Very interesting CNN article about the precarious state of that increasingly rare beast, the full-up TV theme tune. They hold up Lost as an example, but since Lost has always had the 11-second atonal drone for a theme, it doesn’t bug me. It’s when they take away main themes from shows that previously had them that bugs me – such as what happened with the Stargates at the beginning of their 2005-2006 seasons. I have yet to get tired of the Galactica theme music, or Murray Gold’s nifty reworking of the original Doctor Who theme, or the Stargate Atlantis title music for that matter. Unlike some producers these days, I’ve always placed a great deal of importance on a show or movie’s music (hence my insistence on crediting composers in our episode guides). It sets the mood. It’s that important. There have been shows where I actually hated the series but loved the music (basically, anything post-Star-Trek whose title was prefaced by “Gene Roddenberry’s…” fits in this category).
Is the composer the next job description to wind up being shunned by Hollywood, now that scripted series are back in vogue and writers are back in demand?
In other music notes, check out this article about Queen guitarist Brian May. My already considerable respect for the man has now skyrocketed into the near-infinite. A guitar god who hangs out with Patrick Moore of the Royal Astronomical Society? That’s cool.
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Huge leap from no-theme-songs to no-composers. A good soundtrack helps tell a story – but I don’t need to tell you that, given the reviews of Giacchino’s Lost music you’ve done. A good theme song or credit sequence? Honestly, I can see why it’s less than useful these days. It’s something I can usually fast-forward on my DVR to get to the meat of the episode. I’d kinda rather have that time for actual story – which might have some new music to go along with it.
Huge leap from no-theme-songs to no-composers.
Maybe…maybe not. The article referenced above also talks about how dramatic underscore is rapidly giving way to rock songs or other selections originating from outside the show; for some odd reason it seems like this practice is more prevalent when the network or program originator in question shares a corporate umbrella with a music label whose roster they’re trying to expose (i.e. Warner Bros., Universal). At the very least, it’s becoming rapidly apparent that composers’ contributions are more prone to being marginalized.
Well, that’s a couple of paragraphs snuck into the end of the article. And it mentions a trend that has been around for 20 years, so I wouldn’t call that “rapidly.” Nor would I say it’s really connected to the loss of theme songs, many of which weren’t written by a series composer in the first place. Even when the Stargates lost their titles, they didn’t ditch original scores. Many of the shows with no theme song have in house composers – Lost and Studio 60 spring right to mind.
I don’t think it’s that different from movies – some have a score, others use the collection-of-songs approach. Both can work if used well.