Weekly Roundup: Mother and Child Reunion

Life on Mars is quite frustrating. The template it works off of is so rich, and much of the cultural references are right on (without being too 'right on,' if you know what I mean,) but they just can't seem to nail the tone that they're shooting for. Last week delved a bit into camp, which is where there's more potential, but last night's episode criminally wasted the comedic talents of Robert Klein and Lenny Venito (who killed on The Knights of Prosperity).

The cultural references were many, including a little BBC nod of naming Sam's mother Rose Tyler, the name of the Billie Piper played character from Doctor Who. Musically, Paul Simon's "Mother and Child Reunion" was an easy call, and The Beach Boys' "Long Promised Road" was an inspiring choice, but the winner of the evening goes to the combo of T Rex and Jim Croce. In the BBC version, Sam runs into T Rex's Marc Bolan and warns him to stay away from Mini Coopers (Bolan died behind the wheel of one). Here Sam runs into Jim Croce an warns him about tiny airplanes (he would die later that year in a small commercial plane crash,) but more importantly, T Rex's "Bang a Gong" is playing in the background, as a callback to the original. Very nice. Other musical references include Deep Purple on The Dating Game (yes, it happened in 1968,) Sam flashing on a Nirvana Nevermind t-shirt, Gene being called "The Jean Genie," and while it was great hearing the final strains of a Lou Reed-led Velvet Underground ("Rock n' Roll," Reed left in 1970,) here they play the full version which didn't get released until much later. Maybe the nightclub owner has a connection to Reed, who knows?

One final reference of note is No Nuts going to see Woody Allen's Sleeper, which is appropos in that it finds our hero woken up from a 200-year coma to a future that he's clearly out of place in. It would be nice if even a smidge of the anachronistic slapstick of that film rubbed off on LoM.

Life on Mars - Episode 1.04 (playlist)
1. "Mother and Child Reunion" - Paul Simon
2. "Rock n' Roll" - The Velvet Underground
3. "Bang a Gong (Get it On)" - T Rex
4. "Lucky Lady" - Jones Brothers
5. "20th Century Man" - The Kinks
6. "Long Cool Woman" - The Hollies
7. "Long Promised Road" - The Beach Boys

Chuck - Episode 2.05 (playlist)
Chuck turns the nerd appeal up to 11 here with Missile Command, Rush, Transformers (the original, nerdier, animated version of course,) the recent video game documentary King of Kong, and Arrested Development's Tony Hale. Nerdgasm!
More thoughts and tracklisting

Skins - Episode 2.03 (playlist)
Might be my favorite moment of anguish captured in television all year, Sid breaking down to the caucophony of Crystal Castles "Alice Practice". They cut out two Sigur Ros tracks and Ryan Adam's "Come Pick Me Up" in the American version, though. Tsk, tsk.
More thoughts and tracklisting

90210 - Episode 1.08
This reboot is getting picked up overseas by E4, home of Skins -- boy are they in for a let down. Hard to believe Nic Harcourt is still slumming as music supervisor here.
Tracklisting

Gossip Girl - Episode 2.07
Jenny quits her stupid internship and ends up with Nate, while three little words trip up Chuck and Blair. Ok, so I skimmed through it. The real news this week is the release of the soundtrack, which wins for cleverest title of the year (OMFGG).
Tracklisting

More: Mad Men's season finale drops hints at the coming British invasion, Michael and Holly hear way too much of Tom Cochrane's "Life is a Highway", and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia go crazy with references: Steve Winwood's "Higher Love", "Oh Yeah" by Yello, in turn referencing The Secret of My Success and finally, Danny Devito revisiting his turn in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

Previously: Osama (Been a lot of) [Last Week's Roundup]

Weekly Roundup: Veni Vidi Vici

I came, I saw... I got socked in the eye.

While the Dirty Sexy Money premiere didn't exactly make me rethink the inevitability of me giving up on watching it, the inclusion of The Black Lips' "Veni Vidi Vici" during the episode got my attention. Black Lips? More like black eyes, huh Jeremy? The manipulative Darlings are the draw, obviously, but watching Nick blacken Jeremy's eye was a perverse thrill. They're trying hard to make Jill look more sympathetic this season, but I'm still not buying why we should care that they stay together. Queen's "Under Pressure" (with David Bowie) also makes a welcome appearance.

Chuck - Episode 2.01 (Playlist)
The second season premiere brought the funny, making up for the sometimes tiring reintroduction of the series to new fans. Musically, humor took the form of Huey Lewis & the News songs ("Hip to be Square," "Power of Love,") giving us contrasting views of how the cheese of Huey Lewis can either lift spirits or annoy the hell out of you depending on your mood. Then Flight of the Conchord's french pop parody "Foux du Fafa" helped amusingly introduce Sarah's new cover at a yogurt shop (Weinerlicious will surely be missed).
[More thoughts and tracklisting]

Life - Episode 2.01 (Playlist)
Life, on the other hand, doesn't have as much humor to make up for all the reintroductions that it put us through, and thus is suffered as a result. I assume (hope) that the next episode (tonight) will work much better. Musically, there's at least still some of the same commitment to quality that later episodes showed last season, this time highlighted by The Heavy's "Colleen."
[More thoughts and tracklisting]

True Blood - Episode 1.04 (Playlist)
Most of the series music thus far has been from the roadhouse, so it's refreshing to hear what the Vamps are listening to (You want dark? How about "Demon" by Darkest Hour). Bill seems to be a world music guy, listening first to some Hawaiian (Kalani Kinimaka) and then some Khmer (Cambodian) pop from Dengue Fever, whose song title ("Escape from Dragon House") also doubles as the episode title. Anyone got a translation of the song readily available?
[More thoughts and tracklisting]

Skins - Episode 2.08 (Playlist)
This week's "Effy" episode might just be the best and worst example of the show. It was riveting and full of all the drama that Gossip Girl and all the other teen soaps could only dream of. Tony descends even further down the likable meter, but then Josh's twisted revenge shifts the scales a bit back in his favor. He really does love Effy, and perhaps this is his turning point. Meanwhile, once again, they've stripped every single song out from how it originally aired, and this time it's even more egregious in that there were three songs by the amazing Grizzly Bear left on the cutting room floor. Someone on their staff must have had Yellow House in heavy rotation.
[More thoughts and tracklisting]

My Name Is Earl - Episodes 4.03-4.04 (playlist)
Back-to-back episodes are highlighted by Joy's turn from Heart's "Barracuda" bitch on the loose (reclaim it from Palin, Joy!) to slightly broken "Just Like a Woman" from Bob Dylan ("but she breaks, just like a little girl.")

Gossip Girl - Episode 2.05 (Playlist)
Highlighted by a Conor Oberst ("NYC - Gone, Gone") beginning, and a mid-show Duke Spirit rocker.

90210 - Episode 1.05 (Playlist)
Found myself fast-forwarding a lot, until I heard CSS' "Let's Reggae All Night"

More: The Simpsons premiered with Eddy Grant's "Electric Avenue," on the (usually) funny It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Mac and Charlie create a hilarious slideshow in tribute to their own death, to Bon Jovi's "Wanted Dead or Alive." Complete with cowboy outfits and slick poses. Meanwhile, Mad Men gives tribute to Marilyn.

Teens from across the pond

Note: I'm still dealing with illness (quickest way to lose weight, sadly enough) but I've at least written as many posts this week as full on meals that I've eaten (2 maybe 3). One of the bright spots of this week is getting to check out the first three episodes of this British import Skins. The following is a preview I did for Film.com.

When Gossip Girl premiered last fall, it seemed to hit on something. Of course, folks in the UK will tell you that 'something' had already been hit on in the UK some months prior in the form of the teen drama Skins. In the wake of GG's success, this Bristol-based series makes it's stateside debut this Sunday on BBC America, airing it's first two episodes back-to-back before moving to a regular once a week schedule. Like it's CW counterpart, this series has teens doing lots of things that parents don't want to know about, namely sex, drugs and undermining adults whenever possible. And it also has a fervent online presence... but the similarities mostly end there.

Each episode is titled after one of the characters, telling the story through the perspective of that character. The first episode concentrates on the Ferris Bueller-like Tony, played by Nicholas Hoult, who you may recognize as the boy from About a Boy. He's handsome, popular and a bit narcissistic, so the episode follows suit, with a certain degree of wit and distance you'd expect from a 17-year old who's introduced both reading Sartre's Nausea and singing "On the Street Where You Live" to private school girl audience. If Tony is Ferris Beuller, than the beautiful Michelle (April Pearson) is his Sloane and Sid (Michael Bailey ) is his Cameron. Bailey, in particular, is great in the role as the likeable 'every man' of the series who finds himself repeatedly manipulated into trouble from the charming Tony.

BBC America had to do some editing to get it basic cable ready, but even with the blurring of nipples (all nudity comes from adults) and the silencing of f-words, it's far more racier than, say, Secret Diary of a Call Girl (who's Iddo "Ben" Goldberg even guests on the third episode). It goes much further than Gossip Girl goes -- just look at both series recent ad scandals. Sure, GG's racy campaign raised some eyebrows, but Skins really did it up with their series 2 campaign, which featured key cast members in what appeared to be an orgy (pictured right). The campaign was eventually scrapped due to pressure, but the controversy generated enough buzz to make it all worth it.

By the second episode, which follows the anorexic Cassie (Hannah Murray,) it becomes obvious why BBC America starts the series with two episodes, as it moves in far deeper territory, revealing that this winking joker of a series has quite a heart to it. Tony's barely there, and what we do see of him, is less likeable. The third episode follows Jal, a promising musician who's concerned with pleasing her father, and its at this point that you realize Tony's not really as charming as we first thought (and in fact, not the central character at all).

Another big difference between Skins and GG is the actors here are all either playing their age (or really close to it). Similarly, the average age of a writer on the series is (was) an amazing 22 years old. As such, the music choices are genuine and rarely cater to what the major label's are pushing (here that GG?). It will be interesting to see if they're able to license all the music that went into the original broadcast, as there was a lot of inspired choices. I've included a playlist of music from the first two episodes as they originally appeared. We'll check back Monday to see if the show made it intact with moments like the first episode highlights of crashing a posh girl's party to The Fall's "Totally Wired," or later, my favorite, walking home from a car wreck to Brendan Benson's "Flesh and Bone." The second episode featured tracks from Shuggie Otis and The Sleepy Jackson, but I didn't hear it on the screener, so my fingers are crossed that the licensing came through.

Playlist: Skins - Episodes 1.01-1.02

Soundtracking Wednesday Night: Bionic Birdhouse

Since there's not really a show that's consistently warrants special musical attention on Wednesday -- a night of primarily freshman series -- here's a grab-bag of what went down.

First, congratulations are in order for Pushing Daisies, who gets picked up for the full season. I guess congratulations are in order for television viewers as well, who have shown the good taste to make this quirky show a hit. Last night, for the second time this season, Olive (Kristin Chenoweth) breaks out into song, this time with Aunt Vivian (Ellen Greene) singing harmonies on They Might Be Giant's "Birdhouse in Your Soul" (see video). It was brief, but probably just the right amount of singing, as Olive's turn at "Hopelessly Devoted To You" dragged on a bit too long a couple episodes ago.

Hearing Chenoweth and Greene singing was kind of an anticipated event, given their musical history. Chenoweth most recently with her role as Glinda in Wicked and Greene with her memorable role as Audrey in Little Shop of Horrors. Combine that with the precious pairing of They Might Be Giants with Pushing Daisies and my twee meter nearly burst.

Meanwhile, Bionic Woman made great strides with their fifth episode in, showing that fill-in showrunner Jason Katims (performing double-duty with his Friday Night Lights) might have the ship righted after the rocky start. Just in time, too, as another Jason (Cahill) is now stepping in to take the reigns -- for good, one hopes. Cahill comes on board with experience with a Sopranos pedigree, which is well respected these days, especially given the products that Sopranos vets Matthew Weiner (Mad Men) and Todd Kessler (Damages) recently put out. As far as music goes, you can't help but wonder if Katims had anything to do with the upgrade on that front as well, as songs from Ben Kweller, Rilo Kiley and Ani DiFranco spiced up the drama a bit this time out, much like FNL. Thankfully, Jason Cahill worked under David Chase, a man who understands the importance of music, and I'm guessing some of that rubbed off on him. Let's hope so, anyway.

Lastly, I'm just including some of the songs from ladies choice dramas Gossip Girl and Private Practice, because I either just skimmed through (GG) or didn't bother to watch (PP). Though, from what I could tell, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Nekta and Beck livened up an otherwise droll masquerade ball, but that's all I'm dishing on GG, JQP.

Playlist: Soundtracking Wednesday Night - 10.24.07
1. "Birdhouse In Your Soul" - They Might Be Giants - Pushing Daisies, Ep 104
2. "Nothing Happening" - Ben Kweller - Bionic Woman, Ep 105
3. "Silver Lining" - Rilo Kiley - Bionic Woman, Ep 105
4. "Recoil" - Ani DiFranco - Bionic Woman, Ep 105
5. "Kiss, Kiss" - Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Gossip Girl, Ep 106
6. "Guess Who" - Nekta - Gossip Girl, Ep 106
7. "Timebomb" - Beck - Gossip Girl, Ep 106
8. "Happy Ending" - Mika - Gossip Girl, Ep 106
9. "What I've Done" - Until June - Private Practice, Ep 105
10. "Mas Que Nada" - Sergio Mendes - Private Practice, Ep 105

tags: music, television, soundtrack, pushing daisies, bionic woman, gossip girl, they might be giants

Don't care about the old folks

At least all the elements are there for this series to have interesting music choices each week. Not only is The O.C. creator Josh Schwartz helming it (along with O.C. cohort Stephanie Savage,) but he's also got Alexandra Patsavas on board as the music supervisor (folks may recognize her television credits from my posts (Mad Men, The O.C., Rescue Me, Grey's Anatomy). From what I'd heard ahead of time, though, it's like they divided The O.C. into two and the parts that I was drawn to (humor, cultural references, and yes music) ended up with Chuck, and the soap-y drama was left for GG. So I adjusted (lowered) my expectations accordingly and last night GG pretty much met it.

Patsavas has a knack for finding the voice of the series and basing the music choices on that character. For Seth Cohen it was indie rock, for Meredith Grey it's chick rock (with a hint of dark and twisty,) but for Gossip Girl it's a bit of a mystery. The only things we know about the voice of the show is it's a teenage girl in Manhattan (and that she's voiced in our heads by Veronica Mars' Kristen Bell.) As a result, the music is slanted more to popular music then anything Patsavas has had her hands on thus far. So popular songs at the time they shot the pilot – like ones Rihanna, Justin Timberlake, Akon and Timberland – are sprinkled throughout the episode.

Luckily, the Cohen family in this series (the Humphreys) seems like they'd be listening to something a little more off the beaten path. Dad was is still in a band (Lincoln Hawk, the name of Sly Stone's character in the cult classic Over the Top,) and son Dan seems to be willing to go his own way. That's why I think the show can open with the whistling of Peter Bjorn & John's "Young Folks." The lyrics also let us in on a secret:

...we don't care about the old folks
Talkin' 'bout the old style too
And we don't care about our own folks
Talkin' 'bout our own stuff...

Unlike The O.C., this series doesn't really have too much for folks pushing 40 like myself. Much like the young-adult novels by Cecily von Ziegesar the show is based on, the parents seemingly have no importance, and Schwartz isn't really throwing us any bones (well, there is the Over the Top reference and a character named Nate Archibald.) Instead, we're left with incredibly privileged kids drinking martinis, smoking pot while living in a nearly parent-free Manhattan. Speaking of that, it was a nice touch to have some indie NY-centric songs in the mix like Cold War Kids' "Hang Me Out to Dry" and the very appropriate "Hard To Live In The City" by The Strokes' Albert Hammond Jr.

Beyond that, the use of Amy Winehouse' "Back to Black" was nice, and I can see that whole album getting used given drama of the series. A part of me really wants to complain about the mix here, but in the end, it matches up with the content, and that's all you can ask of Patsavas. The show is obviously not for me, so I shouldn't expect the music to be as well.

Note - Since my wife will be watching, I'll check in from time to time, but it won't be a weekly thing, I'm afraid (happy) to report.

Playlist: Gossip Girl - Pilot

1. "Something To Believe In" - Aqualung - series theme song
2. "Young Folks" - Peter Bjorn and John - opens the episode
3. "If It's Lovin That You Want" - Part 2 - Rihanna
4. "What Goes Around Comes Around" - Justin Timberlake
5. "Back To Black" - Amy Winehouse
6. "Diamond Hipster Boy" - Washington Social Club
7. "Hang Me Up To Dry" - Cold War Kids
8. "Photograph" - Air
9. "Hard To Live In The City" - Albert Hammond Jr.
10. "The Way I Are" - Timbaland
11. "Go" - Hanson
12. "Don't Matter" - Akon

13. "The Gift" - Angels And Airwaves

tags: music, television, soundtrack, gossip girl, peter bjorn and john, playlist