2:30 The U.S. Office. Here's a mention near the end of this early-season review of The Office of John Krasinski and his friends shooting the Office opening credits in his grandmother's hometown of Scranton. Awww, adorable.
3:50 "Scrambled Eggs" and "Chest Fever." There is no Wikipedia category page for these type of songs, which seems a shame.
4:52 Enhance. Who doesn't do this "Enhance." bit from Super Troopers now whenever they watch Law & Order or CSI nowadays?
5:30: "I reveal to the world the actual lyrics to the WKRP closing theme." Here it is, in all its Charles Dodgsonian/e.e. cummingsian, doggerel glory.
Mantooth bartender busting out of here
Sil drew the morning and a microphone in her heart
All that food and fun and that bell-in-hand
I dill a rue druid and a Coolatta in her heart
(meow)
Important errata from the episode! The Coolatta's actually been around since 1997! Still, the mention is anachronistic and thus points straight to the involvement of the Cincinnati Triangle/Turkey Working.
7:10 EVP: Here's the video where an "orb" says "I can" three times in a row. The Huff Paranormal channel on YouTube, if you can wade through the frankly tasteless attempts to reach the other side on behalf of Sandra Bland and Robin Williams, is full of this EVP stuff.
8:05 "We... were not supposed to leave." Legitimately the most shocking two hours of television with the best, biggest end-of-season twist/cliffhanger that I can remember.
12:15 "Wireless Hartlepool," "Radio Saskatoon," "Cincinnati Zoo," "Red Wigglers Presents 'The Cincinnati Zanies' in 'Buckeye Follies'." You will find all these series on Channel Ocho.
20:55 Dream casting WKRP: You can judge for yourself here.
24:20 Who deserves a spinoff? Frank's Place needs a Shout! Factory reissue, doesn't it? Ironically, Frank's Place also has to deal with the same music clearance issue as WKRP, so maybe it won't happen right away. And yes, there were predecessors like The White Shadow and to a (much) lesser extent Welcome Back, Kotter, but Venus's high school show would be an excellent melding of comedy and drama. And yes, it would very effectively wipe The Cosby Show from the timestream.
28:30: Gilligan's Wake by Tom Carson. Really, a fantastic, surreal, trippy look at American history through the lens of the seven castaways as wholly representative of the American century in all its triumph, tragedy, and Weirdness. The kind of book someone like me finishes and goes, "I wish I'd written that, Oscar." Also? In my universe you're all welcome to watch "King Arthur's Navy" (half-hour comedy, ABC, 1962-1966) written by Thomas Pynchon after he can't convince any network to pick up V., his science fiction series about secret reptilians infiltrating human society.
*exaggerated wink* Th-th-that's all folks!
29:10 "Six seasons and a movie!" Oh, Abed. You're so NUTTY.
32:00 Hoodlum Rap. Ad-Rock was in The Young and the Useless (GREAT name) who played their final gig in 1984, during the beginning of what would have been WKRP's sixth season. The Beasties, slowly morphing from a hardcore punk band to a hip-hop group in 1983 with their debut single "Cooky Puss," would bring on Ad-Rock as their third MC (future Luscious Jackson drummer Kate Schellenbach would be their fourth member until 1984). So yeah, the timing perfect for a Season 6 episode with those nasty punk rappers, the Beastie Boys. Well crafted, Rob.
39:13 "There you go again." Almost a quaint sort of glibness and anti-intellectualism when you compare it to Donald Trump in 2015, isn't it?
44:20 "Shock radio for hipsters." I thought this sketch from Funny or Die was kind of cute. Rob and I may or may not have had a conversation like this at one point or another this season.
48:20 "I put poison in the brandy." Yeah, it's safe to say Rob and I are both very excited for Season 2 of WKRP.
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