Same weird music.


I'm just re-watching the series on Netflix and so far I've noticed that every time they go to break up a party or go to a bar, etc, they seem to play the same song everytime. Anyone else notice this?

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I think the same tracks were used for episodes of Dragnet, Emergency, the Brady Bunch, Family Affair and many more "with it" shows in the 60's and 70's. Scary to think that the folks in Jack Webb's generation were hearing that when they thought of the great rock and roll music that was flowing out like water during that time. Still I love the "campy" sound of those shows from that era and the amazing way they could tell some very detailed stories in only about 20 minutes per episode.

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It's kind of the "Munsters","Hawaii Five-0" themes set in a funky Muzak loop that should have all the party-goers jumping out the windows after about ten minutes.

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It was likely a matter of cost.
Same with the "generic" music used in Leave It To Beaver.

Look what happened with WKRP IN CINCINNATI.

That show used REAL CONTEMPORARY MUSIC, which fit well as the show was about a rock & roll radio station.

However, the producers only paid for royalties for a certain number of years, say 10 years.

To re-air the show in later years, the editors were required to scrub the existing music & "replace" it with "generic"-music.

Listen how crappy that came out.

The original music was often a part of the narrative.
The crappy "generic" music sounds lousy & it's hard to hear the actor's (i.e. Dr. Johnny Fever) lines.

I have also read the producers (episode re-editors) hired "soundalikes" to re-record lines in the show, to better flow with the recently mixed-in "music."

When Riptide, a 1980s detective show based in L.A., used Beach Boys songs, the owners of those songs made them strip the songs from the episodes, which again, hurt the flow of the show.

Given what happened to other shows that used real music, maybe it was better Dragnet & Adam-12 didn't use contemporary music.

The copywrite owners of those songs would've sued those shows.

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