TV theme songs -- a lost art (1 Viewer)

[Rex Bachmann]

Brian Perry wrote (post #1):

You're kidding, right?
As far as I can see, nobody's mentioned that masterful theme song to Route 66 (early '60s), by Nelson Riddle.

 

[David W Johnson]

No one has mentioned the themesong to Dallas, have they?

I never watched the show much beyond the themesong, but it ALMOST convinced me to play the french horn. I'm glad I didn't...

Hey Travis!

 

[Dan Rudolph]

I think Hawaii Five-O had a better song than Gilligan.

 

[Angelo.M]

Welcome Back Kotter

Chico and the Man

Sanford and Son

 

[Mark Kalzer]

The X-Files has an incredible theme, really gets you in the mood. I never skip past it, even on DVD. (Actually, it sounds best on DVD!) However, I do prefer the original recording of it from Season 1 & 2, instead of the modified version that started in Season 3. Just compare the two and you'll see what I mean. Still love them!

I agree with you on that! Especially the comment about the change in tone, and...

*looks at who wrote it*

What the...That's myself! Damn this thread is old!

Oh well...I might as well take this opportunity to criticize the producers of Star Trek. I remember part of what I was looking forward to in the new Trek series was a brand new theme song to add to the library...and what did we get? A COUNTRY SONG?! That's not Trekish at all...it's just so, mass appealed...

P.S. I really was about to quote myself there...I decided to do it anyway for the sheer heck of it!

 

[Rex Bachmann]

Mark Kalzer wrote (post #45):

They're all doing that nowadays. In the first season of the CBS series The Guardian, they had an appealing, slightly jazzy instrumental theme. In the second season, however, they junked that for a pop male-vocal song, as if such a thing might drive up their ratings. Methinks "marketing" is behind all this: "Well, our surveys show, 97 out of a hundred 18-to-29-year-old males with an income of at least $27,500 a year who are expecting to purchase a new car this year would be 28% less likely to try out the show without a pop-vocal entry."

 

[Dan Rudolph]

Rod Stewart is country?

 

[Angelo.M]

Barney Miller

 

[Joe6pack99]

Married with Children!

 

[John_Berger]

I remember part of what I was looking forward to in the new Trek series was a brand new theme song to add to the library...and what did we get? A COUNTRY SONG?!

You call that Country??

I'm one of the few who support why Berman chose that song, although I prefer the initial choice of using the Generations theme song instead. The lyrics to the Enterprise theme are completely appropriate to the notion of Star Fleet (thus humanity) getting out from under the Vulcan's thumb and the desire to do more than has already been done.

Let's see ... my list, not in any order ...

Dallas, definitely.

The Greatest American Hero

Most Mike Post themes

Miami Vice

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1980s) - Not lyrically complex, but it's raw power makes up for that

Battlestar Galactica

Deep Space Nine (upbeat version)

The Bugs Bunny Show ("Overture. Curb the lights. This is it. We'll hit the heights...")

The original He-Man and the Masters of the Universe

Hawaii Five-O

There are more, but these are the ones that I can remember at this sitting.

 

[Nicholas Vargo]

The best one, and I'm not even sure if anyone remembers it is the HBO Feature Presentation music used on the network from 1981 to 1995. Compared to the new one, which is overly digital and nowehere near as good, that one was really good, with some pretty damn good gripping music and wonderfully realistic visuals. I remember watching that when I was 6, and thinking the sound of that music would be the perfect way to give me nightmares. I'm not sure how many of you consider this a TV theme, but as long as it is on "Television's Greatest Hits Vol. 7: Cable Ready", then it is a TV theme to me. Perosnally, I wish that HBO would bring that back. That was the perfect mood to their whole channel.

 

[Greg_S_H]

I didn't like the Enterprise theme at first, but it quickly grew on me and was a nice compliment to what is a really good opening sequence. This season, they've "jazzed up" the song, and it's not as good. Not the train wreck some have labeled it, but not quite as effective either. I don't see either version as "country," though.

And, it's not Rod Stewart. He did the song for Patch Adams. Both of the Enterprise versions are performed by Russell Watson.

 

[MatthewLouwrens]

Take a closer look at what they are doing. The last scene happens during the end credits, and then what happens next? Without coming up for air, the network dives right into the next show, which begins not with a theme song and opening credits but with the first scene, if it's a sitcom then it probably already has opening credits laid on top of it. They call it "seamless" and the sole intent is to drag the viewer into the next show with the hope they'll be hooked on it before they realize that they're missing the start of a show on another channel. From their point of view, there's nothing that says to the viewer "It's time to change the channel because this show is over and another show on another channel is about to start" like a traditional ending credit roll with music.

They don't seem to think much of the audience's intelligence, do they.

The sad thing is, they're probably right not to.

I quite like the music for the first season of Monk, but I hear they've replaced it with a Randy Newman song. Don't get me wrong - I like some of his work, particularly his recent stuff with Pixar, but I just cannot see it working as well as the old music.

 

[Matthew_Millheiser]

Alias has a fantastic theme song. JJ Abrams gots it together.
While it's hardly a great song in and of itself, I really like Smallville's "Somebody Saaaaaaaaave Meeeeeeee".
My personal favorite, without doubt or reservation, is the theme to Larry David's Curb Your Enthusiasm. A venerable circus of the absurd...

 

[MatthewLouwrens]

MATTHEW - Curb Your Enthusiasm - great music, perfect for the show. I wish I had thought of it.
Robert B Weide (co-executive producer and director of 15 episodes of Curb) had this to say about the theme music...

A lot of people ask about the opening theme, which has become very popular. The title is "Frolic." People ask where they can buy it, but I don't think it's available on a marketed CD. Larry heard it used years ago on a banking commercial and thought he'd like to use it somewhere, so he had his assistant track it down. We almost opted for it on the special, but ultimately couldn't find a place for it. When we started the series, we thought it would make a great opening theme, and it sort of set the tone for the other incidental music. It's somewhat Fellini-esque, or more accurately Nino Rota-esque. It's appropriate because Larry's on-camera life resembles a Fellini film at times. We call it our Italian Circus music. It actually was written by an Italian composer who just found out it's being used as a theme to an American television show and he was very excited by that.

 

[Danny Tse]

I believe the theme to "SWAT" went to #1 on the pop charts...

And no one mentioned the theme to "The Flinstones"? What about "The Tonight Show w/ Johnny Carson"??

Classic TV theme are great because they catch our ears....consider the first few notes of the theme to "Mission: Impossible" or "Three's Company".

I knew I should've picked up the 45 for the theme to "Magnum PI".

I believe Mike Post is the "King of TV Theme Songs". But he ruined Van Halen.

 

[JonZ]

The greatest theme song ever can be heard here
I will NEVER NEVER understand why this show wasnt picked up by Cartoon Network
http://adultswim.toonzone.net/elting/