Desert Words

It’s a sad, sad day.

“WKRP In Cinncinnati” is finally being released on DVD… season 1 is available now. But the episodes will be mere shadows of their formerly great selves, for reasons us long-time fans already knew: most of the music is gone.

This is one series where the rock music was integral to the scenes, the life blood of the series. It’s a series about a radio station, so how could it not be?

I understand about the costs of reacquiring the rights to all the music… Universal chose to bite the bullet and obtain the rights to all the music used in “Miami Vice”, and they didn’t price the sets at $70 to try to recoup their expense. That was one battle I watched with keen interest at the time. Universal did right by the “Miami Vice” fans. Fox has never understood the concept of “fans” and the deep connections they can form, not when it comes to television.

Another thing that struck me from this article is that the actors won’t be receiving residuals or any money from the DVD sales, yet they’re still promoting the DVD release.

I know the actors love the series they made, but they aren’t getting anything from the sale of their work, and we’re not getting original music. The editing has even gone so far to remove scenes where cast members were singing snippets of songs… they couldn’t have the music replaced, so they were simply cut out.

As much as I love this series, and it was the last true sitcom I ever watched on television (I simply don’t watch sitcoms anymore… they aren’t funny), I will not be buying these DVDs.

I think I’ll go rewatch a couple of “Miami Vice” episodes now.