TV Shows and Music
 

From time to time I get quite into the music from various tv shows. Most of the shows I get into have a strong musical component. Doctor Who, Heroes, Battlestar Galactica, all use music in very sophisticated ways, attaching themes to characters, or plotlines or concepts and weaving these themes through the show.


These are a few of my favourites.

First, from Battlestar Galactica: a piece of music which accompanies Gaius Balthar's descent into the surreal hell of the Cylon ship.





Second, from Doctor Who: the theme for the lost planet of Gallifrey, the Doctor's home, destroyed along with their enemies in a war of mutual destruction.

(there's a silly 15 second intro theme before it starts. Annoyingly it's louder than the start of the track. Worth putting the sound up high for the track itself))





Third: from Heroes. Sylar's theme. A complex monster. Fated and just a little bit gothic.




Right now I'm in a slightly dark mood (in a good way) as you can probably tell from my choices ... another time I might post something with a slightly different flavour.

Damn, I can't find the one I'd like you to hear online.
I have it on DVD, but don't know enough to get anywhere else.

It's "While There's Still Time" from the very talented Joby Talbot, featured at the end of series 3 of The League of Gentlemen, and also (reworked) at the end of their film.

It's also the music on the title page of the series 3 DVD, and when I first got it, I sat and listened to it all the way through, over and over. It's just lovely.

I've been digging the theme to House, as well as the use of (mainly popular) music within the series.

I bought the "soundtrack" CD because of Teardrop by Massive Attack.

Oh man I love that song.

I am really liking the cw show called Ringer. It's cheesy , it's a mess, it is one catastrophe chasing another, ends with a cliff hanger, love the music too.

My two all time favorite TV series...
 

I just watched two half-hour episodes of "Mad About You".
This series from the 90's has been my all time favorite comedy, probably because
my wife and I had been married long enough to recognize the "life passages" of young couples.
Some of the running jokes are still part of our conversations.

Then...
It got me thinking about other TV series I thought were the best.
"The Oedin Line" in the 70's has to be my top. - music / photography / story line.
I wish there could be a re-run of that series - don't know why there is not.
.

God I remember Onedin Line! Wonderful music.

Here's a musical call back for Brits of a certain age :p


The theme from Robin of Sherwood:

I used to love Robin of Sherwood. They threaded it through with Hern the Hunter and other folk elements.

This is kind of silly, probably. I love me some Henry Mancini, and I actually looked forward to the theme from Newhart each week.

To me, it totally invokes images of an inn in Vermont. Of course, Mancini could invoke whatever he wanted, from Pink Panthers to Baby Elephants, Walking, to Rivers of Moon.




Lamp...I really liked Mad About You, too. It started in 1992, and I got married in 1991...so I WAS that young married couple. I've been catching the reruns they recently started showing. LOVE IT. Love Murray. Love Jamie's best friend Fran...

And I've never been a big fan of Helen Hunt. She's dry as toast, boring looking, and her voice gets on my nerves. But she was good on that show, and in As Good As It Gets.

I was really glad I finally started seeing reruns. It's been years.

Oh, the version I posted was the shortened version. Here's an additional few seconds, which is even more Mancini-ish.




(I heard Bacharach on the radio this morning...Dionne singing I Say a Little Prayer...and I said out loud "no one can arrange like you, Burt. Except for Mancini.")

When Mad About You was first on, my wife an I would always say "they're just like us!" And we loved it. But then, after a few years, they either got annoying, or we grew, and they didn't, and they were nothing like us.

I think the episode where the doorknob fell off the bathroom door and they couldn't figure out how to open it just left me in disgust.

Funny how we remember particular episodes...

The bit about replacing the roll of toilet paper is still re-enacted
in our house, with little kids... they do get the message.

I loved "Hardcastle & McCormick", and I loved this theme song. This is the longer, 1:30 version.

I was a kid, gimme a break.