Yes, the season one WKRP DVD set features edited and overdubbed music and bits of dialogue. Fans of this seventies sitcom will have to, as a friend of mine likes to say, suck it up. Boycotting this 3 DVD 22 episode box set is not going to change anything and make Fox see the “error of its ways”. One the other hand, you can get the Shout Factory Complete Set where most of the music has been restored: WKRP in Cincinnati: The Complete Series
WKRP is the sitcom that almost didn’t. Its original time slot was not good for the show and it is only critical response that forced CBS to find it a better time slot for its first season: right after MASH. The situation comedy then got moved to family hour where it did not really belong, causing network censors to go into overdrive and some of the story lines to get softened. There is also a rumor the Moral Majority got offended at the season 3 closer, Clean Up Radio Everywhere, and lobbied against the show but it did go on for another year. WKRP did not reach the magic 100 episode for syndication mark but syndication was very good to this sitcom.
WKRP The Complete First Season DVD set features the pilot episode with a different Mother Carlson and dubbed music; the sitcom classic Turkey’s Away where Carlson and Heb bomb Cincinnati with live turkeys; and Hoodlum Rock starring British rock band Scum Of The Earth and Mama’s Review which includes clips from the pilot episode with the original music (go figure).
Other classic episodes of this seventies comedy include the show where Herb becomes the KRP fish mascot and the funeral home commercial show (not the one where Johnny destroys the ad so badly it does even better.)
The Complete First Season of WKRP comes in 2 slim cases with episode summaries in such small badly colored print they should not have bothered. Special features include a couple of commentary tracks with series creator Hugh Wilson and stars Loni Anderson and Frank Bonner, a short on the Loni Anderson character, and a behind the scenes about Fish Story that is rather interesting.
*some local stations still have the original videotapes and so may air the original episodes with the original music: that’s why DVD recorders exist.
WKRP In Cincinnati
The Complete First Season
Howard Hesseman, Loni Anderson, Gordon Jump
Richard Sanders, Frank Bonner, Tim Reid
Originally Aired CBS 1978-79
3 DVDs 22 Episodes
Fox Home Entertainment
Other seventy situation Comedy DVD set reviews:
Our review The Mary Tyler Moore Show Best of Season One
Our review Welcome Back Kotter Season One
Our review Bewitched Season Two
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- 86four episodes of this great situation comedy including the pilot
- 82This sitcom is still great after 100 episodes and 5 seasons. Solid DVD set.