Johnny Staccato and Pete Kelly's Blues (both 1959) both featured a moody
musician-turned-PI.
Over here in the UK, Rock Follies (1976) and the sequel Rock Follies of '77
dramatised a Labelle-like girl group's fortunes - something I'm looking at
at the moment.
Would The Singing Detective and/or Pennies From Heaven count?
I hesitate to mention The Partridge Family.... Although I'd quite like to
toy with the conceit of David Cassidy as a tormented soul.
On 29/11/04 9:10 pm, "Michele Hilmes" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Seizing this opportunity to stop grading exams and do something
> interesting....I will give your actual question more thought, but it
> strikes me that the one type of creative cultural endeavor that you do see
> represented on TV is the tormented, zany producer/writer of
> radio/television shows. From Jack Benny through Fred Allen to Dick Van
> Dyke, Murphy Brown, Frasier, WKRP, News Night, etc. etc. it's a carryover
> of that self-reflexive, "show about putting on a show" aesthetic so
> characteristic of network radio in its formative period. I believe it
> carries over from vaudeville onto radio and thence TV.
>
> Not exactly the Romantic artist -- but perhaps a pointed comment on that
> whole concept? The poor man/ lowbrow's equivalent?
>
> An interesting observation, Jeremy -- If people reply directly to you,
> would you consider routing their comments to the list?
>
> Regards, Michele
>
> At 02:29 PM 11/29/2004 -0600, Jeremy Butler wrote:
>> I'm currently working on a revision of the textbook, Television: Critical
>> Methods and Applications. Specifically, I'm revising/enlarging the
>> chapter on critical methods. Although I think the auteur theory has very
>> limited application to television, I have a small section discussing it.
>>
>> This has led me to thinking about the Romantic, Byronic conception of the
>> artist--meaning both painters and poets, novelists, musicians, et al.--as
>> a tormented and usually demented individual. While it's easy to come up
>> with dozens of examples of FILMS about such poor souls (e.g., POLLACK,
>> BASQUIAT, etc. etc. etc.), I'm struggling to think of a single television
>> series.
>>
>> I suppose there's THE MONKEES and FAME. And LOVE, SIDNEY did cast Tony
>> Randall as an artist. But surely there are better examples than that.
>>
>> Or does episodic television not favor the Romantic artist as a stereotype
>> the way that the cinema does?
>>
>> I have been thinking mostly of U.S. television since that is where the
>> textbook is principally distributed, but I'd be curious to hear about any
>> instances of television series (and not just one-time documentary-style
>> biographies) centered on an artist, author, or musician.
>>
>> Thanks.
>>
>>
>> Jeremy Butler
>> [log in to unmask]
>> ========================================================
>> Resources for film/TV educators and students:
>> www.ScreenSite.org
>> Television: Critical Methods and Applications:
>> www.TVCrit.com
>>
>> _______________________________________________
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>>
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>>
>> SCMSTV is supported by the Telecommunication and Film Department, the
>> University of Alabama: http://www.tcf.ua.edu . Opinions expressed here do
>> not necessarily represent the those of SCMS, the TCF Department, or the
>> University of Alabama.
>
> Michele Hilmes
> Professor of Media and Cultural Studies
> Director, Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research
> Department of Communication Arts
> University of Wisconsin-Madison
>
> 6040 Vilas Hall
> 821 University Ave.
> Madison, WI 53706
>
> 608-262-2543
> 608-262-2547
> 608-262-9953 fax
>
> ----
> Screen-L is sponsored by the Telecommunication & Film Dept., the
> University of Alabama: http://www.tcf.ua.edu
>
--
Dr Laurie Stras
Music, School of Humanities
University of Southampton
Highfield
Southampton SO17 1BJ
UK
tel: +44 (0)23 8059 3425
fax: +44 (0)23 8059 3197
http://www.soton.ac.uk/~lastras
Musica Secreta are on Linn Records www.linnrecords.com
"Were Botticelli's Primavera to burst into song, she would probably sound
like this." - Independent on Sunday
----
Online resources for film/TV studies may be found at ScreenSite
http://www.ScreenSite.org
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