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BEST REGULAR SHOW OPENING THEME SONG
- Thread starter gregg75
- Start date
Petticoat Junction. 3 lyrically different versions of the same song due to star Bea Benaderet's death in 1968. The show was on through the 1969-1970 season.
"I Love Lucy". The closing theme is nice and long.
The first, not as well remembered, closing theme to "Dragnet 1967". A pleasant, chintzy little march.
The dynamic closing theme to "Emergency", the 1970 show about Paramedics. Now, I don't like the opening, which is hardly a musical theme, actually.
I agree with "Gilligan's Island". Like The Beverly Hillbillies, they had relevant different lyrics for the open and closing of the show.
My all-time favorite TV show is "Lost In Space", and I particularly like the theme from Seasons 1 and 2.
There are lots more I like, but I'll stop for now.
"I Love Lucy". The closing theme is nice and long.
The first, not as well remembered, closing theme to "Dragnet 1967". A pleasant, chintzy little march.
The dynamic closing theme to "Emergency", the 1970 show about Paramedics. Now, I don't like the opening, which is hardly a musical theme, actually.
I agree with "Gilligan's Island". Like The Beverly Hillbillies, they had relevant different lyrics for the open and closing of the show.
My all-time favorite TV show is "Lost In Space", and I particularly like the theme from Seasons 1 and 2.
There are lots more I like, but I'll stop for now.
The Andy Griffith Show
Hawaii Five-O
The Twlight Zone
The Addams Family
Mission Impossible
Star Trek - Both the original series and The Next Generation
Although I don't remember seeing it, Peter Gunn
Hawaii Five-O
The Twlight Zone
The Addams Family
Mission Impossible
Star Trek - Both the original series and The Next Generation
Although I don't remember seeing it, Peter Gunn
I think the best are:
Hawaii Five-O
Mission Impossible
The Rockford Files
Perry Mason
Two somewhat forgotten cop show themes that are very good are Barnaby Jones and Police Woman.
Hawaii Five-O
Mission Impossible
The Rockford Files
Perry Mason
Two somewhat forgotten cop show themes that are very good are Barnaby Jones and Police Woman.
...although there are no lyrics, nor are they vocalised -- thus, not *songs* per se -- I've always been very partial to both Laurie Johnson's piece for The Avengers (the Rigg and Thorson seasons, I'll pass on Johnny Dankworth's earlier theme) and Alan Hawkshaw's "Blarney's Stoned" (originally "Studio 69"), which was used for Dave Allen at Large...
Here Come The Brides (Seattle)
St. Elsewhere
Maverick
The Lone Ranger Overture by Rossini
The Adventures of Robin Hood
Dragnet
Hawaii Five-O
Cheers
The Ballad of Jed Clampett
Suicide is Painless (MASH)
Ducktales
The Mickey Mouse Club March
Zorro
St. Elsewhere
Maverick
The Lone Ranger Overture by Rossini
The Adventures of Robin Hood
Dragnet
Hawaii Five-O
Cheers
The Ballad of Jed Clampett
Suicide is Painless (MASH)
Ducktales
The Mickey Mouse Club March
Zorro
Maverick
77 Sunset Strip
Bat Masterson
Wild Wild West
M-Squad
77 Sunset Strip
Bat Masterson
Wild Wild West
M-Squad
Chuck Tiller said:
I recall that the Police Squad opening - which used the Quinn Martin voice-over guy, and the QM "Tonight's episode..." bit, was otherwise a parody of the M Squad opening, including the music.
F
FreddyE1977
Guest
I wonder if the theme music from Star Trek: Enterprise would even qualify?
It was after all just a dead knock-off copy of the Rod Stewart ballad "Faith of the Heart".
Probably a bit too good of a copy, as they changed the beat and tempo for Season 2
(I would guess they got a call from Rod's lawyer)
It's not a great piece of music, but for some reason the theme to The X-Files is
stuck in my head.....in my head.....in my head....
It was after all just a dead knock-off copy of the Rod Stewart ballad "Faith of the Heart".
Probably a bit too good of a copy, as they changed the beat and tempo for Season 2
(I would guess they got a call from Rod's lawyer)
It's not a great piece of music, but for some reason the theme to The X-Files is
stuck in my head.....in my head.....in my head....
Quinn Martin used various narrators on his shows:
On The Fugitive: William Conrad (The REAL Marshall Matt Dillon), whom Martin later cast as "Cannon."
On The Untouchables: Walter Winchell ("Good evening, Mr and Mrs. America and all the ships at sea")
On The FBI: Marvin Miller ("My name is Michael Anthony")
Marvin Miller also did the opening narration on Police Squad but is best known for handing out cashiers checks for $1-million (the taxes have already been paid) to people chosen by his anonymous employer as part of his hobby studying human nature. He did voice work narrating a lot of shows and doing voices for cartoon characters (like Aquaman). He was the voice of Robbie the Robot in Forbidden Planet.
On The Fugitive: William Conrad (The REAL Marshall Matt Dillon), whom Martin later cast as "Cannon."
On The Untouchables: Walter Winchell ("Good evening, Mr and Mrs. America and all the ships at sea")
On The FBI: Marvin Miller ("My name is Michael Anthony")
Marvin Miller also did the opening narration on Police Squad but is best known for handing out cashiers checks for $1-million (the taxes have already been paid) to people chosen by his anonymous employer as part of his hobby studying human nature. He did voice work narrating a lot of shows and doing voices for cartoon characters (like Aquaman). He was the voice of Robbie the Robot in Forbidden Planet.
MattParker said:
And Quinn Martin's "voice-over guy" was Hank Sims (sp?), who missed his chance at fame in 1957. He'd been the announcer on Johnny Carson's CBS daytime show the previous year; when Carson got "Who Do You Trust?" he wanted Sims as his announcer, even going so far as to show up in pajamas and bathrobe at Sims' house at 7 AM to try to persuade him to take the job. The problem was that doing "Who Do You Trust?" required moving to New York, and Sims and his family didn't want to leave California. When Carson got "The Tonight Show" he tried again to get Sims to come to New York and be his sidekick, and again was turned down. It certainly would have been different seeing Carson teamed with Sims instead of Ed McMahon.
Last I heard, Sims was retired and living in Arkansas.
I should also mention something about Marvin Miller and "The
Millionaire": Michael Anthony's employer was not anonymous;
his name was John Beresford Tipton (whose face was shown,
I think, only once, when Anthony was arrested while delivering
a check and Tipton had to come down and bail him out). Tipton's
voice was provided by Paul Frees, although he was never given
screen credit.
Interestingly, Miller was seven years older than Frees, although
Anthony was about 20-30 years younger than Tipton. The two
actors, ironically, died about a year apart, both of heart attacks:
Miller in 1985, Frees in 1986.
Millionaire": Michael Anthony's employer was not anonymous;
his name was John Beresford Tipton (whose face was shown,
I think, only once, when Anthony was arrested while delivering
a check and Tipton had to come down and bail him out). Tipton's
voice was provided by Paul Frees, although he was never given
screen credit.
Interestingly, Miller was seven years older than Frees, although
Anthony was about 20-30 years younger than Tipton. The two
actors, ironically, died about a year apart, both of heart attacks:
Miller in 1985, Frees in 1986.
bpatrick said:
The premise of The Millionaire was that Tipton was anonymous to the recipients and to everyone else - except Michael Anthony and the banker (who occasionally delivered checks). In the show, Tipton's identity and his hobby were revealed only after his death. In his opening, Anthony (Miller) tells us "Before his death, I was executive secretary to the the fabulously wealthy John Bersford Tipton, who pursued the unusual hobby of giving away, tax-free, one million dollars to persons he had never even met."
I'm pretty sure it was Hank Sims - the regular QM voiceover guy who did the Police Squad voiceover, not Marvin Miller. Sims was the logical choice for a parody anyway - by the early 70s, when Quninn Martin had multiple shows on multiple networks (Barnaby Jones, Cannon, Streets of San Francisco, Dan August), Sims was doing all the voiceovers. Sims also did the "brought to you by" tags on the end of the Mannix and Mission Impossible openings, and priobably a number of others I can't recall.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4hZmKj-CiM
Back to the subject of the thread - I don't know if I'd call it "best," but the opening theme I still can't get out of my head is St. Elsewhere. I'll catch myself humming it to this day, at odd times, and for no apparent reason.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4hZmKj-CiM
Back to the subject of the thread - I don't know if I'd call it "best," but the opening theme I still can't get out of my head is St. Elsewhere. I'll catch myself humming it to this day, at odd times, and for no apparent reason.
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