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Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2018 July 8

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July 8 edit

"Starring" vs. "Also Starring" edit

What is the "Also starring" for, distinguished from the "Starring" in the cast of TV series? For example in case of Knight Rider: "Starring: David Hasselhoff - Edward Mulhare - Also Starring: Patricia McPherson - Peter Parros". What's the point in displaying the "Also Starring" at all? Who gains what from that? --KnightMove (talk) 18:00, 8 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]

"Starring" is for the most prominent actors, "also starring" for less critical but still noticeable actors. Placement in the credits will often be negotiated in the contract. Don't think about the credits as information for the viewer, think about it as advertising to build the actors career. --Stephan Schulz (talk) 18:48, 8 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]
The last actor listed may be purposeful too. As with Lost in Space, with "Special Guest Star Jonathan Harris" at the end of opening credits. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 20:16, 8 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Advertising is a kind of information; the negotiated billing is evidently intended to convey something to somebody, and we'd like to know what it encodes. —Tamfang (talk) 08:26, 13 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]
  • "To star" is an odd sort of verb. In the sentence "<actor name> stars in <film name>", it's the actor doing the starring. But in the sentence "<film name> stars <actor name>", it's the film doing the starring. Yet a star is always an actor, never a film.
  • Celebrities are increasingly being called "super stars", sometimes right from the very start of their career; they seem to go from nonentity to super star in one step, without ever being common or garden stars in between. Yet nobody ever says "Brad Pitt super stars in <film name>". -- Jack of Oz [pleasantries] 20:37, 8 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]
    • I don't read that second example as the movie itself being the star. It stars the actor. The actor stars in the film. Same deal. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 20:53, 8 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Further explaining Stephan Schulz response more often than not an actor credited as "also starring" will still be a main character but will receive for example less screen time or lower pay. An example on Hawaii Five-0 where the characters credited as "main" appeared in the opening credits and characters labeled "also starring" appeared after the credits at the bottom of the screen following the opening credits but still prior to "guest stars". The characters had major roles and story lines centered around them and in all respect are still a main character. In short think of it like the military which has different ranks. "Main" cast members would be the highest rank, "Guest" would be the lowest, and "Also starring" plus "Recurring" fill in the middle. TheDoctorWho (talk) 21:07, 8 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]
On the very bottom rung are the ones like Sir Not-Appearing-In-This-Film. Clarityfiend (talk) 02:42, 10 July 2018 (UTC) [reply]

Thanks for the explanations. So, applying this on the example Knight Rider (obviously with one single main character), there are two parties possibly having a gain:

  • Edward Mulhare is distinguished as an important actor, in contrast to Patricia McPherson, because he is also "Starring", not "Also Starring".
  • The studio may beat down Patricia McPherson's salary, as she is not a "Starring", but just an "Also Starring".

Right?! --KnightMove (talk) 10:11, 10 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]

My totally groundless guess is that "Also starring" (or "With") starts a new column, as it were, and the top of each column outranks the bottom of other columns. —Tamfang (talk) 08:26, 13 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]

tune stuck in my head edit

I think it's from a ballet but I don't remember which one. Maybe Swan Lake? A very famous passage. First few notes "f  s f  s f  s d|fg h|j|G" (keep the spaces intact) if you paste into the text box under the keyboard at https://virtualpiano.net/ and click play. Phrasing is still messed up but should be enough to recognize the tune. Also it seems very hard to get the notes right, maybe because of the sustain on that piano that I don't see how to turn off.

Anyone know what tune it is? Thanks. 173.228.123.166 (talk) 20:33, 8 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]

When I went to that site, all I saw under the keyboard was an ad for a contest of some kind, and when I clicked on it, my PC blue-screened. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 22:42, 8 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Oh woops, I see. Under the keyboard there's a link that says "menu". Click that, and some more links will appear. Click the one that says "record" and the text box will show up. Then paste in that string and click "Play". Sorry about the confusion and thanks! 173.228.123.166 (talk) 03:23, 9 July 2018 (UTC) Added: I inserted some &nbsp; entities in the string to get the extra spaces to display properly. 173.228.123.166 (talk) 03:28, 9 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]
I'm pretty sure this is the "Waltz of the Flowers" from Tchaikovsky's ballet The Nutcracker. Try this pattern instead: f  ad  ps  iap+ag  sf  ad  osas. -- Jack of Oz [pleasantries] 05:00, 9 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]
A quick youtube visit to "Waltz of the Flowers" sounded like the right thing immediately, but the passage I had in mind isn't in it. Hmm. It has to be pretty close though. I'll keep listening. Thanks! 173.228.123.166 (talk) 05:58, 9 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Found it! Waltz in A Major from act 1 of Swan Lake, the exact passage is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rJoB7y6Ncs&t=522 Thanks again, you were very close! 173.228.123.166 (talk) 06:05, 9 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]
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