TV Themes: The Good, The Bad And The Ugly

[Wilowy]

I mean... Quincy Jones, people.  That's who wrote this.  Quincy Jones.

 

 

*Standing Applause*

[Kromm]

Another super-funky theme was S.W.A.T., but I have to admit the first ten seconds always irritated me, and it's not till about 0:25 that it REALLY takes off.

 

[smittykins]

While we're still in the era, I'd be remiss if I didn't bring up the confusing (what the hell were all those instruments?) but awesome Sanford & Son theme! It has been a part of my pop-culture psyche my entire life, and to this day if I see a beater truck tooling down the road I'll sing the first few bars, sometimes even out loud. :D

 

@BizBuzz, One Day At A Time theme always also reminded me of The Facts of Life theme. Similar bouncy-ness and I can still sing both of them! 

@Kromm I had the 45 of the Laverne and Shirley Theme, also Happy Days of course, which was just Rock Around The Clock by Bill Haley and the Comets. 

Don't forget Happy Days had its own theme starting in the second(?) season that was a decent-sized pop hit at the time:

[decembar13]

Booker theme, people! I mean, It's Billy Idol. What's not to like?

 

Sisters opening credits was beautiful (not the one with actual music, but the one with only sounds of the characters - I'm not able to find it on youtube).

[Wilowy]

I LOVED Sisters, and had a huge girlcrush on Teddi. 

 

Wanted to leave this here before I forget: I know it's schmaltzy, but it's also beautiful. I loved the spoken endearments, and the violins were just gorgeous. Perfectly appropriate for Vincent and Catherine. 

 

[decembar13]

BONANZA!!! How could I forget about that song? 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjdRgBAY278

[giovannif7]

Two more themes from the late 70s, where the songs proved to be bigger hits than the actual shows:

 

Angie, a sitcom starring Donna Pescow and Robert Hayes, did well in Season 1, but tanking ratings led to cancellation in Season 2. The theme song, "Different Worlds" by Maureen McGovern, got to #18 on the Billboard Hot 100 (and #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart) in 1979.

 

 

Makin' It, a Saturday Night Fever "homage" (ripoff) fared even worse, running only 9 episodes before being cancelled. The title song, sung by the star of the sitcom (and Dr. Pepper shill) David Naughton, fared better, selling a million copies and hitting #5 of the Billboard Hot 100, also in 1979.

 

[Kromm]

Now let's enter the land of the unofficial.  We name checked Sammy for the Beretta theme song Version 2.  And Chico and the Man both here and in the other non-music credits thread.

 

Here's a kind of edit/mashup consisting of Sammy's recording OF the Jose Feliciano Chico song, pasted over the Season 2 version of the Chico credits, joined to bits of Sammy's actual guest appearance on Chico and the Man.  It's a bit awkward (it doesn't really fit), but its fun to see once.

 

 

Also of interest (and this one is real and not anything remixed or fan made) call this "The Time The Theme Song was Actually Inside The Show". Only in the 70s did they do wacky crap like this.

 

Edited May 10, 2014 by Kromm

[Wilowy]

@Kromm that was on one of the eps on that cheesy dvd!

[Charlie Baker]

Love so many of these old and new, and I'm old timer enough to have been around for the original runs of most of these shows.  Not Peter Gunn (GREAT theme)--which I've caught on ME TV reruns in the wee hours of Sunday night/Monday morning.  Some of them are pretty standard PI procedural stuff, but some have a nice film noir feel to them. And they are really efficiently done--half hour including commercials.

 

The WKRP closer really rocks out--and the lyrics are actually gibberish, right?

 

 

A recent one no one has brought up has really impressed me--it fits the show well and hasn't worn out its welcome over the first season.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRPpCqXYoos

[Wilowy]

Awesome how on the WKRP one my brain told me to get ready for the MTM kitten meow! I'd forgotten it was there until the music started. :D

[Kromm]

That WKRP certainly sets up a nice sub-topic for us.  Show ending tunes (I think the technical term might be outro).  I think we may have already vaguely mentioned The Cosby Show, where the ending is not a totally different song, but a somewhat different arrangement of the main theme.  That was true of a lot of other shows.

 

One thing I recall as a pattern of switching from versions with lyrics to versions without.  For that, I always think of "Married With Children"--the main version being the Full Frankie they paid for, and the ending theme just the music.  "Three's Company" was like that too.

 

The main theme being this piece of vocal weirdness:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMVj-_zVkL8

 

And the ending with the lyrics stripped just being this:

 

 

Hmm, we've already spoken about how the ending theme for Star Trek: Enterprise, "Archer's Theme", was almost the main show theme.

 

Ending credits are in a way even more "dead" than main ones. Even the versions without music--just the text credits scrolling--is gone from most broadcast TV now (or sped up so much it's irrelevant). 

[spaceytraci1208]

The opening theme from the Amen always makes me smile:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7cUsYXa4yw

 

I also loved the closing theme from Frasier, specifically the ones where he says "Scrambled eggs, all over my face!"...gives me the giggles

Edited May 12, 2014 by spaceytraci1208

[Kromm]

The opening theme from the Amen always makes me smile:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7cUsYXa4yw

For me it's not the gospel music, because AS a gospel tune I think the bit in those credits isn't that great (it's too short, with no real buildup--and the buildup is what makes great gospel music work IMO).  What makes those credits "shine" for me is the unbroken shot that proves it's Sherman Hemsley actually doing that double dutch rope skipping (a little simple math and googling dates says he was almost 50 at the time). 

 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Okay, because the thread promises some bad and ugly, I'll embed videos of a show that IMO really failed with themes.  I use the plural, because it's one show, and more than one bad theme.  For me it's even more poignant when it's a genuinely good show with bad theme music.

 

This music for the otherwise great "Boy Meets World" was always a real WTF for me.  So... it's basically SURF music (but BLAND surf music) for a show set in the 90s?  Bwwwwhuh?:

 

And IMO this, although it had lyrics that namechecked the show, wasn't much better:

 

That second one succeeded in getting a very contemporary sound to the 90s when it was shot, but what they failed to do was make the theme interesting in any way.  It was like the blandest track on any soft-grungy album out at that time.

 

Then there's the original theme for the show.  Which IMO is the best of them, even if it's not stupendous.  It's got good parts and bad parts all in the same tune.  At the very least it's at least NOT totally generic and/or bland.  Likely it's biggest "problem" was that it was 60 seconds and not 30, and when they got some mandate to give the network their extra 30 seconds and tried to cut it down, they realized that the first 30 seconds suck, while it's the LAST 30 seconds that are okay-ish (and you can't slice it down that way so they had to ditch it).

Edited May 12, 2014 by Kromm

[spaceytraci1208]

Ok, clearly I need a tutorial lol...how do.you all get the videos to appear in your posts? I used the "link" icon and got nothin ...

[Kromm]

Ok, clearly I need a tutorial lol...how do.you all get the videos to appear in your posts? I used the "link" icon and got nothin ...

DON'T use the link button.  That... makes a link.

 

You want an embed.  Now logically there should be an embed button, just like there's a link button, but for some reason in this version of the board software they changed from having that to just treating ANY valid YouTube URL as an embed.  So you just copy the video URL (from the address bar while you are watching the video) and paste it in the message (best formatting, on it's own line).

[spaceytraci1208]

DON'T use the link button. That... makes a link.

You want an embed. Now logically there should be an embed button, just like there's a link button, but for some reason in this version of the board software they changed from having that to just treating ANY valid YouTube URL as an embed. So you just copy the video URL (from the address bar while you are watching the video) and paste it in the message (best formatting, on it's own line).

Appreciate it, thanks!

[Kromm]

Branded was indeed a great one.

 

Not that the show was ANYTHING like Branded, but seeing that video, just the whole Western thing made me think of F-Troop.  A truly great theme too! (as well as really brilliantly expository AND hilarious)

 

 

Really this one has a special place in my heart (sure the show is horribly politically incorrect, but that theme song never left my memory--it used to be syndicated when I was a kid and was in one of those late night spots right before bedtime, so I'd see episodes with my Dad)

 

Actually apparently this is another case of lyrics being added later.  The pilot opening and theme were instead like this (without the lyrics and exposition--which seem to have been added after the series got picked up).

 

Edited May 12, 2014 by Kromm

[decembar13]

Come now, you know you wanna join in!

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YFk4b6yeX4

[Wilowy]

Taught this to daughter Willow just the other day! *snap snap* She loves it. 

[decembar13]

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles had amazing theme(s):

 

1. Opening

 

 

2. Ending

 

 

3. Samson and Delilah (personal favourite and, imho, hands down the best opening of any episode on television show ever)

 

[Rinaldo]

Show ending tunes (I think the technical term might be outro). ...

Ending credits are in a way even more "dead" than main ones. Even the versions without music--just the text credits scrolling--is gone from most broadcast TV now (or sped up so much it's irrelevant). 

 

I urge us all to resist the use of "outro" -- I know it's in use, and therefore I can't take issue with anyone using it here, but it offends me both as a musician and a teacher of writing. It's a false formation: if "intro" is short for "introduction," is outro short for "outroduction"? Just "end-title music" should do fine. "Postlude" would be accurate usage but nobody uses it for TV. I rather like "playout," but I may be unique there.

 

Even in times when shows had such end music, it often went unheard because the network would cut out the audio so they could make their own special announcements. This was especially true when a show was the last one in prime time for the evening -- the network had to tease you for the 11:00 news. Sometimes I never heard this music until the show went into syndication or home video. A prime example was the end-title music for Remington Steele. It was an arrangement of Henry Mancini's "Theme for Laura" (whether by him or by series composer Richard Lewis Warren), which underscored the main titles of Season 1 of the series (I can't find it in that form online) and often was used within an episode. Here is how it was played over the end credits. This is the YouTube poster's own synthesized approximation/extension of the orchestral original, but it's remarkably faithful.

 

[AimingforYoko]

Since we're doing old themes, here's one that I'm sure most people only know from Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill:

Quincy Jones, natch.

Edited May 13, 2014 by AimingforYoko

[Kromm]

------------------------------

New sub-topic:  Gameshow theme songs!

 

The funkiest, the grooviest, for me has ALWAYS been this one--Match Game!  I'm not saying its even the best piece of music for a game show theme, but it was COOL.

 

 

Really compared to a lot of other kinds of broadcast TV shows, overall gameshow themes are pretty universally interesting.  There's TONS to talk about with them. I won't list 'em all here though, since if I leave this open I'm SURE other people will (and if they miss any I'll pipe back in).

Edited May 13, 2014 by Kromm

[WhoAmIWorkingFor]

Crime Story, featuring Del Shannon's "Runaway."

 

 

It fits the shinier Vegas opening a little better than the Chicago one, though it's still period-appropriate.

[AimingforYoko]

Didn't Del do a version strictly for the show? (The one we heard in the video)

[WhoAmIWorkingFor]

Yes, the Crime Story version was a new recording with different lyrics.

[twotrey]

Just so the thread doesn't get too high brow, I don't think anyone has mentioned 'Perfect Strangers',

 

One of my favorites... the original, full-length seasons 1-2 version that is, which feels like a completely thought out song, with the breakdown at the end, and I much preferred the general arrangement.  Apparently there was a proper, long version of the song recorded that was never released.  The shortened, re-recorded version from seasons 3 onward was obviously supposed to "amp it up," so to speak, with the added vocal improvs, but it ended up feeling  watered down.

 

 

I'm an unabashed fan of the Punky Brewster theme.  It makes me happy.

 

 

Some of my true favorites, though, are from short-lived shows.  Loved the sultry Crystal Gayle-sung theme to Masquerade (between the song and visuals, obviously going for a faux-Bond vibe):

 

 

And then probably my all time favorite... the soulful jam that opened Equal Justice:

 

 

A theme I'm still not sure if I like or loathe... from the short lived medical drama HeartBeat.  The wordless, harmonized wails to a backbeat are completely WTF, but they've been ringing in my head for the last 20 or so years.

 

[Rinaldo]

And then probably my all time favorite... the soulful jam that opened Equal Justice... A theme I'm still not sure if I like or loathe... from the short lived medical drama HeartBeat. 

Aw, twotrey. You've made me very happy this morning. I remember both those series fondly and thought I was the only one who did. Cop Rock even saluted Equal Justice in its finale song.

[DXD526]

Always a favorite from a show that made the breaking of the fourth wall a regular theme -

 

 

[yourpointis]

Read all the entries but not sure if any of these were mentioned. 

 

Night Gallery's theme music as a kid would scare the crap out of me more than any epidose ever did.

 

 

 

 

Waltons was just serene. 

 

 

 

Dukes of Hazzard - hokey good times

 

 

Six Million Dollar Man - although there was only 5 sec of music, I always enjoyed this intro, but as a kid I never once thought how in the heck did he survive that crash landing on earth. 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5zn-mF2-_8

[roseha]

Elementary has 30-second credits, but sometimes they run shorter ones for time.

 

 

That theme and opening make me want to watch the show!

Regarding classic shows, my favorites are Green Acres - love the way Eddie and Eva sing the theme - The Fugitive, Mission Impossible.

More recently, the original theme for Law and Order CI as Wendy says.

Edited June 8, 2014 by roseha

[twotrey]

Aw, twotrey. You've made me very happy this morning. I remember both those series fondly and thought I was the only one who did. Cop Rock even saluted Equal Justice in its finale song.

 

Yes, a shout out since Equal Justice was going to take over the Cop Rock timeslot.  Speaking of Cop Rock, I met Peter Onorati a couple of days ago at a film festival, and we had a great conversation about the show.  It clearly was a great experience for him (actually, others who were on the show that I've met have only had glowing things to say about the experience), and he enjoyed talking about it, and I got to tell him that for someone who had never sung at all before the show, he ended up being one of the strongest and most distinctive  voices (also helped he had the best character).  I will go to my grave thinking that show did have some decent songs... alas, the theme song wasn't one of them.  (How's that for a segue back to the topic?)  Not Randy Newman's best moment by any stretch of the imagination, and watching Barbara Bosson bob her head still cracks my shit up after all these years (though maybe not as much as her tuneless caterwauling during her musical numbers).

 

 

And speaking of people who had worked on Cop Rock, the show was boring as hell, but I liked how the MyNetworkTV telenovela Desire used Sheryl Crow's "Always on Your Side":

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMwcEFOnkbY

Edited June 6, 2014 by twotrey

[Charlie Baker]

Talk about a theme that WAY outclassed its show.

 

*Slinking into a corner after admitting I watched Desire*

[ZootSuitWyatt]

I agree with whoever mentioned the Clone High theme song (here it is, for those unfamiliar):

 

 

Also, these are my favorite lyrics to sing along to the Parks and Rec theme:

 

Edited June 6, 2014 by ZootSuitWyatt

[selkie]

From the derivative but worked well file, ESPN used the Joan Jett cover of the Mary Tyler Moore Show them song at one point for its NCAA women's basketball tournament coverage, and I really like it as a rock song:

 

 

Few songs say '1980s' as strongly to me as the Miami Vice theme. The music was so crucial to the show, and they needed a strong theme to not get swamped by the songs within the episode:

 

 

Underrates instrumental- My So-Called Life, which manages to capture the mood of Angela trying to figure so many things out (and dang, Jared Leto was also so very young then)

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KsqDCPKA2w

 

Among the reality shows, I also love The Amazing Race theme because it manages to tell the story of frantic travellers trying to desparately get from place to place and overcome the odds.

[Jamoche]

Masterpiece Theatre reminded me of Mystery, with animated Edward Gorey:

 

Edited June 6, 2014 by Jamoche

[Wilowy]

That Joan Jett take on MTM was awesome! 

 

What happened to the Miami Vice theme? It sounds weak and tepid and I remember it being loud and strong and rockin' for the time.

[Rinaldo]

That must be a very early version of the Miami Vice theme. It has Gregory Sierra as the captain, and he was killed after a few episodes to be replaced by Edward James Olmos. Also the opening "we have flamingos! we have water! we have jai alai!" montage is missing the famous "we have boobs!" shot.

[LGGirl]

Thanks for the thread. I forgot how many great TV themes there have been, especially from the classic shows. I remember as kids we would always sing the theme from the Banana Splits. Yeah I'm old.

My all time most hated theme: Homeland. It hurts my ears and agitates me. FF through it every time.

[GHScorpiosRule]

One I love is the theme to Who's The Boss?. It's catchy. and kinda sorta sounds like Cheers.

 

I also loved the theme to Simon & Simon, Hunter...and The Bugs Bunny Tweety Bird Show (don't judge me!)

[cynicat]

I had to go hunt down the Banana Splits theme because I'm old too. "Fleegle, Bingo, Drooper and Snork"

 

 

It made me remember another one that I loved, Top Cat.  This has the same theme for open/close, but the animation is different.

 

 

[Tippi]

If I was home alone, I would have to change the channel from the theme for Unsolved Mysteries with Robert Stack.  I would be busy looking out the windows to make sure no one was looking in or listening for footsteps in the kitchen.  Old, old school: Lassie (made me cry,) Perry Mason (50s sophisticated sexy,) Dark Shadows (running home to watch Barnabas!)

 

Modern:  HBO gets some great themes.  Loved Rome's music so much I bought the CD.  And the theme for the miniseries John Adams made me wish I was a figure skater so I could skate to it.

[Wilowy]

With you on the HBO music. Became curious about Ramin Djawadi after I became so addicted to the GoT theme that I was humming it daily for weeks. Still comes to me unbidden at odd times. Here's an extended version showing ALL the castles! Gorgeous and powerful. 

 

[Rinaldo]

Perry Mason was just mentioned. That was a regular part of my family's Saturday-evening routine, Swimming lessons for my brother and me at the Y (dad was one of the teachers), then home for burgers and TV. Jackie Gleason and Westerns were often part of the lineup, but Perry Mason stood out. And for me, largely because of the theme: for what was supposed to be a light whodunit, that sounded like awfully ominous, even scary music to me. Those threatening introductory interjections! the heavy bass triplets when the beat gets going! the minor-key tune! the dramatic trills when it repeats! Now, looking back half a century later, it just makes me smile like the sight of an old friend. All the main-title clips I could find were too short, so here is an extended (maybe overextended) concert rendition.

 

 

And here is Fred Steiner talking about composing it.

[twotrey]

The Banana Splits theme made me think of other kids' show themes I loved.

 

Zoobilee Zoo:

 

 

3-2-1 Contact (clip is also about the making of the theme):

 

 

Today's Special:

 

 

Robotech:

 

 

Beverly Hills Teens:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-t3NuNl1EU

 

And best of all... Jem (funny how everyone knows this theme song when it was only really used for a handful of episodes; the "Jem Girl" theme was more commonly used):

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRyDxEBiQUY

 

 

[MarkHB]

I don't think we've mentioned this one, which was legendary, and one of the first all-electronic pieces ever recorded for television (all the more impressive considering all the arranger had to work with was a theremin and analog equipment....)

 

 

Delia Derbyshire, I hope you know that by the time the 50th anniversary arrived, you finally got an on-screen credit.

 

So far as the Bonanza song goes, I consider it tainted by its awful lyrics:

 

The less said about this bit, the better:

[Kromm]

Heh.  Only years later did it occur to me that Jem has like the same makeup as KISS, but pink and purple.

And best of all... Jem (funny how everyone knows this theme song when it was only really used for a handful of episodes; the "Jem Girl" theme was more commonly used):

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRyDxEBiQUY

[mightycrone]

Great thread that has brought back quite a few memories.  A few oldies to add:

 

Wild, Wild West

The Odd Couple

Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist

 

All instrumental-- very different feel.

[twotrey]

One of my favorite instrumental themes, the uber-'80s synthpop of Nightingales (great editing on this open as well, nicely timed to the ebbs and flows of the rhythm... and this show in general was one of my faves.  So what if it emphasized the student nurses' aerobics classes and time in the shower room over actual, you know, student nursing?  This was Aaron Spelling after all...)