I can name that great TV tune in…
Ken Levine got memed. And then somehow I did! That’s ok, though because I like the topic. A post listing my favorite TV theme songs.
Ken Levine writes, I MISS TV THEME SONGS. I miss my favorites, too, but that got me thinking. Don’t any of the new shows have theme songs? I have to admit, I don’t watch that much TV, so I had to look it up.
According to Zap2It, here were the top 20 rated network shows for the week of 6/11/07 - 6/17/07. There are many shows on this list that do have theme songs, but they don’t count. America’s Got Talent? 24 full seconds of not counting at all. I couldn’t find a youtube video for Deal or No Deal’s theme song. But, would it really matter if I could? Everyone knows this game show’s theme song. Does it really warm the cockles of your heart?
Answer that in the form of a question!
Law & Order: SVU comes came in at #9. SVU’s theme song is slightly different than the original Law & Order theme song. Although I like the original better, it doesn’t give me the warm and fuzzies. Maybe in 25 years it will, like this one does now.
Weren’t Furillo and Davenport cute together? A simple yes will do.
CSI Miami’s theme song’s a great song. But, I’ve never watched that show, so I just think of that song as being the very best conservative rock song of all time. My son may connect it someday to CSI. And then I’ll have to beat him senseless.
Lots of newish shows have their own theme songs. Whether they were written specifically for the show or not. One of my favorite newish show theme songs is Woke Up This Morning by A3, used in The Soprano’s. That song’s actually about a wife who fatally shot her husband after years of abuse. But, I’ll bet you’ll never hear it again without thinking of Tony driving through New Jersey.
Can’t think of another newish theme song, though that has an emotional pull like that one. I’ll Be There For You from Friends? Too bee-boppy and bouncy to really connect with it. But, so was this one and it makes me smile. But then, I was just a teeny-bopper when that show was popular. So, I’ve got fun memories of it.
That’s what makes remembering TV show theme songs so great. And sad. All the memories you have because you were a certain age when the show was on.
While I could include the theme song to The Sopranos on my list, I’m not going to. Doing research for this post today, I ran across some old ones I had forgotten about that I just loved. Are these my favorites? I don’t know. But, I loved them. Here’s my list in no particular order.
Bewitched
The Courtship of Eddie’s Father
The Bob Newhart Show
Good Times
All In the Family
MASH
Cheers
The Mary Tyler Moore Show (I like the newer one better, but I couldn’t find the video.)
The Addams Family
And
Always loved it.
How ’bout you? Which TV theme songs would you put on your list in no particular order?
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Sanford and Son (Quincy Jones)
Rockford Files (Mike Post)
Which reminds me, Pete Townshend wrote a song recently called Mike Post Theme that was on last year's Who record - Pete explained he always loved the Hill Street Blues theme.
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You mean Mr. Townshend didn't like the theme song to Hill Street Blues cuz Furillo and Davenport were so cute together?
Tom, I'm a sucker for TV theme songs. I was a latch-key kid raised on TV. I could have a million songs on my list.
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I just love the synthy wah on Sanford - geez, it literally sounds like a 70s junk yard.
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Mission Impossible, Green Acres, Batman, Spiderman, Get Smart, Soap, Chico and The Man (the man he ain't so hard to understand), South Park, Taxi, Love American Style, and this turn of the '60's detective show. I could go on for a while.
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I'm also partial to some other (really) old ones: Bonanza (it cries out "big, American cattle! and mountains and shit!"); The Jeffersons ("Well, we're movin' on up!").
Mike Post -- king of washed-out, meaningless, inoffensive drivel. Ever see him and Bob Crewe in the same room together? I didn't think so.
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"Meet Cathy, who's lived most everywhere,
From Zanzibar to Barclay Square.
But Patty's only seen the sight.
A girl can see from Brooklyn Heights --
What a crazy pair!
But they're cousins,
Identical cousins all the way.
One pair of matching bookends,
Different as night and day.
Where Cathy adores a minuet,
The Ballet Russes, and crepe suzette,
Our Patty loves to rock and roll,
A hot dog makes her lose control --
What a wild duet!
Still, they're cousins,
Identical cousins and you'll find,
They laugh alike, they walk alike,
At times they even talk alike --
You can lose your mind,
When cousins are two of a kind."
Patty Duke rocked.
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Now I'm sad for my lost youth AND because I'm not in NYC right now.
Larry, Peter Gunn is great.
And Dan Leo, The Skimmer and I both curse you. We're both walking around singing that this morning.
:)
You can lose your mind!
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I'm still sticking with Rockford...
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I kid, I kid. I would also agree with Addam's Family and Sanford and Son, which were both catchy and fit their shows perfectly.
A few others off the top of me 'ead:
The Monkees -- Hated the concept of them, but this was a pretty catchy theme song.
Miami Vice -- I am a child of the 80s.
That 70s Show -- mostly because it's Cheap Trick covering Big Star.
The Simpsons -- I have heard that theme more than any other and still like it.
The Drew Carry Show -- Who doesn't like "Cleveland Rocks"?
Daily Show/Colbert Report -- Love both of the opening themes for these, with Colbert having the extra fun of the screaming eagle.
AG, Charles in Charge is maybe the worst TV theme evar! As is Eight Is Enough. But maybe it's just because they both make me think of Willie Ames.
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Book um Danno!
Jack Lords hair never moved.
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Currently, I have to say I enjoy the Dr. Who theme.
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Was the Addams TV theme song the same as the movie's? Again, with a gun to my head, I'm sure I could name the *movie* theme song.
No wonder I have trouble keeping friends.
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I used to have wav files for lots of the early 80s themes in my early computing days.
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Duck Tales
Animaniacs
Tiny Toons
These shows were great. Memories of Saturday afternoons are flooding back.
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Just want you to know that thanks to your delightful piece my own brain has been a non-stop jukebox from TV hell all day. (Most disturbing of all, the five-second vocal theme-snippet at the end of "Still Standing" keeps erupting from my vocal cords.) I want just to put on "Don Carlo" really really loud to try to drown out this infernal symphony but I'm waiting for a friend to come by and I don't want to miss her door-buzz. Thanks a lot, girlfrunga!
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Odd Couple
It sticks. The perfect NY walking hum.
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TW, The Odd Couple. The show. Oh man. I forgot about that one. Knock one of those off my list above and add it.
I've always been a sucker for Neil Simon.
I should've written in my post. The theme songs were all great to me. Great audio cues. But, I also loved the visuals.
There might be another post there. Take it on, TW.
:)
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The theme song, originally used in the 1968 Odd Couple movie, was composed by Neal Hefti, who also composed the theme for "Batman."
Yeah, Batman! Amazed that hasn't come up yet....
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Both created by the master of the Porkarina, Vic Mizzy.