Sad Closing Themes.
I’ve written a lot (and even recently) about my childhood obsession with staying up late, and how my old junky television was such a big part of that.
I didn’t have cable in my bedroom, so as the hours ticked by, the pickings only grew slimmer. I remember a number of sitcom repeats that ran last in their blocks, each signaling a switch to infomercials, boring news shows and other things that I only ever watched because there was no other choice.
Knowing that there’d be nothing good on after them, watching those “final” shows was always a little depressing. The worst was when they were finally over and all I had left were the closing credits. To this day, I still associate the ending theme music of certain shows with a low-key sense of pain. Here are some examples:
At one point or another, each of those shows ended a late weeknight block. After them, I had to fend for myself, so thank God for my Nintendo and the VCR.
It didn’t help that so many of these closing themes were already kind of depressing, however unintentionally. Like with Cheers — I love its ending music, but doesn’t it make you feel like you’re locked in a box or something?
Did you guys have shows like this? The ones that ended the night long before YOU were ready to end the night? Compare notes, in the comments!
Free-For-All Friday Thread #7!
Time for this week’s Free-For-All Friday Thread, where you’re free to discuss whatever you want in the comments!
Tell us about your week! Review a new movie! Review an old movie! Gush about your favorite store brand soda! Pitch strangers on some weird video game! It doesn’t matter, so long as you have fun. We have a great crew here!
Today was crazy in a good way. If you missed it, me and Jay premiered the first-ever Purple Stuff Podcast minisode, a new series of shorter shows that will let us bring you along on our many spooky Halloween adventures. Check it out! We review Halloween candles!
…and then at night, I drove for several hours to locate this year’s Monster Cereals. More about them over the weekend.
For a little background noise, here’s the soundtrack to The Wraith, from 1986. As I mentioned on the main site earlier this week, that movie is my new favorite thing, and its awesome soundtrack is a big part of why.
I’m sure it loses something without the film’s awesomely cheesy scenes to add weight, but it’s still full of great tracks.
Happy Free-For-All Friday!
Yet More Tales from the Darkside!
Here’s another pair of Tales from the Darkside episodes, because it’s that kinda night:
“My Ghostwriter – The Vampire”
“Florence Bravo”
I still consider this series the “mascot” of Dino Drac After Dark, which is ironic since any posts about it are doomed to get low amounts of reader interest. I’LL TURN ALL OF YOU INTO FANS. YOU JUST WAIT AND SEE.
But nah, the thing is, even *I* know that this is a “you had to be there” situation. Newer viewers are gonna embrace the select few great episodes and discard the rest, but for someone like me, there’s literally no “bad” episode of Tales from the Darkside.
It’s all about the mood they create and the memories they muster. I can’t hear that opening music without picturing my childhood bedroom and its junky television, or those long, empty weekends, when shows like this acted like surrogate friends.
Late Night Commercials from ’86!
Here’s another batch of late night TV commercials, this time from 1986:
Most of the commercials are dreadfully boring, but that’s the point!
I loved staying up late for as long as I’ve been alive, so ads like these — mostly promoting local businesses that could only afford to advertise during off-hours — take me back to the days when staying up past 2AM made me feel like I was getting away with murder.
Only in the wee hours could I putz around in my bedroom (my favorite pastime) without fear of being called upon for any chores, errands or other to-dos.
It’s weird: When you’re a kid, you have so much free time, but very little of it is actively “yours.” Imagine a ten-year-old boy telling everyone in a busy house not to bother him for 3-4 hours. It didn’t really work that way.
So, god bless those old late nights. Commercials like these scored ‘em.
