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Lousy theme songs

onairb said:
...the next theme was used for the following two seasons(with the 'Booker T' sax solo, and Cosby's 'This is the best elevator music I ever heard!' line), and the final theme(a hip-hop trumpet version by Lester Bowie), which had been intended for season 7, was instead delayed to season 8.
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I believe the Season 8 open was used for the first couple of seasons of Season 7, but was delayed due to the lawsuit in regards to the rights of the mural artwork, promoting the producers to recycle the previous season's open instead, the first time a theme was used for more than one season.
 
onairb said:
Yeah that '88-'89 'ballet' opening for The Cosby Show was the point when the kids were no longer cute, Cos started phoning it in, and nearly every episode seemed to be about how cuckolded all of the men were. Ironically, the next theme was used for the following two seasons(with the 'Booker T' sax solo, and Cosby's 'This is the best elevator music I ever heard!' line), and the final theme(a hip-hop trumpet version by Lester Bowie), which had been intended for season 7, was instead delayed to season 8.
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Oddly enough, the 88-89 opening theme was my favorite from all the seasons. '90-'91 was my least favorite, because it was re-used (save for the omitted "elevator music" line). I remember always looking forward to a new Cosby Show season to see what the theme would be like.

It's quite odd to see the original mural opening before it was pulled, as Lisa Bonet is in it...(skip to about :23)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTlFrDMuSnY
 
I couldn't stand the theme song to the '80s sitcom "It's A Living," with the cast singing a Broadway-style tune. That was always piercing to my eardrums. Another one I didn't care for, just due to its sappiness, was the theme to "Webster."

As far as theme songs for current shows, I'd have to rate the abomination that is "The Big Bang Theory" theme by the Barenaked Ladies to the list. I never cared for BNL's brand of "whimsy" lyrics, which they lend to TBBT's theme as well.
 
jfrancispastirchak said:
Much to my surprise, nobody's mentioned the Golden Girls theme song, Thank You For Being A Friend. Agonizing I tell ya...
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Andrew Gold sang it better. Never liked George Alison Tipton's cloying music scores for that and other Susan Harris sitcoms. (Wasn't that The Millionaire? No, wait, that was John Beresford Tipton)
 
FredLeonard said:
If you remember it and correctly associate it with a program, it's not lousy.
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...if you remember it negatively and correctly associate it with a program, it's worse than lousy...
 
To me Three's Company had a lousy theme. The show was about young adults in the 70's, but why did the theme song sound like it was being sung by a Vegas lounge lizard?

The Cosby Show themes were mixed bag to me. I liked the doo wop version by Bobby McFerrin and the version where the cast is dancing in front of the sign for the Apollo Theater. But the ballet version was the worst.
 
The King Bee said:
Agreed, rnigma! Give me Herbert Spencer, Earle Hagen, Wilbur Hatch, Mahlon Merrick or Frank DeVol anytime! For more modern stuff, it's Mike Post for me...
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I'd add Lalo Schifrin. "Mission: Impossible" and "Mannix" are two of the catchiest theme songs ever.

And don't forget the great Henry Mancini; the "Peter Gunn" theme has to be some kind of classic. I was never as fond of the "Newhart" theme (which Mancini wrote) as I was the '70s "Bob Newhart Show," however.

I also never cared much for the new arrangement of "Those Were The Days" for "Archie Bunker's Place." And if you want to hit rock bottom, try Steve Lawrence's singing of the theme for the short-lived 1981 "Aloha Paradise," which sounded like a poor imitation of the "Love Boat" theme, or his wife Eydie Gorme's singing the "Life With Lucy" theme, which probably few people remember since the show was canceled so quickly (Wilbur Hatch could rest easy).
 
The latter years' Gimme a Break theme song did nothing for me. The earlier seasons, especially the very first season, was the best one for me. I have a theme-song CD which has maybe the second or third season's theme song on it. Of course, the show itself later went downhill, in the Joey Lawrence years.

Alice! Of course, any show which is nothing more than a thinly-veiled attempt to make a singing star out of its lead actress (and yes, this applies to Gimme A Break, as well. Seems like Linda Lavin and Nell Carter (their characters) were always auditioning for plays. Any excuse to break out in song!

Likewise, Life Goes On. Give me the Beatles' version of "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" over this dreck! Yeah, I know, expensive song royalties, but again, this show was nothing more than an excuse for Patti Lupone to sing at the drop of a hat!
 
I have to change the channel when I hear the theme from Frasier. I know a lot of people must like it, but not only do I think it is stupid, it gives me a headache.
 
I'd also consider so many of the over synthesized theme songs of shows from the 70's and 80's, but wouldn't know where to start in that area. ::)
 
Lkeller said:
My vote has to be Aliceas well. Not a bad tune - might have been fine with a decent singer, but Linda Lavin was not it.
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Sounded like a low-budget attempt at preserving the Broadway feel of Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, the stage production on which the TV show was based.
 
skippercollector said:
I have to change the channel when I hear the theme from Frasier. I know a lot of people must like it, but not only do I think it is stupid, it gives me a headache.
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Yes, but, at 30-seconds or less, it's more of a sound-byte than a theme song. Thankfully!

The Frasier theme sounds to me like a worthy attempt at capturing the laughably pompous nature of it's title character. A sidenote: had 'Frasier' not been surrounded by so many exposively funny foils, ie Roz, Daphne and Marty, I doubt the show would have run more than one season.
 
jfrancispastirchak said:
Lkeller said:
My vote has to be Aliceas well. Not a bad tune - might have been fine with a decent singer, but Linda Lavin was not it.
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Sounded like a low-budget attempt at preserving the Broadway feel of Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, the stage production on which the TV show was based.
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When was Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore a stage production? The TV show was based on the 1974 film - directed by Martin Scorcese, and starring Ellenn Burstyn as Alice. Burstyn won the Best Actress Oscar that year for this role
 
Lkeller said:
jfrancispastirchak said:
.
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When was Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore a stage production? The TV show was based on the 1974 film - directed by Martin Scorcese, and starring Ellenn Burstyn as Alice. Burstyn won the Best Actress Oscar that year for this role
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Well, you are more right than I am. Got the time line twisted; attributing the TV sitcom to a "stage production" was incorrect. Yes, Alice was adapted from the Martin Scorcese film. A stage production was planned however, but much later, in 2011, and at the West End in London, not on Broadway. Ellen Burstyn was to reappear, presumably in a reprise of her movie role. My research today could only dig up the 2011 "plan". Can't find any reviews.
 
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