Intrada Soundtrack Forum

Just a little poll to see how people like their favorite TV series scores to be released. Consider only series with lots of music. Factor everything in, including cost and time to produce.

This probably isn't the answer you are looking for, but... it depends on the series.

Not only "how much original music?" and "how much GOOD music?" but to be honest, "just how attached am I to this particular series and its music?"

Of course it's also a matter of favorite composers and how many may have worked on a series. With Goldsmith or Herrmann or Waxman or Friedhofer, I kinda want every note. There might be limits... like, would I fork out the dough to buy a 15+ disc set of I Spy music? Probably not, even though I LOVE the FSM disc (the LPs one too, but especially their original one), and I love both Earle Hagen and Hugo Friedhofer as composers. I just don't have the personal connection to that series, so probably a 6-8 CD set might be my limit, even though I have great respect for the fact that every episode had a full original score for that series. Wouldn't want to spend over $80 for sure. LLL's $100 Mission: Impossible 6 CD box set was really pushing it for me, price-wise...luckily I got that as a present for my 30th birthday.

Now if say a new Blu-ray release came out for I Spy with the complete scores on isolated tracks, that would definitely be a selling point for me and I'd probably buy that!

When it comes to Batman: The Animated Series, I want every single note recorded by every composer who worked on that show. I *would* have bought a mega set for that (like Lost in Space or Star Trek TOS got from LLL), but I'm also content with the series of smaller sets LLL has been putting out (I'm just impatient for them to finally release the last two "seasons" of the show's scoring, The Adventures of Batman and Robin and The New Batman Adventures.

I'd probably shell out up to $200 for a Trek-like mega-set of all the original scoring for the original Twilight Zone, *especially* if it included a lot of "wild" CBS music library cues by Herrmann and Goldsmith that were used throughout the series (might be the best hope of getting some of that stuff out of the vaults; Prometheus released relatively little of it in the grand scheme of things, especially when it comes to Goldsmith).

I'd probably shell out up to $200 for a Trek-like mega-set of all the original scoring for the original Columbo run (I like some of the scoring for the reboot, but not enough to buy a complete set...probably 4-6 discs would do it for me, there). My father was a big fan of that show and I grew up with it, so I have that nostalgic connection and willingness to get every note by those talented composers (not only the much-lauded Billy Goldenberg and Gil Melle, but also Dick DeBenedictis, Bernardo Segall, and Patrick Williams...and I also really like the one-off scores by Oliver Nelson, Jeff Alexander, and Dave Grusin for the original Prescription: Murder pilot film, even though it sounds pretty different from the series scoring).

All that said, I might be in the minority when it comes to Columbo in being willing to shell out for a mega set of all the music. I did calculate once, over a decade ago on this very board, how the complete season 1 scoring (including both pilot scores) would snugly fit on a single 2 disc set, which might be a safer way for a label to test the waters:
viewtopic.php?f=13&t=3369
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But then I worry if it isn’t a hit we won’t get the rest of the great series scoring!

Yavar

Speaking of series with a LOT of original music written over the years, Gunsmoke comes to mind...because it was on for TWENTY years (and that's not even counting all of the post-show TV movies, which I think pushed the lifespan of the series to almost FOUR decades!)

So given its longevity, even though I'm pretty sure there were a number of episodes without original score (particularly in the first decade of the show), clearly Gunsmoke would require an INSANELY huge set to be a complete scores release a la Star Trek: The Original Series. Even for the show's biggest die-hard fan who is also obsessed with the music, I can't see more than a dozen people in the world being willing to shell out $600 for a 48 CD set or whatever it would be.

Columbo initially had seven seasons, yes, but season 6 was only three episodes, season 7 was five episodes, season 4 and 5 were only six episodes each...plus that scoring was usually fairly sparse. In contrast, Gunsmoke had 20 seasons but the first six were 38-39 half hour episodes EACH! And even when the show went to hourlong, the next several seasons were still 32-38 episodes each! (And even after the show went to color, it never dipped below 24 episodes a season.)

So I think that a comprehensive release of original music written for Gunsmoke would just be an insane undertaking, with an initial 4 CD set making the most sense, to gauge interest among film music collectors for the show. If that thing sells like gangbusters, maybe a Volume 2 could be possible. Apparently LLL was so impressed by their sales of the 4 CD set for Wild Wild West (another CBS western show, though not as long lived) that they are considering a Volume 2.

As a Goldsmith fan I would still hope that at least 1 CD out of the initial set would be dedicated to all of his music for the series (all six of his original episode scores should fit comfortably on a single disc)... but in case there never was a Volume 2, I would also hope to get the complete scores contributed by the following: Bernard Herrmann (three episode scores according to IMDb), Bruce Broughton (five...and we know Intrada won't forget him!), Franz Waxman (two episodes...though I think maybe it was a single story two-parter?), Herschel Burke Gilbert (two), Leith Stevens (five), and one-offs by the likes of Jerome Moross, Paul Dunlap, Leonard Rosenman, William Lava, Gerald Fried, Ernest Gold, Leigh Harline, and Elmer Bernstein! WOW!

Come to think of it looking at that list of scores I'm dubious whether even all by those bigger name composers could fit on a single 4 CD set...so it might actually be good to commit to two volumes to start with, at least, and if that happens the Goldsmith, Herrmann, and Broughton scores could potentially be split over the two, to ensure that the second volume sells well too. Plus there are plenty of perhaps slightly lesser known but still talented composers who could then be put into the mix including Jaime Mendoza-Nava (one episode), Allyn Ferguson (one), Nathan Van Cleave (four), Lyn Murray (four), Jerrold Immel (six), Richard Shores (seven), Morton Stevens (TEN! those would definitely have to be split over two sets), and Fred Steiner (a whopping 28 episodes according to IMDb...clearly not all of them could be represented, or at least they'd have to be represented by only one cue each!) And it's possible that some of the many composers who worked on the series but I'm unfamiliar with could also have worthwhile scores to include. See the problem? Still, I hope it doesn't discourage a label from tackling this series considering all of the composing talent involved.

Something like the well-regarded but shorter-lived CBS western Have Gun - Will Travel would be much more straightforward to tackle as a single 4 CD set, I think:
Besides two Goldsmith scores (which will help sell anything!), there’s of course the pilot score by Herrmann (some of his less inspired work though IMO), and at least one score each by Moross, Rosenman, Dunlap, and the less well known but still talented Shores, Marshall, and Jeff Alexander (who I love for Support Your Local Sheriff).
Three scores each by Leith Stevens(!) and William Lava (I’m a fan of his from his work on the Disney Zorro). Four scores each by Lyn Murray and Nathan Van Cleave. Seven by Fred Steiner...

So yeah...this is still all a long-winded way to say, "depends on the series!"

Yavar

EDIT: I just remembered that three Gunsmoke scores have been commercially released (a Herrmann, Moross, and Waxman) by the Film Music Society over a decade and a half ago:
http://www.soundtrackcollector.com/cata ... ieid=69873
No idea if they were complete on that disc, or if those scores' presence there means they could be left off a label's new box set for the show...but it's another potential consideration while producing a set!

Interesting thoughts.

Gunsmoke is certainly an outlier when it comes to breadth of music, but how much of that music is worth including when factoring in cost considerations? There are numerous big name composers involved, but let's face it, not everything they did makes for interesting album material (especially the case for older television shows where music was composed on the quick).