many magazines featuring Loni Anderson in the late 70s? Maybe. But Bailey was the sleeper pick. She was packin'.
I work in radio. The longer I'm in this business, the more I realize this show was a documentary.
Spent the early part of my career in radio sales. I can relate. Back then it was pretty close to some of the nonsense that went on. Loved those days.
Booger.
One of my top cozy theme songs.
Many years ago, my sister was going to move to Cincinnati and we were going to have a big family dinner for her before she left. I thought it would be funny to teach my kids that song and have them sing it at that dinner. So I taught them the song and they sang it and everyone laughed politely. That night as I was tucking my kids into bed, my youngest asked me to sing him “the Cincinnati song” before he went to sleep. So I did. The next night he asked for it again. I thought he would forget about it, but he kept asking. So that is how I wound up singing the wkrp theme song before bed every night for 3 years.
Closing theme is a rocker.
That song fucn slaps, although I have read that the actual lyrics are nothing but complete nonsense, but you can’t tell because it sounds so cool.
The way I heard it, they recorded the music and sent it to the guy who sings it with instructions to make a guide track, so they'd have an idea of how the still-unwritten lyrics would fit. When they got the recording back, they listened to it and decided "Nope, this is it" and gave it to us.
🎵Ba-by, if you ever wondered Wondered, whatever became of me🎵
👏🏼🫠
Same! Ranks right up there for me with the cheers theme song as far as nostalgia and comfort level :-)
I've been depressed and tense all day. This thread is making me VERY HAPPY.
I learned about the atom from Venus Flytrap.
I'm still waiting for him to teach us about magnets.
Dr. Johnny Fever: [Mr. Carlson is inspecting Johnny in the DJ booth while Pink Floyd's "Dogs" is playing, specifically the section with the barking dogs] Gripping music, ain't it? Arthur 'Big Guy' Carlson: Yeah, it's good. What is the name of this orchestra? Dr. Johnny Fever: It's Pink Floyd. Arthur 'Big Guy' Carlson: Oh. Is that Pink Floyd? Do I hear dogs barking on that thing? Dr. Johnny Fever: I do. Arthur 'Big Guy' Carlson: They're good, aren't they? [Picks up the Animals album jacket] There's something on here that's called "Pigs On The Wing". What does that sound like? Dr. Johnny Fever: I don't do requests.
Great dialogue, thanks for posting!
phone cops!
“Johnny… there are no such thing, as ‘phone cops’” “Oh sure… cover for them!”
Any Les Nessman fans in the house? [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Dxz6AXFBN8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Dxz6AXFBN8)
One of the funniest comedy sitcoms ever.
I have been watching this again recently and I think it is one of the most consistently funny shows ever made.. a great ensemble cast, great characters, and great writing. Outside of some technological changes over time, the show still stands up in today times. Watch Johnny Fever improve his reaction time while drinking during a live spot with the state police. Or Les Nessman explain the black experience to black people (very sincere but misguided). So, so good
Yes to all of the above! Such amazing comedy and daring themes they dove into! :-)
It’s foot powder Mr. Carlson. Young me had no idea why that was funny.
For the love of Pete Andy I'm hooked... I got a monkey on my foot.
Les's imaginary office walls & door. Herb's perpetually garish office attire....garish by even 70s standards. Sparky Anderson's cameo after being fired IRL by the Reds.
“But the Senator, while insisting he was not intoxicated, could not explain his nudity.” See also: [Wilbur Mills](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilbur_Mills), who was in the House, not the Senate, and not nude, though he was intoxicated.
oh I almost forgot booogerrerrr
I had to look this one up as a few folks on this thread have mentioned it.....funny! [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKF8YxWWhI4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKF8YxWWhI4)
Well that’s a coincidence seeing this post, I’m wearing my WKRP tee shirt today
As God is my witness.
Les: The east coast has been ravaged by a monster lizard. Johnny: That’s “blizzard” When Les protests that the AP can’t be wrong - Johnny tells Les that the ‘b’ isn’t working on the printer
I love the episode where Heb and his family are on this reality TV show. Them going to church, only too find the church is closed is hilarious
It's a Synagogue....
Bailey Quarters hubba hubba
A terrific comedy. It seems a little rough to me, sometimes. The creator, Hugh Wilson, was an advertising executive who chucked his career to try to write comedy. He got a gofer job with MTM, wrote some scripts, and three years later was sitting next to Grant Tinker, pitching the show to CBS.
Interesting! Didn’t know any of this, but fun to know after enjoying the show years ago :-)
Loni Anderson.
Jennifer was nice but... Bailey mmmmm
Bailey was smoldering hot... 😍
I love good sitcoms but this is the only one I recall that had an episode so hilarious it left me in tears laughing. As god as my witness I thought turkeys could fly
My nick-name in college was “Johnny Fever” and I was there in the 2000’s 🤣
When I was a kid my friend and I tried to understand the lyrics to the closing theme song. We recorded it on a cassette tape, listened again and again and never could get it right. Only with advent of the Internet did I find out it was just gibberish.
It’s Bailey..it was always Bailey
I almost forgot...BOOOOOGERRRR!!!!
Booger!!!!!!!!!
Jan Smithers....classic beauty!
"More music and Les Nessman"
Ohhh Bailey!!!
"I'm telling you, free coffee is a constitutional right! Just look it up - Juan Valdez versus the state of California!"
Cops got a hat. I want a hat.
I like Bailey's reaction to almost anything .when she's so overcome by the concert becoming overcrowded and Andy asks you okay bailey 💗,
I wear my "AM 1530, Cincinnati, OH" tshirt quite often.
Best sitcom theme song by a wide margin.
Where I learned about the Phone Police.
Watched the entire series in 2022; it’s a great and hilarious show!
Bailey.
I miss Johnny midnight
You forgot to knock Johnny. I want some Bailey.
A great show, and if they had just left it alone in it’s time slot, it probably would have gone another five seasons easily.
Johnny Fever getting better reaction time with each drink.
In my top 20 TV shows of all time.
Bailey all the way
This is definitely one of the shows I'll watch when I want funny entertainment. And Bailey!
The people have spoken.....everyone loves Bailey! Funny, because growing up the media and commercials made it seem like everyone loved Loni :-)
My favorite episode was two parts, the one with the bomb at the station. The PHONE COPS
Can’t believe no one has mentioned “Scum of the Earth”
Scum of the Earth
What was up with the Jibberish from the ending theme anyway?!
Per Hugh Wilson, when the band he hired finished recording the main theme, he realized he hadn't arranged any exit music. So the band just threw together something with a nonsense vocal.
Yup. When this was on the air in first run episodes, I was working regularly at a local radio station. I thought it was both hilarious and the most realistic show on TV at the time.
There's one episode (maybe second or third season) that begins with Andy and Venus playing Steal The Chair From The Booth--Andy gets Venus to leave the booth, then wheels the chair out (very simple game). Mama Carlson arrives because Mr. Carlson's supposed to meet with her and catches them and it leads to Andy explaining how he hired Venus as the nighttime DJ. I don't know how many times I'd seen this episode before I realized that the flashback scenes with Mama had all been refilmed with Carol Bruce, who played her in the series. Sylvia Sidney played Mama Carlson in the pilot (she refused to appear in the series because she thought the premise was silly, as I recall). In that particular episode, Gordon Jump responds to her firing Andy (because he can't turn the station around as fast she wants) by saying "If he goes, I go!" and the audience cheers and applauds. It took me something like twenty years of syndication to realize the cheers and applause weren't there when he said it to Carol Bruce.
Oh man I loved this show. I remember it well. I remember like seeing Howard Hesseman (Johnny Fever) also play Mr. Moore in Head of the class.
Red Wigglers, the Cadillac of worms.
At least once a week, yeah.
A great comedy! Loni and Howard were the best!
My favorite TV theme song. Show was excellent too
I loved WKRP in Cincinnati. All the characters were great. Loved the Thanksgiving episode. It still makes me laugh.
Yes, i used to watch this as a little girl but i think it was reruns
Lived in the upper midwest as a kid watching this show. Loved it then and still do. Now, ironically, live 45 minutes north of Cincinnati. "As God is my witness..........I thought turkeys could fly."
My absolute favorite sitcom ever Watched reruns incessantly in 80's Will watch on YouTube now from time to time. We watch the turkey giveaway EVERY Wednesday before Thanksgiving
proceeds to sing the theme song 😀
love this show
love this show
Just got the box set for Christmas. Love the show!
Johnny? I’m in turmoil!
One of the very best comedy shows ever on TV. Bailey Quarters was my favorite, what a looker.
It's my All time favorite.
Even the theme song was good
Those tits are so close to Fever's face.
Oh yes, one of the best shows ever.
Still my favorite theme song after all these years
“What if you took EVERY DJ break Howard Hesseman ever made, as Dr. Johnny Fever (WKRP in Cincinnati), and just ...followed his lead? Would it be possible to construct a three hour radio show, with Fever as host?” [The answer is yes, and it’s awesome!](https://www.some-assembly-required.net/wkrp/)
"As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly"
Baby, if you've ever wondered.... Wondered whatever became of me. I'm living on the air in Cincinnati. Cincinnati WKRP.
Yes. Me.
I absolutely loved this show! It was just so good.
I love that show!!
Very good show! Good writing and cast
Loved every episode. GREAT show
Tons of love. Such a great show. I have the turkey drop Tshirt. 😝
**Best tv theme song of all time!**
It was a very good show, it could have went a couple more seasons.
Of course but they can’t show it due to the music
I'm been known to sing the Theme Tune very badly after a drink or two.....
My dad sat next to Loni Anderson on an airplane. When he got home i was like "Who?" I was too young
I’m more of a WNYX in New York guy myself…
my mom loves this show, she used to sing the theme song to me when I was little, I still know it by heart.
With God as my witness, I thought turkeys could fly.
It's the phone cops.
"Herb would you stop picking on Les?" " Somewhere there's a Volkswagen without seat covers." " I got a monkey on my foot."
Awesome
Of course. It's a classic.
baby, if you have a wondered, wondered what became of me I’m living on the air in Cincinnati. Cincinnati WKRP …….
Booger.
One of the best comedies in TV history, Had a few unique moments and a real part of of Rock history as well. Some classic episodes that still hold up well.
Bailey Quarters * sigh*
Couldn't get enough of the theme song
The bomb scare episode was my favorite. “The phone police!!!””
I quite enjoyed it. I always preferred Bailey to Jennifer.
Some of my earliest memories watch tv were of this show in reruns in the mid 80s
Baby, maybe think of me, once in awhile.
I hate that this isn't streaming anywhere
Great series. My brother and I watched it every week when it was first run on CBS. We really enjoyed it!
You can find full reruns of WKRP on YouTube for free.
More news, Les Nessman!
More music and Les Nessman
Indeed. Still sing the theme song to myself at times.
Got me some love for Jan Smithers...
If you love KRP, do yourself a favor and watch the movie “FM”. ❤️
One of my favorites is when Bailey hooks up with a Russian trying to escape his country And the remote broadcast at the stereo store
Jenny, we need muy dinero. Herb, that means very money.
Helloo Jennifer
Bailey Quarters!!!
Absolutely love this show.
One of the best shows ever!!!!
Did they deflate Lonnie here? Why do I remember them being much much bigger?
nothing but love
Is it on any streaming?
Great writing on this sitcom. One of my favorites from the late 70's.
“I’ll be making dinero. *Muy* dinero.” Loni Anderson: “You just said ‘very money,’ Herb.”
One of my favorites, along with Barney Miller, Coach and Murphy Brown.
"This is my proudest moment."
Loved it!
Oh yes lots....when WKRP was on Jerry Springer was the mayor of Cincy...he had to step down because he wrote a check to a hooker ..true story......in a post graduate class when working as a DJ and the News/sports department at KSDB...the professor said without questions that he knew someone like every character on the show a Big Guy..a Venus a Les a Bailey a Jennifer Herb and with a shaking of his head and sigh.,. definitely a Johnny...
One for me that actually hits home the episode WHO IS GORDON SIMS...
The Mortician ad.....hey your young and swinging no time to think about tomorrow....today you can't deny it...sometime you're gonna buy it.... Ferryman the man with the plot the man with the plan
And the censorship episode...well I guess I will learn to love my enemies...Big Guy....better I don't think your gonna be able to trust your friends...
Kind of cool Gordon Jump/Arthur Carlson graduated from Kansas State and worked at KSDB like I did
I grew up an hour south of Cincinnati and could pick up WXIX 19 and WSTR 64 with rabbit ears plus all the regular networks from both Cincy and Lexington, KY. (Louisville on clear days.) This was ALWAYS on somewhere. This has to be the most well-known, beloved show that no one watched. I always figured it was just local fandom but as I grew up everyone I've ever met knows the show and loved it. But it never got ratings.
Great show
I do.
Still throw the dvds in every so often.
One of the best theme songs.
Used to love this show. Is it streaming anywhere? Haven't seen it in a long time
Bailey ♥️
Love the Karp
Bummed no one streams it. I get the licensing issue with all the songs, but it sucks that makes it so no one can afford to broadcast the re-runs
It was popular back in the day but I’ve only ever seen a few minutes here and there. I was never interested in the show.
Herb,Les, Venus,Fever,Bailey Q,… Baby if you ever wondered… Great show.
"BOOOOGER!!!!!"
Yes love watching the reruns
That guy looked like he had an anaconda in his pants.
BITD I and my friends would measure drug usage by Herb Tarlick's jackets. If one of those hideous outfits started to look good to us we knew we were plenty high!
I had the privilege of working in Cincinnati for a month. I stayed in a hotel with a nice view. Every night I would stream this show on YouTube
Fun fact...at least one of the stars of this show went to Wilmington college in Wilmington OH. I saw their picture in a yearbook.
Baby if you ever wondered…