I've been watching the old ZIV syndicated series Sea Hunt, starring the stalwart Lloyd Bridges as diver and all-around good guy Mike Nelson, overnights on the local This-TV outlet out of Tampa, Florida. I've always thought the Sea Hunt theme was full of foreboding and hardly made scuba diving seem like a frivolous activity. David Rose's ominous musical intro sounded more like horrible death by drowning was just around the next big underwater outcropping, where some giant manta ray lurked, waiting to charge you. (Which actually happened in an episode I watched the other morning...)
Scary? You bet! Exciting? Undoubtedly, as it clearly didn't scare everybody away from diving and definitely fostered an appreciation for the underwater world in many viewers.
Sea Hunt was exec-produced by Ivan Tors (pictured right), a Hungarian animal trainer-turned writer/producer whose adventurous output included other fascinating projects like the
completely terrifying 1954 robot sci-fi movie Gog, the Flipper series and movies, Gentle Ben, and one of personal favorites, the Africa-set Daktari starring the dashing khaki-clad Marshall Thompson as a jungle vet.Sea Hunt's distribution outlet was ZIV, a syndication outfit founded by the man of the same name. I'm sure many babyboomers fondly remember watching several of ZIV's signature series, including SH, no-nonsense Broderick Crawford in Highway Patrol and the earnest Science 
Fiction Theatre (also from the aforementioned Ivan Tors). Check out ZIV's Wikipedia entry for a full list of the company's output. Ziv was quite the TV powerhouse back in the day, and there's no denying the appeal of the lower-budget but compelling productions which were a staple on stations building up their daytime and afternoon line-ups.
Fiction Theatre (also from the aforementioned Ivan Tors). Check out ZIV's Wikipedia entry for a full list of the company's output. Ziv was quite the TV powerhouse back in the day, and there's no denying the appeal of the lower-budget but compelling productions which were a staple on stations building up their daytime and afternoon line-ups. We watched these shows instead of cartoons, which were not available 24/7 like they are today. Did watching shows like these create a hunger and appreciation for more adult drama when we watched TV? I think so, for many of us. We transitioned from ZIV-level shows to great 1960s primetime series such as The Man from U.N.C.L.E. or The Wild Wild West, shows with tremendous younger viewer appeal. (I'm not exactly sure what kind of appetite constant cartoons creates in today's kid audiences, but I have my suspicions.)
Sea Hunt episodes are also available on Hulu, and check out this terrific article on the show from TV Party.
Lloyd Bridges in Sea Hunt...seek it out and revel in its dramatic theme song!
What brilliant food for thought. There are so many complaint that Gen X and the Millenial generations refuse to grow up. Maybe because they were fed a constant diet of 24 hour cartoons and video games, whereas Boomers had to cut their teeth on some adult dramas with scary Hitchcockian sounding theme music now and then. TV can explain just about any sociological event!
ReplyDeleteP.S. Forgot to mention that we've always loved "ocean" themed suspence TV. Remember our own precious "The New Pacific Pirates"? It was either way ahead of its time or way behind...could never figure out which!
ReplyDeleteEven as a little kid I thought that music was skeevy. It sounds more ominous, foreboding, and depressing than even the midnight passage in Prokofiev's Cinderella when he is orchestrating all her grief and despair. They never played the theme for long at the beginning but it always made me feel the whole cast was gonna die every episode.
ReplyDeleteJames -- glad you also were creeped out by the "Sea Hunt" theme! Also so glad to read your comparison to my favorite musical composition from my favorite composer! Anybody who partakes of Prokofiev AND Sea Hunt is my kind of fella!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for finding us and for your comments!!
Rodney Aho said...
ReplyDeleteDavid Rose, genius composer, utilized minor chords and flatted fifths, and ended the theme song with a minor chord with a major 7th on top, an eerie sound, same as the ending chord to Mancini's Pink Panther theme.
I understand David Rose wrote the theme how about all the music during the episode who wrote that and who played it
DeleteDavid Rose, genius composer, utilized minor chords and flatted fifths, and ended the theme song with a minor chord with a major 7th on top, an eerie sound, same as the ending chord to Mancini's Pink Panther theme.
ReplyDeleteAs much as I love the music of Sea Hunt, I feel the Thunderball soundtrack by John Barry conveyed more of a sense of being underwater.
ReplyDeleteDon't forget the color tv series from Ziv, the Cisco Kid, 1950-1956. Great action for kids, growing up.
ReplyDeleteMelodramatic and melancholic melody indeed. I think Summer of '42 movie theme ripped off Sea Hunt's first 5 notes!
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