JoA season two on DVD

TheCentralScrutinizer · 20 Oct 06 :: 23:28

Look what was in my Creative Screenwriting Newsletter today:

Television theme songs are fading fast By ERIN CARLSON, Associated Press Writer
Wed Oct 18, 6:16 PM ET

NEW YORK - Don't remember much about high school biology or physics. Couldn't tell ya how to compute a calculus problem. But, for the love of Will Smith, the theme song to "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" remains fresh in the mind.

Smith's catchy rap opened each episode of his hit `90s sitcom, in which he starred as a street-smart teen from Philly who moves in with wealthy relatives. A whole generation knows it by heart — that, and the "Saved by the Bell" song.

TV themes, from "The Beverly Hillbillies" to "The Brady Bunch" to "Cheers" to "Friends," conjure up memories of cozy nights, childhood bliss and a universal nostalgia for bygone days. But, today, show themes are doing a fast fade as the networks crunch their programming budgets.

Are they about to join the variety hour in the TV graveyard?

"It's a rarity today," TV historian Tim Brooks said of the catchy, tuneful opening. "It's kind of like the Broadway musical producing hit songs — it just doesn't do that anymore."

Back in the day, even into the `90s, shows usually had a "main title," a 40-to-60 second opening montage that introduced the cast and was often set to music written by a composer, said Jon Burlingame, author of "TV's Biggest Hits," a history of themes. Songs summed up what a show was all about, whether spinning the tale of how a group of wacky castaways ended up on "Gilligan's Island," telling how a spunky single career woman was "going to make it after all," or describing why six touchy-feely Manhattan singles were there for each other.

But now many sitcoms and one-hour dramas are dropping that device. They dive straight into the action, sometimes flashing the show's title or logo at various points throughout an episode.

ABC's "Lost" does it. The twisty drama begins after a teaser, which touches on what happened in previous installments, and cuts to a black screen at a crucial plot point. A white "Lost" logo swirls into view. Eerie music plays. The whole thing lasts about five seconds.

"That's not a theme" nor an artistic statement, lamented Burlingame, longing for the urgency of the "Mission: Impossible" score.

Other title-flashers include ABC's "Grey's Anatomy," which threw out its 26-second theme last year, and "Desperate Housewives" and NBC's "My Name Is Earl," which both switch off between showing the full credits and the logo. New shows — ABC's "Brothers & Sisters" and "Ugly Betty" and NBC's "Heroes" and "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" — display only the logo.

"Almost all shows have music, but it's generic, it's scene-setting, it's short," said Brooks, who estimated that fewer than 10 percent have "traditional" themes that set up the show.

Clearly, brevity is key. No drawn-out intro or hokey theme. Networks don't have time for that — and neither, prevailing TV thinking goes, do the country's couch potatoes.

"Producers feel, rightly or wrongly, that that interruption, if you will, is going to lose viewers," Brooks said.

"I think one of the things that has squeezed themes out is this relentless kind of move toward tightening everything, making it go right from joke to joke, from action to action, from shootout to shootout, so that you won't press the dreaded remote control."

Thanks to the elimination of commercials between the end of one show and the beginning of another, shows overlap before fickle viewers have a chance to channel-surf to Another Network. More commercials air within a show, making episodes shorter. Main titles and well-rounded theme songs and scores? Sorry, no time, no money.

Tara Ariano, co-founder of the blog Television Without Pity, isn't sweating it. She thinks a "full-on opening credit (and) theme song is kind of a waste, from a business perspective."

"The networks sort of assume we watch the show, so we don't need to have the premise explained to us each week ... In the era of the DVR, half the people watching the show are just fast-forwarding that anyway," she said.

Another trend, which harks back to the late`80s-early `90s fave "The Wonder Years" and the more recent "Dawson's Creek" and "Laguna Beach," is the use of music by established and new artists as both a theme in the main title and a device within the show.

"Increasingly, it's not music scored for the show, it's pop songs pasted into the show," Brooks said.

CBS' "CSI" opens with the Who's "Who Are You?" Gavin DeGraw's star rose after his radio-friendly single "I Don't Want to Be," debuted as the theme to the CW's "One Tree Hill." And the Fray was, well, just a band on the fringe until "Grey's Anatomy" and others played their songs to underscore dramatic scenes and montages.

All of this makes Jesse Frederick-Conaway, who composed the music to G-rated sitcoms such as ABC's "Full House" and "Family Matters," a little sad. There is, he thinks, "this desire to be super hip."

"Now, the music director is sort of the composer," he said. "It's a different kind of deal."

Burlingame, citing the great intros of award winners such as NBC's "The West Wing" and HBO's "Six Feet Under," is confident the theme — lyrical, instrumental, whatever — will make a comeback. He'd rather see more original music, but he'll take licensed material if it's good.

"Some producers, I think, want to make a statement, in terms of imagery and music," he said. "It depends on who you get."

Will Smith, back in the `90s, made a hip-hop statement of his own while advising fans to "just sit right there/I'll tell you how I became the prince of a town called Bel-Air."

But, in this fast-forward TV world, would they still listen?

TheCentralScrutinizer · 07 Nov 06 :: 00:56

Did you guys know that the S2 set is apparently NOT widescreen? Does anyone have any other info that confirms that it is widescreen? Amazon doesn't say. But Walmart says it's fullscreen. That sucks! Just goes to show that CBS/Paramount really did instantly abandon the show and only released S2 as an afterthought. I guess we should consider ourselves lucky that we're getting any special features at all.

Deb

TeeJay · 07 Nov 06 :: 09:29

This is what it says on the Swedish website where I ordered Miracles (axelmusic.com):
Format: 1.33:1 Full screen

playUSA.com says:
Screen: Fullscreen 4:3

Yep, seems to be full screen. Dude, that SUCKS! I hate full screen stuff! CBS sucks! I hate 'em! Not that I didn't before, but I hate 'em more now. Guess the s2 screencaps will eventually not be as great as we hoped. Kinda makes me wanna cap off the downloaded TV episodes, because at least those are widescreen. I might just write a letter to CBS to complain. Not that it'll do any good, but at least my voice will be heard.

-TeeJay

domesticelefant · 07 Nov 06 :: 11:58

CBS, you SUCK!!!

TheCentralScrutinizer · 07 Nov 06 :: 18:39

Ditto from me.

Deb

TeeJay · 07 Nov 06 :: 20:54

Just wrote an e-mail to CBS. Will write a letter some other time. They stink and they deserve to know it. You know, I just cancelled my amazon.com order. I'm serious. I will still get a copy, but I don't feel bad in the slightest now to only copy it and not buy it. I was so proud of owning the s1 set. Not so much with the s2 one. Which I won't own, at least not as original DVDs.

-TeeJay

TeeJay · 19 Nov 06 :: 11:50

Okay, so the box does not seem to full screen after all. Shadowcrawler posted this on FanForum:

Geez, so now what? Am I gonna buy one for myself or not? And, hey, look! At least there's a photo of Chris/Adam on the back. And it looks like we won't get *any* actor commentaries this time.

-TeeJay

domesticelefant · 19 Nov 06 :: 13:07

If I had a job, I'd say we could buy it together ... but I don't have a job so ... I don't know what you are going to do.
But the commentary thing sucks.

shrams · 19 Nov 06 :: 19:23

I'm glad we at least have more info on what's available. I wonder if there are no actor commentaries because the actors are all involved in other projects now? It seems to be easier to get actors to do commentaries for shows they're still involved with (i.e. a previous season's box set) than look back at something they did previously.

I really think the marketing people at every network should hire a fan in some kind of advisory capacity. "All right, what type of merchandise would you want to spend your hard-earned money on? What would make that item more enticing? What would turn you off?" etc.

TeeJay · 19 Nov 06 :: 19:44

Yeah, it makes sense that they can't get all the actors in at the same time if they're off to work on other projects. And an advisory board with fans also sounds like a really clever idea. I'd join. But then, if I was on a JoA board, I'd be totally biased because I'd vote for all the Chris extras. LOL

-TeeJay

domesticelefant · 19 Nov 06 :: 20:34

TeeJay wrote:

And an advisory board with fans also sounds like a really clever idea. I'd join.

I agree, that's a good idea. I'd join, too.

TeeJay wrote:

But then, if I was on a JoA board, I'd be totally biased because I'd vote for all the Chris extras. LOL

Me too.

TheCentralScrutinizer · 19 Nov 06 :: 20:53

Yeah, if they'd asked the fans, we would've said we want a roundtable discussion by all the actors and writers as to what the frilly heck you were trying to do with Trial & Error!

But, hey, check it out, at least two shots of Chris on the back cover. Better than the S1 set! Anybody got a picture of the whole back cover?

And thank God for widescreen! I was thinking as I watched Recreation & No Bad Guy the other night that if I saw shots in the S2 fullscreen set where Adam was cut out on the side, I was going to go Biblical on CBS's ass!

Deb

TeeJay · 19 Nov 06 :: 21:00

Sisterdebmac wrote:

Yeah, if they'd asked the fans, we would've said we want a roundtable discussion by all the actors and writers as to what the frilly heck you were trying to do with Trial & Error!

Yeah, wouldn't you have loved to see Chris go on a rampage about what the heck they were trying to do to Adam? Because I'm sure that would have been the main topic of discussion for that episode.

-TeeJay

TheCentralScrutinizer · 19 Nov 06 :: 21:12

Yep.

domesticelefant · 19 Nov 06 :: 22:26

I agree.

TheCentralScrutinizer · 25 Nov 06 :: 03:40

TeeJay,

You shouldn't read this post if you don't wanna know what the extras are on the S2 set.

It seems that at least one FYE somewhere store put the set out early and I've been talking someone who scored one. Here is what's on the set...

Commentaries for:

"Only Connect" with Barbara Hall and James Hayman
"Friday Night" with Stephen Nathan and James Hayman
"Common Thread" with Stephen Nathan and James Hayman
"Something Wicked This Way Comes" with Barbara Hall and James Hayman

I've seen most of the extras. It includes a brief overview of season two, as well as a tour of Joan's High School, the making of the episode "Queen of the Zombies" and then a table read from the episode "Common Thread" featuring the cast going over their lines while going back and forth from the actual episode to the table read.

``````````````
So nothing for Trial & Error. What kind of wussy crap is that? Boy, they sure picked monumentally important eps to highlight with commentary, didn't they? Do we really need them to tell us about those eps? They don't care what we need. So that means Chris's expanation stands and what the network and BH did was despicable.

Deb

Susanna · 25 Nov 06 :: 09:55

"Friday Night" with Stephen Nathan and James Hayman
"Common Thread" with Stephen Nathan and James Hayman

Woohooooo two commentaries without Barbara Hall. Okay, still James Hayman, but let's hope this Stephen Nathan guy is better at commentaries.

Yeah, I agree - complete wuss out on Trial & Error. Did they think people wouldn't consider this a landmark episode for the season, and therefore the one most worthwhile for a commentary?

'Course after s1 I never expected any decent extras.

Still looking forward to the table read.

TeeJay · 25 Nov 06 :: 10:01

Actually, I can kind of see why they picked Only Connect, Friday Night and Something Wicked, but not really Common Thread. Unless they wanted to talk a lot about introducing Ryan. I mean, they'll still get the chance to talk about Adam cheating in the CT commentary because it's just two episodes after and it does still deal a little with the aftermath. I'm not that disappointed with the episodes for the commentaries. After Chris told us he didn't do any DVD extras, I didn't expect any that would surround Adam.

See, Deb, that's my worst case scenario policy. Don't expect anything, then you won't be disappointed. Yeah, the table read should be fun. I hope Chris at least has some screen time in that.

-TeeJay

domesticelefant · 25 Nov 06 :: 15:28

Susanna wrote:

'Course after s1 I never expected any decent extras.
Still looking forward to the table read.

Me too.

TheCentralScrutinizer · 25 Nov 06 :: 19:50

The table read may be the only extra that saves the set. But I am disappointed that it doesn't stick to the table read, but pops back and forth between that and the episode. We've seen the damn episode. Give us something different! Gives us the whole table read. So now I'm wondering if even that is going to be very special.

Deb

domesticelefant · 25 Nov 06 :: 20:26

That really sucks. I want some Chris extras!!!

TeeJay · 25 Nov 06 :: 20:41

You know, to stay true to my worst case scenario policy, I now don't really expect anything much that has a lot of Chris in it. He might not be in the table read much. I mean, he isn't in the episode much in the first place, right?

-TeeJay

TheCentralScrutinizer · 25 Nov 06 :: 21:27

After what Chris said, how much would you give if TPTB had the guts to film the T&E table read and put that on the set? And analyze it against the final product. How much would you love it if they'd had the courage of their convictions and stood up and said this is what we were trying to do? Just kind of proves how wrong-headed they know that choice was in retrospect, doesn't it?

And no, I don't believe they will talk too much about it in the CT commentary. At least not in any depth.

Deb

domesticelefant · 25 Nov 06 :: 22:04

TeeJay wrote:

I now don't really expect anything much that has a lot of Chris in it.

Me neither, that's why I'm so mad!!!

Susanna · 26 Nov 06 :: 01:52

I now don't really expect anything much that has a lot of Chris in it.

Yeah, that's disappointing, but did you guys honestly expect juicy extras after s1's pathetic attempt, and then the treatment of Joan of Arcadia since?

To be honest I just wanted a box set of JoA in good quality. I'm kinda a geek about completing dvd sets of tv shows I love.

Chris Marquette Message Board

#26 20 Oct 06 :: 23:28

Re: JoA season two on DVD

#27 07 Nov 06 :: 00:56

Re: JoA season two on DVD

#28 07 Nov 06 :: 09:29

Re: JoA season two on DVD

#29 07 Nov 06 :: 11:58

Re: JoA season two on DVD

#30 07 Nov 06 :: 18:39

Re: JoA season two on DVD

#31 07 Nov 06 :: 20:54

Re: JoA season two on DVD

#32 19 Nov 06 :: 11:50

Re: JoA season two on DVD

#33 19 Nov 06 :: 13:07

Re: JoA season two on DVD

#34 19 Nov 06 :: 19:23

Re: JoA season two on DVD

#35 19 Nov 06 :: 19:44

Re: JoA season two on DVD

#36 19 Nov 06 :: 20:34

Re: JoA season two on DVD

#37 19 Nov 06 :: 20:53

Re: JoA season two on DVD

#38 19 Nov 06 :: 21:00

Re: JoA season two on DVD

#39 19 Nov 06 :: 21:12

Re: JoA season two on DVD

#40 19 Nov 06 :: 22:26

Re: JoA season two on DVD

#41 25 Nov 06 :: 03:40

Re: JoA season two on DVD

#42 25 Nov 06 :: 09:55

Re: JoA season two on DVD

#43 25 Nov 06 :: 10:01

Re: JoA season two on DVD

#44 25 Nov 06 :: 15:28

Re: JoA season two on DVD

#45 25 Nov 06 :: 19:50

Re: JoA season two on DVD

#46 25 Nov 06 :: 20:26

Re: JoA season two on DVD

#47 25 Nov 06 :: 20:41

Re: JoA season two on DVD

#48 25 Nov 06 :: 21:27

Re: JoA season two on DVD

#49 25 Nov 06 :: 22:04

Re: JoA season two on DVD

#50 26 Nov 06 :: 01:52

Re: JoA season two on DVD

Board footer