We’re back with “soundtracks” this week, but this time, I want to know what your favorite theme song is! Theme songs used to be a big thing in the world of television, until the advertisers really got their hooks in and squeezed more time out of shows, and creators adjusted by cutting extraneous stuff to the bone. Like, you know, theme songs. I always liked theme songs, and miss them a bit — not so much as I sit in a darkened room eating large blocks of cheese and weeping into my Yoo-hoo, but a little bit. They were fun.
I thought of this Question because, recently, one of the networks on DirecTV (Great Entertainment Television) began playing The Rockford Files from its beginning (the TV movie with Lindsay Wagner!), and, man, The Rockford Files had a great theme song:
That might be my favorite opening credits — not only is the song good, but I love the scenes of Rockford doing his thing around the town. However, it’s not my favorite theme song. I tend to like theme songs with lyrics, because who doesn’t like to song along?
Some of my favorites are:
The Greatest American Hero (which, of course, also gave us the greatest answering machine tape ever):
The Dukes of Hazzard (with the added bonus of Catherine Bach in a bikini):
Moonlighting:
Welcome Back, Kotter:
The super-long version from WKRP in Cincinnati:
My favorite, though, is kind of boring, and that’s the theme song for Cheers. Cheers is one of my favorite shows ever, and the song really hits me where I live. As in, I’m just a sentimental chump, and the song is packed full of sentimentality (and a little transphobia, but hey, it was the Eighties):
So that’s my answer. I know there are a ton of other choices: Hawaii 5-0‘s is pretty awesome, as is The A-Team‘s, we have Mission: Impossible (which isn’t my favorite simply because I was too young to watch), all the fun sitcoms like Hogan’s Heroes, Gilligan’s Island, Three’s Company, The Facts of Life … you know them all! If you can think of one from more recent days — “Long Hard Times to Come,” which is the theme of Justified, is danged cool — feel free to throw it on in there, because some shows actually do have theme songs these days (Game of Thrones has a cool theme, for instance), even if a lot don’t. You know you have one!
Oh, I’ve got a whole long list of favorite TV theme songs/music (over at the Classic Comics Forum, in one of the music threads, a bunch of members submitted their top 10 favorite TV themes last year). But I won’t bore everyone with that – except to say that a few of those you mentioned, like Rockford Files, Hawaii 5-0 and WKRP made my list as well (I’d add that I like WKRP’s hard-rocking closing credits theme, with its deliberately nonsense lyrics, almost as much as the main theme).
So here’s my favorite, which is basically the best theme music of all time:
The Sanford & Son theme, also known as “Streetbeater” by the late, great Quincy Jones.
Sanford & Son is a great theme, I agree!
Of the theme tunes that are instrumental: Buffy and Angel are old favorites. Doctor Who– whether it’s the weird old 60s electronic one or the full orchestration of the modern versions. Parks and Rec never fails to put one in a good mood. Magnum PI rules. M*A*S*H is a classic. X-Files. Mission: Impossible. Batman: The Animated Series. Twilight Zone. A-Team. Knight Rider. Airwolf!
As far as themes with lyrics: Addams Family. Full House. Family Matters. The Jeffersons. The Kenan & Kel theme (by Coolio!) is still burned into my brain. I never even saw it, but I do like the theme to It’s Garry Shandling’s Show.
I’m sure I forgot a few.
It’s Garry Shandling’s Show has a very fun theme. You should watch it, sir — it’s very funny.
Instrumental: Mission Impossible- the blend of tension and excitement is perfect, plus it’s very sing-able. My runner-up is Star Trek: TNG- it’s mix of boldness and optimism is the perfect theme for a show about a team of space explorers. Buffy and Angel had great themes, too. The mournful cello/ high energy rock theme for Angel was awesome.
With lyrics: I grew up in the ‘80s, the era of cheesy tv theme songs. Most of them made me cringe, even as a kid. The Cheers song was an exception, but my favorites were from the ‘60s: The Addams Family, Gilligan’s Island, and The Monkees. The latter was a pretty good pop song on its own. It built anticipation with the verses, and the chorus was big and fun.
Yeah, the Monkees did a nice theme song. It’s nice that they’re more appreciated these days as a band than in their heyday!
Weirdly enough, my favorite part of the Batman theme song is the drums. The rest of the tune is pretty dumb (not in a bad way), but the drummer sounds like he’s playing actual jazz.
It’s a fine line between “favorite” and “ear worm” when we’re talking TV themes.
I’m surprised no one has mentioned Batman ’66, though it doesn’t make the cut for me.
“Yes” to M*A*S*H!
I’d suggest for favorites:
Wonder Woman (season 1)
Happy Days
I’d suggest for an ear worm:
Brady Bunch
And, as a wild card:
Mary Tyler Moore
I don’t love the Batman theme song, but it might just be because it was so overdone in my youth, when everyone was making fun of it. Hearing it these days, it’s not bad, but I think there’s some residual annoyance at it left over from back in the day.
A couple of my faves are Danger Mouse and Pinky & The Brain, which is just genius on every level.
Cartoons but I’m going with them anyway seeing as how Greg already mentioned most of my favourites.
Cartoons are fine! Star Blazers had a great theme song, and I’ve always like Phineas and Ferb’s.
If we’re talking cartoons, I vote for the entire 1980s- Transformers, GI Joe, Jem, MASK, Inhumanoids, Inspector Gadget, TMNT, Gummi Bears, He-Man, Smurfs…
The crown jewel of ‘80s cartoon theme songs is probably DuckTales. Great energy, show-describing lyrics, vocals & instrumentation perfectly suits the materials…
100% agree about Phineas & Ferb, though. It’s like the DuckTales tune set to ska-punk.
Inhumanoids was a surprisingly fun cartoon.
Greg mentioned Star Blazers, which is indeed wonderful. Others …
1960s: Doctor Who and Robin Hood, which most Americans know from the Dennis Moore parody on Monty Python. Also Shazzan, my favorite Saturday morning cartoon (love the Arabian Nights).
1970s. Mission Impossible (I didn’t get to see it in the 1960s), Mary Tyler Moore and Wonder Woman. She’ll stop a bullet cold, she’ll make the Axis fold.
1980s. Cheers. Greatest American Hero. Hill Street Blues. It’s Garry Shandling’s Show. Yes, it’s worth watching.
Trivia note, TV themes are one of the sources of one-hit wonders because so few of them break the Top 40 it’s unlikely any one creator does it more than once.
Some cartoon shows…
The Bugs Bunny/Roadrunner Show (“Overture,cue the lights…”)
The Spider-Man ’67 theme
The Teen Titans cartoon,the first one
For old school cool,the Peter Gunn Theme.
Peter Gunn is a good choice. That’s so old I didn’t even think of it! 🙂
The first tv theme that popped into my head when I saw this article was “Frolic” from Curb Your Enthusiasm. It’s even transcended the show into meme status.
A couple other live action shows would be Miami Vice, Seinfeld, & Mad Men.
The DCAU had some all timers with Batman: The Animated Series, Batman Beyond, & Justice League Unlimited.
Anime wise I got to go with Cowboy Bebop, Dragonball Z, Zeta Gundam, & Neon Genesis Envangelion.
I think I watched Curb Your Enthusiasm once, maybe?, but the theme is fun — should it count, though, as it’s not original to the show???? 🙂
Tv show
Tenspeed and Brownshoe
Cartoon shows
2 stupid dogs (my all-time favorite cartoon)
Dexter’s Laboratory
Dutch cartoon show
Bobby’s body (in every episode a chef from a different country makes dinner, and you see the family inside his body enjoying the meal and all the trouble it gives the host)
Yeah I think it should count since at this point it’s pretty much associated with the show.
Also definitely give Curb a chance if you can. If you liked Seinfeld, you’ll love Curb.
Oops.
I forgot Blakes 7.
Loved it as a kid.
favourite instrumental openings would be Rockford Files, Hawaii 5-O, Mission Impossible, Buffy the Vampire Slare
and UK shows like Tomorrow People (70s version), the Persuaders, the Proffesionals, the Prisoner, U.F.O.
Favourite vocal song – probably Fight – the theme from the Flashing Blade (the English dub of a French swashbuckling series)
“You’ve got to fight for what you want or all that you believe, it’s right to fight for what we want, to live the way we please. As long as we have done our best, then no-one can do more. and life and love and happiness are well worth fighting for”
The Aeronauts (Another French series) is also good
in Anime – Neon Genesis Evangelion had a good theme (though hard to sing along as it’s all in Japanese – though the end theme Fly Me to the Moon is in English)
the 5th theme from Urusei Yatsura “Rock the Planet” is good (though simple) and mostly in English
I have fondness for the second theme from Eden’s Bowy “I will become a flower” – very upbeat (with the final lines in English)
My Favourite anime theme is probably the third theme from Kimagure Orange Road “the Actress in the Mirror” and I sing along with the English words in the refrain
“uh-hu-ha…..actress uh-hu-ha……, uh-hu-ha…., ‘cos I love you …actress, uh-hu-ha…, uh-hu-ha …..you’ve broken my heart”
I don’t know how that typo happened.
Another good one is “Monkey Magic” from the Japanese TV show “Monkey” (Saiyuki:Journey to the West) I believe the UK dub used the same song as the Japanese version
Hands down, Jonny Quest!
For alternates: The Equalizer, by Stuart Copeland and Airwolf.
Oh yeah, both the original Gatchaman theme and Hoyt Curtain’s theme for the Sandy Frank dub, Battle of the Planets