- How could I forget about the intro for the Coy and Vance episodes of The Dukes of Hazzard? Apparently the producers thought that if they showed both new guys with their shirts off, we'd hate them less. We didn't.
- Another milestone in TV opening sequences that are really anguished cries for help: "Golden Palace."
- Season 8 of "Diff'rent Strokes" reminds us that when shows have suffered major cast departures and are completely exhausted, they will a) Re-record the theme song in a "hipper" arrangement and b) Create a new title sequence where we see how much the characters have grown up. (They think that by showing old clips of Gary Coleman and Todd Bridges, we'll feel a sense of how far we've come with these characters. They don't realize that all we're thinking is "these guys are too old for this schtick.")
- "The New WKRP in Cincinnati," a direct-to-syndication mediocrity. Hard to say which is more gloom-inducing: the shots of the three original cast members, or the shots of the five new cast members that nobody liked.
Sunday, August 19, 2007
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7 comments:
The station I worked for at the time ran the new "WKRP" and did fairly well with it, as I recall, though I never cared much for it, myself. The original "WKRP" had been a bigger hit in syndication than anyone expected, but because there were only about 90 episodes, the series lacked staying power. That is, with only 90-odd episodes, the shows repeated so often when aired five days a week, the way most stations ran it, that "WKRP" wore out its audience pretty quick and almost never got renewed once a station's initial contract period for the series was up. (The big money in syndication comes from series that get renewed again and again and again, ala "The Andy Griffith Show" or "I Love Lucy.") Hopes were that by producing additional "WKRP" episodes that could be added to the original series' syndication package, the series would have more long-term durability on local stations. Didn't work out that way, since the new "WKRP" shows were never added to the original series' syndication package.
Not that the show turns up much in syndication, anymore. I haven't seen it anywhere since it had a very brief run on either Nick at Nite or TV Land a few years ago.
I never saw the "new" WKRP, which is just as well, because whenever I see Michael Des Barres, I'm always waiting for him to fall a mile off a cliff yelling, "Mac...Gy...ver..."
But it had Tawney Kitane. How could it possibly have been bad?
The less you mess with a man's nostalgia, the better for all interested parties. I was never a watcher of The Golden Girls, but Hazzard County was never the same after Coy and Vance appeared on the scene.
Rob #1's comment about the genesis of The New WKRP In Cincinnati puts a lot of perspective on why the redo was so bad. That, and the fact that Kathleen Garrett was nowhere near as fine as Jan Smithers.
Excellent post, Jaime.
I remember watching The Dukes of Hazzard when Schneider and Wopat came back and they hadn't given the new guys their pink slips yet. Talk about a crowded ride...
And every time I see Mykelti Williamson I remember the various ways to prepare shrimp, thanks to seeing Forrest Gump.
I remember the New WKRP and I confess to liking it - the first season. Something happened between the first and second seasons and I'm not sure exactly what it was. I do recall that it did well in syndication during its first season which is why it sort of came as a shock when they stopped making it. I guess i wasn't the only one who thought something was amiss with the second season.
Incidentally, Michael DeBarres had been in a first season episode of the original WKRP as a member of "Scum Of The Earth". They didn't even mention the connection although it could have been a nice tie-in.
Ah ha ha. As a kid I went to a taping of the new WKRP. I had never seen the original. It was difficult to find on the schedule when we wanted to see the episode air.
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