WKRP in Cincinnati

Growing up, there were two television shows that my dad and I never missed.  The first one was Mash.  We watched every episode, much to my mom's chagrin as she could not stand "Hot Lips" Houlihan.  The second show that we watched religiously, WKRP, my mom condoned.  Not only was it really funny, but our family could completely relate to the show since my dad had worked in radio since he and my mom were first married in 1963.  As I had grown up at WKAM and eventually worked there during high school and college, the jokes, the people and even the DJ booth felt extremely familiar, and I never missed an episode.  

One of my dad's and my favorite episodes of WKRP was "Turkeys Away."  In it, Mr. Carlson, the station manager, decided to run a promotion to give away turkeys for Thanksgiving.  He kept it a secret from his younger staff, so no one but him knew that he planned on dropping the turkeys out of a helicopter believing that they would fly safely to the ground and those in attendance would be able to take a live turkey home to cook for the holidays.  There was only one flaw in "The Big Guy's" plan - turkeys can't fly.  The first time I saw the episode I laughed until I cried.  Watching "Les Nessman" report live as the turkeys were falling from the sky was one of the funniest scenes in television history and my dad and I watched it every November since it first aired in 1978.

This year as we got ready to watch my favorite Thanksgiving episode, I had a surprise for everyone.  For my birthday, I had bought myself a new shirt to honor not only my 57th, but my 48th viewing of "Turkeys Away."  Everyone got a laugh out of it, especially my dad.  In honor of "As God as my witness, I thought turkeys could fly," I have decided to make the shirt my new holiday tradition.