Anone got a review on "My Name is Earl" yet? Music Intact? (1 Viewer)

[RomanSohor]

i saw every episode of Early on TV, and rewatched it now on DVD. I honestly did not notice anything "missing"

 

[Jeff#]

The first 2 episodes of the second season have aired so far, and the show is as funny as ever!
I'm looking forward to the story arcs planned for this year.

 

[RoryR]

How many writers does it take for a show like this? 12?
How many actors are on it? About 6?
How many crew members? 200?
How many of those people have the job of selecting music? 1!

Music isn't crucial to any show ... except a musical ofcourse! Most (normal) people tune into a show for good acting and writing, and maybe even direction ... most people don't spend 22 minutes a week watching because their favourite song was in it once, or because the music supervisor was the same one of the show with that fantastic soundtrack.

Geez, some people need some perspective. If people were tuning in for music alone, they could air a simulcast of MTV!

 

[Brent M]

WOW, I honestly don't think you could be more wrong if you tried! Would Tarantino's movies be the same without his musical choices? What about Scorcese's? The music they use in Earl is ABSOLUTELY a huge part of the show and I think most "normal" people get that.

 

[RoryR]

What percentage of each episode is made of music?

It would have to be some bad movie, if the only redeeming quality was music, the emotion should come from characters (acting+writing) and maybe direction.

 

[TravisR]

And music only adds to that.

I generally roll my eyes at most of these music substitution threads because they degenerate into the usual "THIS IS THE GREATEST OUTRAGE IN HISTORY!! I'D DIE BEFORE I BUY IT!!!!!!"-type of posts by the same people and the same point is repeated over and over. That's when some perspective might be needed. Right now, it's people posting their dissapointment that the music has been changed and I don't see anything wrong with that.

 

[Brent M]

You totally do not get it so I'm not going to waste any more time trying to explain how crucial the music choices are for this show.

 

[MarkHastings]

-

 

[MarkHastings]

-

 

[RoryR]

Crucial?

Do you think if they had a budget cut and couldn't afford 3 songs an episode, that the millions of people watching would run to another show?

 

[TravisR]

No but that has nothing to do with it. If they didn't have the budget for music in the first place then the scene would never be shot with the idea of using or augmenting the scene with a song.

It seems to me that you're just trying to bait people and turn this into the usual music substitution battle thread and I can't imagine why anyone would do that. Like I said before, so far people have only expressed dissapointment (and not the usual posts with paragraphs about the evils of music replacement talking about editing Shakespeare or replacing Beethoven with Slayer) so I don't understand why you're so bothered by other people's dissapointment.

 

[Brent M]

You just don't get it, do you? The music adds A LOT to this show the same way music is important to movies(as I mentioned above if you bothered to read what I'm trying to say). I can guarantee you that a lot of thought goes into the musical choices they use for this show and for you to discount that so flippantly just shows you don't have a clue how the production of movie or TV show really works.

 

[RoryR]

Really works?

12 writers - 1 Music Supervisor.

I can get that from the credits!

I honestly doubt that writers, producers and directors, spend their work time thinking about music - so ... that leaves very little resources working on this CRUCIAL part.

 

[RomanSohor]

I guess its just funny what people remember when they see a show. I honestly only recall a few instances of music being used specifically in 'Earl.' Whenever I hear a cool song on the show I kind of think to myself "oh, thats cool that they used that in a TV show" but the only 2 that I can think of that really stuck with me were "Bust a Move" from Joy's Wedding episode, and "Peace Frog" being played over and over and over and over Groundhog Day Style - and watching that one legged-girl hopping to answer the phone hahaha

 

[Brent M]

Wow, you can read the credits? Congratulations!!! That still doesn't do a damn thing to prove your point and you'll obviously never be able to admit you're wrong so just drop it. You're trying to argue something that you have no clue about and it's just going around in circles. I'm done wasting my time with you.

 

[MarkHastings]

Brent, I'm not trying to fight, but I wanted to interject something about music.

I work in a video production house and we change music all the time, to try and figure out what works best for a particular video. The problem with music is, the client always assumes that the first piece of music they hear is the best.

We will often find better suited music for the video, but sometimes it's hard for a client to imagine anything else replacing what they've already heard at first. It's funny how the mind assumes original is best.

Not to say that the music in My Name is Earl is replaceable, but I'm just interjecting that there are always suitable alternatives that work just as well and do not hinder the enjoyment of the show.

I'm sure the producers picked 'great' alternatives and I will watch my DVD's with an open mind. I know sometimes it's tough to get past the original music because (in your mind) that's the only piece that works for that section of the show...in some cases, yes, not a lot can replace it with the same emotion, but again, I love this show too much to let that bother me to the point where I don't buy the DVD's.

Replacments suck, but if done properly, they don't have to destroy the shows presentation.

 

[Brent M]

Mark,

I totally see where you're coming from and in some instances I'm sure music can be replaced without negatively affecting overall presentation. My argument with Rory has been the position he's taking that basically says music in general doesn't make a bit of difference in this show which is absolutely 100% wrong. If you took all of the great musical selections out of Earl the show would suffer greatly IMHO. Obviously that point is lost on Rory, though, which is why I'm done arguing with him.

 

[MarkHastings]

Yeah, it always seems like there is no middle ground, either people want nothing changed at all, or the ones (who don't mind changes) don't care about the music at all.

I think there is a middle ground. I hope that when I get around to watching the DVD's, the replacement isn't too jaring. That would be the only time that it would really bug me.

 

[AnthonyC]

Exactly. I mean, if they'd changed every single song on this set to some generic elevator music, it would definitely be a problem. But most of the songs seem to be intact, and none of the replacements seem to be glaringly out of place. It's a shame they couldn't get the rights to some of it, but I honestly don't think it affects the entertainment value at all. In fact, if an Earl fan just bought the set and watched the episodes without looking online about it, I doubt they would have noticed any replacement--I certainly didn't before Garcia's blog was posted.

 

[RoryR]

I don't see any piece of music being important in a comedy series, people watch for the laughs not the wonderful music stylings ... its like changing Barber Shops because they no longer have your favourite magazine to read.