Monday, September 07, 2009

TV THEME SONGS


Walt Disney reading.

THE CLEVELAND PLAIN DEALER took a look at TV theme songs a few weeks ago.

I guess the ones we like the most accompanied the shows we liked the most. My favorites would include THE ROCKFORD FILES, CHEERS, THIRTY-SOMETHING. Want to listen to some, go here.

What's your favorite?



PS. FRIDAY'S FORGOTTEN BOOKS RETURNS THIS FRIDAY. HOPE YOU HAVE A BOOK TO TALK ABOUT.

PPS If you have ION network, which is on our basic cable, DURHAM COUNTY premieres tonight. Supposed to be north country noir.

30 comments:

George said...

Any TV theme by Mike Post: THE ROCKFORD FILES, HILL STREET BLUES, HUNTER, MAGNUM, P.I, etc. Take your pick. They're all great!

David Cranmer said...

MAGNUM, P.I., S.W.A.T., PETER GUNN, M*A*S*H, HAVE GUN WILL TRAVEL, and THE TWILIGHT ZONE.

Chris said...

Yeah, I'll third MAGNUM. Also, for me, TWIN PEAKS. HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER, BUFFY, and VERONICA MARS inspire dance breaks in this house. And just to disprove your theory on shows we like having themes we like, FIREFLY's theme capital-S Sucked.

Paul D Brazill said...

The persuaders and The Protectors. Twin Peaks. Rockford. the simpsons.

pattinase (abbott) said...

Oh, some great ones here. And then there was SEINFELD.

Randy Johnson said...

I would have to say M*A*S*H and The Rockford Files, Bonanza. The Man From U.N.C.L.E.(all variations).
I was tempted to add all the CSIs because they are Who songs. But then they are minor Who songs.

Cullen Gallagher said...

Count me in for this Friday. Book read and cover scanned. Just need to write about it.

Clea Simon said...

"Who Are You?" is minor? Hmm.... but may I vote for the "Law & Order" theme? Bum-Bum!

Just read the NYT review of Durham County and set my DVR to record. And... they're not really forgottten books, but last Friday, I ended up blogging about the novels of Anthony Trollope: http://tinyurl.com/m3yjk6

Terrie Farley Moran said...

I'm with George--if Mike Post wrote it-- I can hum it with gusto.

Also, there is one particular Charlie Brown special that I love but alas, I can hum it but not remember the name of the show.

Terrie

John McFetridge said...

I always liked BARNEY MILLER and WELCOME BACK, KOTTER.

Glad to hear there's interest in DURHAM COUNTY.

R/T said...

There are plenty of iconic themes, but the older ones still float around in my aging mind: Twilight Zone, Bonanza, Gunsmoke, Burns and Allen, Palladin, and--one from the age of television dinosaurs--Amos and Andy (one of the most politically incorrect shows ever to be broadcast).

pierre l said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Jerry House said...

THE GREATEST AMERICAN HERO

pierre l said...

I do love thirtysomething

Richard Robinson said...

I hope when FFB returns, you'll include the ones from last Friday in your summary (including mine, of course).

One of my favorite whemes was the one for the MORSE series, braodcast here in the US on Mystery!.

Randy Johnson said...

Who Are You? Yes minor. I'm old enough to remember the Who when they were new. Their songs that I most strongly identify with are during my teenage years.

Kieran Shea said...

PATTY DUKE. "A hotdog makes her lose control..." Actually it was pills washed back with 7&&7. but why split hairs?

Oh. And F TROOP and THE PRISONER.

pattinase (abbott) said...

We just did Paladin at a party. Most of us could remember the entire song. Ha Patty Duke. You can't be old enough. Cousins, two of a kind.
Charlie Brown specials. I only remember that Christmas show album which we play endlessly. Oh, MASH for sure.
An article last week detailed a woman trying to get her kids to watch thirty something and how they just didn't get it. I loved it then.
I'll try to pick up forgotten books from Clea, Rick, etc.

pattinase (abbott) said...

And I remember THE GREATEST AMERICAN HERO for some reason. Wasn't on long but it stuck.

Eric Beetner said...

Oh I've got one for you. Check this out and tell me if it is not the most cheese-tastic open/theme song ever. Than bask in the glory that this was one of my first jobs in LA. I was the visual effects supervisor (such as they were) Needless to say this has fallen off my resume by now.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUz6erC-iCA

Barrie said...

The Mary Tyler Moore Show. LOVED that song!

the walking man said...

Rawhide played by the Blues Brothers comes immediately to mind.

pattinase (abbott) said...

I have been humming RAWHIDE since yesterday and I am blaming it on Mark.
MTM was such a cheerful song with the hat in the air feel to it.
Checking it out, Eric.

Richard Robinson said...

I still say the music from several PBS series: Morse, Sherlock Holmes, the P.D. James Dalglish mysteries, Miss Marple.

Chuck said...

Perhaps embarassing to admit, but I remember all the words to the Gilligan's Island song. "... a three hour tour ..." "the professor and Mary Ann, all on Gilligan's isle."

Juri said...

I was in a car stunt show earlier today with my kid and have to admit I got a great kick out of them using the theme of "Knight Rider".

Also, the original "Batman" (Neil Hefti) and of course the "Mission: Impossible". Anything by Lalo Schifrin anywhere gets my vote anytime.

Todd Mason said...

Hefti is also responsible for THE ODD COUPLE theme.

The SECRET AGENT harpsichord theme was as much fun as "Secret Agent Man."

Nickolodeon, the cable channel, endlessly reran THE PATTY DUKE SHOW in the '80s...and the GILLIGAN'S ISLAND theme's lyrics set to "Stairway to Heavean"'s tune might fuse it into the memory even for those of us who didn't waste so much time watching it in childhood. THE GREATEST AMERICAN HERO theme was a big radio hit for a while, much more successful than the series ("Believe it or not...").

The mildly obscure classical pieces appropriated for MASTERPIECE THEATER and FIRING LINE. The Sousa the PYTHONs took up.

I didn't hate the FIREFLY theme, though of course "The Ballad of Jed Clampett" was so vastly better than THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES that that might be the greatest gap in this wise.

THE SAINT, the ITC series.

Among the other appropriated songs, Boa's "Duvet" on SERIAL EXPERIMENTS: LAIN and Louis Armstrong's "Do You Know What It Means?" for FRANK'S PLACE.

pattinase (abbott) said...

Cousins, identical cousins...oh, I remember that. "You can lose your mind."

Todd Mason said...

Best interpretated tv soundtrack album: the Brubeck Quartet's JAZZ IMPRESSIONS OF NEW YORK, devoted to fleshed-out queues from the shortlived Craig Stevens vehicle MR. BROADWAY (they saved "Toki's Theme" for JAZZ IMPRESSIONS OF JAPAN).

Todd Mason said...

Before the Nick at Nite onslaught, I was put onto the PATTY DUKE theme by SCTV, with a riff they did on the song/sequence...Identical Cheese Hostesses (Catherine O'Hara)...Identical OPEC Oil Ministers (Eugene Levy, iirc)...