A while back I put up a three parter about my favourite opening sequences (the first part of which can be found here and it will link to parts two and three). Today - inspired by a day spend playing TV Themes on guitar for no reason other than it was raining I'm going to write about my favourite TV Show themes, while there might be some crossover between the two lists it's more about the music rather than the entire combined credits this time.

They're in alphabetical order by show names rather than order of preference:


Oh come on, seriously - are you even surprised? It's fun, it's iconic, and it even gets people going nuts when it's played in a club. And while you can't dance to the original version you certainly can dance to the Guy Pratt remix as featured on Spaced - there's a full length version of it here, annoyingly Channel 4 haven't released the excellent video of Mike dancing - which is what I originally wanted to put up here. Gits.


Surprise! At least I hope this inclusion is a little bit of a surprise - I love the closing theme to Blackadder II, the entire series has great music but it's the closing ditty for each episode in the second series which seals the deal.


The full version of the song from the most excellent (and difficult to find) Crystal Method is here it's a kind of crappy video but the music quality is good.


It's a great little tune which almost sounds purpose made for the series with it's funky spy like guitar riff but in truth it's a boiled down version of Cake's Short Skirt/Long Jacket. This is the theme which inspired the list and it's an excellent choice for the show, fitting pretty much perfectly into place.

The full music video can be seen here. I think I actually prefer the stripped down Chuck Theme.


Another one which I'm sure won't the least bit surprising to see on here. It was pretty much the TV show theme for a while. But I don't think The Rembrants produced a single other song of consequence apart from this one, pretty much the definition of a one hit wonder.


Filled with energy and punch the theme seems to echo the life and experiences of Tommy Gavin, it's one I find myself huming for a while during and after watching an episode of the show.

You can catch a live rendition on Letterman here.


Using the banjo to great effect the full song is a melancholy tribute to the difficulties of life, the shortened version works well as the opener to Scrubs and served it well for eight seasons. It's the extended version used in the video here - they decided to scale back to the short orignal version after a few episodes. Keep it punchy, more time for gags that way.


The shortened version of this song is so well edited that it almost feels like a complete entity by itself, I know I often find myself surprised with the length of the original version when playing it on RockBand or listening to it on CD.


Say what you like about That 70s Show, the opening theme is pretty awesome.

There's a lowish quality version of the full song/70s show video here.


There are five renditions of the song "Way Down in the Hole" used in The Wire, one for each season. But it is the version from the fifth season performed by Steve Earle (who appears as Waylon in the series) which does it for me. Here's the man performing it live.

Where's Wallace? Where's Wallace? (There he is at 0:55 in the video!)

Honorable mentions go to the themes from Monty Python's Flying Circus, Boston Legal, House (Teardrop - Massive Attack), Top Gear (Jessica - The Allman Brothers) and The 4400 (Amanda Abizaid - A Place in Time) .

Might I just write before I go, these posts might look rather 'filler' but the honest truth is they take longer than written ones. Sigh.
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Boston Legal's first season aired back in 2004 and was born out of The Practice's final season - it was created as a spin-off from The Practice, which was sagging in the ratings and so was used (in part) to set up Boston Legal, a show with a mostly different cast and a different flavour to it. Boston Legal ran for five seasons and the first is often considered to be one of the best, if not the finest. But regardless of which season you prefer, Boston Legal is without a doubt one of the best spin-off shows to have aired on telly vision alongside great alumni like Frasier, The Colbert Report, The Simpsons and Happy Days (which reminds me of a brief time I entertained Spin-Off Sunday, a tribute to the greatest spin-offs and a look at some potential fictional ones, maybe I should revive that - if there's interest).

Fresh from the events which closed out The Practice's final season, Alan Shore joins the law firm Crane, Poole and Schmidt which represented him the previous show. He and Tara have both been hired into the firm by Denny which sparks a long and lasting friendship between the two men.

Boston Legal is a light-hearted law based drama with a huge bent for the comedic, at no point does the show ever take itself seriously, many of the court cases are at least slightly humorous in their nature and Denny's antics alone across the seventeen episodes which make up the first season are enough to place the show firmly as 'comedy-drama'. It's got a smart, witty, sexy cast who aren't afraid of looking foolish at times - including greats like Candice Bergen, Rene Auberjonois, Mark Valley and Christian Clemenson (who guest stars in this season).

Over the first season Crane, Poole and Schmidt deal with problems within the law firm and legal cases; dealing with a prominent member of the firm being institutionalised, disturbed ex-lovers, Alzheimer's, a transvestite Santa Claus, Denny being arrested for solicitation, science teachers refusing to teach creationism, Alan hiring men to fight in a bar brawl for him and many more. As you can see this is not a show which shies away from unusual issues, politics and the absurd.

Now, unfortunately for the viewer who wants the complete story arc this set (from FOXTVDVD) fails to include the episodes from the final season of The Practice's eight season which introduced Alan Shore (James Spader), Tara Wilson (Rhona Mitra) and Denny Crane (William Shatner) which some of the other versions of this set do. It's not going to spoil your enjoyment as such, but it is a shame because the performances from Spader and Shatner are just fantastic. It's worth tracking down the final season to watch their performances in my opinion as it's very much the prelude to Boston Legal.

Extras:
Deleted Scenes from the pilot
Court is now in session: How Boston Legal came to be
An Unlikely Pair: Alan Shore and Denny Crane

I've always felt that Boston Legal could do with Mystery Science Theatre 3K style riffing commentary from Alan and Denny - unfortunately this hasn't happened... yet.

Details:
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Rating: 12
Region: 2
Run time 11 hours 37 mins approx
Soundtrack: English 2.0
Subtitles: Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish, English HOH
PPM: 4.4
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Boston Legal

I feel that the rest of this post is pretty much preaching to the choir. Boston Legal is already massive, but more praise never hurts.

[This post may contain nuts... and mild spoilers]

Boston Legal was created by David E. Kelley (Yeah, the man responsable for Ally McBeal - don't hold it against him!) and is essentially a follow on/spin off from The Practice. Unsuprisingly it is set in Boston and involves a legal firm. While this is hardly new ground for David, the man has honed the art of the legal show to a fine point. Boston Legal shows off his art in every way, shape and form possible.

The show literally shines with polish; it's sleek, beautiful, well edited, has blistering pacing, a punchy dialog to match, superb sets and a truely awesome and catchy theme song. A show that doesn't take itself too seriously (it almost breaks the fourth wall on several occasions.) But all of this slick, polish and shine is simply the backdrop to some star performances.

The most obvious of these are the performances from James Spader (3 Emmys for the role) and William Shatner (2!) . The show was pretty much created with them in mind and they are such an excellent pairing. James manages to play a very complex individual; Alan Shore is simultaneously arrogant and humble, hard and caring and so many more conflicting attributes in one. He's very much got a hard exterior with a soft interior and then another hard part. It's refreshing to see an actor who's so willing to perform such unlikable deeds and still be understandable.
William Shatner on the other hand plays a man with alltogether more simple motives, he's very much the true blooded American. Happiest when eating stake, shooting guns or making love to beautiful women Denny Crane is a true red American through and through...
But, this said not even Denny Crane (Denny Crane!) is a simple one dimensional character. There's a great deal of vulnerability to his character; he's a man who was once great, in many ways is still great. But he's not the man he once was, he's falling - but still trying to keep a hold of what he once was.

While Alan and Denny are, at least on the surface two very different men. Underneath it they share a great closeness, they understand and accept each other with a degree of closeness that is at times touching. Boston Legal can appear to be a show about trials and lawyers on the surface, but underneath that it's a show about friendship and loyalty. It's this aspect that keeps me coming back, like Scrubs this show can be alternately funny and touching within the space of a single scene. Shows like that are gold.

I would be amiss if I did not at least mention my favourite character in the show. Jerry Espenson (played Christian Clemenson, who won an Emmy for the role in 2006). A man with unusual habits and attributes caused by Asperger Syndrome, a disorder that I was not aware of before Boston Legal brought it to my attention. At first Jerry is seen as a joke and a problem case in the firm, but Alan comes to form a bond and friendship with the man. Something akin to a mentor relationship, but also very much based on friendship. Alan is capable of seeing past the superficial and understanding how brilliant Jerry is at practicing law. This friendship stirs up feelings of jealousy in Denny, fueling some memorable conversations between them all.

Now Boston Legal isn't perfect, it has one major flaw. Apart from Shatner, Spader and Candice (as Shirely Schmit) any member of the cast is considered disposable. They can be dumped at anytime from the show and sometimes they are dropped without even aknowledgement that they're gone. Some of these characters have been cut because they haven't been working, but others imo have been cut because the writers have failed to provide enough focus on them. The character I feel who has been mistreated worst of all is Brad Chase, Mark Valley (the actor) has only been given once real chance to show his talents. He was brilliant in that episode but has been given the short end of the stick more times than not.

For the record the Episode 'Guantanamo by Trial' contains the single greatest cold opening in the history of television. Ever. Take that fourth wall!

Watch the damn show already.
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