Thursday Movie Picks - TV Edition: Scores

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This week's TV theme from Wandering Through The Shelves is one of my favorite things to talk about - a TV show's score or opening themes. This was pretty easy for me, and I ended up with a theme within a theme since they're all HBO shows. Here's what I came up with.


1) Game of Thrones - No hyperbole, but I think Game of Thrones has the best composed music of any TV show ever. Ramin Djawadi just completely knocked it out of the park. Not only are the opening credits iconic, but so many of the themes are perfection.


2) Westworld - Another product of Ramin Djawadi, I've been listening to this score a lot lately. It's very different from what he did with GoT, but it's still lovely and haunting.


3) Succession - Nicholas Britell gave us an all timer with Succession's opening piano theme, but as of late he's really been stepping his game up during the show as well. As it's in the final season, I notice the music a lot more. 

Comments

  1. thevoid99May 25, 2023 at 3:02 PM

    I like this. A theme within a theme. I do miss having HBO on my TV but I'm glad not to have it on cable (which is something my mom and I are trying to get rid of as we're still unsure of what to do). BTW, how is MAX as a service?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamMay 25, 2023 at 3:16 PM

      MAX already bothered me on principle but so far I haven't had any issues with the new app. I do hope they eventually have a down vote/or hiding system because there's a lot of tiles I'd like to hide for groups I'm just not interested in (like TLC or HGTV) I also hate that they took away the side bar with all the hubs listed and made it a scrolling line, but that's personal preference.

      Delete
  2. joel65913May 25, 2023 at 3:33 PM

    I watch so little new TV that I'm a little amazed I've seen even one of these but I did watch a few intermittent episodes of Game of Thrones. My hopes were high because everyone I know raved about how fantastic it was but it left me cold. I did give it another chance when Diana Rigg joined the cast but it still wasn't for me and if Diana Rigg couldn't get me there I just knew I would never be able to get into it. I do however remember that the music was effectively used.

    I've heard of the other two but haven't seen either.

    For whatever reason when I read the theme the first thing that popped into my head was the theme song from the 60's Marlo Thomas series "That Girl". It was jaunty, captured the somewhat zany antics of the series. LOVE how week after week they found a way to open the show with a situation where someone managed to refer to Ann Marie (Marlo) and say the phrase "That Girl" which then kicked off the opening credits. That had to be tough to accomplish for five years running.

    With that choice I decided to stick with both the time period and the jauntiness of the music. So the next would be Elizabeth Montgomery's classic "Bewitched" which had the perfect music for its concept, which they paired with very good animation and which they used liberally during scene changes.

    These two ran back to back during several years of their runs on ABC and I was mightily tempted to chose the third in the bunch-The Flying Nun (a sort of 1-1/2 Girl Power line-up!) which had a perky opening as well but Sally Field hated doing it so much she nearly had a nervous breakdown during production which sort of takes the cheer away so I'm going with Sal's first series "Gidget". It only lasted a year (it did okay in the ratings but not enough for a renewal but when the network reran it over the summer it scored monster numbers however by then it was too late since the cast all had new commitments). The theme song is so sweet (and like the others upbeat) and in less than a minute explains the series main idea which was no matter how many daffy things teenager Gidget does she's still her Dad's best girl.

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    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamMay 25, 2023 at 4:32 PM

      Bewitched is a classic! I only know of The Flying Nun because of Sally Field, but I never watched it. I think you'd like Succession, actually.

      Delete
    2. joel65913May 28, 2023 at 2:08 PM

      Hi Brittani, This is totally off topic but did I miss your Blind Spot for the month? I tried looking for it but only found All the King's Men but that was last month's wasn't it?

      Delete
    3. Brittani BurnhamMay 31, 2023 at 8:08 AM

      It just went up today! Almost forgot about it. lol

      Delete
  3. BirgitMay 31, 2023 at 3:05 PM

    Oh boy am I late here. I love the Hame of Thrones theme song which is often played on the classical radio station I listen to. I am not much for Westworld but the other sounds pretty good too.

    ReplyDelete

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