Hunter (1984)

The series Hunter ran on NBC for seven seasons starting in 1984 and was so popular it came back for some TV movies, and a short-lived revival series in 2003 (only five episodes). Some TV movies were also made. It followed detectives Rick Hunter and Dee Dee McCall who investigated crimes in Los Angeles.

Series Composers
On top of the show's main theme music, composers Mike Post and Pete Carpenter scored the first six seasons. For the sixth season, additional composers were credited in the end credits of every episode: Stephen James Taylor, Jerry Grant, and Frank Denson. The final season, when multiple changes were made in the show (all for the worse), Walter Murphy, one of many noted composers who proteged under Post, took over as the composer. A few composers ghostwrote on the series, including Ron Jones and Velton Ray Bunch. For the 2003 revival series, Christopher Franke scored all the episodes. Anywhere from one to three episodes didn't air, depending in which online source you read, so not all his scoring has been heard by fans of his work.

Theme Music
Each season the theme music by Post & Carpenter was re-arranged into a new version, as well as the end credits music. When Murphy took over as composer he and another composer named Nils Lofgren (singer/guitarist) did a new arrangement of the theme. The 2003 revival series also kept the famous theme, but did an updated arrangement of it (Christopher Franke).

Scoring Style
Seasons 1 to 4 The scoring featured predominantly real players (cymbal, kick drum, shaker, electric guitar, fretless, woodwinds, strings, etc.) in a small ensamble, but would also use some experimental synth work. Season 5 While some real players were used here and there, for what ever reason the bulk of the scoring had a drum machine and synthetic players. Occasionally a real player could be heard playing a woodwind or some other solo instrument. There were some exception episodes with real players. Season 6 For this season, the series' scoring took a drastic shift, with the drum machine becoming a main stay and a new approach added: a sultry saxophone was added to make Los Angeles feel like a hard-boiled black & white detective series with some romantacism thrown in. It was off kilter and distracted from the series, making it feel at odds with the onscreen action (presumably Taylor, Grant & Denson had something to do with this). The edge of the scoring was gone and replacement by music that instead tried to too heavily punctuate the scenes. Season 7 (I cannot comment as that season is not on Youtube and last I heard, not released on DVD) 2003 Revival For the deservedly-cancelled revival series, the scoring took a serious nose dive; instead of helping the scenes, it was now trying to tell us what we think; instead of accomplishing something musically, it plodded around in the background just servicing the onscreen action. Often scenes that needed no scoring, were scored. And others were scored in a fasion so on-the-nose, that if Carpenter were alive still and teaching a class on how to score, there'd be a smack on the writing hand with a wand. The style in bland, with synth beats and aimless droning with occasional trombone that is simply out-of-place, making it feel like just another 2000's police procedural. There is no desernable theme, despite there being at least three new characters. The new series scoring is example or how to score a direct-to-DVD low budget sequel for a paycheck, not on how to create quality music for beloved characters with invested fans who made them what they are.

Releases
Thus far there have been no LP or CD releases of any of the scoring from the series and the revival series, as well as no known promotional CD's. Original recodings of the theme have yet to be released on CD.

Awards
Though no Emmy's were won for the scoring (though three music editors were nominated for Emmy's on different occasions), Post & Carpenter did win the BMI Film & TV Awards in 1989 (episode or episodes unknown).