TV THEME SONG-ville -- Episode 11
09/02/10 08:13 AM
By ED BARK
Students of minimalist TV theme songs need not start with Law & Order.
Dragnet made the mold back in 1952 with its stark and enduring "Dum-de-dum-dum" open. The composer, a guy named Walter Schumann, also wrote the foreboding score for the original feature film version of The Night of the Hunter.
Sgt. Joe Friday, played by Jack Webb, underscored Dragnet's taut mood music with his terse opening narration: "This is the city. Los Angeles, California. I work here. I'm a cop."
The below clip, our penultimate pre-fall season trip to TV THEME SONG-ville, is from the original black-and-white Dragnet. We'll call it a wrap Friday with a look at the original open of a cop series that CBS is reviving this season.
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"Simple, pure, like the man himself" (Conan O'Brien decides on a title)
09/01/10 02:02 PM
By ED BARK
Last seen in Sunday night's Emmy audience, NBC expatriate Conan O'Brien has returned to the web to reveal that his new TBS late night show will be titled -- Conan.
Still bearded, he spent two minutes making the announcement from a barren office. The guy's still at least five times funnier than Jay Leno and also one of the best tweeters in the business. Recent submission: "Lady Gaga just passed Britney Spears as the person with the most Twitter followers. In a related story, I'm closing in on LeVar Burton!"
Conan premieres on Nov. 8th. Here's the reveal:
Last seen in Sunday night's Emmy audience, NBC expatriate Conan O'Brien has returned to the web to reveal that his new TBS late night show will be titled -- Conan.
Still bearded, he spent two minutes making the announcement from a barren office. The guy's still at least five times funnier than Jay Leno and also one of the best tweeters in the business. Recent submission: "Lady Gaga just passed Britney Spears as the person with the most Twitter followers. In a related story, I'm closing in on LeVar Burton!"
Conan premieres on Nov. 8th. Here's the reveal:
TV THEME SONG-ville -- Episode 10
09/01/10 12:12 AM
By ED BARK
The theme song for Police Woman isn't particularly memorable. Nor will it ever be.
What these opening music and credits do offer, though, is a memorable tour of star Angie Dickinson's anatomy. Piping hot at the time, Dickinson played undercover(ed) vice-squad Sgt. Pepper Anderson in a series that premiered two seasons before the Charlie's Angels "jiggle" era and lasted until 1978 on NBC.
Submitted for your approval -- if not your listening pleasure -- is this selectively edited clip of Angie in action. There's nothing subtle about it. In other words, it perfectly embodies the series.