TV theme songs have always been a favorite pop culture thing for me, and occasionally there are still some really good ones, even if they're much shorter than in TV's golden age. But one thing rarely heard anymore is the premise theme song. That's where the entire basis for the show is clearly spelled out in the lyrics of the theme song. Surprisingly there are quite a few.
1. The Brady Bunch (1969-1974) "It's the story of a lovely lady. . ." No matter that this show was rather mediocre, it made a huge splash in America's pop culture pond that continues to ripple. The theme song was a big part of it.
2. Gilligan's Island (1964-1967) "Just sit right back, and you'll hear a tale. . ." Just as unforgettable as the Bradys, and not coincidentally by the same guy, Sherwood Schwartz. Those shows were his two big successes, and he wrung them for every drop he could get out of them!
3. The Beverly Hillbillies (1962-1971) "Come and listen to a story 'bout a man named Jed. . ."
4. Green Acres (1965-1971) "Green Acres is the place to be, farm livin' is the life for me!"
5. The Fresh Prince of Bel Air(1990-1996) "Now this is the story all about how my life got flipped. . ." A much more recent theme, but already over 20 years old!
6.The Jeffersons (1975-1985) "Well, we're movin' on up!" Arguably, the theme didn't tell the whole story, but if you knew them from All in the Family, the theme told you what happened next!
7. The Dukes of Hazzard (1979-1985) "Just the good ol' boys. . ."
8. WKRP in Cincinnati(1978-1982)
And now you know the story! Or stories. Anyway, that wraps another weekend folks. No fighting it, it's time to start another week. Join me, and try to have a happy Monday!
TV theme songs have always been a favorite pop culture thing for me, and occasionally there are still some really good ones, even if they're much shorter than in TV's golden age. But one thing rarely heard anymore is the premise theme song. That's where the entire basis for the show is clearly spelled out in the lyrics of the theme song. Surprisingly there are quite a few.
1. The Brady Bunch (1969-1974) "It's the story of a lovely lady. . ." No matter that this show was rather mediocre, it made a huge splash in America's pop culture pond that continues to ripple. The theme song was a big part of it.
2. Gilligan's Island (1964-1967) "Just sit right back, and you'll hear a tale. . ." Just as unforgettable as the Bradys, and not coincidentally by the same guy, Sherwood Schwartz. Those shows were his two big successes, and he wrung them for every drop he could get out of them!
3. The Beverly Hillbillies (1962-1971) "Come and listen to a story 'bout a man named Jed. . ."
4. Green Acres (1965-1971) "Green Acres is the place to be, farm livin' is the life for me!"
5. The Fresh Prince of Bel Air(1990-1996) "Now this is the story all about how my life got flipped. . ." A much more recent theme, but already over 20 years old!
6.The Jeffersons (1975-1985) "Well, we're movin' on up!" Arguably, the theme didn't tell the whole story, but if you knew them from All in the Family, the theme told you what happened next!
7. The Dukes of Hazzard (1979-1985) "Just the good ol' boys. . ."
8. WKRP in Cincinnati(1978-1982)
And now you know the story! Or stories. Anyway, that wraps another weekend folks. No fighting it, it's time to start another week. Join me, and try to have a happy Monday!
I like to consider myself a pop culture guru. I have a talent for remembering the minutia of cast lists, TV schedules, the years movies or songs came out, third or fourth hits from bands people think are one-hit wonders. . . the lot. It's something of a useless talent, now that we have the Googles on the internets. I've been replaced by a smart phone these days.
But it's always been something of a sham, anyway. There is a huge list of pop culture that I've never sampled. Some of it proudly (oddly), and some I've just either never gotten around to, or never had any interest in. So here, in brief, is a list of pop culture that I've never taken part in.
Movies
- Any Godfather movie
- Citizen Kane - Any Twilight movie - Enter the Dragon, or anything from the martial arts ouvre
- Rudy or almost any other sports-themed movie
- Any Rocky or Rambo movie
- Annie Hall - Any Acadamy Award Best Picture movie from 1976 to 1989, including The Deer Hunter, Amadeus, Platoon, Terms of Endearment and Gandhi
Television
- The King of Queens - The Nanny - According to Jim - The Sopranos - Game of Thrones - Madmen - Monk - Walker, Texas Ranger - Sons of Anarchy
- Breaking Bad- The Vampire Diaries - And oddly for me, Smallville, Arrow, Charmed and Supernatural
Books
- Any The Gunslinger Stephen King story (though I've read everything else)
- The Red Badge of Courage - The Grapes of Wrath - Gone With the Wind - W.E.B. Griffitn, Tom Clancy or almost any other military-themed work
- Fifty Shades of Grey - The Book of Mormon (I tried, but then "it came to pass. . ." 10,000 times) - The Scarlet Letter - The Catcher in the Rye - Diary of Anne Frank
Finally! The Greenlee Curse is broken! I'm very glad a show I like is both a ratings success and a critical one. And who'da thunk it, a hit show about zombies? George Romero must be mightily jealous.
[Excerpt]
'The Walking Dead' finale breaks ratings records
The ratings for "The Walking Dead's" just-ended first season have been such that perhaps AMC is wishing that it had lasted more than just six weeks. . .
By the way, in case you're wondering, Sarah Palin's Alaska continues to slide. Perhaps even FOX "News" zombies prefer brains. Kidding aside, Palin still does very well for a cable show. But it is essentially getting the ratings of a typical prime time FOX "News" program, leading me to wonder if that is the entire audience for the show. . .
I was wracking my brain for ideas for my weekly Blast from the Past feature. I was having trouble, but I guess my brain has slid into horror of late. But I wanted something slightly different from that. Currently on TV, we have quite a selection of supernatural programs, from. . .well. . .Supernatural to The Vampire Diaries. But there have been many supernatural shows from the past, so I thought I'd see how many I could find on the YouTubes.
1. Dark Shadows - Long before Passions, the granddaddy of supernatural soap operas aired daily to thrilled housewives. I remember catching a few--with Kate Jackson!--at the babysitter's. 2. Bewitched - On the lighter side of the supernatural is one of my all-time favorite comedies. Sure, Darren (both of him) was kind of a sexist dick (!), but Sam was just humoring him. She did what she wanted. 3. Buffy the Vampire Slayer - I couldn't make this list without including Joss Whedon, could I?. 4. The X-Files - Boy do I miss Scully and Mulder. Fringe helps make up for it though. 5. Twin Peaks - Probably the fastest flameout of a hit show ever. 6. Tales from the Dark Side - This was one of the lower-rent anthology shows. But it probably paved the way for the higher profile Tales from the Crypt. And speaking of that one. . . 7. Tales from the Crypt - Of all the anthology series, this one was my favorite. 8. Friday the 13th: The Series - This one had nothing to do with the Jason Voorhees movie saga, except for the producers and Paramount. It had to do with cursed antiques, something that has been redone here and there without attribution.
Okay, and so after that, I'll try to leave the supernatural/scary/horror stuff alone for a while!
There seems to be a "Greenlee Curse" as it pertains to TV shows I like. Inevitably (with a few exceptions, like Lost, Heroes, and The Simpsons), if I really dig a show, it is doomed to be cancelled early.
I really hoped with Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, I'd have the built-in audience on my side. What I didn't count on was the writer's strike, some miscalculations by the producers, and the fact that TV can't replicate Terminator 2: Judgement Day every week.
The Terminator films (especially parts 1 and 2) were outrageously successful. But probably only 25% were enamored with the characters, the story, and the twisty-bendiness of time travel. The rest were along for the Bam! Boom! Wow! of the special effects, the violence, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. So, you couldn't count on the other 75% to show up with the rest of us to watch an episodic TV show.
Still, the first season of T:TSCC managed to pack in some razzle-dazzle along with the characters and the familiar T2 vibe. I was so jazzed that the series managed to pick up a second season order. And when the second season started, I was convinced they were on to something. They introduced a liquid metal terminator. Summer Glau and Brian Austin Greene continued to look freaking amazing to draw in the fanboys/girls. Things were looking up.
Then, FOX imposed a mid-season hiatus. And when the show came back, it had the misfortune of coming back with a series of introspective, cerebral episodes with a shortage of "Cameron the sexy Terminator kicks ass" scenes. My interest never faltered, but hopes of getting previously disinterested people involved with the show were dashed. Even pairing the show with Joss Whedon's Dollhouse didn't help ratings. I glumly accepted that one of my favorite shows was doomed.
That feeling hasn't waned, but it has become more tinged with anger. Anger? Why? Because after the string of "Sarah's going crazy" dreary (to some) episodes, the show started to really kick ass. It's not just been good, it's been crazy good. A vanquished terminator had its chip smashed, only to be resurrected as "John Henry," an artificial intelligence computer attached to a terminator body. The liquid metal terminator--disguised as a high technology CEO--is educating John Henry, who has befriended the (certainly dead) original CEO's little daughter. The former FBI agent who was tracking the Connors now works for the CEO. It's all coming to a head, and--the biggest surprise--two major characters of the series were dispatched brutally within two episodes.
Friday's episode almost left me panting, it was so intense. Everything about the show screams awesome! And it's doomed. And Friday's episode is very likely the very last one. I'm pissed. I want more. And the new movie, Terminator: Salvation may very well be terrific. That isn't going to make me happier if the TV show is cancelled.
I can still hope that FOX delays an announcement on the series' fate until after the first couple of weeks of the new movie's returns. Maybe they'll take advantage of the release, and re-run the best episodes of the series (leaving out the introspective ones), and garner some revived interest. Shoot, re-run them on Sci-Fi or Spike. Make it an event. This thing has the potential to bust out. It just hasn't happened yet. Oh, who am I kidding. It's doomed.
I've tried mightily to pare down my TV watching to a select group of shows. But, try as I might, they tend to grow again. 24, Desperate Housewives, Brothers & Sisters, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Fringe, Lost. . .even--yes--Survivor. But one of the shows I'm anticipating the most right now is Heroes.
I've followed it since the beginning, and like the pacing of the show. Were it not for the interruption of the writers' strike last year, I think that Heroes would be doing better now. I think the critical drubbing of the last two chapters of the show have been undeserved. I've watched every episode, with no diminishment of satisfaction. Love it. And it is back soon, with a new chapter called Fugitives. Here's a preview:
Well, how about that? When I posted Blast from the Past: The 1983 Television Season last week, I marveled at the fact that somebody had posted the openings from so many shows from one season. As I said then, I tried the same thing with my VCR back in 1986. But there was more to be found at the YouTubes!
Somebody put together these clips from the 1984 TV season. That's the year I graduated high school, so I have a keener memory of some of these shows than in the intervening years. But even I don't remember all of them. Anybody remember Empire? How about The Master? Yeah, me neither! So, here we go, the shows of 1984. . .
Shows include, in this order: Masquerade, Lottery, Riptide, Empire, Legmen, The Master, Blue Thunder, TV Bloopers & Practical Jokes, The Four Seasons, Airwolf, Partners in Crime, Cover Up, Finders of Lost Loves, It's Your Move, St. Elsewhere, People Do The Craziest Things, Who's The Boss, Night Court, Knight Rider, Punky Brewster, E.R., Hot Pursuit, Mike Hammer, Diff'rent Strokes, Jessie, After MASH, Hawaiian Heat, Falcon Crest, Call To Glory, Charles in Charge, Dreams, Foul up Bleeps & Blunders, Three's A Crowd
I found this video clip completely by mistake, but it jumped out at me on the YouTube page. I'm a graphic artist for a sign company, and I've noticed this disturbing trend for quite some time.
Trajan, and its font family (particularly Trajan Bold) started being the font of choice for signs here in Las Vegas a few years ago, starting with signs we did for Caesars Palace. What does Trajan look like? Oh, you know, like in every shot in this picture. Sure, it may be tweaked a bit here and there, but all of these logos are in Trajan or a variant. It was, for several years (and even still is) everywhere.
But look out, Trajan! There's a new font on the horizon, and to everybody's surprise, it is Helvetica. Yes, HELVETICA. Hel-freakin'-vetica. If you haven't noticed, styles in furnishings are trending toward very clean, very neat, skinny and flat. This same trend is going on in hotels like Mandalay Bay's oddly named THEhotel, and newer properties like Red Rock. And they want the signage--and of course, the font--to match. That leaves a barely adequate (for ADA, anyway) skinny, flat, neat and clean font like Helvetica.
They probably don't know that until recently, we always called the font "Helvetica Boring."
And now, the video. You will be surprised how many titles used the Trajan font. It will be interesting to see if Helvetica follows suit (beyond Hostel & Hostel II).
