The Art Form of TV Opening Credits

Posted on September 20, 2008 at 8:00 am

Newsweek’s tribute to the opening credits of the new HBO series “True Blood” reminded me of the good old days when television show theme songs and opening credits were as much fun as the shows. The “Dick Van Dyke” show kept you guessing each week. Would Rob Petrie trip over the ottoman or not?

“The Simpsons” has a terrific theme by Danny Elfman and a funny kick at the end with Bart writing a different sentence on the blackboard for punishment each week. Theme songs from Welcome Back Kotter and Friends appeared on the pop charts. I’ll bet if I just mention The Brady Bunch, Gilligan’s Island, or Cheers the entire song will go through your head — and might get stuck there. Each year’s Cosby Show opens different and all were completely charming. The best part of Valerie Bertinelli’s short-lived sitcom “Sydney” was the theme song written by her then-husband Eddie Van Halen. And I used to turn on the Saturday morning show Mugsy each week just to hear the theme song song by David Clayton-Thomas of Blood, Sweat & Tears. On PBS, the opening credits for “I Claudius” and “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” set the tone perfectly. HBO’s “Big Love” and “Six Feet Under” had superb opens.

But this one may be the all-time best:

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Shorts Television

Film Ephemera

Posted on September 18, 2008 at 8:00 am

The AV Geeks have an amazing archive of “film ephemera,” of over 20,000 little odds and ends (mostly odds) that have been retrieved from warehouses, garbage dumps, and thrift shops. It’s like seeing our culture through the eyes of an anthropologist. You can find educational and safety films you may have seen in school or Bible study or training films you may remember from work. Take a look at “School Rules: How They Help Us” from 1953.

The AV Geeks have made some DVD compilations available including “Atomic Age Classics Vol 6 : Love & Marriage DVD” (Social-Sex Attitudes in Adolescence, How Do You Know It’s Love?, Are You Ready For Marriage?, Marriage Is A Partnership, Should I Marry Outside My Faith?) and the “I am Joe’s…” series based on the Reader’s Digest articles about the organs of the human body. Also on the site, film Professor Brian Hess shares his paper on the history of Christian educational film pioneers Charles Baptista and James K. Friedrich.

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Shorts Spiritual films

ABBA on video (with a surprise guest appearance)

Posted on July 21, 2008 at 10:00 am

“Mamma Mia” is a good reason (as if we need one) to revisit some ABBA classics featured in the movie:

Take a Chance on Me

Gimme Gimme Gimme

Money Money Money

All of ABBA’s promotional clips like these were directed by Lasse HallstrÃ¶m who went on to become one of Hollywood’s most critically acclaimed directors with “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?” “Chocolat,” and “The Cider House Rules.”

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Music Shorts

Dr. Horrible — This Weekend Only!

Posted on July 19, 2008 at 10:30 am

Until midnight tomorrow you can watch a new three-act musical from Joss Whedon (“Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “Firefly”) online. It is the story of Dr. Horrible (a sensational Neil Patrick Harris) and his nemesis, the very manly Captain Hammer (Nathan Fillion of “Firefly” and “Waitress”). And of course there is a girl, Felicia Day as Penny.

Mary Elizabeth Williams of Salon says:

So you’ll have to forgive me if I lapse into slavish overpraise here for Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, the utterly brilliant singing, dancing, Web-only action-adventure you and your brothers have cooked up. I hope it doesn’t sound like hyperbole when I say that Dr. Horrible is better than kittens and sunshine and cheese. Doled in three tantalizing, quarter-hour-long nuggets (the first two went up earlier this week, the conclusion debuts July 19), “Dr. Horrible” stars an impeccably dorky Neal Patrick Harris as a would-be supervillain who pines for his lovely laundromat crush, Penny (a luminous Felicia Day), while battling nemesis and rival Captain Hammer, a musclebound jerk played with idiot bravado by “Firefly’s” Nathan Fillion. Will Horrible create his freeze ray and earn his way into the Evil League of Evil? Will he get the girl? Tuneful, hilarious and, in typical Whedon fashion, unabashedly tender, the only thing wrong with Dr. Horrible is that the damn thing isn’t a regular series.

It has already inspired responses like this one from a would-be sidekick:

After Sunday night, it will be available only on DVD, so watch it online while you can! (NOTE: Brief mature material)

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Musical Satire Shorts Superhero

Kavanah Productions:

Posted on July 10, 2008 at 8:00 am

Kavanah is a documentary production company dedicated to creating films on Jewish themes to be used in educational settings. It was established by Lauren Shweder Biel, a Ph.D. candidate in Anthropology at New York University. The word “kavanah” means “intention,” “concentration,” or “focus” and is an essential part of meaningful action of all kinds, including ritual and prayer.
Beil has made two films so far:
Abraham’s Daughters: A Bat Mizvah Story, exploring the multiple dimensions of this life cycle ceremony as it is practiced and experienced in contemporary Jewish life (35 minutes), and 1-800-GO-KOSHER, a day in the life of New York City’s only rapid-response kitchen koshering service (10.5 minutes).
For more information or to order a film, contact info@kavanahproductions.com

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Shorts Spiritual films