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Best TV Theme Song

C

cspotrun

Guest
I'll throw out a few, Route 66, The Avengers, The Saint, Untouchables, Mission Impossible, Twilight Zone, The Odd Couple.
 
"Best" is in the ear of the beholder, I suppose.
My personal favorites: "Hill Street Blues" (I can't
seem to stop talking about that show), "Mannix,"
and "The Bob Newhart Show" ('70s version).
 
bpatrick said:
"Best" is in the ear of the beholder, I suppose.
My personal favorites: "Hill Street Blues" (I can't
seem to stop talking about that show), "Mannix,"
and "The Bob Newhart Show" ('70s version).
Click to expand...

I was just going to mention Mannix and Perry Mason.
 
The Andy Griffith Show - Since she was 2 my 6 year old daughter would sit up and take notice every time she heard it on the TV, and when she got big enough she would say "I love that song!" Now any time she hears it she says "That's Andy Griffith!" ;D

I'd also vote for The Twilight Zone and Hawaii Five-O.
 
How about best TV theme composers?

Earle Hagen (Andy Griffith, Dick Van Dyke, Gomer Pyle, The Mod Squad...styles ranging from country/folk to big band stomp to Sousa-style military march* to rock, not to mention the indelible incidental music heard on Andy Griffith)

Mike Post (The Rockford Files, Hill Street, Magnum, LA Law, NYPD Blue)

Hoyt Curtin (Most of the Hanna-Barbera music, but The Flintsotnes and The Jetsons really stand out)

Bernard Herrmann (So much over the years in TV and movies)

Henry Mancini (We associate him with movies, but he also did Peter Gunn, Newhart, and lest we forget, the haunting and melodious "Viewer Mail" theme from Letterman)

*Speaking of Sousa, what would he think about "Liberty Bell March" being the theme of a TV comedy show about dead parrots, Spam, and cross-dressing lumberjacks?

Any others?
 
Dave Grusin for the St. Elsewhere theme. Any of you ever try to come up with your own words for the instrumental themes? I did! ;D

John Sebastian for the Welcome Back Kotter theme. He said he was glad that he didn't have to use Kotter's name in the song, because all he could find to rhyme with "Kotter" was "otter." ;D If he had had to use the teacher's name in the theme song, it would have been "welcome back, someone else"! ;D

I never watched Kotter, so it wasn't until many years later that I saw a Kotter rerun, and heard Travolta/Barbarino say, "up your nose with a rubber hose." When I heard that, I said, "so that's where all the kids at school got that line! ;D :D
 
There were so many great themes in TV history. Unfortunately, current show themes just "suck.' Sure, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but when was the last time a TV theme actually charted? And how many of us use them as talkover beds now?

It still occurs in Latin TV where telenovela themes make the charts, but not in America.

One of my favorite oft-forgotten is the sax lead "Cagney and Lacey." But I would also have second the vote for "Route 66."
 
Corky Marlowe said:
Henry Mancini (We associate him with movies, but he also did Peter Gunn, Newhart, and lest we forget, the haunting and melodious "Viewer Mail" theme from Letterman)
Click to expand...

Add What's Happening and The Pink Panther to Mancini's arsenal of memorable ditties.
 
Any that are heard on the radio to which you know at least some of the words or it sticks in your head or make you think of the show years later. Mine run the gamut:

-Hill Street Blues
-Dynasty
-Dallas
-Chips
-Greatest American Hero
-Charles in Charge
-Rockford Files
-Welcome Back Kotter
-The Love Boat
-LA Law
-Family Feud
-Pyramid
-Match Game
-The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
 
Hawaii Five-O, Twilight Zone, Love Boat

I would also throw in: Gilligan's Island and Mystery Science Theatre 3000. Why? Because they told the "background" plot of the show in less than a minute, which is pretty impressive, and they both have a good theme.

Favorite TV Theme Song Parody Theme Song is "Family Guy's Maude" (Google: ""Maude" "Family Guy"")
 
notalkallstatic said:
Hawaii Five-O, Twilight Zone, Love Boat

I would also throw in: Gilligan's Island and Mystery Science Theatre 3000. Why? Because they told the "background" plot of the show in less than a minute, which is pretty impressive, and they both have a good theme.

Favorite TV Theme Song Parody Theme Song is "Family Guy's Maude" (Google: ""Maude" "Family Guy"")
Click to expand...

On the subject of TV theme parodies...one of the best was the "Stairway to Heaven" arrangement applied to the Gilligan's Island theme song by Little Roger and the Goosebumps. Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin) considered it the best "cover" version of Stairway." It really wasn't technically a cover because the tune was an odd combination of Stairway and the Gilligan's theme. I believe I first heard it on Dr. Demento's radio program:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTCYLbFxTpI
 
Corky Marlowe said:
How about best TV theme composers?

Earle Hagen (Andy Griffith, Dick Van Dyke, Gomer Pyle, The Mod Squad...styles ranging from country/folk to big band stomp to Sousa-style military march* to rock, not to mention the indelible incidental music heard on Andy Griffith)

Mike Post (The Rockford Files, Hill Street, Magnum, LA Law, NYPD Blue)

Hoyt Curtin (Most of the Hanna-Barbera music, but The Flintsotnes and The Jetsons really stand out)

Bernard Herrmann (So much over the years in TV and movies)

Henry Mancini (We associate him with movies, but he also did Peter Gunn, Newhart, and lest we forget, the haunting and melodious "Viewer Mail" theme from Letterman)

*Speaking of Sousa, what would he think about "Liberty Bell March" being the theme of a TV comedy show about dead parrots, Spam, and cross-dressing lumberjacks?

Any others?
Click to expand...

Frank DeVol who wrote the themes for Family Affair, The Brady Bunch, My Three Sons, Dusty's Trail, Fernwood Tonight, and several motion picture scores.
 
Hawaii 5-0, Patty Duke Show, St. Elsewhere, It's Garry Shandling Show.

I dream of Jeannie, Hugo Montenegro. I just like saying....Hugo Montenegro, makes you want to go to some hip club in Manhattan circa 1959 wearing a fez,
 
and here's a vote for The Dragnet Theme also Naked City and since its been on so long The Simpsons... and of special note..
the opening music to "That Was The Week That Was" (TW3)which was the same song but the lyrics changed with the weeks news headlines..
 
Legend City said:
I just like saying....Hugo Montenegro, makes you want to go to some hip club in Manhattan circa 1959 wearing a fez,
Click to expand...

Yo Legend--

Wearing a fez? ;D

I didn't know Bill Johnson's Big Apple was a hip club.
Do they have valet parking for '76 Gremlins?

(It's a PHX radio board joke, folks.)
 
cspotrun said:
and here's a vote for The Dragnet Theme also Naked City and since its been on so long The Simpsons... and of special note..
the opening music to "That Was The Week That Was" (TW3)which was the same song but the lyrics changed with the weeks news headlines..
Click to expand...

How could I forget Dragnet and Peter Gunn was good too.
 
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