One of the most iconic shows of the '90s, Dawson's Creek, has just arrived on Netflix, but it's not exactly as you might remember it.
The show's instantly familiar theme song, "I Don't Want to Wait" by Paula Cole, doesn't appear over the opening titles. Instead, you'll hear an entirely different song: "Run Like Mad" by Jann Arden.
The reason for this is a little bit complicated, but essentially comes down to money. Jann Arden's "Run Like Mad", which she wrote especially for the show, was going to be its theme song until "I Don't Want to Wait" was used in promos for Dawson's Creek shortly before it premiered.
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At this point, executives at the show's network, the WB, suggested swapping in Paula Cole's song because it seemed to fit the Dawson's Creek so vibe so perfectly.
Asked if the show's creative team had already considered this, executive producer Paul Stupin told The Huffington Post a few years ago: "Honestly we hadn't. Now it seems so iconic. But at the time, it was really just another option worth exploring.
"But when we looked at it and really assessed it, we thought, this could be great. So the network ended up making a deal with Paula Cole."
However, this deal had to be renegotiated when Dawson's Creek was later released on DVD. After the first two seasons registered disappointing DVD sales, the WB cut the budget for the following seasons' release, and one of the casualties was "I Don't Want to Wait".
"I ended up swapping out a good chunk of unclearable music for the later DVD releases," Stupin recalled. "And then there came to be a point, where the studio said, 'Listen, we can’t afford the Paula Cole song.' That's when Jann Arden was put back in."
So, there we have it: "I Don't Want to Wait" doesn't feature in Dawson's Creek any more because it was too expensive. Still, at least we can hear it on Spotify and YouTube, right?