I didn't own a TV in my post-college bachelor days. Places I did frequent tended toward sports TV or rock-oriented radio. The wife and I recently started watching it on MeTV, and despite the wholesale scene-cutting those butchers commit the gist of the show still comes through.
Having seen the entire rotation, I have three favorite episodes. One is somber - that one which closely followed the sad episode at the Cincinnati Who concert; it was handled straight-forwardly, with no melodrama or tear-jerking and no finger-pointing. Well done, writers and producers. This really could have been mucked-up into a maudlin criticism of Lord-knows-whom or -what, but avoided that.
The other two are two of the funniest shows I ever have seen, easily the equal of a Red Skelton or Jackie Gleason or Dick van Dyke show any day of the week! I refer, of course, to the Thanksgiving-promotion episode ("I swear, I thought turkeys could fly!")...and of course, this show. Watching the Doctor and Venus perform a PSA promotion wherein Venus gets blotto, and the Doctor gets more sober the more he drinks - driving the state trooper to start drinking! - was utterly hysterical. Meanwhile, Herb in a carp suit (the new WKRP mascot) meets up with the WPIG mascot in a public pay toilet, both dressed in costume. Sure, happens every day...and Herb doesn't have a dime. All the while, a newspaper reporter is at the station interviewing Andy and Mr. Carlson about just another typical day at the station.
The one-minute scene wherein a soused Doctor sees a six-foot-tall pig (the WPIG mascot) in the lobby painting over the 'KRP logo is priceless. Meanwhile, Jennifer just glides through all of the mayhem with her usual élan.
Excellent, funny show!
