A lot of good ones used music already written such as M*A*S*H. Or THE SOPRANOS. And then there was SEINFELD's trick of using none and no credits either. Some were good in capturing the era or the theme of the show
Michael Shonk takes a look at TV theme music right here.
But my favorite, and to me most memorable, is this.
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I was going to go with the Space 1999 theme for the funky guitar:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLhdY6_juDk
and then, of course, it hit me. nothing...NOTHING beats this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rutX0I6NxU
Will play as soon as Phil arises. Already woke him once with MI.
Can't open Kieran's links so not sure if one is the theme to Peter Gunn, but that is my favorite.
Deb
Copy and paste the links. One is for Space 1999 and the other is Monty Python--AKA "The Liberty Bell" by John Philip Sousa
The theme to THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. is my favorite. I bought a couple import soundtrack CDs of THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. music. Jazzy!
I second George's pick. The MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. theme is just pure Sixties adventure to me. HAWAII FIVE-0 is a close second. Of shows still on the air, I'm partial to THE SIMPSONS.
THE PERSUADERS, by a wide margin.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykLCAfVa410
DANGER MAN also had a very cool theme.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLgNPYw9QMw
The Rockford Files would be my runner-up and I bet you can hum it.
Patti - Oh, that's definitely memorable!! Hmmm.. I have several theme songs I really like. The Mike Post theme to Hill Street Blues is great and there's nothing like the theme to The Rockford Files..
Everybody beat me to all the ones I like-except one.
Alexander Courage's Star Trek.
Oh, and we mustn't forget Pink Panther and Doctor Who.
Peter Gunn. Maybe I don't remember how to spell it.
Doctor Who
Hawai 5-0
ever wonder if it's a good thing that all this music is still in your head. Maybe I could do quantum physics if I could forget the tune to Sanford and Son.
And I bet everyone can sing "Oh, we're movin' on up/To the East Side/To the deluxe apartment in the sky..."
Deb
SEINFELD did have a theme...only in late episodes (perhaps...I gave up on the series) did they skip it entirely (as more and more series stop running discrete openings):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epb5HCZNBZQ
There were three MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. theme arrangements I heard in use on the series...the third one was pretty stiff, but the first and the second were nice bits of pop-jazz.
Best version:
http://youtu.be/caOdWhq86xc
(and as edited for use:
http://youtu.be/iC88U1SyQQw ...Sharon Farrell...)
2nd, sax in, flute out:
http://youtu.be/jKs1So89OV8
Stiff final arrangement:
http://youtu.be/FuTWxTl4Atw
Among the better ones that come to mind that haven't been mentioned:
I SPY
BARNEY MILLER
THE BOB NEWHART SHOW (1970s...I don't know what the 1960s series theme sounded like)
IT'S GARY SHANDLING'S SHOW
MAKE A WISH
...I've embedded this in the past, as it's full of good to excellent themes...there really are quite a few to think about...
http://youtu.be/cqx-D0440pA
If you want to hear/be reminded of the first BOB NEWHART SHOW theme (it's the first):
http://youtu.be/GyQZdJUsbhk
I think, although this has been a bad week for memory issues, that they played that more between scenes than in the traditional way. Or at least sometimes they did.
Lots of great theme music when you go to look.
There is nothing like the coke-fueled frenetic pulsing of the Theme from Miami Vice to match the coke-fueled plots.
What a game changer that was.
Sorry, but this bastardized version offends me. The TV show original by Lalo Schifrin is the way this needs to go. The 5/4 time signature makes all the difference.
My favorite TV Theme is The Fifth Corner.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3_-dIYWDc8
Forgive the self promotion Patty, but I took a look at TV themes at MysteryFile awhile ago. Maybe it will help remember some forgotten favorite.
http://mysteryfile.com/blog/?p=20220
I'm with Deb - Peter Gunn. Also love Mr. Lucky, another Mancini tune.
changed my mind:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XAIXP937Ac
Do not remember that show at all, but the music has a lot in common with MI.
My personal favorite tv theme song (in addition to Rockford, U.N.C.L.E., and M. I.) is the one used in the tragically short-lived Kem Nunn/David Milch HBO series John From Cincinnati (as performed by Joe Strummer):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbbM_v2_5wA
My own more haphazard recent contribution to this subject:
Saturday Music Club on Thursday: mostly 1960s televised music of various sorts...
There is a big difference between the kind of themes mentioned - Mission Impossible, Hawaii Five-O, Hill Street Blues, St. Elsewhere etc. and the type of expositionary song common in the late 50's and early 60's- "Come and listen to the story of a man named Jed ...", Gilligan's Island, The Brady Bunch (OK the 70's too), even My Mother the Car.
Jeff M.
Rawhide. The Rebel. Paladin.
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