TV Stuff

[capri0mni]

First: There's a Monkees marathon on the Independent Network, right now, it's got me wondering. It's a fairly well-known secret that the guys lip-synched the songs in their show: they were actors in a sitcom about a rock & roll band; they were not really singers. So who was it who did sing the songs?

Second: Last Friday/Saturday, I think it was (around 3 am) I stumbled on an episode of the original Star Trek, and I thought: "That set is just as wobbly as anything on Doctor Who -- those space suits are made of bubblewap!" So why is it such a common idea that Star Trek was always more flash than Doctor Who? Is it the color vs. black and white thing?

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Random non-tv observations:

LJ is not saving my entry as I type it.

And for some reason, the clock has switched to Greenwhich Mean Time, instead of Eastern Standard (and I can't see where to change it back).

Comments

[cyloran.livejournal.com]

Actually, for the series they did lip synch -- their own voices. Even tho actors, all four sang the songs. They had some additional vocals on some of the tracts (Boyce and Hart mostly) but what you're hearing on the show and the albumns are really the voices of Davy Jones, Peter Tork, Mike Nesmith, and Mickey Dolenz.

[trinalin.livejournal.com]

Yup. They sang their own songs. And later played their own instruments.

[clamnebula.livejournal.com]

Everybody in the band could sing, and I think they all played an instrument (except Davy Jones, unless you consider tambourine an instrument!). Unfortunately, that's part of what made being on that show so frustrating; they were so controlled by their producers that any individual talents they had got squashed to fit the format. Mike Nesmith definetely proved his abilities later on, but I think the other guys have sorta gotten resigned to doing oldies reunion tours, ad infinitum. For a somewhat less rosy (and more absurd) view of the whole Monkees phenomeon, check out their movie 'Head'!

[capriuni.livejournal.com]

heh... I think 'Head' may have been part of the marathon. To be honest, I was flipping between that and the ballgame (yay, Mets!).

[capriuni.livejournal.com]

Okay... I think what I'm remembering is a snippet of an interview with one of the Monkees (Mike Nesmith?) responding to the Milli-Vanilli "scandal," and the public outrage over actors lip-synching.

[jbsegal.livejournal.com]

Near as I know, The Monkees were cast for at least some singing talent, though not so much for their instrument playing.

[capriuni.livejournal.com]

Well, it was a sitcom, more than it was a musical variety show -- I mean, they didn't all live together in a bachelor pad, either! ;-)