"The Fugitive" (1963): Season 1; Volume 1 Rumored To Be In The Works! (1 Viewer)

[Mark-P]

Regarding the Bosom Buddies theme song, to the best of my memory, "My Life" was ALWAYS a cover version even during the original broadcast.

 

[MatthewA]

Even a cover version would have required payment to Billy Joel's publishing company; he wrote the song.

 

[Mark-P]

Just out of curiosity, what theme song is used on the DVD set?

 

[Jeff#]

The running times to an official, major DVD release of The Fugitive is irrelevant, because not all episodes of any series are going to run exactly the same length. Even if a piece of music heard in the show was changed (very minor in this case), I don't believe they would cut any dialog or action scenes at all.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Okay, NOW I see the change for The Fugitive: Billy Joel now plays the theme song!

 

[Jeff#]

To offer a serious response, you're correct. But there's a bit more to it than that. The original Billy Joel theme song to Bosom Buddies was always there, but the producers shortened it for the second / final season. ABC may have had something to do with that decision to allow for more commercial time.

 

[Hank Dearborn]

And you know this how?

 

[Corey3rd]

Please refer yourself to WKRP.

Also they clipped Fall Guy to remove two music numbers from Paul Williams and Don Ho.

If a scene features a lounge singer in a bar and they can't get the rights to "Feelings," they might just snip out any cutaways of the singer at the mic so that we don't realize there's supposed to be singing to the replacement music.

 

[MatthewA]

Paramount is getting worse and worse. They're not even trying to clear music, they're just cutting it automatically without inquiring as to exactly how much it would cost.

Exhibit A: "Put on a Happy Face". Buena Vista didn't mind clearing it for a Golden Girls episode ("Beauty and the Beast," season 7), but for Gomer Pyle it was apparently too great an expense.

Exhibit B: The first episode of Family Ties: contained a Phil Ochs song that was intact on the Columbia House VHS, but cuts the scene in question on the DVD.

Exhibit C: The second seasons of the Garry Marshall/Milwaukee trilogy (Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley, Mork and Mindy). Need I say more?

 

[TravisR]

Unless you work at Paramount, you're making quite an assumption.

 

[Corey3rd]

My dealings with trying to get publishing rights has shown that this market has gone out of control on its pricing structures. The music publishing industry has taken a major hit in the past years. People aren't buying CDs. They aren't getting their cut of the pre-recorded action anymore. They're trying to fill in these profit holes by charging outrageous prices to producers. A lot of time they're used to selling their songs for commericals. Madison Avenue doesn't mind writing a lot of zeros when they can nail down the "right" song. And the publishers don't want to consider a major studio a charity case. They want fat cash for their songs - no matter how many scant seconds of the song appeared in the show. They also don't like to work fast so while you're on a production deadline - they don't give a crap cause it's not like you can go somewhere else to get the rights to that song.

I have no proof of how hard Paramount works to clear these titles or what they're budget is for getting these rights, but it almost comes off as a self-defense mode to remove aspects of these shows that allow others to profit and block their releases.

 

[Hank Dearborn]

Well, we do know for a fact that that's how Stephen Cannell does business. So why can't we make the assumption that any other studios might take his lead and do the same thing?

 

[TravisR]

You can make any assumption that you want but an assumption isn't a fact.

 

[Elena S]

Basically, the music industry is holding the TV-on-DVD industry hostage.

 

[Jeff#]

That's easy. The Fugitive was made during an era of television during which no licensing was needed for popular music.....because there was none on fictional TV at the time. It just wasn't a budgetary option for the networks in early to mid 1960s drama series.

All of the incidentals heard on The Fugitive were generic and borrowed from older CBS series (mostly) and ABC series that came before it. There were some original themes from Pete Rugolo too, but even those became generic through their overuse during the 4 seasons. The use of Frontiere's Outer Limits music in the 4th season was frequent relief, because I never get tired of that.

 

[Gary OS]

I'm in full agreement with these comments, although I admit to no factual knowledge on the subject. But it does seem true that the dramas of the 50's and early to mid 60's did NOT make use of pop music, therefore I still can't imagine where this "disclaimer" on the Fugitive set is coming from. Even the Vera Miles lounge act is very, very generic and it seems bizarre to me that it would need to be cut for financial reasons.

I know this series well, and unless there is a song playing in the background of some lounge, bar or on the radio that I've never picked up on - meaning it wasn't very loud and certainly wasn't used as a plot device - I'm still stuck trying to figure this one out.

My only thing is this - the incidentals MUST be kept intact. The music seems pretty generic at this point, but it was a powerful part of the show's success and I'd be very upset if it was changed in any way. That would stink, to put it lightly.

Gary "all the incidentals/mood music MUST remain intact" O.

 

[Jeff#]

That oesn't bother me....providing that the change(s) in incidentals (if any) are as minor and unremarkable as I believe they will be.

My only issue is that this is yet another half-season release, when there are only 30 shows a year.

 

[Hank Dearborn]

I can't imagine what, music wise, could possibly be a rights problem. I've seen these episodes at least a half dozen times each, if not more, and I don't know what the hell Paramount could be talking about. However, if they are now in the mode of "when in doubt, take it out", then they may be removing music that they have no need to just because they refuse to put the time or effort into checking on something.

 

[Gary OS]

That's exactly what I'm saying. I know this show inside and out, and there's nothing I can think of that would be a music rights issue. Nothing at all.

Gary "this show really never made use of 'pop' music, so I'm very anxious to find out what might have been replaced - but it better not be the standard themes used throughout the series!" O.

 

[Harry-N]

The more I think about it (and doing a bit of investigating), the more I think that David VP is probably right, about the music changes being incidental music within an episode.

I just pulled out the old tape I have for the premiere episode, "Fear In a Desert City", and the initial scene introducing Vera Miles' character has her playing the piano. I think the song is a known piece of music, though I can't put my finger on the title - but it could be THAT music that's been changed. It wouldn't matter to me, since it wasn't likely Vera Miles really playing anyway.

It's entirely possible that this is the only case in this first fifteen episodes that would need a change in music for licensing purposes. I don't recall if one of the episodes might have a car radio with music playing on it.

Harry