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"And dance by the light of the moon." -
At the conclusion of each episode of the yuppie
drama THIRTYSOMETHING/ABC/1987-91 produced by
the Bedford Falls Company, viewers saw snow
falling onto an old house and heard the song
lyrics "And dance by the light of the moon." The
signoff was inspired by the town of Bedford
Falls, New York in the classic Christmas movie
It's A Wonderful Life (1947). In the film
James Stewart and Donna Reed sing refrains from
"Buffalo Girls Won't You Come Out Tonight" and
then stop to throw stones through the windows of
an old abandoned Victorian home; a house they
would both later renovate.
Bochco Signoffs - The signature ending of
Steven Bochco productions featured a violinist
swiftly playing a violin. The violinist is
Bochco's Polish father who was a concert
violinist. The Manhattan-born Bochco produced
such TV classics as HILL STREET
BLUES/NBC/1981-87, L.A. LAW/NBC/1986-94, COP
ROCK/ABC/1990, DOOGIE HOWSER, M.D/1989-1993,
N.Y.P.D. BLUE/ABC/1993-2005 and PUBLIC
MORALS/CBS/1996.
Chuck's Vanity Page - At the sign off of
the sitcom DHARMA & GREG/ABC/1997-2002 the last
frame of the show displayed sentiments written
by the show's executive producer and co-creator,
Chuck Lorre. Those who videotape the program can
freeze frame on the message frame and read a
series of "I Believe..." statements written by
Mr. Lorre.
The following is a distillation of some of those
thought which appeared on what Mr. Lorre likes
to call "Chuck's Vanity Pages"
- [Chuck's vanity card No. 1:] "Thank you
for videotaping Dharma & Greg and freeze
framing on my video card. I'd like to take
this opportunity to share with you some of my
beliefs. I believe that everyone thinks they
can write. This is not true. It is true,
however, that everyone can direct. I believe
that beer is a gateway drug that leads,
inevitably to vodka and somebody oughta do
something about it. I believe that when ABC
reads this, I'm gonna be in big trouble. Once
again, thanks for watching Dharma & Greg.
Please be sure to tune in again to the vanity
card for more of my personal beliefs."
- [Chuck's vanity card No. 2:] "I believe
that in my earlier statement of beliefs, I
erroneously believed that beer was a gateway
drug that led to vodka. After intensive
consultation with ABC executives, I now
believe I was very, very wrong. Beer is good.
Especially beer brewed by major manufacturers,
and enjoyed in a responsible manner."
- [Chuck's vanity card No. 3] "I believe
that El Nino is an international conspiracy
perpetrated by evil roofing contractors. I
believe that TV is the cause of all the
violence and immorality our society - ha! just
kidding."
- [Chuck's vanity card No. 4 1/2: ] "I
believe that all work and no play makes Chuck
a dull boy. I believe that all work and no
play makes Chuck a dull boy. I believe that
all work and no play makes Chuck a dull boy. I
believe that all work and no play makes Chuck
a dull boy...."
- [Chuck's vanity card No 5: ] "I believe
that this episode, which on the surface deals
with a funny Valentine's adventure, in fact
grapples with the weighty issue of Weltschmera.
Weltschmera is a German word which loosely
means 'world suffering deriving from the
inevitability of reality to never match up
with our expectations.' Hey, only the Germans
could come up with a word like
that....Finally, I believe that when I retire
and teach sitcom writing at a community
college, I'll use this theme for one of my
classes to impress the kids."
- [Chuck's vanity card No. 6: ] "For those
of you who are new, this is my sporadic
attempt to share my personal beliefs with
millions of people (hence the term 'vanity').
This attempt has led me into communicating
many deep thoughts, and, I'm afraid to say,
quite a few shallow ones as well. But what
I've found most interesting is that after a
few weeks, I've discovered myself scrounging
for new beliefs. Things about which I could
stand up and say with pride, I believe in
this, dammit!'...I do believe that JFK had a
much better understanding of the word
'perky.'"
"For Jack Maple, Who Lived It" - At the
very end of the closing credits of the police
drama THE DISTRICT/CBS/2000-2004 the last
thing the viewers see is the message FOR JACK
MAPLE, WHO LIVED IT ("And made a difference,
We are honored to have known him" was also
seen as an addendum to the first phrase). The
phrase is an homage to Jack Maple, the series
co-creator and former deputy commissioner of
operations for the New York City Police
Department and a consultant to the New Orleans
police. The 'District" series portrayed the
fictional adventures of Jack Mannion (Craig
Nelson), a tough, eccentric and newly hired
Police Commissioner for the District of
Columbia (Washington, D.C). Mannion, like the
real Jack Maple, uses sophisticated Crime Maps
that plot crime in the city and predicts
trends and concentrations of criminal
activities which allows for a more efficient
assignment of police officers to combat crime.
In the early 1990s, Jack Maple gained fame for
helping create COMSTAT, New York City's
crime-mapping program that has been
responsible for a major decline in New York's
crime rate in recent years. Maple later
consulted with the City of New Orleans in
starting a similar COMSTAT program. Jack
Maple, who was five-feet eight-inches tall and
weighed 220 pounds, became known for wearing
his patented bow ties, homburg hats and
two-tone shoes. In 1999, Doubleday published
Maple’s book, "The Crime Fighter: Putting The
Bad Guy Out of Business." Jack Maple died on
August 4, 2001 at the age of 48, after a long
battle with colon cancer.
"I made this!" - The sound a small boy
proudly saying "I made this" (over the noise
of a sputtering movie projector) is heard at
the signoff of each episode of Ten Thirteen
Productions, the producers of the occult
dramas THE X-FILES/FOX/1993-2002 and
MILLENNIUM/FOX/1996-99. The boy's voice
belongs to Nathan Couturier, the son of the
show's supervising sound editor, Thierry
Couturier. The "10-13" company name refers to
the birth date of the series' creator, Chris
Carter.
"Sit Ubu, sit!" - Reference to a Black
Labrador retriever formerly owned by Gary
David Goldberg, the producer of UBU
Productions, Inc. founded in 1981. At the end
of each of Goldberg's television programs
(FAMILY TIES/NBC/1982-89 among others) a
photograph of Ubu is flashed on the screen
accompanied by the spoken phrase "Sit Ubu,
Sit!" and the comment "Good Dog!" followed by
a quick, single dog bark. Ubu Roi (who died in
1984), had played Frisbee with Goldberg during
his college days.
"This has been a Filmways Presentation"
- At the closing of each episode of the sitcom
THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES/CBS/1962-71, the theme
song lyrics finish with the phrase "Ya'all
come back now, hear! Immediately after, the
voice of Donna Douglas who played the role of
Elly Mae Clampett on the show, proclaims "This
has been a Filmways Presentation."
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