Re-Introduced
Continuing this theme of TV show intro music, I want to rant ever so briefly on something that’s bugged me ever since we all finally found out what happened after Dawson kissed Joey to stop her from moving to Paris at the end of season one/beginning of season two of the classic (don’t argue with me on this), Dawson’s Creek. From what I understand, the theme song to this show in the US was always “I Don’t Want to Wait” by Paula Cole, a song that is practically iconic in pop culture as being synonymous with late 90s teen angst. It’s a good enough song, I suppose. Whatever.
To me, and the rest of Britain—yes, I speak for all Brits, everywhere—season two brought a sharp jolt of confusion when Paula Cole’s voice emerged from the TV, because we’d been used to this song by Jann Arden, called “Run by Mad,” which was the UK theme song for season one Dawson’s Creek:
Not surprisingly, I’m a fan of this first one. We all like what we’re used to and I thought the lyrics were better for the show. Plus it had this youthful quality to it whereas “I Don’t Want to Wait” has a kind of approaching-middle-aged-woman-getting-desperate-about-her-dying-ovaries feel to it, which now I think about it works quite well for the character of Dawson Leery so never mind.
Around the same time, my FAVORITE TV SHOW OF ALL TIME EVER, Sunset Beach, did the exact same thing, changing it’s theme music from this dramatic, sweeping, almost melancholic sax-heavy tune:
To this bland piece of nothing:
Apologies if you or someone you know composed the second score. I’m sure you were just composing what you were told. And I can never be too careful out here in LA, after insulting the style of a celebrity in a chat with a small group of friends only to be told that one friend is the friend of that celebrity’s stylist. A good example of “If you’ve not got anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.”
Annnnnyway, this again happened, more recently, with my beloved Veronica Mars, which kept the same song (“We Used to Be Friends” by the Dandy Warhols) but mixed up the tempo and tone for the third and final season, slowing it down considerably to change it from an urban vibe of the first two seasons to a more beachy, laid-back tune for the third and final season. This is the one example I can think of where the changed up theme grew on me a lot, though I still prefer the original by a small margin.
There’s not much else to add to this topic except to say that it’s annoying when the theme song changes, because the opening credits, to me at least, are an important part of the show’s identity and really set the tone for the next 30-60 minutes (try to imagine CSI without The Who, or Golden Girls without that friend song), which is why I’m not a fan of this new trend of omitting opening sequences (Lost, Supernatural). If something works, don’t “fix” it!
I’ve just been informed that there’s a video ad at the bottom of this post. I didn’t put it there! The downsides of a free blog. Sorry, guys.
