This article from Billboard simultaneously celebrates the original TV theme song and mourns its demise. Billboard has tallied the 10 biggest singles derived from the opening credits of your favorite shows, and while such memorable themes as those from Miami Vice, The Rockford Files (my own favorite on this list), Cops, and Welcome Back, Kotter make the cut, none of them is newer than 15 years old. (Surprisingly, the Rembrandts’ Friends ditty did not make the top 10.) These days, shows are more likely to use pre-existing music for themes, if indeed they use theme music at all.
What’s behind the decline of original TV theme songs? The article suggests it’s cheaper to license familiar tunes than to commission new ones, but there seems to be an even more obvious culprit: in the age of the remote and the DVR, shows don’t want you to lose interest for even a few seconds at the beginning of the half hour, lest you change the channel, and theme songs are a big time-killer.
I don’t mind the use of pre-composed music as TV themes as long as the song complements the show (though I fear I’ll never be able to listen to "Won’t Get Fooled Again" by the Who again without imagining David Caruso whipping off his shades and muttering a mordant quip). Still, I miss original TV theme songs, don’t you? Which original TV tunes did you like best and why? And which of the few remaining original TV themes from current shows would you buy as a single or a download?
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Fat Albert.
One Day at a Time. Greatest American Hero. Courtship of Eddie’s Father.
I like the theme songs for Psych, The Big Bang Theory and the original theme for Monk (NOT the lame-ass Randy Newman song).
The Addams Family theme comes immediately to mind as a favorite. So does the original Dark Shadows theme. I most recently bought the theme to Deadwood on iTunes because I enjoyed the instrumental with fiddles so much.
What I want to know is where is the theme from Cheers, and the “moving on up” song?
Yeah, and Fat Albert too.
I’m assuming this includes themes that are instrumentals since the list does contain some of those:
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Secret Agent Man — They got that right! So cool!
Cheers
What about Star Trek? It’s a classic.
A-Team
Hawaii Five-O
The Prisoner — great opening montage.
Twilight Zone
Batman
Gilligan’s Island
I shouted out Greatest American Hero before I even saw the list. So when I saw it on there, I actually started singing the whole song! I was just a lttle kid(9-11 yrs old) when it was one but had a huge crush on William Katt! Oh, did I just admit that?!!
The only thing that doesn’t suck about the Big Bang Theory is its theme song, but only because it’s performed by the Barenaked Ladies.
The theme from S.W.A.T.
I actually have a lot of TV themes on the IPod, including Fat Albert, Rockford Files and Law and Order (original, with the voice over “In the criminal justice system…) My favorite is the theme from Miami Vice, just cuz it is sooooooo 80s.
The Big Bang Theory has a pretty cool theme song.
Some of my favorite times are turning on Nick at Nite and singing along to the sort of sitcom cheese-tastic theme song they just don’t make any more and we still know all the words to (Full House, Family Matters, Fresh Prince.)
I guess my favorite current theme music is Mad Men, 30 Rock and Boston Legal (say what you want about the show, but the theme music is funky).
I can’t believe the theme from “Cheers” didn’t make that list. Because, really, sometimes you really do want to go where everybody knows your name.
“The Facts of Life” and “Different Strokes” are tops for me. “Golden Girls” is pretty boss too. “Fat Albert” was AWESOME.
A friend of mine has the “Walker Texas Ranger” theme as a ringtone, and it’s soooo deliciously awful. It’s so awesomely awful that everytime his phone rings, Chuck Norris punches an angel.
Oh, man – and “The Jeffersons”!!! Yes.
(And thanks to the mention of Fat Albert I’m going to be walking around work for possibly the next couple days going “bwow buh bwow, buh bwow, buh bwow . . . “)
I always liked the theme from Friends… and it’s short, but I also love the Firefly theme.
Um, hello? What about Magnum?!? You can’t forget that one!
“Come and knock on our door, we’ve been waiting for you…”
um… degrassi the next generation!!! hello!!! that’s one of the best theme songs in the history of theme songs.
Beverly Hillbillies (The Theme of Jed Clampett – Flatt & Scrugss)
Dukes of Hazzard (Waylon Jennings)
The theme from the Bionic Woman (original series)
The theme to Chuck (and accompanying graphics) is all sorts of awesome.
What? No “Growing Pains” love? A friend of mine and I even did a lip sync to it in high school. I wonder if that video tape still exists.
Show me that smile again…
Fave oldie: theme songs from Cheers and MASH. New fave (and I HAVE tried unsuccessfully to download it!) is the theme from Psych on USA Network; it’s by “The Friendly Indians” or something like that, very Bob-Dylan-like but playful.
FYI, the theme song used for Chuck is an established pop song already, not made-for-the-show…
oooh, oooh, I know, the theme from The Jetsons! And Scooby Doo, Where Are You? Guess there’d have to be a separate list of all our “cartoon” fave themes! Now THOSE types of shows DO still feature themes — Emperor’s New Groove, Phineas and Ferb, Kim Possible… fun stuff!
How can you not rock out everytime you hear the Buffy theme song?
Psych
A-Team
Airwolf
Weeds
old theme to the Unit
oh and King of the Hill
the theme song to The Office, of course! you just can’t help but hum along
The Love Boat song comes to mind. Also, Simon & Simon, Hogan’s Heroes.
The OC
How I Met Your Mother