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SEASON 4:
EDIT: All new links (for season one and four only) as of: November 18, 2019.
"Fruit of the Poisonous Tree" (Part 1 and Part 2)
Part 1: BLOCKED.
Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVsQ1LZXTNg (NEW link; since this channel has broken up the season four opener into two parts, the time stamps won't line up)
Highlights:
0:09 in. The new arrangement of Post's theme by Bunch.
About 2:18 in.
7:48 in. I find myself humming this variation of the theme sometimes.
11:39 in.
29:13 in. Some Latin-flavored music opens another variation of the main theme.
37:18 in.
39:26 in.
43:57 in.
51:02 in.
54:02 in.
1:12:20 in. Spanish guitar and ethnic woodwinds. I assume this is an original piece.
"Black Gold"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afuUJ0B7VmE (NEW link)
Highlights:
1:33 in.
4:57 in.
14:00 in.
21:54 in.
24:30 in. Bumper
32:40 in.
"The Gift"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNeSpjP88G0 (NEW link)
Highlights:
1:45 in.
17:22 in.
33:04 in.
"La Mina"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZS78uc-8bVA (NEW link)
Highlights:
1:30 in.
3:14 in.
5:15 in.
15:54 in.
27:01 in.
40:05 in.
44:30 in. Joining a cue already in progress.
"Witness Protection for the Archangel Lucifer"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwDwOla1otA (NEW link)
Highlights:
1:31 in.
10:52 in.
11:52 in.
26:12 in.
39:54 in.
41:46 in.
"Point of No Return"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFawqmPuayk (NEW link)
Highlights:
1:31 in.
26:25 in.
28:40 in.
34:41 in.
41:00 in.
Re-phrasing a quote...
"Meet me tonight where the supposed murder of you occurred. As a police officer myself, I know that the last place police would think to look is a fresh crime scene."
(yeah, that's sums it up!)
47:04 in: I think the end was not written; I think that was Jonathan Banks throwing that in as a surprise to the new lead.
"Dead Right"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSpqZLo1_SY (NEW link)
Highlights:
1:31 in.
9:03 in.
15:50 in.
20:15 in.
31:50 in.
33:40 in.
Guest-starring Stephen Root. Got to say, who plays a really great evil son of a bitch.
"Changing Houses"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKt9PXffF-A (NEW link)
Highlights:
17:56 in.
20:39 in.
33:24 in.
44:50/46:53 in.
Reading online, the series had it's following, but it was never a ratings hit, so the network tried to ramp it up and to my mind, appeal to "Miami Vice" fans. The series star was out (for reasons I talked about in the thread discussion recent viewings, months ago), the setting changed to Miami, and the theme revamped. Gone were Mike Post and Walter Murphy and in was Post protégé and associate (orchestration, additional music, etc.) Velton Ray Bunch.
Things apparently didn't go too well, and location was moved to New York in the series and only a few episodes of the season aired (only about eight were made) before the network's ideas of re-vamping the series lead to cancellation.
Unfortunately, season four is about to hit. Ken Wahl, who played the show's lead, Vince Terranova, departed because CBS wanted to make it more action oriented as opposed to character drama oriented. This left a sudden void and a new wiseguy was created. CBS's "genius" revamp of the show caused it to get canned nine episodes in.
I liked the percussion-lead new arrangement of the theme though. Velton Ray Bunch took over as composer. I hope to enjoy his scoring.
Ken Wahl would come back to do a "Wiseguy" TV movie years later, then he retired from acting after a horrible accident that nearly left him a quadriplegic for life.
But it turns out in real life the actor was something of a little rough along the edges like his character, as he got hurt and claimed he was in a motorcycle accident, but it turns out he got in a fight after having sex with Rodney Dangerfield's girlfriend (of wife -- I don't recall) and, as I recall, fell down stairs. Rodney would go on stage and tells jokes about he gets no respect at all from his wife -- turns out there was truth to that! I of course looked up what she looked like and, well ... I'd have been tempted, too.
Comments were that the 1996 TV movie whipped out season four, but after having watched both, the movie doesn't. The events and re-opening of the O.C.B. can be explained with some creativity, especially considering there were almost nine years in between the two.
The network wanted to reboot the series years ago and ordered a script by Alex Cary. That was 2008 to 2011. It doesn't appear anything was ever shot.
There has been no release of the scoring from the show. Only Bunch's work stood out in my view, aside from some pieces here and there in earlier seasons (which I might cover).
Is there any interest in me to covering the TV movie?
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TV MOVIE:
The series had one TV movie in 1996, an attempt to revive the series.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21xQGfc96Vs
Highlights:
25:24 in.
31:06 in.
58:46 in.
1:24:25 in.
Frank is back (sans the beard).
Lifeguard is back.
And Ken Hal is back as Vince. The new wiseguy from season four is neither seen nor referenced.
Vince pissed off people in the government and was whisked away where he spent years working on wiretaps. That was the explanation. The TV movie is his first assignment back at the O.C.B. which sometime between the series' end and this TV movie, was re-formed.
It's a very decent TV movie. Usually a lot of TV movie continuing from an old TV show, blow chunks, but this didn't.
Mike Post and Walter Murphy are back scoring. Nothing remarkable and too reliant on the series' theme, and it was more synth than orchestra at times. Quite a dip from their work on season three.
It's obvious they were trying to set up a potential series by having the villain of this promise to ruin Vince's life and be back; and a shocking scene involving Frank that was unequivocal in letting us know Frank's got bad problems in his life and obviously the series would have delved into that.
The only problems I see with making season four work in regards to the TV movie:
Frank was outed as an O.C.B. agent in season four, on television, so everybody now knows who he us and what he does. I guess I could explain it away by simply saying not only was he out-of-state but it was the local city news, and at a time where VHS ruled, so it's unlikely in my opinion the news got too far.
Then of course there's the big one: how to explain the whole involved Vince was murdered by a radical foreign group thing. That'll be a tough one. Even a bad guy said a general in another country ordered the assassination.
I think it's worth solving for a continuation series (which is not likely to ever happen).
This was Ken Wahl's final acting credit. He was the host a 2012 documentary, but aside from that he's vanished.
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