Tag Archives: TV

May 23

Time to face the music

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I got to thinking about TV theme music today. Most networks dramatically reduced the length of opening credits years ago, because of studies that showed they gave the audience more of a chance to change channels. But I miss the longer, more generous openings from years past. I decided I’d give you a countdown of my favorite instrumental TV theme songs, followed by some vocal TV theme songs. I’m doing this by the seat of my pants, so it’s certainly possible that I’m missing something. Of course, it’s also impossible to separate your feelings towards the theme from your feelings towards the show. There may be some quickly-cancelled show with a great theme song, but it just wouldn’t come to mind when one sits down to make a list like this. Feel free to disagree and put your own choices or rankings in the comments.

5) “Wiseguy”

Mike Post theme songs always have a bridge to them. Sometimes it works; sometimes it just seems arbitrary. Here, the bridge works perfectly. The main theme speaks of danger, while the bridge – during which our protagonist and the two men who often save his life are introduced – is a nicely heroic counterpoint.

 

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May 16

‘I wish a little of that would rub off on me’

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I just got through watching the “American Masters” episode about Johnny Carson, and it was terrific – funny, and moving, and revealing. It’s available to watch online, and if you missed it over the air it would be well worth watching it that way.

They showed a very brief snippet of Johnny’s last TV appearance, which I recall as clearly as if it were yesterday.

Johnny, of course, is widely believed to have thought David Letterman, not Jay Leno, his ideal successor. What is certain is that he never appeared with Leno after retiring.

Anyway, a year or so after Letterman moved to CBS, he did a week of shows from Los Angeles. There was a running gag that week where Dave would introduce some hugely famous celebrity who was supposed to be bringing out the Top Ten list. Each night it would really be Calvert DeForest (a/k/a Larry “Bud” Melman), although the on-screen graphic would display “CLINT EASTWOOD” or “BARBRA STREISAND” or what have you. Calvert would claim to be that person, but obviously would make no effort to actually look, act or talk like that person.

This went on for four nights. On the fifth night, Friday, this happened:

Apr 28

Saturday night special

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For some years now, Turner Classic Movies has had a Saturday-night showcase of all-time great movies called “The Essentials.” Originally, it was hosted by well-known film directors: Rob Reiner, then Sydney Pollack (who was terrific), then Peter Bogdanovich. Then, TCM decided to go to a two-host format, with Robert Osborne, who already hosts all of their other prime-time movies, plus a co-host. The first such co-host was film critic Molly Haskell, who was knowledgeable but who had all the on-air personality of a test pattern. After her came Carrie Fisher, a wonderful improvement who had terrific chemistry with Osborne. Then came Rose McGowan, who was so forgettable that I had her confused with a different actress until I looked it up just now. Then came Alec Baldwin, who was popular enough to be kept on for three seasons. He’s recently been replaced by Drew Barrymore. Tonight, watching “The Third Man,” is actually the first chance I’ve gotten to tune in since she started (I did catch part of the closing remarks for some movie a few weeks ago). Barrymore seems like a great choice – actress, director, producer and descendant of Hollywood royalty.

In her opening remarks about “The Third Man,” Osborne teased her about not being convinced as he about “The Third Man” being essential. She doesn’t like what she feels is the lack of chemistry between Joseph Cotten and Alida Valli. Osborne pointed out that there’s not supposed to be chemistry so much as unrequited love – Cotten adores Valli’s character but she is still grieving for another.  Anyway, the more Drew talked about other aspects of the movie, the more excited she sounded about it – as Osborne teasingly pointed out.

Meanwhile, Alec Baldwin recently interviewed Osborne for his excellent podcast. It’s a fun interview, in which Osborne talks about the role Lucille Ball played in his career – hiring him as a young actor, but later suggesting that he might have more of a career as a writer than an actor.

Apr 21

Givin’ on a prayer

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There’s an Advil commercial with Jon Bon Jovi during which he refers to himself as “singer-songwriter, philanthropist, father.”

I don’t know anything about his charitable efforts, but I have no trouble imagining that they would be substantial, and that seems to be confirmed by this web site. Still, to me it sounds sort of pompous for anyone to refer to themselves as a “philanthropist.” Even if it’s accurate, it sounds like boasting.

Of course, I’m trying to think of an alternate word or phrase that would convey the same intent but without boasting. “Activist” sounds too political. “Donor” would be a literal match, but “donor and volunteer” might work better.

Apr 04

Being a good neighbor

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This week on “Bullseye with Jesse Thorn,” Jesse interviewed the creators of a new documentary about Fred Rogers. I, like so many others, was a huge admirer of Mister Rogers, a man of faith (he was an ordained Presbyterian minister) who expressed it in Christ-like love but without dogma. Every account I’ve ever read, seen or heard about real people meeting Fred Rogers – every single one – comments on how interested Rogers was in other people. Apparently, he made every person he met or talked to feel as if they were the most important person in the world to him at that moment.  What an amazing legacy.

I haven’t seen this new documentary yet. I do recall seeing (and preaching about) an amazing PBS documentary a few years ago which told the story of  David Newell. David Newell is better known to us all as “Mr. McFeely,” the speedy delivery man from “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.” After Fred Rogers’ death, Newell, in character, became the public face of the show, attending events hosted by public TV stations across the country and greeting the children who continued to watch “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” in reruns. But I believe what Newell has dedicated his life to is not his former boss, but an idea – an idea about how to treat children, and how to treat each other as human beings. Fred Rogers (who, I am sure, was a sinful human being with flaws and foibles) lived his life in such a way that he became a powerful symbol of that idea.

Here is the extended version of Jesse Thorn’s interview with the documentary makers:

Mar 06

Brothers, partners, strangers

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I have wanted to see “The Boys: The Sherman Brothers’ Story” ever since it was announced several years ago. I was thinking about it just last weekend – before I heard about the death of Robert Sherman.

To recap: Richard and Robert Sherman wrote about 10 times their share of unforgettable songs, many of which are wedged into your cerebral cortex at this very instant. Their output includes their tenure as staff songwriters for the Walt Disney Company, and I think they were the only ones to hold that title. Just think about the songs from “Mary Poppins” plus the “Winnie The Pooh” song plus the “Tigger” song plus the songs from “The Jungle Book” plus “It’s A Small World After All.” Their non-Disney product included “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang,” music from the animated “Charlotte’s Web,” one of the Charlie Brown feature films, and the Ringo Starr hit “You’re Sixteen (You’re Beautiful and You’re Mine).”

But the story gets more interesting – for much of that storied career, the brothers were estranged from each other – professional collaborators and nothing else. When a stage version of “Mary Poppins” premiered a few years ago in London, one of Richard’s kids started talking to one of Robert’s kids, and the two cousins – who barely knew each other – came up with the idea for the documentary. They were able to get the backing of Ben Stiller as an executive producer, and the blessing of Disney, which distributed the documentary. (Without the ability to license Disney clips, it would have been a pretty short documentary.)

The documentary is available from Amazon, both as a DVD and as a digital download, but I kept looking for it to turn up on regular TV. I may have to go ahead and rent it from Amazon.
Mar 04

Aquabats, let’s go!

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I am always a little hesitant to recommend shows on The Hub, a channel based on a questionable partnership between Discovery Communications (parent of the Discovery Channel) and Hasbro Toys, intended to move Hasbro product. But the people programming The Hub definitely have a sense of fun.

I found out about The Aquabats Super Show! from this review on the AV Club. It’s a parody of old Sid & Marty Krofft live-action Saturday morning TV shows from the creators of “Yo Gabba Gabba.” It’s intentionally super-silly and over-the-top, the type of thing that young kids might laugh at and that adults might enjoy ironically. (I actually think the latter is more likely than the former.) Kids in between may be left scratching their heads. (“That’s just stupid!”) The episode I saw even featured an appearance by Rip Taylor, who is apparently still alive. With all of the Davy Jones coverage this week, I’m reminded of the Monkees, and the silly humor of “The Aquabats Super Show!” is not far off from the humor of the Monkees’ TV show.

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The Aquabats have apparently been a comedy stage show, presumably aimed at adults, punk band with comedy elements to their stage show [Thanks to my sister-in-law for the clarification] for some time. They are a team of superheroes led by the somewhat-clueless MC Bat Commander (Christian Jacobs), second from left in the photo. The other members are, from left, Crash McLarson (Chad Larson), who grows to giant size when he becomes emotional; Jimmy The Robot (James R. Briggs, Jr.), Ricky Fitness (Richard Falomir) and EagleBones FalconHawk (Ian Fowles).

There’s also a little segment, done in anime style but with the same silly humor as the rest of the program, featuring an animated version of the team. And there’s a separate animated segment, in a different style, featuring the personification of the group’s logo.

At one point, there was a little parody ad – and while it was funny, it also reminded me that this is ostensibly a kids’ show, on a kids’ channel where the line between programming and advertising is already a little blurred.

Adult Swim, the late-night spinoff of Cartoon Network, had a similar Krofft parody, Saul of the Mole Men, but that one (like most of the programming on Adult Swim) was definitely not for children. The show is long since gone, although you can still watch it at the Adult Swim web site.

Feb 24

Jeremy

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It used to be, in the great old days of “The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson,” if they came back after the first commercial break and it was Ed McMahon, rather than Johnny, addressing the camera, one felt a certain excitement. That meant that Carson was about to do one of his characters – perhaps Art Fern, Aunt Blabby or Floyd R. Turbo, American. If we were really, really lucky, it would be time for a visit by that seer, sage, soothsayer Carnac the Magnificent.

Anyway, it’s now a similar kind of good sign when “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” comes back from commercial and announcer/sidekick Steve Higgins is addressing the camera. It means Jimmy Fallon is getting ready to do one of his musical impersonations. Like, for example, this:

Feb 18

Haricots vertigo

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Well, I DVRed Wednesday night’s episode of “Nadia G.’s Bitchin’ Kitchen,” one of my favorites, and didn’t get around to watching it until this morning.

Meanwhile, I had a value package of chicken thighs. It was still pretty much frozen when I bought it the other day, so I just went ahead and threw it in the freezer when I got home. I moved it to the fridge Thursday, but that meant that once it thawed, I couldn’t refreeze it, so I needed to figure a way of using most of the thighs at the same time.

Then, this morning, Nadia G. had a recipe for a white chicken lasagna. It sounded good – but I mostly used it as a jumping-off point. Nadia simmered her chicken for two hours with Italian flat-leaf parsley, creating both the chicken and a broth. I used my pressure cooker and did the same thing in 10 minutes (once the cooker got up to pressure). Nadia also made fresh pasta; I went for dry. Not only was it more convenient, but by using a no-boil lasagna method (adding extra liquid and covering the casserole with foil until the end of the cooking time, when you uncover it just long enough to let the top brown) I had the chance to use a lot more of that deeeelicious homemade broth I’d just created. Nadia just added a little bit of the broth, for flavoring; since I was using it to hydrate the noodles, I needed to add a lot, which would give the dish a lot more chicken flavor.

Nadia’s recipe is pretty much just chicken and cheese. I didn’t realize when I went shopping just how much mozzarella the recipe called for, and I only brought back half that amount.  Anyway, I had already decided the recipe needed something else. I thought about getting some mushrooms while at the store but didn’t. Then, when I got home, I thought about the can of green beans I had sitting in the cupboard.

Green beans?!

I imagined the flavors in my head and it seemed like a match. I was afraid that the green beans wouldn’t be a good textural match and would squish out from between the noodles when the lasagna was served, and so I toyed with throwing them into the food processor and chopping them. But I decided to just let them go as is.

I picked up an envelope of chicken gravy mix at the store and used some of my broth to make it, to give the dish a little more body. I added garlic and Italian seasoning.

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It came out pretty well – not quite the creamy consistency of regular lasagna, and it did fall apart a little bit when I tried to serve it, but it tastes delicious.

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