Search This Blog

Monday, November 28, 2011

Monday Matinee - Top Gun

Do you remember the first time that you ever used a VCR?

I imagine for a select few of you out there, you probably have never used a VCR.  Some of you are so used to DVD players and Blu-Ray players that you probably don't even know how a VCR even works.

But back in the 1980s, that was all that we had to use in order to watch movies and record television shows.

I actually have a funny story to tell you in regards to when my family got their first VCR.

The year was 1988, and as part of an anniversary gift for my parents 23rd wedding anniversary, they got a brand new television set (which weighed between 50-75 pounds thanks to the wooden frame around the television set, as was the style back in the late 1980s), and their first VCR to go with it.

And for the longest time, I was the only one who knew how to program it.

I was the first to figure out how to set the clock on the VCR. You could always tell whether a clock was set on a VCR, because if it wasn't, you'd see the time display constantly flashing at 12:00. Thanks to me, I was able to program the correct time on the VCR without any trouble.

Did I mention that I was only seven years old at the time?

Because I managed to set the clock without any trouble, I was also able to figure out how to record shows, and set the timer to record a program while I was out of the house. Thanks to my keen ability to figure out the VCR on my own, I managed to record my favourite cartoon shows, sitcoms, and music videos from Muchmusic.

Of course, as a result of my overusing my parents VCR, I was also the first one in the family to BREAK said VCR just four years later. Whoops. Guess I must have put one too many tapes inside of that thing, huh?

Ah...remember the good old days in which you had to purchase a head cleaner for the VCR to ensure that your tapes didn't become lunch for your VCR? I do.

Of course, now that we're in the DVD/Blu-Ray era, VHS tapes and VCR's are seemingly a thing of the past.

In a way, the VHS era was a much simpler time. A time when we could walk over to the video store to rent movies. A time in which action movies had lots of action and romance. A time in which Tom Cruise was once a respected actor and not just someone who treated Oprah Winfrey's sofa as a trampoline.

Don't you remember the days?

And yes, there's a reason why I brought up Mr. Cruise in this blog entry.

You see, when the TV/VCR combo was finally hooked up and everything was ready to go, we realized that we didn't really have any movies to watch on it. Knowing that there was a convenience/video rental store just around the corner from my childhood home at the time, my sisters decided to head over there to rent a movie for us all to watch.



That movie was the 1986 film, Top Gun, which starred Cruise, Anthony Edwards, Val Kilmer, and Kelly McGillis, just to name a few.

And I remember being extremely disappointed at the choice of movie at the time. I didn't even watch the movie with the rest of my family, because at the age of seven, Top Gun bored me to tears. I mean, yes, the airplane flying was sort of cool, but other than that, I wasn't interested. I just retreated to my little corner of the living room with my stack of Archie Digests and read happily away while the adults of the room watched the movie.

It really wasn't until years later that I started to really appreciate the movie for what it was. When my parents finally got themselves a DVD player almost twenty years since they got their VCR, I ended up buying them the DVD of Top Gun for a Christmas present, and they watched it a second time. This time though, I watched the film from start to end, and found that I really did end up liking it after all.

Maybe I can strike that to maturity on my part. Who can say?



Anyway, can you believe that Top Gun was released twenty-five years ago? That is absolutely shocking to me. What's even more shocking are the plans to re-release the movie in 3D sometime in 2012. I personally have mixed feelings about this one. Yeah, a re-release would be great for people who may have missed out on seeing it on the big screen (like myself as I was only five at the time it was released), but I think the whole 3D craze is just a wee bit overused.

The movie was directed by Tony Scott, and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and Don Simpson. It quickly became the most popular film of 1986, and this quote was ranked #94 out of AFI's listing of the Top 100 Movie Quotations of All Time.



The soundtrack was also something to celebrate as well, with the album being one of the biggest selling soundtracks of the 1980s. With songs like this one...



...and this one...



...the music of the film certainly added depth and poignancy to the film's storyline.

That storyline being all about two men and their experiences as students at the Top Gun school in NAS Miramar.



United States Naval Aviator LT Pete “Maverick” Mitchell (Cruise) is reckless, defiant, disobedient, and marches to the beat of his own drum. Radar Intercept Officer LTJG Nick “Goose” Bradshaw (Edwards) is a sensible, cautious family man with a wife and young child. Despite their differences, the two manage to form a really close bond with each other, and they end up working very well together as partners. Part of the reason why both of them were selected to go into the Top Gun program was because of the fact that they worked together well (and partially because of the fact that their colleague, “Cougar” gave up his Wings Of Gold after a mission where Maverick managed to hold off enemy MiG-28s after Cougar became too shaken to respond).

During the film, the reason behind why Maverick flies recklessly and dangerously, and why he has little to no regard for rules is made clear. Back in 1965, his father's plane was shot down during the Vietnam War, and although all signs of the incident pointed the finger of blame at Maverick's father, he refuses to believe that it was his fault.

The day before Maverick and Goose enroll in the Top Gun program, the two of them decide to go to a bar to celebrate their enrollment when they notice a woman sitting nearby. Goaded on by Goose, Maverick decides to hit on the woman (McGillis) in a rather...unusual way.



Now, on the surface, this might have been a sweet moment. And it probably was. What Maverick didn't know was that this woman would come into his life in a rather unusual way. And when Maverick and Goose reported for their first day of training at the Top Gun program, Maverick is absolutely shocked to learn that the woman he tried to pick up at the bar is Charlotte “Charlie” Blackwood...one of the instructors at the academy.



Cue the “Hot For Teacher” guitar riff!

During the flight training, Maverick's reckless flying seems to make him friends and foes. LCDR Rick “Jester” Heatherly (Michael Ironside) is simultaneously annoyed and fascinated by Maverick's style, and he is actually bested by Maverick in a combat training exercise (even if Maverick DID break a couple of rules while doing it). 



He also serves as a rival to LT Tom “Iceman” Kasansky (Val Kilmer), who brands Maverick as being dangerous with his outright disregard of the rules. Perhaps the most surprising reaction comes from Charlie. Charlie seemed to take great pleasure in chastising Maverick in class, and basically paints Maverick as the poster child of “what not to do” in combat.  Secretly though, Charlie admires Maverick's tactics, and when she and Maverick were alone together, she admits that she hides her real feelings for him from the other students. Soon after that, Charlie and Maverick enter into a relationship with each other.

During his training, Maverick happens to cross paths with chief instructor CDR Mike “Viper” Metcalf (Tom Skerritt). Maverick effectively challenges Viper during flight exercises, but on one such mission, Viper maneuvers Maverick into a position in which Jester could shoot Maverick from behind, which he had hoped would teach Maverick that teamwork was much more important than individual abilities.

It seemed as though things were going well at the Top Gun program. Maverick and Goose were well on their way to completing the program and graduating. With Goose looking forward to spending time with his family and Maverick in a new relationship, it seemed nothing was going to stop them.


It started off as any normal day. Maverick and Iceman both chased Jester through the skies on another mission, both attempting to get a lock on their target. But Iceman broke off from Maverick, and Maverick found himself flying through the jet wash of Iceman's aircraft, and this caused the engines in Maverick's F-14 to flameout. The jet goes into a flat spin, and unable to recover from it, Maverick and Goose are forced to eject. Sadly, in the ejection, Goose ends up getting knocked out cold, and when his chute lands in the ocean, he drowns before Maverick can get to him.

Goose's death was a moment that deeply affected Maverick. In many ways, Goose was his best friend, and the idea that he watched him die without being able to do anything about it. I couldn't even imagine knowing how he felt. The board of inquiry cleared Maverick of any wrongdoing in Goose's death, but it did nothing to change how Maverick felt. He had lost his friend, and in that, he lost his edge. He even considers leaving the Navy over it because his self-confidence was shattered. It wasn't until a pep talk from Viper that changes his mind...as well as learning a secret about his father's death that would change his own perspective forever.

But I'm not gonna reveal it. You're gonna have to watch the movie yourself.

But I can totally get where Maverick was coming from. Sometimes it takes just one event for someone to lose complete confidence in themselves, and feel completely lost. In Maverick's case, it was the death of his friend that sent him in a downward spiral. In my case, it was prematurely leaving college without a degree that did it for me. Granted, in my case, my situation was one where regardless of whether I stayed or not, my end result wasn't what I had hoped. But somehow I'm still doing okay. I could be doing better, but I try not to focus on that. Instead, I try to look at who I am now, and what I can be doing to accept that, and gain more confidence in myself.

It's a never ending struggle. But knowing that Maverick had to undergo the same struggles and came out of it a better person...well, it gives me hope. And if anything, I can now look at Top Gun with a better appreciation at age 30 than I ever could as a kid.


Sunday, November 27, 2011

Sunday Jukebox - Better Now by Collective Soul (Plus A BONUS Song!)

Some of my favourite songs ever are ones that I seem to hear in the most unusual places.

I'm sure that quite a few of you will agree with this statement as it pertains to your own lives and musical tastes. If a person has a favourite song, they can usually remember where they were when they heard it, and how old they were, and what they were doing at the time.

I've heard songs that I really liked for the first time during school talent shows. I've heard songs that I really liked playing over the music player at Walmart. I've even heard songs that I really liked blaring out of radios at church fundraisers! I'm sure some of you have favourite songs that you have heard first under the most peculiar circumstances yourselves. And if you're interested, I'd love to hear some of these stories either in the comments section here or the Facebook page for this blog.

Today's story about one of my favourite songs goes back about, oh, six, maybe seven years ago. It all started off mundanely. I think if I remember correctly, I was watching television and a commercial break that aired in between shows came on. Nothing too spectacular. Food commercials, advertisements for feminine hygeine products, the annoying car salesmen who keep pushing expensive cars on us because the savings are HUUUUUUUUUUUUUGE!

(And, anyone who resides in Upstate New York or Southeastern Ontario who has seen a commercial for cars on WWNY-TV will get that last reference.)

And then this commercial came on.



A straightforward commercial for Kellogg's Special K cereals and snacks.



Now, granted, if this were any ordinary ad for Special K cereal, I probably wouldn't have taken much notice otherwise. Heck, I'll be perfectly honest. I don't even like Special K cereal. To me, it tastes like a shredded cardboard box.

But listen closely to the background music in the commercial. This commercial happens to be my own personal experience in regards to hearing a song that I really liked in a very unusual place.

For about two years after that commercial aired, I kept wondering what the name of that song was, and who sang it. I liked the 30 second clip that I heard in that Special K commercial, and wanted to hear the full song, but any effort that I sought out in trying to find out who the mystery artist was came up nil. I guess part of that could be that at the time the commercial aired, which was late 2004, early 2005, I was without the Internet (I didn't get hooked up to the net until Christmas 2005).

And, since YouTube didn't come around until a short time after that, it took me about two years to learn what I wanted to know about that awesome song.

And, here's the stats about the song, as well as the video.



ARTIST: Collective Soul
SONG: Better Now
ALBUM: Youth
DATE RELEASED: November 16, 2004
PEAK POSITION ON THE BILLBOARD CHARTS: #117

All right. My first reaction is...#117? REALLY?!? It deserved to go much higher on the charts than that! Though, I should also note that on the Adult Charts, it made the Top 10, peaking at #9 on that chart.

The reason why I ended up choosing this song is because this song happens to be one of my favourites. I actually could have kicked myself back then for not knowing that it was Collective Soul that sang it. Especially since I was a huge fan of that band during high school. Maybe it just sounded different. I don't know.

There's a deeper reason behind my choice for today's Sunday Jukebox entry. But, I'll get to that a little bit later.

For now, let's talk a bit about the band that made this song possible.



Collective Soul was formed in 1992 in the city of Stockbridge, Georgia. Its current members as of 2011 include;

Ed Roland (lead vocals, rhythm guitar, keyboards)
Dean Roland (rhythm guitar)
Will Turpin (bass guitar, backing vocals)
Joel Kosche (lead guitar, replacing Ross Childress in 2001)
Cheney Brannon (drums/percussion, replacing Ryan Hoyle in 2008, who replaced Shane Evans in 2003)

The way the band Collective Soul came to be started years before the band was officially founded and named. Back in the 1980s, Ed Roland had studied guitar playing and music composition at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. Ed really wanted a career in the music industry and had high hopes in becoming a success. During the mid to late 1980s, he mostly recorded underground demos and singles, and in 1991, put out an independently produced solo album, 'Ed-E Roland'. To finance his ventures, he took on a job at a recording studio called Real 2 Reel Studios, which was owned by the father of who would become Collective Soul's bass guitarist, Will Turpin.

Ed had also formed a band as a side project to his job. The band was named Marching Two-Step, and the band had stayed together for several years. Unfortunately for them, the band didn't have much success outside of appearances at local night clubs, and the band parted ways in late 1991, early 1992.

That same year, after being turned down for a recording contract, Ed Roland decided to gather a group of local musicians together to record a demo in Roland's own basement. Roland had never intended to form another band out of the process. Instead, he had hoped to only sell the songs to a publishing company. Somehow, the tape of the demo found its way to a college radio station based out of Atlanta, and began to play the song that was recorded on the tape.

The song was one that was called “Shine”.



It quickly became the most requested song on the radio station throughout all of 1993, and the song became a surprise hit. This success prompted Roland to perform the song (as well as others that were written and recorded) live. So with Roland's brother, Dean, Turpin, Shane Evans, and Ross Childress, the band Collective Soul was founded. Shortly thereafter, the band would be signed to a recording contract with Atlantic Records, and in 1994, the band's first album was re-released, the first single “Shine” peaking at #11 on the Billboard Charts in the spring of 1994.

Over the next seven years, Collective Soul would enjoy much success with the label, and the band made several high profile appearances, including the successful Woodstock '94, and the train-wreck known as Woodstock '99. And the singles that the band released received much airplay, especially in mainstream radio. “December”, “The World I Know”, “Gel”, “Precious Declaration”. All songs by Collective Soul that made the mid-1990s a little bit more enjoyable.



By the time Collective Soul and Atlantic Records parted ways after the release of their Greatest Hits compilation in 2001, the band had enjoyed years of success and recognition. After a two year hiatus, the band found a new record label by the name of EI Music Group, and in late 2004, the band released the album 'Youth', which is the album that 'Better Now' appeared on.



'Better Now' was the second track released from the album. As I stated, I feel it should have ranked higher in the charts, because it was one of those feel-good songs that was badly needed in a decade filled with songs about violence, sex, and drugs.

And it really struck a chord with me because that song could very well be my theme song for the last couple of years.

As you may have gathered by reading past blog entries, self-esteem has really been a struggle for me. For several years, I have spent countless hours wondering what I would have to do in order to get people to like me or respect me. It's true that a lot of people have had those sorts of feelings at some given time in their lives, but in my case, I was a wee bit obsessive-compulsive about it. I remember trying so hard to fit into the various cliques that developed in school, and I tried to go out of my way to feel like I belonged. It wasn't really until a couple of years ago that I came to the conclusion that maybe I tried TOO hard to get people's attention, and that maybe I was pushing people away rather than drawing them in.

It's taken quite a long time for me to realize that the best way I can improve my self-esteem issues is to not let what others say dictate me in what I do or what I say. I think part of the problem in my youth was that I was too eager to compromise when it came to dealing with other people. In fact, I would probably say that I ended up letting people treat me as if I were a welcome mat, and letting them walk all over me in my vulnerability. I was already in a situation where my self-worth was slim to nil, so it was easy for them to get away with it.

And yes, I felt so bad about myself that I let people into my life who used me, abused me, and belittled me, just so I could get some sort of feeling like I was noticed. Believe me when I tell you that one of the worst things that a person can be at the receiving end of is the idea of being ostracized for reasons that you don't understand. Even worse is when you're ostracized for reasons that those doing the ostracizing don't understand, or don't want to understand.

And it didn't just happen with me. It's happening to people all over the world every day. People all over the world are having their self-worth sucked dry because the company they are keeping have used and abused them. And eventually if enough people do that to a person, the road back for those who are on the receiving end could be filled with so many speed bumps and potholes that it seems nearly impossible to come out the other side without dents and scratches.

The song “Better Now” really seemed to awaken something in me. It really showed the message that no matter what your past may have been like, or how traumatic it was, there are ways that one can re-invent themselves to become a better person.

Note that I said BETTER person, and not BRAND NEW person.

That was where I got into trouble when I was younger. I tried to become a whole new person complete with a new personality, new look, and new attitude all at once, and looking back on it, it may have turned a few people off. It was lesson learned the hard way, but I got it in the end.

And by being a better person, it could be anything that ultimately gives you a personal high, and helps you see the potential that you have to make the lives of yourself and those around you infinitely better now. Certainly, it could be something physical, such as eating healthier to become a healthier, happier person. It could also be something emotionally charged as well, such as donating time to a charity, or making something for a friend, or just simply thanking a person who goes out of their way to help.

Instead of being bitter and frustrated by what you feel are shortcomings, be proud of other things that make you uniquely you. Because in order to newly calibrate yourself and make yourself as happy as Christmas, it's up to you to make that happen. More importantly, you owe it to yourself to surround yourself with people who will build you up and help you make those good decisions that WILL make you better now.

And those that don't do that for you? You're better off without them.

There. Don't you feel better now? I know I do.  Because as far as I'm concerned, everyone should have a time to celebrate themselves.


Saturday, November 26, 2011

Saturday Morning: Fun House

I have a confession for you all.

You know amusement parks? I love them. Or, at least I did before I realized that I am at the age where I can get motion sickness going on a merry-go-round. But when I was a kid, I loved going to the fair or to theme parks. It was the only place where a corn dog and cheese fries were considered a nutritional dinner, and where you could spin around and around on a Tilt-A-Whirl, and still manage to maintain some degree of your equilibrium.

There were some features of certain parks and fairs that for whatever reason I didn't like.

One was the various carnival games that were scattered all over the fairgrounds. Let's be completely honest here. 90% of those games are rigged as such that it's impossible to win the gigantic sized panda bear or stuffed Dora the Explorer doll. The only games I've ever had much luck in were the duck pond where everyone was guaranteed a prize, and the Whack-A-Mole games. But that's fine, everyone should get to play one of these games at least once. I actually shake my head at the various people who spend twenty dollars just to win their significant other a prize.



There are a few rides as well that I absolutely refuse to go on. One of which is the Crazy Dance ride. You may have seen it in the movie Problem Child 2, as it's the ride that Junior speeds up that causes everyone in the park to simultaneously upchuck their corn dogs and cheese fries. My experience on the Crazy Dance wasn't quite that traumatic, but the last time I rode one, I found the compartments to be unusually tight, and I felt more claustrophobic than anything. Of course, the last time I danced the Crazy Dance, I was at my heaviest. Maybe if I got on at my current size, I'd find it much more enjoyable.



Then there's the rides that go up high in the air. Think Ferris Wheels, that ride with all the swings, some roller coasters that have upside-down loops. Yeah, NO. Not my cup of tea. I get vertigo just climbing a ladder.

And then there's the fun house attraction. I know lots of kids who LOVED going through the fun house. Climbing up those moving staircases, walking through the spinning barrels, walking across rope bridges.

Myself? I found it boring.

To me, in order for it to be called a fun house, one would think that it would have to be...well, fun. The fun houses I went through were anything but. After a while, I found the whole venture of going through the fun house to be completely dull, and a waste of two tickets that I could have spent on the Tilt-A-Whirl.

Of course, maybe my experiences were somewhat spoiled by a particular game show made for children. A game show that I used to watch religiously as a youngster, and a game show that I really wanted to be a contestant on. The only problem was that the show filmed in the United States, and since I was Canadian, the odds of me becoming a contestant were slim. Also, at the time the show aired, I was a bit too young to be a contestant. By the time I was old enough to be one, the show had been canceled.

What timing, huh?

So, what game show am I talking about? Well, it happens to be the subject for today's Saturday morning discussion. And while many stations used to air the show during the week, one affiliate used to air it on Saturdays.

Hence my reasoning for talking about it today.



The game show happens to be the show Fun House, which ran for three seasons. The first two seasons were aired in syndication between 1988-1990. It was later picked up by the FOX network for the 1990-1991 season.



The show was basically along the same lines of other game shows that aired for kids at the time, such as Finders Keepers or Double Dare. The prizes ranged from bicycles to vacations in Disneyland, and the ways that the contestants could win these prizes was to run through a gigantic version of an amusement park fun house where every room had a prize hidden inside of it. And sometimes, the prizes were well hidden. Sometimes, you had to bust balloons to find the prize inside. Sometimes you had to walk over a shaking bridge. The centerpiece of the Fun House set was a gigantic water slide that teams could slide down into a swimming pool. The house looked like it was something that came out of a child's imagination, and was probably the main reason why I found amusement park fun houses boring in comparison.

In fact, I did some digging, and found this clip of the people running into the fun house to grab everything they can. Check it out below. I'll explain it a little later in this entry.



So, Fun House was hosted by a man by the name of J.D. Roth. At the time, Roth was one of the youngest game show hosts ever. 



He was just 20 years old when Fun House premiered. Since then, Roth has made a name for himself as a television producer with shows like The Biggest Loser and Beauty And The Geek to his credit.

The way the game worked was that you had two teams of two, almost always a boy and a girl. One was in red, the other one in gold. Each team had a cheerleader backing them up.



No, seriously, they were actual cheerleaders. Jacquie and Sammi Forrest. If memory serves me, Jacquie was the red team cheerleader, and Sammi was the gold. But I could be wrong. They were twins after all.



The first part of the game involved one or both members of the team participating in some sort of stunt where they could earn points for their team. The way the stunts worked is that one stunt would be performed by just the boys. Another stunt would be performed by just the girls. The third would involve both members of the team. Some stunts took place just outside the contestants podium. Some took place inside the Fun House set.

And ALL of them were messy as heck, and the grosser the stunt, the better it was for us kids. Here's one example of one of these stunts.



Pretty cool, huh?

The winner of the stunt would get 25 points for their team. If the stunt somehow ended in a tie, both teams would get 25 points.

At the end of each stunt, the teams (which at this point were soaked with water, chocolate, green slime, or paint) would return to the contestant podium to answer some sort of general knowledge question that was loosely tied to the theme of the stunt they just performed. The first person to buzz in would earn an additional 25 points.



After the three stunts were completed, the next round would be the Fun House Grand Prix. If you click on the link below, you can see one of these in action.



Now, the Fun House Grand Prix was kind of like one of those soap box derby races. The teams would have to push some gigantic contraption (which could resemble a car, a spaceship, or even a bathtub), making at least three or four pit stops along the way to perform some mundane task, like putting peanut butter on a slice of bread, or building a tower of blocks. Along the way, they would also have to keep an eye out for black and white token chips. These chips ranged in point value from 10 points to 25 points which were then added to the contestants final total. It was imperative for teams to try and come in first, for if they did, they would get a 25 point bonus for crossing the finish line first.

The points were added up and barring a tie-breaker situation where a toss-up question was asked, the team with the most points would be allowed to enter the fun house area.

As you've seen in the clip posted above, the fun house was one extensive area filled with dozens of gift tags. Most of the gift tags in the house were green tags with a dollar amount ranging from $50 to $250, but there were some red tags available to grab which would give our players toys, games, electronics, and sporting goods.



To sweeten the deal, there was one prize tag at random that was selected to be the Power Prize. If one of the team members grabbed that tag before the two minute time limit ran out, they would get an additional prize. This prize was almost always a luxurious vacation to such places as Hawaii, Disney World, Universal Studios, and Six Flags Amusement Parks. So, needless to say, there was plenty of incentive to make it through the house as quickly as possible. In addition to the time limit, a player could only grab a maximum of three tags each time they entered the house. After they grabbed the third tag, they'd have to leave the fun house, and switch out so their partner could run in.

The show also had its own version in the United Kingdom, which ran a lot longer than the American version. It ran from 1989-1999 and was hosted by Pat Sharp. 



It was similar in every way to the US version right down to the cheerleaders. There was even an American spin-off of the show called College Mad House, which was hosted by Greg Kinnear, which saw college co-eds competing against each other. The rules were slightly changed, and the challenges were a lot more adult in nature, but it was essentially the same idea.

The original version was the best version though. It was definitely a show that could be fast-paced and messy. But looking back on it all, that fun house put any of the ones I walked through in my youth to shame.

This month, I've had some fun talking about some live-action shows each Saturday, but I promise you all, the Saturday morning cartoons will return as we close out 2011. Stay tuned!

Friday, November 25, 2011

TGIF: WKRP In Cincinnati

Hello, everyone!

Welcome to Black Friday. I hope all of you who are off to get major deals on electronics, toys, and appliances manage to get what you want without any cuts, bruises, and broken bones. And a special shout out to all of our American readers here as well, hoping that your Thanksgiving yesterday was filled with lots of food, and fun with friends and family.

And for today's blog entry, I have a special post-Thanksgiving treat for all of you Americans out there, and for the rest of the global population, I hope that you can get some humour out of today's posting.

How is today's posting linked to an American Thanksgiving? I'll get to that in a second.

But first, I have a question to pose to all of you, as well as a story linked to it.



Have you ever won anything from a radio contest or promotion? Really, anything at all? Concert tickets? Free food? Cold hard cash?

I have. In fact, the last two I've managed to win.

When I was about ten years old, I ended up winning a free pizza...though to be fair, all I really had to do was have my name sent in to the birthday club, and had my birthday read on air. And on a rather ironic note, my nephew ended up winning the birthday pizza for three years in a row!




But really, our local radio station, 104.9 JRFM (formerly known as 830 CFJR on the AM Radio dial), had quite a few contests, as did the sister station, 103.7 BOB FM (formerly known as The River). My sisters both won tickets to concerts and to the circus, as well as albums, clothing, gift certificates, and other various gifts. My mother is also one who likes to participate in radio contests, and one of her pet peeves in regards to these contests are ones where you have to call in to be a specific numbered caller, and that caller would either be an instant winner or get a chance to play a game. My mom would get so angry when she couldn't get through on the line, and even angrier when someone she knew DID get through! But, that was the chance people took.

However, in another pill of irony to swallow, while my mother would try constantly to play in radio contests and not get through, on the few instances when I would enter the contest, it didn't take me long to get on the line at all. In fact, in one of these contests a few years back, I was caller number seven, I believe it was. I had to play a game similar to the Clock Game on the Price Is Right where if I guessed the right number, I'd win the same dollar amount in cash. I ended up taking home a cheque for $431.00...the most I've ever won in any sort of contest. Not a bad chunk of change.

The one thing that I can say about our radio contests and promotions is that most of the prizes were fantastic, and the contests often went off without too much trouble.

Of course, not all radio promotions were perfect. Some of them failed miserably.



There's a book that I got for a Christmas present one year. In a twist of fate, my mom had actually won the book as a prize in a radio contest herself. The book was called 'The CHUM Story: From The Charts To Your Hearts'. It was written by Allen Farrell (a former CHUM staffer back in the day), and it was a detailed history of the early history of the CHUM radio station in Toronto, Ontario from the beginning until the 1970s. It's a really great book, by the way, and it showed a lot of behind-the-scenes moments about how the radio industry worked back in those days. I highly recommend it.

Anyway, there was a whole section on all the various contests that they did over the years, and how some of them didn't end happily. In one contest, they tried to give away a dog to promote the television program Lassie (the dog was like a Lassie clone), and the dog was so nervous, the family that won it had to return it to the station, as it kept going to the bathroom all the time.

And then there was the time that CHUM Radio ran a Father's Day contest where people would nominate their fathers for a chance to be named Father of the Year by CHUM, and the selection they chose happened to be a deadbeat dad who fathered illegitimate children all over the city for the better part of a decade!!!

Whoops!

The point is that radio contests are just like any sort of contest. Most of them are fantastic ideas with a great reward, but some of them for whatever reason just falter.

Like a fictional promotion done by a fictional radio station on a very real television sitcom.



The date was October 30, 1978. Although Thanksgiving in America wasn't for another few weeks yet, the fictional radio station, WKRP in Cincinnati was running a radio promotion for the holiday. It was supposed to have been an ingenious idea that nobody else had thought of. According to Arthur Carlson, the head of the station, he had insisted that his idea would end up being the greatest Thanksgiving promotion in radio history that people would end up remembering for years to come.



Arthur Carlson would end up getting his wish, but not for the right reasons.

Arthur's plan was to take a helicopter up in the air. He would have his field reporter, Les Nessman, cover the action live from the shopping mall where the promotion was set to take place. When they were up in the air, Arthur and Herb Tarlek, WKRP's account executive, would throw turkeys out of the helicopter down towards the people on the ground, offering free Thanksgiving turkeys to the lucky people who happened to catch one. Considering how expensive Thanksgiving dinner could be, getting a free turkey could be a great money saver.

There was just one problem. The turkeys that Arthur and Herb were tossing out of the helicopter were live turkeys.

Even bigger problem. They were domesticated turkeys who COULDN'T FLY.

Sigh...just watch the carnage below...


How disasterous was that? I couldn't even imagine myself running around a shopping plaza, trying to avoid a barrage of turkeys being tossed directly at me.

And yet that episode is widely regarded as one of the best episodes of the sitcom WKRP In Cincinnati by fans and critics. It's even ranked at #40 on TV Guide's Top 100 Episodes Of All Time).

When you take a look back at WKRP In Cincinnati though, it was highly underrated, and ultimately was canceled not because of bad writing, but because it kept bouncing around from time slot to time slot, and people got frustrated with trying to find it in their TV listings.



WKRP In Cincinnati ran for four seasons between 1978 and 1982. A revival of the series was made in the early 1990s, running between 1991 and 1993. The show was created by Hugh Wilson, and the sitcom was based on his own experiences working in advertising and sales in Atlanta, Georgia's WQXI radio station. In fact, almost all of the characters on the show were based on real people that Wilson encountered during his career.

Another plus that the show had was that the cast did not change at all during its four season run. There were no new characters introduced, but none left the show during its run. Considering that most shows now have one or more cast changes per year, this was very unusual at the time.

Now, from the clip I posted above, you've already met most of the cast, and I've talked about Arthur Carlson (Gordon Jump), Herb Tarlek (Frank Bonner) and Les Nessman (Richard Sanders). 



Those three characters were also the only three characters to appear in the 1991 revamp of the series as regular cast members.



Other cast members included Andy Travis (Gary Sandy), who could easily be called the main character (for a while he and Jump were the only cast members credited in the opening titles). It was Andy who moved to WKRP as its program director in an effort to keep the radio station from going under. With his spotless reputation for taking failing radio stations and turning them into ratings gold, it was expected that Andy would do the same for WKRP, but unfortunately, his tenure with the station was met with much frustration due to Carlson's incompetence and the wacky behaviour of the various deejays and staff members. Still, he managed to last four years at the station, so that was a positive.

You had Dr. Johnny Fever and Venus Flytrap (Howard Hesseman and Tim Reid respectively) who were the two deejays that we happened to see on screen. 



Dr. Johnny was a burned-out disc jockey who came to WKRP after being fired from a Los Angeles radio station for saying a nasty word on air. That word was booger.  You have to wonder how strict the guidelines were regarding the FCC circa 1978, don't you? Here's a bit of trivia for you all. Howard Hesseman who played Dr. Johnny actually worked as a disc jockey before he went into acting. 



As for Venus Flytrap, he's the late-evening deejay who likes to do his set with mood lighting and a smooth-talking persona. His real name, Gordon Sims, is never used, and details of his personal life prior to WKRP are sparse.



Herb Tarlek would always wear a white belt and white shoes with whatever garish outfit he wore, and despite his being married, he would always pursue the buxom blonde receptionist of WKRP, Jennifer Marlowe (Loni Anderson). 



But the one quality that I'm sure all women could celebrate was that Jennifer had a brain underneath all that blonde hair, and she wasn't afraid to use it.



Les Nessman tried to be a serious news reporter and put everything into presenting himself in a positive light, but he didn't exactly succeed at this. Case in point, the clip from the episode “Turkeys Away”. He would often come into work with a bandage over some part of his body from some sort of accident he got into, but did you know that this recurring gag came about from a real injury that actor Richard Sanders experienced? During the filming of the pilot, Sanders bopped his head on a studio light and gashed his forehead quite badly. He was forced to wear a bandage to cover the cut, and Sanders decided to incorporate it as a running gag.



Then there was Jan Smithers' role as Bailey Quarters, the radio station ingenue, who was in charge of billing and traffic reports in the first couple of seasons of the show. Bailey also happens to hold a degree in journalism, and her real dream is to become a broadcast executive, so Mr. Carlson decided to let Bailey try her hand at on-air reporting...a job that she excels in better than Les ever could. Another one of Bailey's quirks is her shyness and quietness, qualities that she eventually overcomes by the end of the series. But those quirks helped Jan Smithers get the role of Bailey, as Hugh Wilson stated that while actresses TRIED to act shy, Smithers always WAS shy, and that helped her get the role.

I think some of the reasons why I liked the show though was the fact that during its original run, the show played real songs by real artists. You'll hear different, more generic music being played in syndication, but in the original run, you'd hear songs by Foreigner, Bob Marley, Bob Dylan, Robert Palmer, and others.

And almost every episode of the series was based on a real-life event, either based on Hugh Wilson's past experiences, or a social commentary on real life news stories. An episode entitled “In Concert” was based on the 1979 tragedy in which eleven people were killed at a Who concert in Cincinnati by suffocation after being trampled on by fans rushing into the concert hall to see the show.

And, would you believe that “Turkeys Away” was reportedly based on a REAL-LIFE event that happened at WQXI, the station that Hugh Wilson worked at before he created the show?

Now, that is a scary thought.