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Rating:  -
Where are The Facts of Life and Flipper? This having been said, the NBC Nightly News theme by Williams (clocking in at precisely :30) is a work of true genius. To evoke pathos, drama, and urgency in one [very] short theme is no minor achievement.
But no Facts of Life. Shame.
Rating:  -
I love the Television's Greatest Hits series that TVT has released over the years. Nothing will provoke nostalgia quicker than hearing some of these songs- for me, it's themes from the 70s and 80s that really take me back. They're great for parties and conversation starters. Sometimes they'll even make you cry, taking you sentimentally back to your childhood of simpler, carefree times. You would have had to have lived in a vacuum (or a house with no TV, which is about the same thing) if you didn't feel something listening to some of the songs on these CDs.
This collection is nice, as has already been pointed out, because it actually contains original recordings of the songs as opposed to reworked versions that appeared on some of the previous releases (to their credit, those redone renditions were usually pretty close to the real thing). I'm glad to finally get the actual TV version of the St. Elsewhere theme. This show is still one of my favorites, and the opening credits and theme song were always part of the appeal (why isn't St. Elsewhere on DVD yet???). The song does sound a bit dated now, but it still evokes hundreds of memories of this fine show. Some of the songs repeat themselves from past TVT collections, but there are enough different versions here to make it worthwhile.
My only complaint- and it's not a small one- is that there is only 50 minutes or so of music on this disc. Talk about wasted space. Given that a CD holds nearly 80 minutes, and that the average TV theme is less than 60 seconds, they could have easily fit another 20 to 30 tracks on here. On compilation albums like this it's inexcusable not to fill the disc to the brim. NBC certainly has enough memorable themes over the years to fill several CDs- I won't name the shows that are missing here, but there are plenty. The fact that they didn't even bother to fill one CD really detracts from the value of this disc.
Still, overall a good effort, and hopefully something that this label will continue to produce in the future. Would be nice to have a disc that includes all of the cable show themes that have popped up over the past decade, like The Sopranos, Six Feet Under, Curb Your Enthusiasm, etc. As long as they produce new TV shows (with theme songs, which is not always a guarantee anymore) there will be material for these compilations.
Rating:  -
For a couple of decades, TVT Records has been releasing mass collections of TV themes under its Tee Vee Toons moniker . . . but never as well done as this. The difference in the NBC collection and all past TVT releases: finally, total authenticity. For years, TVT published albums with mostly original theme material, but a few -- and many times even more than a few -- TVT reorchestrations. The upside was that the public got to hear some really great television themes; the downside, a lot of the music just wasn't the original on-air version.
With its newest release, TVT Records has done it right. This NBC compilation is a terrific tribute to some of the best of television, and they're all the as-seen-on-TV themes. Only a few have never before been released in any form, but themes that were previously published as reorchestrations (eg. "Peter Gunn", "St. Elsewhere") finally get the star treatment they deserve. No more is-it-or-isn't-it-the-real-thing? guessing, no more ending fanfares that fade out just a little too quickly. Nice work, TVT.
One wish for future volumes: if a theme with multiple broadcast versions has previously been featured on a TVT album, why not toss it up by showcasing another edition next time that theme's released? "The Cosby Show", "Gimme A Break", and "A Different World" are all the same renditions (4th, 2nd, and 1st seasons, respectively) that were spotlighted on prior TVT releases . . .
Still, we get "The Rockford Files" and the 1st season -- and best -- version of "Hill Street Blues". So thanks, TVT, for striving for the real deal, thereby morphing what might have been a good soundtrack collection into something really exceptional.
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