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What is this obscure TV series?

tharpdevenport

tharpdevenport

Admiral
Admiral
SOLVED by Jayson1: The TV series is "One in a Million" (1980).

This is all I got; I spent two hours trying all kinds of search terms and ideas. What I got:

It's a short-lived 1970's (maybe 1980's) half-hour American comedy series.

I only know it by the opening credits I found on YouTube years ago. The opening has a (black?) man driving a car and the music is funky goodness; possibly a black sitcom. I thought it was by R. Dale Butts or Harry Betts, but ASCAP didn't show any results (I did not check BMI). I swear it was one of them and that I had found it on BMI or ASCAP.

I seem to recall I found the opening credits on YouTube while searching for the old TV series "Cool Million" and that it came up in the side bar of suggested videos. I am using a wifi system which has nearly everything on YouTube blocked by Google administrator settings (including the official and legal YouTube movie channel where you can see movies legally), so I can't reproduce the circumstances.

I did all the searches I found think of, including by composers and lists of obscure 1970's TV series, etc.
 
Last edited:
^ That was my thought as well, though it was neither obscure nor short-lived.

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GNDN18 said:
Tenspeed and Brown Shoe
Click to expand...
That's a good guess. Obscure, Short lived, but the opening doesn't have any driving or funky music. It's all 80's Magnum P.I. style cutaways of Ben Vereen & Jeff Goldblum in their wacky antics, set to 80's goofball music.

I was going to guess "That's My Mama!" but there's no car driving in it. :shrug:
 
Maude has a opening theme song that's pretty cool and funky and it filmed from the vantage point of a person driving a car. But that series ran for 6 years or so and it is not obscure.
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So you're looking for an obscure short lived American sitcom from the 1970s or 1980s? (There would be a 1000+ over 20 years.)
Possibly a black sitcom.
Funky theme song which can't be by R. Dale Butts whose credits go up until 1966.
The theme song is of a black man driving around.

I suggest you go through Harry Betts IMDb page. He has plenty of TV credits.
 
I think I might have found it for you. It's a show I have never heard about so I can't speak to the quality of said show. It is called "One In A Million."

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Thank you, Jayson1 -- that's it.

Upon some quick research, I found that's the theme to the pilot, but the series had a song (a shame). I also found it's considered a "lost" series, where no episodes have shown up since it aired.


Just a quick note to Vanyel: I did say I did all the obvious. IMDb is user contributed, and Harry Bettes credit is missing. Without episodes to see, it's impossible to really know his contribution; he could have done the pilot theme, he could have done the music for the song or an instrumental arrangement for the end credits, possibly even scored episodes. I contribute missing composer credits to TV shows every week I IMDb, so I know how frustrating it can be. I've had to solve many series or finish some all by myself. Last year alone, for example, I did "Harry O" all by myself save one or two preexisting credtis on IMDb.


And I honestly had no idea I was looking at a woman.
 
So it was Harry Battes not Harry Betts as in your now updated post?
 
Jayson1 said:
I think I might have found it for you. It's a show I have never heard about so I can't speak to the quality of said show. It is called "One In A Million."

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Click to expand...
Keene Curtis, aka the guy I always pictured as Prof X, pre Patrick Stewart.
 
For those curious - I can't imagine anyone is -- the first three episodes are up on YouTube.

Nobody is credited for the theme in the pilot. No music credits whatsoever. I skimmed through the episode and found no score.

Episode two has the end credits cut off, but episode three lists Harry Betts for music arranging.
 
Following my journey into Nobody Really Cares:

Yutube copyright protection finally identified the funky opening/closing music from the pilot -- i's a preexisting instrumental piece titled "Dancin' in the Sky" by Gene Page:

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tharpdevenport said:
SOLVED by Jayson1: The TV series is "One in a Million" (1980).

This is all I got; I spent two hours trying all kinds of search terms and ideas. What I got:

It's a short-lived 1970's (maybe 1980's) half-hour American comedy series.

I only know it by the opening credits I found on YouTube years ago. The opening has a (black?) man driving a car and the music is funky goodness; possibly a black sitcom. I thought it was by R. Dale Butts or Harry Betts, but ASCAP didn't show any results (I did not check BMI). I swear it was one of them and that I had found it on BMI or ASCAP.

I seem to recall I found the opening credits on YouTube while searching for the old TV series "Cool Million" and that it came up in the side bar of suggested videos. I am using a wifi system which has nearly everything on YouTube blocked by Google administrator settings (including the official and legal YouTube movie channel where you can see movies legally), so I can't reproduce the circumstances.

I did all the searches I found think of, including by composers and lists of obscure 1970's TV series, etc.
Click to expand...

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For more detailed information, see our cookies page.
 
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