Top 8 '80s Shows Ripe for Remake

By Amir Said

#8 Spencer For Hire
The first P.I. formulaic that I would remake. Not much that I would change. Hawk stays "Hawk". If Samuel Jackson was available, he'd be perfect. But I'm not sure if he'd be willing to interrupt his lucrative big screen career. George Clooney would be a perfect "Spencer". But here again, the big movie star thing kind of gets in the way... Hey, you know what, maybe I'll pitch this idea for big screen version. (For real, I'm not playin', nobody bite my idea.

#7 Kate and Allie
Following the divorces for both, life-long friends, Kate and Allie, move their respective families into the same brownstone in the village. Kate was the "loose" one, and Allie was the "liberal-conservative". Kate had one teenage daughter, Emma, and Allie had a teenage daugther, Allison, and a pre-teen son, Chip. For the remake, I'd move the setting to Brooklyn. Somewhere like Clinton Hill, Park Slope, or Fort Greene. I'd make Chip a teen, and I'd make Kate's pregnancy, and new child (out of wedlock), one of the central themes of the show.

#6 Thirtysomething
Here's another show with a great premise but only a good level of execution. So many complexities, angles you'd have to put it on cable. I'd turn this one over to the folks at Showtime.

#5 Moonlighting
The look, the tone, the characters, the pace of this dramedy (dramatic-comedy) has not been matched in prime-time network television since its bowing in 1989. Aside from the Archie Bunker Show, Moonlighting exhibited some of the best writing I've seen/heard performed. (I suspect there are many working writers today still using storylines and ideas from Moonlighting). And consider the wacky backstory: rich model loses all of her cash, then turns around a petty detective agency (only in 80s). And what about the chemistry between Maddie (Cybil Shepherd) and David (Bruce Willis)? I don't know if casting could ever be that fortunate again. By the way, I'm still mad that Maggie got with Sam (Mark Harmon).

#4 Family Ties
Republican moral is at it's lowest point in America in 20 years. This is the perfect time for a cynical 16 year old, who's also a know-it-all, smart-alic, morally conflicted, steadfast republican. The only that I would change is the role of Jennifer. I'd switch her from being a tomboy and make her a gamer and a tech-geek.

#3 The Facts of Life.
Though the economy is crippled at the moment, there are more millionaires and billionaires currently living in America than at any other time in its (relatively young) history. Certainly with all this money there's a whole lot of spoiled rich (neglected) kids. And where do most of these kids go before they get their on reality show? That's right boarding school! Awgh man, a remake of The Facts of Life would be crazy right now. Casting for a new Blaire, Natalie, and Jo would go rather easy. But finding a new Tootie and Mrs. Garrett, well, that would prove to be hard.

#2. Magnum P.I.
An ex-marine, slightly introverted P.I., somewhat haunted by a past war, who drives a red Ferrari around Hawaii. Hawaii! And he's got two buddies that would die for him, for each other. That's deep... Man this show had me stuck when I was kid. I especially liked the fact that "T.C." was the helicopter guy. (Back then there were plenty of teachers trying to dissuade young black boys from becoming pilots). The formula for the show was neat: Magnum meets girl in distress. Girl in distress has a case for him. Magnum solves the case and gets the girl. What about casting? Get this, you could swap the main trio from the movieThree Kings and fill the whole slate! Ice Cube as "T.C.", Mark Whalberg, (I mean come on, who could be better) as "Rick", and George Clooney as "Magnum". Now, for the role of "Higgins", I'm stumped. But that shouldn't be too hard to find an English literary type. Hey, wait a minute, this is a good movie pitch, too. Biters be warned!

#1. 227
This show didn't have much of a chance when it first came out. It was woefully mis-casted. I can understand that the show was a vehicle designed to tap into Marla Gibbs' popularity from the 'The Jeffersons'. However, apparently someone forgot to mention to production how Marla Gibbs built up that popularity in the first place: mostly by playing a snappy, punch-liner maid on The Jeffersons. Though Regina King as "Brenda" was a top-notch score, the performance of Calvin was unforgettable. (I can hear my older cousin now, "Calvin a sucka!") And '227' had a terrrrrrible set design, real cheesy and claustrophobic. But even with all the missteps of '227', the show's premise was brilliant: a black working class family in the nation's capitol, sticking together and making their way in America. I'd make it a cable show; incorporate more "outside threats and distractions" to the Jenkins' way of living. Finally, I'd have it developed by the HBO franchise.

Smart Moms, Dumb Dads: Commercials, Product Pitches and Reverse Sexism...or Something More Profound?

By Amir Said

There's a change going on in American culture that you might have of missed...that is, if you haven't been watching television commercials lately. This change deals with how advertisers are increasingly portraying the roles of fathers and mothers. Commercials pitching every kind of product from vacuums to cell phones are getting the "mother smart, father dumb" portrayal. Certainly you've seen the type of commercial that I'm describing? You know the type where the mother can do it all, where the mother knows how everything in the house works...meanwhile, the poor father is aloof, even confused and is at the mercy of "mom". Hmmm, kind of hard to buy this portrayal, especially when you consider how rapid technological advancements have been made over the last quarter century. These advancements have not only affected women, on the contrary, they have made both men and women much more adept and sharper. Yet, the way some commercials tell it these days, you wouldn't know that. In fact, the bulk of product peddling commercials go to great lengths to reduce fathers to nothing more than hopeless punchlines. Is this theme in commercials a case of reverse sexism? I don't think so. There's something else going on.

Fact is, after the United States converted from an industrialized job market to a serviced based one, (around the 1960s), many men suddenly found themselves without a job. In homes all across America, many former housewives were forced to enter the labor market, taking those sort of jobs that were readily available to them and not their husbands. Secretary and administrative assistant positions were the main job outlets that were primarily reserved for women. But having gotten a taste of the labor market, these housewives soon realized that they could go even further. Since they now found themselves as the chief bread winner of the family, they reasoned that it was their right and obligation to set and achieve even more ambitious career goals. However, while many former housewives were moving up in the career world, their husbands typically remained stagnated.

But by the 1970s, the children of the career seeker moms and the stagnated dads had a new advantage that wasn't afforded to neither of their parents: technology. For the most part, kids in the late 1960s and early 1970s didn't grow up thinking about working at a factory or the like; in their time, many factories were shutting down. In fact, by the close of the 1970s, the American factory market had dropped dramatically. So for kids growing up in the late 1960s and early 1970s, this meant that they were going to have to figure out a way to earn a living that was not industrialized-based. Many of these kids turned to the recent developments in technology. Turned on to video games, no doubt the influence of the 1970s arcade boom, many kids (now in their teens), saw technology as not only fun, but a way to earn a living--mind you, a living vastly unfamiliar to their parents. Thus enter the big tech boom of the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Fast forward to 2008 and we see that technology is still booming. Moreover, it's booming much more rapidly than it did 30 years ago. There are a number of women who continue to play pivotal roles at key junctures of this present boom. But for better or worse, wrong or right, it is men who remain most prominently at the forefront of this new technological boom. So what's my point? The point is this. If overall, both men and women have become much more intelligent, why then are advertisers investing in commercials that portray moms as do-it-all appliance queens, and dads as aloof industrial workers?

Hmmm... Could it be that someone wants to keep the middle and lower classes in check? I mean by subliminally getting people to buy into a world that no longer exists, you also distract them from actively participating in the one that actually does...

BDP/KRS ONE - "Loves Gonna Get'cha (Material Love)"

By Amir "Sa'id" Said and Amir Ali Said

Liner Notes with Amir and Sa’id
BDP [Boogie Down Productions/KRS ONE] – “Loves Gonna Get’cha (Material Love)

Sa’id (S): Listening to that song, “Love’s Gonna Get’cha” by BDP/KRS ONE, what’s your impression of that, when that joint comes on?
Amir Ali Said (A): ungh… [long pause] I like that song, and in that song KRS ONE is making a lotta good points… Like he’s talking about his mother struggling, she’s working hard, and that’s what happens when you live in the projects; talking about when he comes home from school, he gotta deal with these dudes in front of the project house… Talkin’ about he only got bread on his shelf. He also talkin’ about he gotta help his moms out, cuz they not pullin’ in as much money, so…

S: Right. But as far as the music goes and what he’s sayin’… like put it this way, the points that he’s describing, he’s making serious points, but do you feel that you’re being taught or do you feel that you’re being taught and entertained at the same time?
A: I feel I’m being taught and entertained at the same time.

S: Why would you say that?
A: Because he’s making points, but then he’s also joking around in the song, sayin’ ‘I come home hug my mother, kiss my sister, punch my brother’.

S: That’s cool, he’s using humor, but when I say “entertainment”, can you imagine this being something that bangs out at a club or is this something that you just listen to in the crib?
A: I think it sounds like a song that would be like something you would listen to in the crib.

S: Well, then it doesn’t have that much entertainment quality. Because these songs was playin’ 10, 12, 15 years ago in the club. So, that sounds like you only answered because you thought I was leading you one way. The point that I’m trying to get across is that what dictates club music is not the idea that you’re going to make something for the club. Club music can be anything! Hip Hop started from various breaks of music that didn’t even have vocals. A lot of times what was going on was that people were playing music, DJs were playing music… alot of times if it wasn’t some classic rock band, or some reggae dub plate, or in the particular case of disco, the DJs would cue up certain parts in the music where it was just breaks playin’… where it was just like the drum break. Really what a break means is when everything is dropped out of the music except the rhythm section: the drums, the bass, and the guitar. And in those days, the DJs would spend the vinyl back and forth just playing that section. And people in the crowd would listen to that music and go crazy. They didn’t know that in some cases it was The Band, which is a classic rock group. They didn’t know all these things were going on. Sometimes you could go to a party and you could bang out to “Funky Drummer”; you could bang out to all sorts of James Brown music; all sorts of music from The Meters. And then you could hear another group, you know, a little bit of disco. So that’s what I’m trying to get you to understand that what constitutes “club music” isn’t the idea that you gotta consciously think that this is going to go over big in the club. The idea is that you make quality music first, and quality music is going to find itself anyway!
A: Right.

S: Another thing that determines what you’re going to hear in the club is the tempo. This isn’t a song that in today’s contemporary Hip Hop, you’re going to think like, I’m going to dance to this. But if you listen to the music, and again this is what I mean by if it was your club, your spot… if this is being played in any atmosphere, whether it somebody’s birthday party or whatever, people who have never heard this before…
A: Ain’t gonna go to it…

S: Right, exactly.
A: They wouldn’t know what it was…

S: Right, but they’re not going to hate on it. They’re going to be drawn to it. If you put somebody that’s your age or somebody that’s a little older and hasn’t been prejudiced one way or the other against any music, they’re going to listen to this music and it’s gonna sound good, because it has a common theme. The things that you talked about as far as the points that it made, that’s what I’m getting to: the points are being made right along with good music! So it’s not like anything wrong is going on with the joint. That’s why I’m sayin’, you know, you maybe not won’t hear of too many people doing dance routines to the shit, but that whole idea of music being played in the club, it depends on a person’s perspective of what they like, you understand.
A: Right.

Buckwild: 'Dude's Gotta Understand'

Interview By Sa'id

Buckwild came on the scene in 1994, the tail-end of Hip Hop-Rap's Golden era, with rapper O.C.'s classic, "Time'sUp." Over the next 11 years, Buckwild produced some of the most memorable and well-known bangers ever crafted. From Nas to 50 Cent, Buckwild’s production always stays true to his sound and his love for Hip Hop-Rap music. Moreover, His widely comprehensive grasp of Hip Hop-Rap music and the current production movement is worth noting. He’s seen it, he’s done it, he hears and he sees it now. He doesn’t front. Like a lot of these mis-guided “industry” producers. Instead, he’s genuinely concerned with helping new production talent emerge. BeatTips.com caught up with Buckwild in his Bronx based recording studio. Check out the knowledge he dropped.

BeatTips.com: Do you use Timestretch?
Buckwild: Yeah, I do. Some songs, some beats I have it where I can stretch it. That’s the one thing a lot of cats don’t understand. Sometimes you buy records, and the time progression changes. Like the song starts going faster, or starts going slower. So if you got a song going, and it starts off at like 80 [BPM], then it goes to 81 and 82, you can’t loop that. So you have to figure out a way to make it relevant. And that’s where the 6 [Akai S6000] came in. The 6 was one of the best machines that hey invented for just straight Hip Hop.

BeatTips.com: Let’s say you take a record and you throw it into the 6000, how did you make it the way that you wanted to, if a problem like that occurred. You know, if you wanted to throw it to a drum backbeat?
Buckwild: I would take the parts that I need, and I would do a BPM match… There’s so many things that the Akai S6000 does… I could take this one part right here and make it one part of the tempo that I need. It has a lot of little secrets, but you just have to have the patience to get into it.

BeatTips.com: So what if somebody says to you, ‘listen, you’re using the 6000 and you’re using Akai MPC 4000 to sequence. Why don’t you just throw everything in the 4000?’ The 4000 is a monster!
Buckwild: The 4000 IS a monster! But if it’s certain things that I need to doctor up with the 6000, I’ll go back to the 6000. But everything now, I use with the 4 [MPC 4000]. The 4 is ridiculous! You can put so many different programs in there and change up so many ways that people don’t even understand. Like I know a lot of people who don’t use the 4. Only people that I know use the 4 right now might be me, Just Blaze, Lord Finesse, and Rsonist, from Heatmakerz… Not too many people. Everybody uses the XL [Akai MPC 2000XL] or they use Reason and all this other stuff. But the best thing about the 4 is that you can doctor your sounds how you need to.

BeatTips.com: How do you sample drums? Do you process your drums? Do you sample dry?
Buckwild: I sample all of my drums dry. But I doctor (tweak, i.e. EQ, etc.) all of my drums in the 4. The one thing that dudes gotta understand is that, we all pick machines… even Minnie [producer, Minnesota]. Minnie use the ASR [Ensoniq ASR-10], but we all have a certain technique for what we do. You can give 10 dudes the same record, that don’t mean we all are goin’ to do it the same way. Like we all have a vision of how we like our drums. I like my drums tight. So I’ll do whatever I need to inside here [he points to MPC 4000] so that way, when I get my record to an engineer, if I can’t mix my record, at least everything is there. I’ve known a lot of engineers that have been like, “I love mixing with you because you make my job so easy, everything sounds the way it should be; I may have to put on a little reverb, but everything sounds good.” Hearing that, that’s a blessin’. I’m like, “cool”, that let’s me know that I must be doing something right.

BeatTips.com: Do you sample your drums from vinyl?
Buckwild: Vinyl… I’m Ol’ School (laughs)… Vinyl!

BeatTips.com: What about online companies that sell sounds? Many people are going online, downloading WAVs and such. But a lot of drum sounds now stand out too much.
Buckwild: Yeah! You know what it is. You know what people forget to realize? When you’re turning instruments, you also have to tune your drums to your music. And a lot of dudes don’t understand that. So sometimes you hear drums and they may stick out, you know, somebody might say, “I want this right here to be dominant.” But I think when you’re mixing your records there needs to be balance, but sometimes that’s on your engineer also.

BeatTips.com: Do you have individual rules, you know, how you approach your kicks, how you approach your hats?
Buckwild: It depends on if I’m using a loop, or if I’m using live stuff. Every beat is different. Like on some records, sometimes I put reverb on a kick just to give it an effect, but I’ll put something behind that kick to still make it knock. I’m not saying that you want to try to be so different, but you want to try to be creative. It’s like, O.K., I’m taking a loop but I’m making this loop my record.

*Buckwild’s Music Production Set Up: Akai MPC 4000, Akais S6000, Yamaha Motif 6, Pro Tools TDM