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I recently had occasion to talk to Bert Ellis, new owner of KDOC, which of course was the home for years of the infamous teflon-toupeed conservative combat-TV host Wally George. Wally, as you probably know, was the forerunner of today's pretenders to the throne like Bill O'Reilly, and in college I even named my band after one of his catchphrases..."His Wife Bruce" (a line Wally would use to imply a guest was gay).
So it saddened me to hear that when Ellis took over, he found that the previous management would simply tape over Wally's old shows when recording new ones, and many of the archived episodes have been lost -- the recent three-hour tribute show represents the best of what they could salvage.
He was also unaware, until I told him, that Wally put out at least two record albums -- one titled "Wally George Sings the Rock Hits" and the other an E.P. called "Wal-ly, Wal-ly." I met Wally when he did a live show at a brewpub back in 1997, and asked him about the albums. He claimed they'd be made available again, but they never were.
Anyway, Ellis is looking to KDOC's history for some of the station's richer properties, and is interested in restoring as much of the Wally George legacy as he can. If you have videotapes of old Wally shows, or copies of his record albums, he wants you to contact him.
With his permission, his email is reprinted below. Shoot him a message if you can add anything to the Wally legacy.
bellis@kdoc.tv
October 17, 2007 23:35
Fuck Johny Carson's missing years of the Tonight Show: the loss of YEARS of Wally George classics is a TRUE television tragedy. FUCK THE OLD OWNERS OF KDOC.
October 18, 2007 17:32
Wally George was an outstanding conservative. No doubt about it. In fact, Pete Fundy believes that if Wally George were around today, he'd make Ann Coulter look like half the man she's trying to be.
Asking Wally's fans for help, however, is a bit of a stretch. Let's be honest. Even if they owned a VCR, most of Wally's fans undoubtedly taped over his shows as well. Probably with episodes of "Knight Rider" or "New Wave Theater" or some other such nonsense.
Warmly yours,
Pete Fundy
Senior Editorial Writer
OCLegend.Com
December 20, 2007 09:34
Ugh, this is heartbreaking. That guy was the best thing on TV for years. I wish Mr. Ellis the best of luck finding the lost footage, and I'd like to thank him for making the effort. I'd really love to own a box set of Wally episodes someday.
999! 5000!
January 3, 2008 23:07
i used to co-host wally's show 1995-1998 and i have a couple shows on tape and a whole bunch of all his intros. they're on vhs tapes, but i could copy them to dvd, not sure how broadcast quality they are. can't believe they taped over his old shows. thanks for the link and i will contact kdoc's new owner. wally was a really great guy and so different than his old image portrayed him. he was my good and for many months, my best friend.
March 7, 2008 21:19
I don't have any Wally George shows of my own... but if you follow that youtube link - they have about 50 Wally George clips in their archives.
I would absolutely. love. a set of these DVDs.