When watching an uncut theatrical film on TV was an event. I never had HBO at home, (or cable except for a few months in 1985) but when this came on at a friend's house or at a motel you knew something special was about to follow.
This is still one of the best, if not the best music ever composed for a TV bumper segment. Now it can be played in stereo over good headphones and sound even better.
Brief history of TV themes discussed 1970-The Partridge Family "When We're Singin'" Performed by Shirley Jones, David Cassidy, John Bahler, Tom Bähler, Jackie Ward, and Ron Hicklin. Instrumentals by The Wrecking Crew The Wrecking Crew on Amazon 1969-1974-Love, American Style "Love, American Style" Performed by The Cowsills 1974-Movin' On "Movin' On" Performed by Merle Haggard No. 1 Hot Country singles 1975 1979-B.J. and the Bear "B.J. and the Bear" Written by Glen Larson Performed by Greg Evigan 1979-Angie "Different Worlds" Performed by Maureen McGovern No. 18 in 1979 1979-Makin' It "Makin' It" Performed by David Naughton No. 5 in 1979 1982-Joanie Loves Chachi "You Look at Me" Performed by Scott Baio and Erin Moran
Occasionally you come across a series that defies categorization. A Saturday morning action-adventure live-action comedy starring animals with dubbed-over voices and a laugh track? Okay.
With plots that make the skits of The Monkees look like high art (see what I did there?) the series featured Lancelot Link and his female colleague, "Mata Hairi," working for A.P.E., the Agency to Prevent Evil. They fought against C.H.U.M.P., the Criminal Headquarters for the Underworld's Master Plan. If this sounds really similar to Get Smart!, you're right. Two of the creator/producers, Stan Burns and Mike Marmer, were both former writers of Get Smart!
Actors Dayton Allen, Bernie Kopell and Joan Gerber provided almost all of the voiceover work, much of it done ad-lib to match the mouths and actions of the already filmed animals.
The series ran from Jan-April 1970 on Saturday mornings at 8am central and was the first show on the ABC network feed for the day. There were 17 episodes total. The somewhat politically incorrect opening theme can be seen here.
Researching the 1987 CBS TV season for an upcoming podcast on The Popcorn Kid and I found a full length 1987 CBS fall TV campaign promo. I actually found a fairly complete listing of fall network campaigns and we'll cover all of them from 1970-1989.
This short-lived comedy aired for 6 episodes on Friday nights in early 1987 on CBS. 16 year old Scott Creasman (the titular 'Popcorn Kid') and his friends worked after-school jobs at an old fashioned downtown movie theater. A disgruntled manager and oddball projectionist rounded out the crew; and all answer to a never seen owner. This was the first appearance of both Faith Ford and Penelope Ann Miller in regular roles. The series was created by Barry Kemp, writer for Newhart, Taxi, and Coach among others.
The entire first episode/pilot can be seen in this video.
Have you ever wondered how they made those nifty animated TV graphics in the 70s/80s before computer animation? Here's your answer. Scanimate. All done on a CRT monitor directly filmed or videotaped with camera kinescope style. The image on screen was distorted by one or more technicians until satisfied with the effect. Unless careful notes were kept, the same effect/coloring could not be produced again.
