NBC's Must-See Music-filled finales

I finally found myself laughing at Parks & Recreation, and it's their (short) season finale. Six episodes seems to be the going rate these days (see Dollhouse) for a show to get their bearings, and while NBC has flailed w/ drama, they've shown incredible patience in allowing their comedies to develop despite early struggles (see The Office, 30 Rock, etc.). And while this P&S episode was leaps and bounds better than the feeling out process we've been witnessing, I wonder if much of it was due to a setting change, specifically getting out of "the office."

Actor Chris Pratt, who plays Andy Dwyer, had mostly been underused thus far this season (which is understandable given that his character is purely peripheral to the central story,) and he finally gets a chance to shine. We'd known that Andy had a band (last I heard it was Just the Tip... or was it 3-Skin?) but who knew they were so... um... together. Scarecrow Boat already has a website (what, no Mouse Rat?) up with free downloads of all the songs they performed in the episode, and a bio description that's nearly apt: What if Dave Matthews joined the Counting Crows?

Meanwhile 30 Rock put together a star-studded benefit song, "Kidney Now." Bio-dad needs kidney, Jack pulls some favors (and blackmail - Elvis Costello, "or should I say Declan McManus -- international art thief) and presto! It's a "We Are the World" spoof, complete w/ original participants Michael McDonald and Cyndi Lauper. Also featured: Mike D and Adam Horovitz of Beastie Boys and blink-and-you-missed-it Rhett Miller:

TV's Top Music Moments of 2008

In year's past, a show's finale meant a spike in music downloads the next day, but this year was quite different thanks to several mitigating factors. The first was the writer's strike, which cut down the number of proper season finales in scripted television this year by nearly half. The second and third factors deal with money, with music licensing rates on the rise and the economy on a downturn, it's no wonder that series have tried to do "more with less," to quote The Wire.

Just look at the top five I have listed here and you'll notice there's not one single use of a popular song in its original form, typically the more expensive option in music placement. They're all either original songs written for the occasion, or they've taken a song and have it performed by the cast. I guess, as the old saying goes, folks got to eat. Mmmmm.... as do I, so without further ado, here's the list.

10. 30 Rock me Amadeus
30 Rock - Episode 2.13 / "Requiem: Lacrimosa" - Mozart
The episode ("Succession") pits Tracy's Amadeus against Frank's Salieri as Tracy bridges The Uncanny Valley to make a realistic porn video game. Just add Kenneth in the role of Constanze, Mozart's wife and protector; then cue Dr. Spaceman running through the studio in a cape... pause for laughter... and scene!

9. (tie) Killer Colleen
Nip/Tuck - Episode 5.11 / "Me And My Teddy Bear" - The Tinseltown Players
Nip/Tuck - Episode 5.14 / "Fame" - David Bowie (w/ John Lennon)
Nip/Tuck loves both its guest stars and being outrageous. Sharon Gless combines the two with her role as the stalker Colleen, cementing the season's theme of 'fame' in the final few episodes. First comes when she killis Bob the agent from CAA with a teddy bear stuffing machine to the child-like tune of "Me and my Teddy Bear." Second comes in the mid-season finale, when she goes Mark David Chapman on her obsesson, stabbing Sean to the David Bowie's "Fame." And who else helped write and sing on that great song? John Lennon, of course.

8. Let's Twist Again (Like We Did Last Summer)
Mad Men - Episode 2.01 / "Let's Twist Again" - Chubby Checker
Mad Men has plenty of interesting music moments, but their almost always very subtle in their placement. Hearing Chubby Checker's sequel to "The Twist" (used in the first season) to open the second season montage was immediate and the perfect way to welcome the return of the near perfect series back into our homes.

7. The Half of You We Wanted to See
True Blood - Episode 1.06 / "Half of You" - Cat Power
Anna Paquin shows her goodies for the first time, going topless as Sookie while getting some from vampire boyfriend Bill, all to the sounds of Cat Power's "Half of You." The consummation of their relationship (which also involves some double-penetration via fangs) reminds us once again that this HBO vampire series is no Twilight.

6. Catfight!
Chuck - Episode 2.04 / "Smack my Bitch Up" - Prodigy
Yvonne Strahovski and Nicole Ritchie get wet and bloody beating each other up in the shower of a high school locker room, all to "Smack my Bitch Up."
I double-checked, this wasn't a dream.

5. (tie) Secondary College Musical!
Skins - Episode 2.02 / "Then Came the Day" - Cast (download) from "Osama! The Musical" (video)
Summer Heights High - Episode 1.08 / "Naughty Girl" from Mr. G the Musical (video)
The effects of High School Musical were felt across television series this year, but it was more interesting to see the interpretations from high schoolsecondary college-based series overseas. First came UK's Skins with Osama! The Musical, a love story that takes place on 9/11, between a stock broker and another survivor of the twin towers collapsing. "Then came the day, Osama blew us away" goes the love song, and as laughable as it sounds, it's hard to get out of your head. Then, from Australia (via HBO) came Chris Lilly's Summer Heights High and the musical arena spectacular "Mr. G!," featuring Lilly's drama teacher character Mr. G. Initially based on the death of a student (until parents veto the script,) "Mr G" follows a troubled teen's journey through drugs, with guidance from her favorite teacher, Mr. G. The song "Naughty Girl" actually became a top ten, certified gold hit in Australia.

Other school musicals in 2008: 90210's "Spring Awakening", South Park's "Elementary School Musical", Sesame Street's "PreSchool Musical"

4. (tie) The Greatest Gift of All
A Colbert Christmas / "Nutmeg" - John Legend, "Little Dealer Boy" - Willie Nelson, "Another Christmas Song" - Stephen Colbert, more
Everyone's favorite late night political satire host Stephen Colbert dons a cardigan and lampoons the old Perry Como, Bing Crosby, Andy Williams Christmas special tradition. It may be comedy, but the music wins the day with original songs co-written by Adam Schlesinger (Fountains of Wayne,) and featuring musical guests like Elvis Costello, John Legend, Willie Nelson, Toby Keith and Feist spreading their Christmas cheer, tongue-in-cheek. Aside from the Feist one, which really requires the context of the special to work, I think we can expect to hear the songs in future holidays.

3. It's a Wild Skins World
Skins - Episode 1.09 / "It's a Wild World" - cast (video)
While Skins often took some odd and unexpected turns, they usually countered it with a bit of the surreal to remind you that it's fiction. In the first season finale, Tony is hit by a truck, we get the expected scream and tears, but then the cast breaks into Cat Stevens "It's a Wild World," led by Sid and a chorus of random men at a urinal in a public bathroom. When the comatose Tony joins in for a verse, it's both jarring and funny at the same time, which is hard to pull off. The ending merely hinted at much of the craziness that was to come in season 2. That the series has cut most of the music out of the American airings makes it all the more special. I could honestly do a great top 10 list of just Skins moments that American audiences didn't experience. Don't tempt me!

2. Farewell to Baltimore
The Wire - Episode 5.10 / "Way Down in the Hole" - The Blind Boys of Alabama (video)
The series ends as it began, with Detective McNulty and the original theme song. As McNutty looks back on the city of Baltimore, we get a montage of all the old players, going on with their lives. The villains and do-nothings get rewarded with awards, promotions and new partners, and all the old beats from previous seasons look pretty much the same. In the end, though, this montage ultimately reminds us that the main character for the whole five-year run of the series was the city of Baltimore itself.

1. Sorry Jimmy, She's F*cking Matt Damon
The Jimmy Kimmel Show - 1000th Episode / "I'm F*cking Matt Damon" - Sarah Silverman /w Matt Damon
How can you argue with a song that won an Emmy and spawned a thousand tributes? Originally written for his birthday, Silverman debuted the song on Jimmy Kimmel Show's 1000the episode, and played on Kimmel's long running gag that ends many his shows ("apologies to Matt Damon, we ran out of time"). Kimmel replied with bigger budgeted "I'm F*cking Ben Affleck", and a flood of knockoffs quickly followed, including "I'm F*cking Seth Rogen" (Elizabeth Banks from the set of Kevin Smith's Zack And Miri Make A Porno) and Hillary Clinton in "I'm F*cking Obama".



Previously: TV's Top Music Moments of 2007

30 Rock Me Amadeus

The strike was tough on us, I have to admit it, so perhaps that makes the return of all these new episodes look rosier to me than they should, but I think when all is said and done this 30 Rock will go down as one of their finest. The second half homage to Amadeus alone was (forgive the term) genius, but on top of that they gave perhaps the best explanation of the Uncanny Valley theory of human facsimile (Tom Hanks in The Polar Express is indeed creepy).

Tracy as Mozart is a leap to be sure, but as a genius trying to bridge the Uncanny Valley in merging video games with porn it worked great. It's a quest that's been tried before, namely by Frank (and "history's greatest perverts -- Walt Disney, Larry Flynt, the Japanese.") Pitting Tracy's Amadeus against Frank's Salieri wouldn't have worked if it weren't for the use of Mozart's "Requiem: Lacrimosa," which you hear throughout the episode's latter half. The piece was of course his final work that a jealous Salieri helped coax out of him, which the scene of Frank dictating to Tracy parodies so well ("duo becomes a trio ... and a trio becomes a quartet ..."). Even Kenneth takes on the role of Constanze, Mozart's wife and protector.

And, if the music and theme is the only reason for Dr. Spaceman to be running through the studio in a cape, it's worth it, don't you think?

Favorite lines:
"I've got to do something important so my kids respect me -- like be a senator, or a wizard." - Tracy
"My genius has come alive, like toys when your back is turned." - Tracy
"I want my mother to know before she dies so she goes to the grave a defeated woman." - Jack on his promotion to head of GE
"Suck it monkeys, I'm going corporate!" - Liz to the writers
"It's like rich drunk, either way, it's legal to drive." - Jack explaining "business drunk" to Liz
"You've got the charm and spark of a young Leona Helmsley." - Don to Liz

Did anyone else see Liz' turn as an executive was a metaphor for living with the apes, a la Diann Fossey? Perhaps it was just a joke they set up that they couldn't deliver on effectively and decided to let it go?

Song: "Requiem: Lacrimosa" - Mozart