The Safe House - Expositions

The best place to hear great pop music isn't radio, nightclubs or even the Internet - it's on network TV. Far down the dial from MTV, where the Jennifer Lopez video is playing for the 562nd time this month, prime-time dramas and sitcoms are spinning neglected rock classics and spotlighting new artists, a creative mix that would get most DJs fired before their first commercial break..

Some of the past year's most memorable TV moments would have been flat without the perfect song: Carmela Soprano contemplating divorce to the tune of Nils Lofgren's otherwise forgotten gem, "Black Books"; Denis Leary's rogue cop in "The Job" learning about his wife's affair to Joey Ramone's raucous version of "What a Wonderful World"; a rain- soaked President Bartlet walking to his most important press conference to the strains of Dire Straits' haunting "Brothers in Arms."

Pop music and TV have harmonized in the past, most notably on "Miami Vice" and "The Wonder Years." But generally, shows relied on an instrumental score, most likely composed by Mike Post, who wrote the music for "Hill Street Blues," "The Rockford Files" and just about every other TV drama you can name.

But a new generation of TV turks are singing a different tune. "I like the idea of reflecting what people are really wearing and listening to and talking about in the world," said Shane Salerno, the creator of NBC's "UC: Undercover," which incorporated the Dust Brothers' digital sampling to drive the cop drama's action scenes. "And people aren't listening to Mike Post in their cars."

If they're lucky, they're listening to discs from J.J. Abrams' vast CD collection. He's the creator of "Felicity" and "Alias," and both dramas reflect his eclectic tastes.

"Music is almost more important to me than anything else," said Abrams, who used Vertical Horizon, Cat Stevens, the Supreme Beings of Leisure, Sinead O'Connor, Gus, the Cranberries and Stereo MC's in the exhilarating pilot for "Alias."

For that show's climax - when the heroine's fiance dies - Abrams chose Peter Gabriel's "Here Comes the Flood," a song he also used for "Felicity."

"That's one of the most beautiful, sad songs I've ever heard, and it helps make that whole sequence for me," he said.

Writers like Abrams often work to pop music. "West Wing" creator Aaron Sorkin was hooked on "Brothers in Arms" when penning last season's final episode. Judd Apatow, whose grandfather Robert Shad produced albums for Janis Joplin and Sarah Vaughan, was listening to Tom Petty's solo album, "Echo," when he wrote the pilot for his college-based sitcom "Undeclared." He ended up using the Petty song "Room at the Top," for a scene in which two of the characters kiss.

These groundbreaking producers can't be full-time DJs themselves. Most shows employ music supervisors, whose primary job is to dig through thousands of CDs, searching for the perfect song.

Music supervisor Ann Kline works exclusively for John Wells, producer of "The West Wing," "ER" and "Third Watch." Kline, whose work uniform is blue jeans and a cropped T-shirt, occupies an office with candles, incense and shelves lined with more than 9,000 CDs. But Kline isn't just some music junkie picked out of a used-record store. She's an attorney and a savvy team player who has helped energize some of TV's biggest hits.

"I didn't watch much TV growing up. I don't think it was a place people expected to hear good music," said Kline, who spent her formative years listening to '80s acts like Duran Duran and watching John Hughes movies. "When I first met with John about doing this, he said that he wanted his shows to have the best of everything. If they have the best writers and the best actors, why shouldn't they have the best music?"

Finding the best isn't always easy - especially given TV's time constraints.

At daisy music, an independent company that selects songs for "Boston Public," "Smallville" and "Felicity," business partners Jennifer Pyken and Madonna Wade-Reed mark CD covers with their favorite cuts. "We have a great mental Rolodex," Wade-Reed said. "Sometimes we'll be sitting there watching a scene, and everyone's eyes will light up. But sometimes we play 20 songs along with the picture before we get the right one."

Kline starts thinking about musical possibilities as soon as she gets a script. A day later, department heads meet to discuss everything from set design to costumes - and music. Writers or producers occasionally will have a song in mind, but it's usually up to Kline to find the tunes, up to a half-dozen numbers for each hour-long episode of "Third Watch." Sometimes she makes suggestions before shooting begins, but the music often is selected during the editing process.

Finding the perfect match depends on the show and the scene. For an episode of "Third Watch" that centers on Carlos, a cocky ladies' man, Kline suggested that the episode open and close with John Hiatt's "Little Head," an upbeat song that tells the tale of a sex- obsessed jerk.

"Literal songwriters like Hiatt are great, especially for comedy," she said.

But for more dramatic montages, Kline usually goes in the opposite direction. "You don't want to hit the point on the head," she said. "You want to be more abstract." That's why Sarah McLaughlin is such a popular choice.

But just because you have to have "I Will Remember You" doesn't mean you're going to get it. That's where Kline's law background comes in handy. When she's not listening to music, she's on the phone, trying to cut deals in a big fat hurry.

For an "ER" scene that takes place at a hockey arena, she wanted to use the Wiseguys' "Start the Commotion." Because the song uses two samples, she had to get permission from six people, some of whom were in Europe. She had only three days.

Sometimes artists just don't want to be involved. Carlos Santana turned down a request to use "Put Out the Lights" on "Third Watch" because he didn't want the song associated with violence. Aerosmith had the same reaction when Kline tried to get "Janie's Got a Gun" for "The West Wing." Led Zeppelin almost always says no.

But the popularity of Kline's shows gives her some clout. The Red Hot Chili Peppers, who rarely license for TV, gave permission to have "Blood Sugar Sex Magik" used on "ER" this season.

"'ER' carries a lot of weight," Kline said. "It's rare that you can guarantee that 30 million people are going to hear your song on TV."

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