^{(From the best sitcom ever, the legendary WKRP In Cincinnati.)}

UPDATE: I love WKRP.  If I could only watch one series (american tv, that is), it'd be this one.  Because of WKRP, I grew up wanting to work in radio... and I wanted it badly enough that eventually, I did.  The studio looked very much like the one in the clip, actually.

So it is to my great sorrow that the recent DVD release of the series is unwatchable.  See, WKRP was one of the first series to license contemporary rock hits for broadcast... it IS a radio station, after all.  The Who, the Rolling Stones, Talking Heads, Supertramp, and dozens of other groups and artists had their music in the show, and in fact, two episodes revolved around a Rolling Stones concert (and so had a lot of their music involved).  Then there's the "Les has a date with Jennifer" episode, with Foreigner's "Hot Blooded" playing in the background...

Anyway, the music is a vital part of the show.  Unfortunately, the original music license was only for 10 years... and the costs have gone WAAAAAAY up since then.  So the DVD release has the original soundtrack removed, and generic (and perhaps royalty-free) music used in it's stead.  Further, since the DJs often referenced the music and the groups they're playing, the producers had to edit the episodes by snipping out dialogue in many, many places.

Obviously, that's unacceptable.  I have friends at all three tv stations here in town, I'm hoping one of them could find out if they have the syndicated versions (that did have the original music) in their vaults somewhere...

FURTHER UPDATE: Booger.

1 That... is an absolute classic piece of TV! I too would love to see the old shows in syndication, as we haven't seen it here where I'm at in a good number of years. It's sad to hear about the DVD release. Admittedly, I'm a classic rock junkie, (I own albums by all the groups you mentioned), and to have the music and the pop-culture references stripped from the show would take away much of its soul. As Les would put it... "oh, the humanity!". A good example of what would be lost... at the end of the above clip... what is Johnny spinning up... a CCR song from "Willy And The Poor Boys" called "It Came Out Of The Sky".

Thanks for the clip, may no turkeys fall on you today.

2 Perhaps you've seen Jan Smithers had a bit of excitement earlier this month.

3

Yeah, I was trying not to sully my memories of the actress that played Bailey Quarters with that story, Ed. 

Mmmmmm... Bailey.