Wednesday, 11 May 2011

TV Theme Retrospective: Ex Libris…

Novels have always been popular for conversion to film and TV, and especially popular detective fiction, beginning with ‘Sherlock Holmes’ and ‘Miss Marple’ and continuing with John D MacDonald’s ‘Travis MacGee’ series.

And from Robert B Parker’s ‘Spenser’ novels came ‘Spenser: For Hire’.

Unusual for its setting – Boston; not a common setting amongst the plethora of NY/LA-dominated drama series (though in recent years 'Boston Legal' and 'Fringe' have resolved that), and its title character, an educated, philosophical, gourmet cook ex-cop turned PI - it was very successful, and one of my favourites of Eighties TV.

The theme was written by Larry Herbstritt and Stephen Dorff:



The theme above is the original series - in later series, the theme was slowed down and given a more 'jazz-age' feel to season 2:




And in the last season, it returned to it's more up-tempo beat, although with a slightly different arrangement:



I love them all, and make no excuse for running all three. I thought the series was perfectly cast (though others disagree) and as well adapted as possible, given the necessary sacrifices needed to make a successful US TV show.

Sadly, the TV series is one of those not yet released on DVD (though you can pick up the vastly-inferior TV movies, though they lack the theme and were shot in Toronto, due to the cost of on-location shooting in Boston), and with the show’s star and the author both no longer with us, perhaps it never will be?

That’ll be a real shame.

Next month's theme: The Odd Couple.

6 comments:

  1. I loved the books but didn't even know there had been a TV series. Time to power up fileserve methinks.

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  2. Spenser For Hire was perfectly cast as you say. The late Robert Urich brought Spencer to life and it is Robert that I see in my mind's eye whenever I read the books. Avery Brooks made Hawk the absolute coolest dude on the planet.

    I believe that a few made-for-TV Spenser movies featured Joe Montegna as Spenser - definitely a miscast there.

    I also love Robert B. Parker's Sunny Randall and Jesse Stone series, the latter being made into 7 TV movies featuring Tom Selleck. He also wrote Westerns - Appaloosa is a cracking read.

    Parker was a great writer of dialogue who, sadly, is no longer with us.

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  3. Have a compilation book with the first three Spenser books in and they are very good indeed. Remember the TV series also.

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  4. Well, this a first for your retrospectives - you've come up with something I have absolutely no recollection of whatsoever! And I've never read the books.

    What I do remember is this:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDqA3b3nXcE

    Though I suspect its links to the actual books was tenuous. And he was never as good as his cousin Sledge...

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  5. "I loved the books but didn't even know there had been a TV series. "

    It's a public service I provide, sometimes... ;)

    "I believe that a few made-for-TV Spenser movies featured Joe Montegna as Spenser - definitely a miscast there."

    Yes, I came across them the other day, when I was looking to see if they'd released the other series yet. Not the best casting .. :/

    "He also wrote Westerns - Appaloosa is a cracking read."

    Well, damn! I saw the movie (with Ed Harris) just a few months ago on DVD, and must have missed the credits. I'd no idea he'd written that!

    "What I do remember is this..."

    Ahh, now that I remember. Had a great theme - 'Harlem Nocturne'. :)

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  6. "I believe that a few made-for-TV Spenser movies featured Joe Montegna as Spenser - definitely a miscast there."

    I saw that as I checked Play.com to see if this series had been released yet. I like him in 'Criminal Minds' but I'd NEVER have cast him as Spenser...

    I did catch the film 'Appaloosa' (with Ed Harris) just the other day, and totally missed that it was written by Parker!

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