h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

 Everyone has their favourite TV shows that they like to watch, but what about the ones they like to listen to?

Music is an integral part of the experience, whether it be the intro, the in-show score or the outro, serving to enhance the tension and the mood.

A few of my faves:

*Blackadder - Surprisingly versatile theme song and instantly recognisable as Blackadder's.
*Due South - Somebody besides me must have watched this show. The music was somewhere between Crash Test Dummies and Cowboy Junkies, and was often used effectively to offset the humour/drama/action/whatever.
*Homicide: Life on the Street - Excellent music all the way through. The intro sets the tone and atmosphere right from the start with a dark, urban-jungle-safari style theme.
*Night Court - Pretty functional sitcom theme, but the basswork really took it places.
*WKRP in Cincinatti - Not the intro themesong ("Baby, if you've ever wondered..."), but the great rocky outro at the end, the one with the totally incomprehensible lyrics. Ties in wonderfully with the miaowing MGM pussycat.

A few that have me scrambling for the remote control:

*NYPD Blue - The intro music I can take or leave, it's in-show score I can't stand. It's a little known fact that the SAS considered replacing their stun grenades with episodes of NYPD Blue. Whilst reeling with nausea from the shaky camerawork, the terrorists are then assailed with what sounds like a drunken gorilla molesting a Casio keyboard.
*The Bill - At first the use of a police siren as a musical instrument sounds quite clever, but eventually becomes just irritating.
Ally McBeal - Apart from Barry White, can't they find anybody else to croon the show's endless list of covers?

Anybody else pet favourites, pet hateds, comments? Any opinions on the use of actual songs in TV shows (eg Due South, Homicide, Ally McBeal) as opposed to the traditional wordless score?

(Observations that I watch too many cop shows are duly noted.)

 
 
 

My friend Theo can play the theme to MacGyver on the piano, and because of that we all think he's cool.

Two of my favourites are the Taggart theme "No Mean City" by Maggie (or Moira) someone and Jim Diamonds "Lone Ranger" used as the theme for an english prog. about a motorbike courier who helped people (sort of Lovejoy in leather .
I picked up an album a little while ago called "Saturday Morning" a compilation of cartoon themes covered by "alternative" bands, o' nostalgia (Everybody - "Hong Kong Phooey, number one super guy..."

Dammit, you're right! That Hong Kong Phooey was a funky old tune, and just as cool was HKP's jazzy, jivey voice!

can i believe my eyes?! someone else in the world watches due south? this can't be true otherwise why would they insist on moving it around so i can never find it. on the music front i'm something of a movie soundtrack fan myself - you get a good variety of songs, so you're not stuck with the same band all the time, and they often have hidden gems that aren't available anywhere else. although the recent repetition of songs on soundtracks is not good eg War (Cardigans) on both Life Less Ordinary and 10 Things I Hate About You - there really is no excuse to double up.

You're not just whistlin' Dixie (I'm not actually sure if you're whistlin' anything) about those double-ups. And it's not just the "in" bands of the moment either. Popular (but not "in") Canadian band Rush has had the same song (80's song Tom Sawyer) in three recent movies (Small Soldiers, Whatever, and The Waterboy). While I think the song is a gem, it's not a hidden one. On the upside, their rendition of the Canadian national anthem on the South Park movie soundtrack (accompanied by Terrence and Phillip) was definitely a hidden (and humorous) gem.

Ah, the move soundtrack aficionado.

The problem these days is that movie soundtracks are seen as marketable compilation CDs, and so rather than a necessary thematic part of the movie, many movie songs are included for no other reason than they will sell the accompanying CD.

The perfect example of this is the A Life Less Ordinary soundtrack, where many of the songs were included despite the wishes of director Danny Boyle - and others (such as Oasis's "Round Are Way") were excluded. Why? Well these days most studios are part of large multinationals that also happen to own music labels. Therefore soundtrack CDs often become little more than label samplers (from memory, see "Cruel Intentions" as an example).

As to your double-up complaint, most soundtrack songs are either a) old B-sides or awful remixes that need to earn the money it took to produce them; or b) older (pre-1990s) songs which are cheaper to license (although included because people think it's "retro").

Yes, I know I am bitter and twisted.

wow - i think you missed your calling slug - not that i know what you do, so maybe you didn't. i'm afraid i'm far from being an aficionado - i just like a bit of variety and i watch too many movies - of course in NZ soundtracks give local bands a chance to get beyond radio and senseless videos with little chance of getting played eg Scarfies.

as for the including-stuff-to-sell-it strategy - the forrest gump soundtrack (which everyone seems to own so it must have worked) had a whole host of songs that weren't in the movie "to evoke the feeling of the times" or some such. bah. very irritating when it knocks off songs you liked from the movie (i'm afraid i have to admit i really liked the run lola run soundtrack, but discovered the cd was quite different, luckily before i bought it.)

sorry the coherency here is pretty low

I personaly have ALWAYS been partial to "KnightRider" and "AirWolf" The "A-Team" is decent to, but definetly NOT my favoriet.

Wow, that's a ways back. I don't really remember Knight Rider's themesong, and I confess I've never seen Airwolf, but as I recall The A-Team theme was a rousing ditty. Interesting see that the chap playing Murdock is the only actor with regular work these days. (Although George Peppard does sort of have an excuse, what with being deceased and all)

you can find most of the themes for cool movies and T.V. shows at www.soundamerica.com along with many comical exerps from the your favoret movies

Cheers! (Bad Pun intended)