On a Wing and a Prayer: The 40th Anniversary of “WKRP’s” “Turkeys Away”

By Michael Lyons

In 1997, when TV Guide compiled their list of the top 100 episodes of all time, there among the list that included “I Love Lucy,” “The Honeymooners,” “ER” and “Seinfeld” was an episode from an underrated sitcom that many had all but forgotten about: “WKRP in Cincinnati.”

The episode was from 1978, a Thanksgiving-themed episode (a rarity for TV Shows in the ‘70’s) dubbed “Turkeys Away.”

Those who have seen the episode have fallen in love with it, make watching it part of their Thanksgiving routine and can easily see why TV Guide includes it on their Top 100 list.

“Turkeys Away” is, quite simply, one of the most daring and consistently funny (even after multiple viewings) sitcom episodes ever produced.  With Thanksgiving approaching and this fall marking the episode’s 40th anniversary, it’s time to talk some “Turkey” and look back at this hysterical moment from “WKRP in Cincinnati.”

As the sitcom’s title suggests, the show centered on a radio station in Cincinnati and one that was struggling.  Travis (Gary Sandy) a new Station Manager, had come in and was making changes.  As “Turkeys Away” opens, Arthur (Gordon Jump), the Station Manager is frustrated that with all the changes, he doesn’t have much to do.

Arthur a/k/a “The Big Guy,” comes up with a promotional idea, but only lets two other members of WKRP, newsman Les Nessman (Richard Sanders) and sales manager Herb Tarlek (Frank Bonner), in on the secret.  All “The Big Guy” tells the rest of his staff is that they need to be ready at the station for a Thanksgiving promotion that will be broadcast live via remote from a nearby mall.

**WARNING: SPOILER ALERT!**. DO NOT READ FURTHER IF YOU HAVE NEVER SEEN “TURKEYS AWAY”!!**

The next day, WKRP DJ Dr. Johnny Fever (Howard Hesseman) and the rest of the team gather in the control booth and he turns the broadcast over to Les at the nearby shopping mall.

An earnest reporter, Les begins discussing all of the events going on, in painstakingly hysterical detail including the appearance of a helicopter with a “Happy Thanksgiving” banner...and the sudden appearance of things falling.  Yup - live turkeys, which Arthur and Herb are tossing out of the helicopter.  However, turkeys don’t have the gift of flight and begin plummeting to the earth.

While it all sounds incredibly morbid, it’s actually very innocent.  All of the action with the helicopter and the turkeys happens off screen.  We never see it, but instead just get Les’ first person account, which he reports on as if it’s the crash of The Hindenburg.  He even shouts the iconic, “Oh, the humanity!”

The episode also cuts back to the shocked team listening in at the station.  “For those of you just joining us,” states Dr. Johnny Fever, “the Pinedale Shopping Mall has just been bombed with live turkeys!”

As we see none of this on screen and just in our minds eye, it’s made all the more hysterical, as our imaginations run wild thanks to Les’ innocent live report.

The ingenious writing continues as disheveled Arthur, Herb and Les return to the station, detailing what happened, including a “counter attack” by the turkeys.

Written by WKRP Producer Bill Dial, “Turkeys Away” is a perfectly crafted, compact comic masterpiece of a TV sitcom episode.  The story unfurls slowly, but the sharp, one liners don’t let up throughout.  Even at the end of the show, as WKRP receptionist Jennifer Marlowe (Loni Anderson) takes a call from an animal rights organization.  “Well, Mr. Kelli.” She states, “a lot of turkeys don’t make it through Thanksgiving.”

What makes this all even funnier is that Dial based the promotion in the episode on an actual radio promotion that occurred at an Atlanta station!

“Turkeys Away” was broadcast on October 30, 1978, just before “WKRP in Cincinnati” was being placed on hiatus, due to low ratings.  However, it was the originality of this episode and viewer reaction to it (coupled with a devoted fan base) that helped bring “WKRP” back, where it became a hit and ran for four seasons.

Forty years later, the episode stands as the pinnacle of the series’ offerings and one that is discussed almost immediately in pop culture circles around Thanksgiving, particularly, Arthur’s final line of the show...

“As God is my witness...I thought turkeys could fly.”

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Sources:

IMDb

Mental Floss

Wikipedia

Mighty “Mouse:”. Mickey’s 90th Birthday!

By Michael Lyons

He’s become most famous for being one of the world’s most iconic images, especially in corporate circles, so it’s easy to forget that Mickey Mouse is an animated character.

Not just any animated character, but one of the world’s most famous animated characters who started one of Hollywood’s most famous and now one of the largest entertainment Companies.

Most amazing is the fact that this month, on November 18th, Mickey Mouse will turn 90 years young!  It was on that date in 1928 that Mickey made his debut in “Steamboat Willie.”  With this amazing milestone marking a popularity that has endured for almost a century, it’s the perfect time to look back at some highlights from the career of this most mighty Mouse! 

In honor of Mickey and to wish him a Happy Birthday, here are “9 from 90,” nine highlights from ninety years of entertaining the world!

“Steamboat Willie” (1928), Mickey’s debut (along with Minnie and Pete) is a marvel from the early days of animation, as well as the first film to feature synchronized sound.

“The Band Concert” (1935) Mickey conducts a band in the midst of a tornado in a dizzying combination of animation and music.

“Lonesome Ghosts” (1937). Mickey, Donald and Goofy teamed up for a number of classic short subjects, but this one where they “bust some ghosts” is one of the best.

“Brave Little Tailor” (1938) A compact little fantasy adventure with Mickey, Princess Minnie and an amazingly animated giant.

“Fantasia” (1940), Mickey’s “Sorcerer’s Apprentice” with its multiplying brooms, flooding rooms and nightmarish images is a standout in a feature film filled with standout scenes.

“The Nifty Nineties” (1941) A simple short subject that’s like spending 10 minutes on Main Street, USA with Mickey and Minnie.

“Mickey’s Christmas Carol’ (1983) This featurette marked Mickey’s first film in thirty years and with its all-star Disney cast emerges as one of the most entertaining adaptions of Dickens’ Christmas mainstay.

“Runaway Brain” (1995) A very different, Looney Tunes-esque outing for Mickey is a hysterical send up of classic monster movies.

“Get A Horse” (2013) This brilliant combination of 2D and 3D animation is a celebration of Disney movie magic and one of the most original shorts to emerge from the Studio.

And so, Happy Birthday Mickey!  Thank you for childhood memories that transcend generations and make the world just a little more magical.  We are all thrilled that, as Walt Disney himself said,  “It Was All Started By A Mouse!”

Mickey’s Official 90th Portrait

By Animator Mark Henn 

Sources:

Disney.com

Wikipedia  

The Time of Your “Life Day”: The 40th Anniversary of the Infamous “Star Wars Holiday Special”

By Michael Lyons

It has to be seen to be believed.

Like a myth that some only heard of and one that haunts those who remember it.

Those who can remember would like to forget it and those who were there would like to destroy its memory.

But, it lives on, reaching out from dark recesses to rear its very ugly head.

Yes, that’s right...”The Star Wars Holiday Special.”

Made at the height of the popularity wave that followed 1977’s original “Star Wars,” the “Holiday Special” is part Star Wars saga, part ‘70’s variety show, part cartoon, part musical...and all like nothing you’ve ever seen.  It was broadcast only once on CBS in November of 1978...and never seen again.

Through the years, the fact that this “lost sector” of the “Star Wars” Universe was so difficult to come by, it became even more discussed and highly sought after by fans.  Today, “The Star Wars Holiday Special” is more than just a cult favorite, more than just a buried piece of TV and “Star Wars” history, it’s something that truly, well, has to be seen to be believed.

With this month marking the 40th anniversary of this “What were they thinking?” TV treat, it’s the perfect time to re-visit “The Star Wars Holiday Special.”

All of the original cast members from “Star Wars” return for the special: Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Peter Mayhew, Anthony Daniels and James Earl Jones as the voice of Darth Vader.

Clocking in at two hours, with commercials, the special centers around Han Solo, accompanied by Chewbacca, who is trying to get to his home planet of Kashyyk, to celebrate the Wookiee holiday of Life Day (that’s the Holiday referred to in the special’s title.  Although it was broadcast just before Thanksgiving, there’s no mention of that holiday or Christmas in the show).  Han and Chewie are of course pursued by the Empire, delaying them on their journey

Meanwhile on Kashyyk, Chewbacca’s family, his wife Malla, son Lumpy and father Itchie await Chewbacca, only to find their home invaded by two Stormtroopers who are waiting for Han and Chewie to return.

And as they all wait, Malla talks with their friendly neighborhood trader, played by Ed Norton himself, Art Carney, Lumpy watches a music video, featuring Jefferson Starship and also a cartoon that features all of the Star Wars characters and includes the first screen appearance of Boba Fett.

As if all that wasn’t enough, comedian Harvey Korman (from “The Carol Burnett Show”) plays three different comic relief characters, including one in drag; Bea Arthur (“The Golden Girls”) appears as the bartender of the Cantina and even belts out a torch-song like number; And, the whole special culminates with us getting a peek at the Wookie Life Day ritual, which includes a song...sung by Carrie Fisher.

“The Star Wars Holiday Special” was most obviously made to not only capitalize on the popularity of the film, but also allow the film to remain popular while “The Empire Strikes Back” was in production.  But without committing to one genre (either a variety special aimed at kids, or a made-for-TV movie for an older audience), the special comes off as well-meaning, but completely misguided, inconsistent and just baffling.

Dedicating the characters and story to a specific holiday would have probably allowed the special to “live on” through the years, like many other TV Specials.  In fact, In 1980, a record album, “Star Wars: A Christmas in the Stars” was released, with well crafted songs and a plot that would have leant itself to a TV Special.

Broadcast on November 17 (a date which many fans claim is “Life Day”) of 1978, “The Star Was Holiday Special” was never rerun and seemingly disappeared...until the world of bootleg video came along.  Several die hard fans had transferred what was probably their Betamax tapes on to VHS and DVD’s.  These began appearing for sale at various comic book and sci-fi conventions.  And suddenly, the world was once again familiar with “The Star Wars Holiday Special.”

This led George Lucas to once famously remark, “If I had the time and a sledgehammer, I would track down every bootleg copy of that program and smash it.”

And he means it. “The Star Wars Holiday Special” remains buried.  The cartoon from the special has been released as a bonus feature on Blu-Ray, but the entire special has yet to see the light of day in an official release.

But fans don’t mind, they have tracked it down and quote and discuss all of it’s embarrassing moments in detail.  Watching “The Star Wars Holiday Special” forty years later, during our current era of a “Star Wars” franchise renaissance, is extremely quaint.  It’s reflective of a time when TV entertainment was quite different and that “Galaxy Far, Far Away” was much younger...and innocent.

A time when Bea Arthur could sing to a room full of aliens.  Yeah, it has to be seen to be believed.

Sources:

IMDb

Wikipedia

Twentieth Century Fox: Celebrating the 45th Anniversary of Disney’s “Robin Hood”

By Michael Lyons

“Keep your chin up.  Soon there’ll be happiness in Nottingham again, you’ll see.”

This line of dialogue delivered by the title character in Disney’s 1973 animated feature, “Robin Hood,” not only serves a morale booster for a downtrodden character, but it could also be what the artists at Disney were saying to each other at the time.

“Robin Hood” was produced at the Studio’s most challenging times.  Walt Disney, the creative guiding light, had passed away seven years earlier and many in charge struggled to “keep moving forward” without him at the helm.

From this unsure time, came a number of projects that attempted to live up to all the name Disney meant to audiences, but there was a constant feeling from both those at the Studio and audiences alike that things weren’t like they were in “the old days.”

One of the projects at this time that attempted to bring luster back to Disney was “Robin Hood,” the Studio’s 21st animated featured film.  It was a re-telling of the classic tale with anthropomorphic animals in each role.

Robin and his band of Merry Men (or, as the posters at the time called them, the “Merry Men-agerie!”) attempt to bring happiness back by outwitting the whimpering villain Prince John, who has taxed the “heart and soul of Nottingham.”

Not only was the cast filled with almost every member of the animal kingdom, but almost every popular TV and movie personality at the time for their voices.

Robin Hood, the Fox was noted British actor Brian Bedford; Little John was Disney stalwart Phil Harris (as a very distant relative of “The Jungle Book’s” Baloo); Oscar winner Peter Ustinov, was brilliant as Prince John, the cowardly lion; British comedian Terry Thomas was his sidekick the snake Sir Hiss (and the character was given the comedian’s trademark gap teeth); the twangy star of “Green Acres,” Pat Butram was the Sheriff of Nottingham, a burly wolf; the rooster narrator Alan-a-Dale was Roger Miller, a popular country and western singer at the time, who also wrote several of the film’s songs; the raspy sidekick of many western, Andy Devine gave voice to Friar Tuck, a badger; and actresses Monica Evans and Carole Shelley (who had provided the voices for the geese in “The Aristocats”) were Maid Marian, a fox and Lady Cluck, a chicken.

The eclectic voice cast is a prime example of just how scattershot a movie “Robin Hood” is, but that’s also part of its charm.

The movie had gone through a number of iterations in those “post Walt” years.  Starting life in the ‘60’s as an adaptation of the fable Reynard the Fox and afterward being adapted as a Western-themed version of “Robin Hood” (hence the number of associated American voices in it), the movie is a reflection of the artists struggling to find just the right tone for their work without Walt.

As an example of the unsure time, “Robin Hood” has become most famous in animation circles as the movie that “traced over animation” from previous Disney films like “Snow White” and “The Jungle Book,” in an attempt to cut costs (a search on You Tube will demonstrate).

But such attempts to find chinks in the armor are petty, as there is so much to love in Disney’s “Robin Hood.”  The animators (most of them the veterans of the Studio’s classic films) get so much personality from each of the different animal characters that the film is brimming with personality animation, even from characters who are only on screen for a few minutes.

Nowhere is this more evident then with Prince John.  With snarky, spoiled rotten delivery from Peter Ustinov, coupled with brilliant acting through animation from Ollie Johnston, Prince John emerges as not only one of the Studio’s best, comical villains, but one of their most original characters.

Debuting on November 8, 1973, “Robin Hood” was a hit for the Studio and meant a lot for the young generation in the ‘70’s who grew up with the film.  Unlike today, “Robin Hood” was made a time when a new Disney animated feature came along every three to four years, not on the current annual schedule that Disney and Pixar provide.

Additionally, when Disney made the decision in 1984 to begin releasing their animated films on home video, “Robin Hood” was the first, making it a favorite of the “VHS generation.”

Since then, “Robin Hood” has earned a special place in the hearts of many a Disney and animation fan.

Not quite the standard of other Disney fare?  A product of the Studio’s darker hour?  Standard animated feature film fodder?

Sure and probably yes to all of these questions.

But...”Robin Hood” also stands as an example of artists doing their best with what they had, using their talents to bring to life what could only be done in the world of animation and daring to try something that the Studio had never done before.

It’s a story of always looking toward brighter days and knowing that “Love goes on and on.”  And that, in many ways, is what makes “Robin Hood” so special to so many.

And so, while there wasn’t “happiness in Nottingham” at the time “Robin Hood” was made and that “happiness” wouldn’t come for another twenty years with films like “Beauty and the Best” and “Aladdin,” “Robin Hood” provided many a generation with happiness that would last a lifetime.

PS - As “Screen Saver” now celebrates one year, thank you all who have read and supported this humble endeavor!

Sources: Wikipedia

IMDb