How do Canadians celebrate American Thanksgiving? By watching Turkeys Away, of course. WKRP In Cincinnati was only in the second month of its first season when their classic Thanksgiving episode aired for the first time — basically cementing their future on CBS for the next four years. It’s arguably the funniest sitcom episode ever, thanks to a brilliant cast and genius writing by Bill Dial.
Dial wrote four episodes of the show’s 22-episode inaugural season and one in the second season. Fans of the show will remember him as the infrequent recurring character Bucky Dornster, the station engineer. Dial, like show creator Hugh Wilson, had a background in radio and helped come up with the premise of the show. One of his former colleagues — an Atlanta DJ named “Skinny” Bobby Harper — was the basis for the character of “Dr.” Johnny Fever. I’ve written before about WKRP In Cincinnati, specifically its theme music. Read that HERE.
It was actually my sweetie’s idea to watch WKRP during the Thanksgiving / Black Friday weekend. So I downloaded the first season on Apple TV. Let me first warn you — it’s not the original music. This is the version of the series released before they got the proper licensing, so there’s generic music in place of the originals. There were more than 300 songs played on the show during its run. They are often critical to the plot and dialogue. The show kind of sucks without them. If you’re curious, HERE is a list of every song heard in the series. There’s even a Spotify playlist of every song spun by Johnny Fever — in order (except Dogs by Pink Floyd, for some reason).
Anyway, the reason I’m writing today is concerning the episode which aired three weeks before Turkeys Away — Hoodlum Rock, which premiered Oct. 9, 1978. This is one episode where you still get the original music, largely performed by Detective. They were one of the bands signed to Led Zeppelin’s Swan Song label. Their self-titled debut in April 1977 was the label’s 17th release. An interesting group, with a fair deal of lore.
One legendary incident: A publicity photograph taken at the Beverly Hills Hotel to promote the band’s 1975 signing to Swan Song. The idea was to have Jimmy Page in the photo, but when the time came to get the shot, the Zeppelin guitarist was so out of it that he couldn’t be awoken. The photo was taken with Page passed out in the background.
The frontman of Detective was Michael Des Barres — who was once married to feminist musician, groupie and author Pamela Des Barres. Her memoir, I’m With The Band, is fantastic. She first gained prominence as Miss Pamela, a member of the girl-group The GTOs (Girls Together Outrageously), who were signed by Frank Zappa and released one album in 1969. Fellow GTO Miss Christine (Christine Frka), is the woman pictured on the cover of Zappa’s 1970 album Hot Rats. She had been the babysitter of Zappa’s daughter Moon Unit, and continued as her and brother Dweezil’s nanny in the early ’70s after The GTOs ended. Zappa also had her act in his 1970 film 200 Motels as an interviewer, which led to a recurring role in the soap Search For Tomorrow.
Kate Hudson read Des Barres’ memoir as inspiration for her portrayal of Penny Lane in the film Almost Famous, a character partially based on Des Barres by author Cameron Crowe. She has been romantically linked to Mick Jagger, Jimmy Page, Keith Moon, Noel Redding, Chris Hillman, Gram Parsons, Brandon deWilde, Don Johnson — and, of course, Michael Des Barres. The pair were married in 1977, just as Detective were putting out their debut record, and a year before they appeared on WKRP.
Michael Des Barres was from London, but relocated to Los Angeles in 1974 after the breakup of his first band Silverhead. The glam group also featured Nigel Harrison, who would go on to be the bassist in Blondie, as well as guitarist Robbie Blunt and drummer Pete Thompson, both of whom would later work with Robert Plant during his solo career. Detective were rounded out by former Steppenwolf guitarist Michael Monarch and former Yes keyboardist Tony Kaye.
The first hint of them in the episode is Detective promotional items prominently displayed in program director Andy Travis’s office. Travis — eager to promote the station’s recent switch to a rock format — had been connected, via station manager Arthur Carlson, to a woefully out-of-touch local concert promoter. The promoter was listing off his available, mostly awful, acts when he offhandedly mentioned the band Scum Of The Earth. This gets Travis excited because “Scum” are a group on the rise of the exploding punk scene. They head to Travis’s office to discuss the details of a station-sponsored concert, and this is where we see all the Detective swag and posters. When Scum Of The Earth arrive at the station for pre-concert interviews, we meet their three primary members — Blood, Nigel and Dog. The first two are portrayed by actors, but Dog, aka Sir Charles Weatherbee, is played by Des Barres. He was no stranger to acting, having appeared in the 1967 blockbuster To Sir With Love, as the student who never takes off his sunglasses. In the ensuing years, Des Barres has appeared in dozens of films and TV shows.
The premise of the WKRP episode centres around the station pairing with the uncontrollable trio of shock-rockers, who eventually need to be fought by Travis, Fever and DJ Venus Flytrap before they’ll agree to perform at the sold-out concert. At the very end of the episode, we see the band perform — the two actors are acting, while Des Barres mimes his own vocals on two Detective tracks and the actual band mime their recorded performances.
What you hear is a bit of Got Enough Love, from their self-titled 1977 debut album, and a bit of Betcha Won’t Dance from the followup, It Takes One To Know One, released later in 1977. Earlier in the episode, before Venus interviews the trio on air, he plays a bit of Scum Of The Earth, which is actually the Detective track Dynamite, also from It Takes One To Know One.
Detective broke up around the time the episode aired, and Des Barres went solo and eventually formed another band in 1982 — the supergroup Chequered Past, which included former Sex Pistols guitarist Steve Jones, Iggy Pop / David Bowie bassist Tony Sales, Blondie drummer Clem Burke and guitarist Frank Infante, along with Des Barres’ former bandmate Harrison. They released one underwhelming album before the singer took over lead vocals from Robert Palmer in Power Station.
In the ’90s, WKRP In Cincinnati spawned a lacklustre spinoff / sequel a la AfterMASH, Happy Days Again, Joannie Loves Chachi and Archie Bunker’s Place. The New WKRP In Cincinnati aired from 1991 to 1993 and featured Des Barres as a main character. But rather than reprise his role of AfterMASH, he basically took on the role of Fever as DJ Jack Allen, one of The Morning Maniacs. His character was dropped after the first season, shortly after his marriage to Pamela ended. No matter — work was plentiful. You can catch cameos and bit parts by Des Barres in a slew of ’90s TV shows, including Roseanne, Seinfeld, Alf, Hart To hart, Lois & Clark, MacGyver, Northern Exposure, St. Elsewhere, 21 Jump Street, Frasier, Ellen and Dead Like Me.
These days he’s come full circle and hosts his own weekday morning music show on satellite radio. No word on whether he has any gigs planned with Scum Of The Earth.
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Area Resident is an Ottawa-based journalist, recording artist, music collector and re-seller. Hear (and buy) his music on Bandcamp, email him HERE, follow him on Instagram and check him out on Discogs.
