206 Good Morning, Peoria

Good Morning, Peoria

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Al's Place Bartender - Brian Greene
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Good Morning, Peoria
September 9, 1959

Peoria, Illinois


As a radio disc jockey at the dawn of rock and roll, Sam must prevent a radio station from being shut down while romancing the station's owner and playing some great tunes along the way!


Written by: Chris Ruppenthal
Directed by: Michael Zinberg


Rate and comment on this episode!
 
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What can I say? I loved every part of this show! From Patricia Richardson's guest star appearance (LOVED her in "Tool Time!"), to the whole freedom of speech angle, to the battle that Rock and Roll had when it became popular!
 
Vince Beckett said:
Great episode. It was an homage to "Good Morning Vietnam" and it had some great songs, which unfortunately got cut out on the DVD.
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exactly! and i loved Good Morning Vietnam, it was a great movie, and when o saw this episode i was just as entertained. everything about this episode is great.
 
I agree, Good Morning Vietnam is one of my favorite movies, so I adore this episode. I love it when after Sam does that HILARIOUS bit mimicking GMV, he says, "I just made a fool of myself!".

Samantha Beckett
 
this episode is amazing!!! I was Assistant Directing "Grease" at my local grammer school and I made the student who was playing Vince Fontaine (the DJ) watch this episode to see what I wanted his chatacter to speak and act!!!
 
I love, love, love this episode!!!

I think Scott and Patricia Richardson are way hot in it!!! And it was just fun, all around.
 
I agree. This episode was a lot of fun. Sam's on air patter was so silly....typical of radio DJ's. My husband is a local traffic reporter and occasionally gets off a few good ones. He liked this episode, too.
 
The first Episode Chris Ruppenthal wrote and it was good. Not great,but good. but not to worry most of the other episodes he wrote was much better,and even great.
Anyway it was hard for me to "connect" to the topic,because...i'm not a rock and roll fan, and... welll i found this episode a bit silly espicially All those howls...
 
isz said:
Anyway it was hard for me to "connect" to the topic,because...i'm not a rock and roll fan, and... welll i found this episode a bit silly espicially All those howls...
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Although rock & roll is the subject of the episode, that's not what it's really about. It's about freedom of expression which is the point of the various excerpts Sam reads from historic documents. Rock & roll is the vehicle that's used to explore freedom of expression...a very serious issue.

As for the howls, since the person Sam leaps into is known as "Howlin" Chick Howell, it fits with the DJ persona of Chick.
 
freedom of expression using rock & roll,which made the soundrack of the episode a bit unbearable to me,Which brings me to my next point - the first amandments is a very important topic and i think if Chris Ruppenthal wanted to deal with it he sould write a script that deal with it in a more serious way.
 
The rights guaranteed in the First Amendment are very important whether it pertains to the right to choose which kind of music to listen to or play or the right to stand on a street corner and disparage the current administration. Both are equally as important. If one is abridged, then the other may not be far behind. Chris Ruppenthal wrote a script dealing with this very important idea in an entertaining way. If you dislike the genre of music, that's one thing. It does not, however, translate to this episode belittling the idea of Freedom of Speech because it's not done in a "serious way".

If you look at a lot of the cases that are brought before courts of late in order to uphold the freedom of speech, they're not really "serious" subjects. It ranges from things like music to what kind of slogan a school student can wear on his/her t-shirt. Freedom of speech is an extremely important facet in all parts of American life and is taken seriously all the time...even if it does seem like a silly thing to fight for it for.
 
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I thought Freedom to play Rock and Roll was a great example of freedom of speech and expression.

"And since Mr. Beaman did state that Rock n Roll is in at least some form speech, half articulate speech to be exact than its protected by the first amendment."

-Sam after reading an article written by Rock n Roll opposer Fred Beaman.
 
Damn, I loved this episode!

I work at a radio station and I know how hard it is to stand in front of a microphone and keep the listeners' atenttion. I loved how Sam took the "Good Morning, Vietnam" routine and worked with it in the 50's.

BTW, when Sam tries to put the station on air for the second time (when he uses the copper canals as an antenna) and Al make interference with the radio frequency, and the reaction he made when he was about to "leap".

Great episode, and extra points for how Sam used an article wrote by Frederic Beaman to stop the anti-rock 'n' roll crusade and the destruction of the radio station.

Best Regards

Joe Quarterback
 
I love the way Sam that does his homage to Good morning Vietnam. He is funny. What a great episode.


cookiemom6067 said:
I love, love, love this episode!!!

I think Scott and Patricia Richardson are way hot in it!!! And it was just fun, all around.
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I enjoyed that one very much. Also the GMV bits and the conversation where Sam goes "I feel like I've just been given permission to play" (don't know the exact wording). That was so much about artistic expression and allowing yourself to be free in it. That was really meaningful to me, and it was fun seeing Sam's development as a DJ and Al's input was hillarious. I'm not giving it an excellent, because the stakes weren't quite as high and for me the characters' emotional involvement didn't seem as well explored as on some other episodes. I also don't like the way the rock'n'roll dancing looked so staged. But all in all another very good one.
 
I just saw Good Morning, Peoria in the original version, I think the DVD-Version, on dailymotion.com. The music when Sam kisses Rachel is terrible. :nut I love this scene but with this music it isn't as romantic as I knew it before. It's funny when Al thinks he's leaping when he is too near to the antenna. :lol It's a wonderful episode, I like it very much.
 
I absolutely loved this episode. The sets and the costuming were wonderful. The writing was incredible. It's without a doubt one of the funniest and most educational QL episodes in the entire series, imo.
 
Imagine said:
I just saw Good Morning, Peoria in the original version, I think the DVD-Version, on dailymotion.com. The music when Sam kisses Rachel is terrible. :nut I love this scene but with this music it isn't as romantic as I knew it before. It's funny when Al thinks he's leaping when he is too near to the antenna. :lol It's a wonderful episode, I like it very much.
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Maybe your DVD has the song removed. It must have been hard to get the rights to all the songs played in this episode. Not impossible though, as all the music is intact on my Region 4 discs.

On the same note though, does anybody know who sings "The Glory of Love", which is the song playing when Sam and Rachel are dancing and kissing?
 
I have to admit, I was suffering a little second-hand embarrassment for Sam watching him really get into the disc jockey bit, but it was funny; I couldn't stop myself from grinning like an idiot.

Add that with Sam's awesome speech at the end and you have a good episode. Probably in my top ten for the series!
 
My only complaint with the episode was Al's reference to the Johnny Horton record The Battle of New Orleans. (He had a less-than-favorable opinion about the song.) Yes, it wasn't rock---it was country---but it WAS the top U.S. single in 1959. Anyway, it didn't diminish the episode. I enjoyed it!
 
This is a great episode...Worth watching just for the Good Morning Vietnam bit alone. :lol Scott did a great job with that. :)
 
Something to ponder: Would a small child or mentally ill person have heard Al over the airwaves when he was helping Sam with what he was to say on air?
 
Oh, my! You know, it's episodes like "Good Morning, Peoria" the ones that made this series what it is today and of course what it was. Everything is so beautifully crafted in a way that keeps you hooked to the installment right from the very first instant. You want more and more. You want to know what's gonna happen next and how everything is going to be resolved.

Just like Deborah Pratt did it with "The Color Of Truth", here Chris Ruppenthal gives us a very powerful and important commentary and, again, inside a very simple story. I don't like to put on labels of any sort, but I think Chris Ruppenthal is my favorite writer from the series. When he's not trying to be Stephen King, Hitchcock or even Edgar Allan Poe, he's a master at creating stories that always deal with very powerful and interesting human topics and situations (even when he wants to be those guys and deals with the supernatural or the pure suspense, haha!!, he's always fun and lovable to watch).

Loved everything about this episode. The only scene that I thought was a bit over-the-top was the one when Chubby Checker appeared. It was fun but nothing that really drove me crazy. All the DJ parts always make me smile and laugh.

My rating: Excellent.
 
Donofrio_QLTD said:
Oh, my! You know, it's episodes like "Good Morning, Peoria" the ones that made this series what it is today and of course what it was. Everything is so beautifully crafted in a way that keeps you hooked to the installment right from the very first instant. You want more and more. You want to know what's gonna happen next and how everything is going to be resolved.

Just like Deborah Pratt did it with "The Color Of Truth", here Chris Ruppenthal gives us a very powerful and important commentary and, again, inside a very simple story. I don't like to put on labels of any sort, but I think Chris Ruppenthal is my favorite writer from the series. When he's not trying to be Stephen King, Hitchcock or even Edgar Allan Poe, he's a master at creating stories that always deal with very powerful and interesting human topics and situations (even when he wants to be those guys and deals with the supernatural or the pure suspense, haha!!, he's always fun and lovable to watch).

Loved everything about this episode. The only scene that I thought was a bit over-the-top was the one when Chubby Checker appeared. It was fun but nothing that really drove me crazy. All the DJ parts always make me smile and laugh.

My rating: Excellent.
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I always find it funny when Sam teaches something to the people that taught him in the past, e.g. teaching Chubby Checker the twist, teaching Michael Jackson the moonwalk, teaching Moe Stein the string theory of time travel, or inventing the Heimlich maneuver :p
 
Lightning McQueenie said:
Something to ponder: Would a small child or mentally ill person have heard Al over the airwaves when he was helping Sam with what he was to say on air?
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That's an excellent point, one which had never occurred to me. Do neurological holograms broadcast over the air? And would the modulation (AM or FM) make any kind of difference? Would the microphone even pick up Al's voice, or does the small child or mentally ill person (or animal) need to be in Sam's vicinity?

This episode dealt with a serious matter in a fun way. I loved Al's input when Sam was getting into his role as a DJ. I like how Mrs Beaman kept trying to get her husband to lay off the anti- rock and roll sentiment. Seems she was the only level-headed person in the café that night. What was with the teenagers in different colored jackets fighting outside the studio? Was that to prove Beeman's point about rock and roll being a bad influence on kids? And did Sam actually measure the length of the copper gutter to make sure it would resonate at the correct frequency before he connected it to the transmitter, or did he skip that part to save time, simply hoping the reflected power wouldn't fry the unit? (Sorry, I'm a nerd.)

Not one of my favorite episodes, but definitely not a bad one. I give it a Good rating.
 
MO said:
That's an excellent point, one which had never occurred to me. Do neurological holograms broadcast over the air? And would the modulation (AM or FM) make any kind of difference? Would the microphone even pick up Al's voice, or does the small child or mentally ill person (or animal) need to be in Sam's vicinity?

This episode dealt with a serious matter in a fun way. I loved Al's input when Sam was getting into his role as a DJ. I like how Mrs Beaman kept trying to get her husband to lay off the anti- rock and roll sentiment. Seems she was the only level-headed person in the café that night. What was with the teenagers in different colored jackets fighting outside the studio? Was that to prove Beeman's point about rock and roll being a bad influence on kids? And did Sam actually measure the length of the copper gutter to make sure it would resonate at the correct frequency before he connected it to the transmitter, or did he skip that part to save time, simply hoping the reflected power wouldn't fry the unit? (Sorry, I'm a nerd.)

Not one of my favorite episodes, but definitely not a bad one. I give it a Good rating.
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Ah, we found out in A Portrait for Troian that yes, microphones definitely do pick up Al's voice :)
 
A really fun episode this one. You know, season 2 is having a real great start here. Every episode has been at least good so far. This episode is a really feel good one. The whole idea of Sam becoming a radio DJ is just hilarious. You can just tell that Scott had a real fun time making this one.

The only negative aspects of this ep are that the siege at the end does drag slightly at times. Shaving 5 minutes off that would have made the episode as a whole flow better. I also think the ending is a little over the top, with Fred trying to axe his way in.

The best scene has to be where Sam lets loose and goes wild. His chat with the ‘invisible man’ being the real highlight.

One small thing I noticed. In Mirror Image we find out that Al doesn’t know what happens to Sam when he leaps. Not knowing what a leap out looks like. But here, when Al’s hologram glows blue, he says “I’m gonna leap”. So clearly here he knows what it looks like when Sam leaps.

My rating. Good. The most fun episode so far.
 
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