Saturday, September 05, 2020

Weekend Post

I love this.  Not sure if I have the right person, I think it's "Strafe Sawdoffe" (or at least that's the YouTube name), but it's quite well done and combines two of my shows.  Enjoy.

16 comments :

Lemuel said...

Well done, though I don't want to hear that tinkly 80s soprano sax-and-piano again.

VincentS said...

"Like"

Keith R.A. DeCandido said...

The credits were really weird, though. Swit and Stiers getting billing after Farr and Christopher? Morgan getting billing after Farr? Linville and Burghoff reduced to "with" status?

Lisa F. said...

Wow, just wow!!! As a professional (but not career) musician, I have a special appreciation for the music. How did the composer DO that? [rhetorical question] At first I thought it would be a train wreck but it works. It really works! And it's never just one theme in isolation; like after the drum fill it doesn't go into the Cheers chorus, no matter how many times I try to sing it in there!

Not ignoring the visuals, it's great to see Kellye and Allan properly credited. Too bad Sal V. and Todd S. were passed over again, being list over a still of the PA speaker. Oh well, a musician is never satisfied, LOL!

Thanks SO much for sharing this, Ken - it's absolutely brilliant work!!!

Troy McClure said...

That was terrific! The audio mix of the two tunes is seamless.


You've no doubt seen this before - Homer Simpson drops by the Cheers bar.

https://youtu.be/X6Xr8vkuFZA

Joseph Scarbrough said...

I'm with Lemuel, that obviously digital MIDI sound wasn't exactly all that pleasant to listen to, but otherwise, this was actually fun to watch.

In what episode had B.J. dressed up like a clown though?

Kevin FitzMaurice said...

I think it was in a last-season, Halloween-themed episode called "Trick or Treatment," originally telecast Nov. 1, 1982. Coincidentally, George Wendt had a role in this episode (as did Andrew Dice Clay, credited as Andrew Clay).

No said...

Love it, it's hilarious.

If I can dumb things down by a few IQ points, there is this favorite of mine, a mashup of BARNEY MILLER with another well-known comedy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXQnWEqIhzA

MikeN said...

FRIDAY QUESTION:
How much influence did Alan Alda have over the writing of the show when you were there? I read an article about various shows that changed the character of the show away from comedy because the actors exerted influence and softened the characters as well as putting in 'very special Blossom' episodes. Alan Alda, Archie Bunker, Ted Baxter, Erik Estrada, etc.

Troy McClure said...

I love comedy.

Several boats have sunk on Lake Travis during a pro Trump parade. Authorities said the choppy water was caused by the large number of vessels moving closely together.

Excuse me a moment. I have to spend the next ten hours laughing my ass off.

jcs said...

FRIDAY QUESTION

Have you ever considered becoming more political in your work (TV or theatre) and going more in the direction of THE THICK OF IT or VEEP?

Grady said...

Looks like a 12 year old did that on his iPhone.

Headacher said...

FRIDAY QUESTION: I'm curious what your opinion is concerning Baseball Players/Managers being "microphoned" during a game. As I'm writing this I'm watching my team, the Cubs taking on the Cardinals on ESPN. (Not as bad as watching a FOX broadcast.) During game play, the announcers spoke to David Ross, Manager of the Cubs. They then spoke to the Manager of the Cardinals, Mike Shildt. He actually cut the conversation short saying he needed "to manage." (I say, Good for him!)

After that, ESPN had Cardinals Short Stop, Paul DeJong on microphone. They gabbed back and forth during game play. Cubs batter David Bote then hit a ball that went straight to the gabbing Paul DeJong. He got the ball and threw to first, but Bote was safe. (Good for the Cubs!) In my view, DeJong messed up this play because he wasn't paying as close attention to the game as he should have been. ESPN should not have been bothering him - or any other player/manager - during game play!

So, your opinion? And if you happen to agree with me, how do we put a stop to this thoroughly irritating ESPN (and FOX) practice? I say, LET THEM PLAY THE GAME! -Chuck

strafe said...

Dang! I had no idea it had been shared beyond a couple Reddit users, much less by the Mash Matters folks. That's awesome. So... "yes" to Ken, it's Strafe Sawdoffe. And I owe everyone a huge "thanks" and "I'm sorry" simultaneously. The music especially is very uncanny valley and I seriously debated just leaving the original Cheers theme over it... I erred on the side of "go big or go home". For the record, everything but the drums was played live... but all but the guitar and bass is from a Roland Juno synthesizer. These melodies really don't want to go together and I forced it... much like Klinger and the army. Regarding the blatantly unjust credits order, I started with photos from the show that best matched the "Cheers" shots, and that sort of dictated everything else. I realized as I got to the end that it supremely shafted Gary Burghoff & Larry Linville especially. On the exceedingly slim change that word ever gets back to Mr. Burgoff or the estate of Mr. Linville, rest assured I meant no disrespect.

If I may close with a tiny bit of self-promotion that I'm very nervous about... check out my "Coping with the Crisis" video on my channel. I smirked and snickered all through the Cheers video; my soul went into the other one. Thanks folks, and stay safe.

strafe said...

...and now I need to call the ultimate mulligan... Ken Levine isn't "Mash Matters"; I clearly have a horrible mental map of who's who in this world. I saw that the Mash Matters YouTube channel commented on the video and figured, when a Redditor linked me here, that it was related, because what are the odds that a video with ~18 views had been seen by 2 people affiliated with the show? Nope... this is the blog of the man who co-wrote "Peace on Us", basically my favorite 25 minutes of television ever... not to mention over a dozen other things that I love desperately. Thank you so much, Ken!

Jay Thurber said...

Frank Beans said...

"Love it, it's hilarious. If I can dumb things down by a few IQ points, there is this favorite of mine, a mashup of BARNEY MILLER with another well-known comedy"

You haven't dumbed things down at all. "Night Court" was a little gem and is one of only a few sitcoms from the '80s that holds up well. There's not a clinker in that cast and many of the episodes are still very, very funny.

Of course, both "Night Court" and "Barney Miller" benefited from the talents of Reinhold Weege, who wrote for "Barney" and created "Night Court," and Jack Elliott, who wrote the "Night Court" theme and worked on the "Barney Miller" theme. That's an appropriate mash-up if I ever heard one, no pun intended.

(Weege had a "story by" credit on "M*A*S*H.")