The Married...With Children Theme Music is Wrong on Hulu

There I was just cruising Hulu to see how my dad's favorite television show holds up 15 years down the line.  Kelly is still hot, Bud is still a dick, Al is still stuck in the shoe store etc etc but THE FUCKING THEME MUSIC IS DIFFERENT!  It's supposed to be the VOCAL VERSION of "LOVE AND MARRIAGE" but now it's some goddamn terrible royalty-free bullshit MIDI instrumental impression of a song that might sound like "Love and Marriage" if you are Tiny James and had been stuck inside a Regular Size Vodka Peach for four days.

What the HELL??

Comments

[Listener bkd]

Rights, baby!

Fox didn't retain the music rights to L&M, so substitutions had to be made. It's the same reason why the music is different on the WKRP DVDs, and you'll never see Urggh! A Music War on DVD.

[Trent]

Fuck the rights this is the goddamn internet

[Sir Michael L. Foley]

I heard that the DVDs don't have the theme on them either. One reason why I've never bought any despite being a big fan of MWC.

[Andy]

Can't even the video if you are of the US!

[Dale Hazelton]

I can't watch it! Hard to believe something that was so risque seems is so tame now. But the opening sequence makes me think of "Wait 'til your Father Gets Home", with the dad emptying out his wallet. Was it that or some other show?

[Captain Wrong]

I was always shocked they had Sinatra in the first place. Too bad we're not in the EU as I'm pretty sure this recording is 50+ years old and would be public domain now.

[Goyim in the AM]

The Captain is right -- they still show this on tv in Europe with the original theme. The Bundys dubbed into German is . . . something.

[yazoo]

On the other hand, the folks who reissued the Beverly Hillbillies reached deep into their pockets and ponied up the proper amount of cash to retain the original theme song music, which is quite nice. Of course, living in Nashville, if I hear one more friggin' blewgrass tune I will scream.

[yazoo]

On the other hand, the folks who reissued the Beverly Hillbillies reached deep into their pockets and ponied up the proper amount of cash to retain the original theme song music, which is quite nice. Of course, living in Nashville, if I hear one more friggin' blewgrass tune I will scream.

[sdr]

On the DVD boxsets for THE FUGITIVE they mention
that some of the music on the episodes has been
changed-anyone know if this is another case of
junk replacing original music cues used?

[Trent]

Wow, I'm glad I posted this last night in a drunken rage because maybe there are some interesting things to be gleaned from it. Very very funny that someone in the big-media chain, maybe Fox, maybe Sony, maybe Universal...found it OK to leave out the theme song for a couple of bucks to Sinatra's estate. It totally makes the entire show limp. And that it's all taken care of in Germany due to advanced intellectual property laws. Jesus I would love to see this show dubbed.

I personally have never encountered this before but yes, let's keep the other ones coming...maybe it would be possible to do an entire show of music that got cut by the steel diamonds of time and money. And the royalty-free bullshit that replaced them.

[L'Atalante]

I haven't had time to compare my on-air VHS recordings of the Fugitive with the DVDs, but the original Pete Rugolo cues are retained intact. There may have been some replacement of library cues used in some places, but I think the more likely answer is that some familiar standards may have been played in places and the company refused to pay royalties on such outside tunes. Vera Miles plays a lounge pianist in the first episode, for example, and the running time is slightly shorter on that one. My guess is that they snipped the moments where she played a recognizable song. The same thing happened on the Addams Family DVDs, which kept Vic Mizzy's music but cut all traces of Morticia singing "It's So Nice to Have a Thing Around the House," or even Neil warbling "Sound of Silence" on the toilet in The Young Ones home video version. How's that for a tedious answer?

[Goyim in the AM]

Trent, your wish is granted:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=sZQmvPjo3pA

There's lots more on youtube. Search under "eine schrecklich nette Familie" (a terribly nice family), which was the German title.

[bartleby]

This may only be tangential but I've been waiting for this opportunity for a while:

Amanda Bearse!

No, I think you've had enough tonight.

[Listener Kliph]

I thought your "what the hell" was in reference to the disclaimer all computers registered outside of the United States get on their screen when you embed a video from hula.com (or aolvideo.com for that matter). "We're sorry [hula.com] video library can only be streamed within the United States." Assholes.

[Trent]

Yeah, I'm sorry I posted this and then so many people can't see it. Another example of things that don't work for no good reason.

[Joshua K]

Isn't the same reason why The State didn't come out on DVD. It is up on iTunes, but apple already licenses all that music so they probably worked out a deal.

[Cédric]

Solution about : “We’re sorry, currently our video library can only be streamed within the United States.”

http://vimeo.com/1136493

[Mr. M]

It's a Sinatra issue, unfortunately. Any clearance involving a Sinatra master is a major cluster-f*ck waiting to happen. I speak from experience.

[kazo]

its the older version thats why the Frank Sinatra Love & Marriage song ant in it

[poop]

kazo you dumbass i went through every episode of every season and it has that stupid song in every single one. although you prob wont read this since your post was 3 years ago