Forgotten TV Lyrics: Ironsides

While this is an instrumental, it's the uncut theme to Ironside, so I include it in the "Forgotten TV Lyrics" index.

Besides, it's Quincy Jones, one of the great soundtrack composers of the 20th Century!

If you're looking for a copy, it's available on the Smackwater Jack album!

Here's what Wikipedia has to say about the music on the series:

The opening theme music was written by Quincy Jones and was the first synthesizer-based television theme song, though in 1971, Jones recorded a fuller four-minute band version for the album Smackwater Jack.^[3][4] This recording was then edited and used for the opening credits of the fifth through eighth seasons (1971–75). (The entire album track can be heard in the fifth-season episode "Unreasonable Facsimile" as Ironside and team track a suspect on the streets of San Francisco.) In addition to the opening theme music, Quincy Jones composed the entire score for the first eight episodes. Oliver Nelson took over those duties up to the end of the winter to spring 1972 episodes. Nelson was then replaced by Marty Paich for all the episodes from the beginning of the fall of that year up until the last episode that was produced in the spring of 1974. The song "Even When you Cry" with music by Quincy Jones and lyrics by Alan Bergman and Marilyn Bergman was performed by James Farentino in the episode 'Something for Nothing' while Marcia Strassman had already sung it off-screen in the earlier episode 'The Man Who Believed' both during season 1.

I wonder if that Season One score has been released?

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Forgotten TV Lyrics: The Bill Cosby Show: Hicky Burr

"Hicky Burr", the theme to The Bill Cosby Show, words by Bill Cosby, music by Quincy Jones, with vocalization by Bill Cosby.

Many people have forgotten that Quincy Jones wrote a lot of movie soundtracks, as well as many TV themes.  From Wikipedia:

In addition, he composed "The Streetbeater," which became familiar as the theme music for the television sitcom Sanford and Son, starring close friend Redd Foxx; he also composed the themes for other TV shows, including Ironside, Banacek, The Bill Cosby Show, the opening episode of Roots, and the Goodson & Todman game show Now You See It.

(I'll get to those eventually...)

This series didn't last long... two seasons. I remember it being on cable, but it never kept my attention...it seemed strange in the way it presented the story.

You can find the song on Quincy Jones' record, Smackwater Jack, which also contains the theme to "Ironside", as well as "Theme from "The Anderson Tapes", a movie which is mostly forgotten, but which has an amazing cast, and a few historical footnotes attached!

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The New York Channel

The New York Channel

Showing only television shows and movies which take place in New York City!

Would it be possible to program a cable/satellite/internet channel showing only television shows and movies which take place in New York City?

Sure... it's easy to fill up a daily programming grid with shows (try it with friends at a bar!), but what about an entire year's worth of programming?

52 weeks x 7 days a week x 24 hours a day = 8,736 hours of programming!

(Hmm... that doesn't seem too bad.)

Rule #1: You cannot double book a show.
No "an hour of Seinfeld!" like some local stations advertise.

Rule #2: Only one movie a day, Monday-Friday; two-a-day on weekends.
Rule #2-A: Each movie block should have a different movie theme.
For example, Saturday night would be "Creature Feature".
Sunday evening would be "Hollywood Blockbuster". (Just like ABC used to do back in the 1970s.)
[Maybe I'll post a separate thread on New York movies by genre...]

Rule #3: Saturday and Sunday may each have a 3-hour block for a sporting event.

Rule #4: The episodes must exist, available for broadcast.

Rule #5: No talk shows, soap operas, or skit comedy.
Rule #5-A: Except for Jackie Gleason (Honeymooners), prime time soap operas, and Saturday Night Live.

Rule #6: Short lived shows may be shown one day a week, preferably on the weekends.

Long running series should be scheduled Monday-Friday (260 episodes...approximately 10 seasons). Shorter series should be scheduled on Saturday and/or Sunday. (52-104 episodes.) Longer series can be scheduled every day (365 episodes).

If something can't make the full 260 airings (like Seinfeld), then shorter series can fill the gap. Rule #1 applies.

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Let's assume a year which starts on a Sunday... That means 52 weeks of Sunday-Saturday, with one Sunday left over.

So... 365x24 = 8,760 hours of programming.

Subtract from that:
  Rule #2. Nine movies a week. Let's program 2 hours a movie. (Maybe 2.5)
That's (52 x 9 x 2) + 4 [two movies on that extra, last Sunday] = 940 hours. 10.7% of programming.

That leaves: 7,820 hours of programming.

Rule #3. Three hours of sports programming for each Saturday and Sunday. (52 x 6)+ 3 = 315 hours of sports programming.

That leaves: 7,503 hours of programming. 85.7%

So let's start filling those time slots!

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The series (with number of episodes in parenthesis):

Sitcoms

• All in the Family (208 episodes)
• Archie Bunker's Place (97)
• 704 Hauser (6) [A black family moves into the Bunker's house in the 1990s.]
• [Maude is set inTuckahoe, Westchester County, New York, and is disqualified.]
• The Jeffersons (253)
• Checking In (4 episodes!)

Archie Bunker and friends account for 284 hours of programming.

• Barney Miller (168)
• Fish (35)

101.5 hours of programming.

• Diff'rent Strokes (189)
• [The Facts of Life was set in Peeskill, NY, in Westchester County, and is disqualified.]

94.5 hours of programming.

These three franchises account for 480 hours of programming, or approximately one-half of one percent. (About 1 hour, twenty minutes of each day.)

• Bewitched (254) [half Manhattan, half suburbia]
• Bosom Buddies (37)
• Car 54, Where Are You? (60)
• Cosby (95)
• The Cosby Show (202)
• The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd (65)
• Dear John (90)
• The Dick Van Dyke Show (158) [half Manhattan, half suburbia]
• Family Affair (138)
• Friends (236)
• Head of the Class (114) [+ Billy (13)]
• How I Met Your Mother (208)
• I Love Lucy (181) [I'll include the suburban episodes, since they still live in the metro area.]
• The Jackie Gleason Show (156) /The Honeymooners (39)
• The Joey Bishop Show (123)
• Just Shoot Me!(148)
• Kate and Allie (122)
• King of Queens (207)
• Love, Sidney (44) [+Sidney Shorr: A Girl's Best Friend tv movie]
• Mad About You (164)
• Make Room For Daddy / The Danny Thomas Show (351)
• Night Court (193)
• The Nutt House (11) [Yes... but it has a great cast, and co-created by Mel Brooks!]
• The Odd Couple (114) [Hmm... did Felix and Oscar ever meet Kate and Allie?]
• The Patty Duke Show (104)
• Rhoda (110)
• Seinfeld (180)
• Spin City (145)
• Taxi (114)
• That Girl (136)
• Welcome Back, Kotter (95)
• Will & Grace (194)

4601 episodes, 2300.5 hours of programming.

• Saturday Night Live (750+!) [The "no double booking" rule! So, 365*1.5 = 547.5 hours] [I'd slot this in the "talk show" time slot of 11:30 PM-1 AM.] [If run as a non-stop marathon, it would last 46+ days.]

480+ 2300.5+ 547.5 = 3328 hours of programming.

38% of the annual total!

Drama

• McCloud (46) [6@60, 34@90, 6@120]
• 360+ 3060+ 720 = 4140 / 60 = 69 hours of programming
• Naked City (138) [39@30 mins., 99@ 60 mins.]
• 1170+ 5940 = 7110 / 60 = 118.5 hours of programming
• Baretta [Uknown east coast city, perhaps Newark]
• Beauty and the Beast (56)
• Cagney & Lacey (125)
• CSI: NY (197)
• Dr. Kildare (190)
• The Equalizer (88)
• Fame (136)
• Felicity (84)
• Kojak (118)
• Law & Order (456!) [365 hours]
• Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (343+)
• Mad Men (85)
• NYPD Blue (261)
• Sex and the City (94@30 mins.)
• Ugly Betty (85)
• Ryan's Hope (3515!) [Yes, a soap opera set in NYC! 30 minutes long]
• 182.5 hours of programming. [Or, if run as a non-stop marathon, 73+days.] [ Oh, wait... Rule #5. Disqualified, and I doubt episodes exist for broadcast.]

2367.5 hours of programming!

Cartoons [Yeah, I'm thinking of a Saturday Morning block. 52 Saturdays x 5 hours of programming?]

• Spider-Man (various)
• Spider-Man (52) [1967]
• Spider-Man (26) [1981]
• Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends (24) [1981]
• Spider-Man (65) [1994]
• Spider-Man Unlimited (13) [1999]
• Spider-Man: The New Animated Series (13) [2003]
• Spectacular Spider-Man (26) [2008]
• Ultimate Spider-Man (78+) [2012]

297 episodes, 148.5 hours of programming.

• The Critic (23)
• Futurama (140)
• Gargoyles (78)
• Hey Arnold! (100)
• The Real Ghostbusters (173)
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (193) [1987] 
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (157) [2003]
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (78+) [2012]
• Top Cat (30)

972 episodes, 486 hours of programming

148.5+486 = 634.5 hours of programming.

Divide by 52 Saturdays, and that's over 12 hours of programming each Saturday Morning!

Or I run Spider-Man five days a week in an afternoon timeslot, and keep the rest on Saturday, on a 7-hour block?! Possibly grab TMNT (428 episodes) as another M-F afternoon block. That leaves an average of 5 1/4 hours of cartoons for Saturday morning.

The totals, so far:

• Movies 940
• Sports 315
• Comedy 3328
• Drama 2367.5
• Cartoons 634.5

7585 hours. 86.6%. *SIGH* I need to find 1175 hours of additional programming... 49 days...

• The Nanny (146) 73 hours.
• Brooklyn Bridge (34) 17 hours.
• Archer (75+) 37 hours.
• The Defenders (132) 132 hours
• Dream On (120) 60 hours
• Jessie (101) 50.5 hours
• Law & Order: Criminal Intent (195) 195 hours
• Louie (53+) 26 hours
• News Radio (97) 48.5 hours
• Veronica's Closet (66) 33 hours
• Wizards of Waverly Place (106) 53 hours

725 hours. 8310 total. 450 hours to go. 19 days.

• Caroline in the City (97) 47.5
• Boardwalk Empire (56) 56
• White Collar (81) 81
• Rules of Engagement (100) 50
• Gossip Girl (121) 121
• 30 Rock (138) 69
• Everybody Hates Chris (88) 44

468.5 hours 8778.5 total!

So we made the "deadline"!

The breakdown:

• Movies 940
• Sports  315
• Comedy  3919.5
• Drama  2969.5
• Cartoons  634.5

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How many of these shows would you watch?

If you had to pick one episode from each of your favorite series, which would they be?

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Top Ten List: Ways to Greet Your Boss

This morning at work, on my way to get my first cup of tea for the day, I happened to pass my boss' boss (the department director), chatting with one of our masters of marketing.

What I heard, obliquely, was her talking about how others addressed her. Thinking quickly, I reverted to Polite Mode (which, of course, I rarely use, since she's a great boss, and we're all rather informal in our department).

"Good morning, Ms. Allen," I said with a grin.

But then, as I waited for my tea to steep, I began to think... what could I have said? Thus, this list.

I'm posting this here, because that little voice inside my head thought this could be taken the right way, and why tempt the Fates of HR?

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10.  "Yessir, Ms. Allen, SIR!" (clicks heels and salutes sharply)

9.  "Good Morning, Ms. Allen. I reserved a private table for your 1 PM lunch with Mr. Frankson at L'Arrogant Parisienne. I sent an email to your private account containing numerous embarrassing Facebook posts, as well as photos hacked from the Epsilon Aleph Zayn iCloud account, in case the conversation lags. Also, “Droobles” Frankson has an extreme allergy to licorice. Remember to look shocked and concerned if any law enforcement agents appear to speak with Mr. Frankson."

8.  "How ‘bout them Mets?"

7.  (Halts suddenly. Look of panic and shock. Smile suddenly. Back away slowly, maintaining smile and eye contact.)

6.  "Yeah, yeah, whatever."

5.  (We perform the “secret cheerleader handshake”, which involves elbow bumbs, jazzhands, and spirited doggerel.)

4.  "Heghlu’meHQaQ jajvam." / "  "

3.  "Hi, I’m Sten. Have we met?"

2.  (Nods to boss, walks into breakroom whistling "The Internationale".)

1.  "Hey, Toots."

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