According to TV comedy writer Ken Levine, there is a meme going around that asks folks to name their ten favorite TV theme songs. Like Levine, who spins this meme into a fairly long rant about the demise of theme songs, I also miss the days when your favorite series was preceded by a memorable tune to help set the mood for whatever was to follow. The best theme songs always captured the tone of the show they represented and helped to hype you up and get you ready for your night’s viewing, whether it was a comedy, a cop show, or a family drama. When a good theme song was combined with a well-designed visual sequence, they could be as entertaining as the show itself. I can think of a number of theme songs that are so inextricably linked in my mind with their accompanying visual images that I can’t hear the music without imagining the picture, too — for instance, the staccato opening of Miami Vice immediately conjures flamingoes and rushing water, and the bombastic first notes of Magnum‘s theme is always accompanied in my head by TC’s little chopper dropping toward the surf in a vertiginous dive. And, as those two examples indicate, a good TV theme often turned up on the radio, too.
These tunes started to die out in the mid-90s when the network suits decided people might get bored and change the channel if the show didn’t leap right into the action. At least, that’s the excuse that everyone always uses. Personally, I think the rapacious bean-counters just realized that ditching the theme song would give them another minute or so of potential ad-time.
In any event, TV themes are rare these days. Most shows, if they do anything, just throw in a quick little audio cue of some kind that’s not even necessarily musical in nature. Think of 24‘s electronic countdown-clock sound, or the weird, floating hum as the title Lost pivots out of the darkness toward the camera. (Actually, those two examples are kind of cool and manage to convey much of the flavor of their respective shows, but I still miss actual music.)
Not surprisingly, my list comprises most of the shows I really loved when I was younger, although not all of them. The original Star Trek, for instance, is one notable exception; it’s probably my all-time favorite TV series, but I’ve never been a big fan of the theme. The incidental music used within the episodes, yes; that stuff is classic. But the main title music, with its ’60s lounge-lizard vibe mixed with the inarticulate feminine warble — ugh. It embarassed me even as a child. Still, you can tell a lot about my viewing tastes — then and now — by reviewing my favorite theme songs. Let me give you a hint: not a lot of comedies…
- St. Elsewhere
Godfather to E.R., St. Elsewhere featured a catchy, upbeat theme that still throbs through my head whenever I drive past a hospital. Why isn’t this show on DVD yet? - Tales of the Gold Monkey
A swashbuckling high-adventure series set in the South Pacific and populated with aviators, pirates, Nazis, rogues, and spies — which popular film of the early ’80s does this remind you of? Unlike a certain Harrison Ford movie, not too many people remember Gold Monkey, which lasted only a single season, but it had a great march-style theme with a lot of bouncy, esprit d’corps… just like the Indiana Jones theme, now that I think about it… - Magnum PI
Who doesn’t remember this one, a rock-jazz classic of the theme song genre? All the 80s-vintage private-eye shows tried to come up with something like the Magnum theme, but none of them managed. All right, Simon and Simon came close, but still no cigar… - Hill Street Blues
A sweetly melancholy theme for the first truly realistic cop-show on telelvision. It made me feel just a little bit lonely to hear this when I was in my early teens, and I found that I liked the feeling in some weird way I couldn’t explain. - Northern Exposure
Quirky and cute, like the show itself; watching the young moose wander down Cicely’s deserted main (only) street makes me smile. - WKRP in Cincinnati
Everybody knows the main title, which became a pretty big radio hit, but I almost prefer the hard-rocking end title with its absolutely indecipherable lyrics. - Miami Vice
Does anything scream “1980s” more than this theme? The electric guitars, the synths, the pounding beat — it defined a moment in time for an entire generation. In my opinion, it still holds up pretty well, as does all the incidental music in this show. I love Jan Hammer… - Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Of all the Trek franchise themes, I think this is my favorite. It’s quieter than the others, almost meditative, but it lifts my spirits every time I hear it. - Battlestar Galactica
I’m talking about the sweeping epic-style titles from the original show, of course, not the percussion-based non-melody that opens the new version. I appreciate the Battlestar remake and acknowledge that it is worthy of attention, but I hate its utterly forgettable music… - Hogan’s Heroes
Another jaunty, semi-military theme, much like Tales of the Gold Monkey. It sounds like we’re in the Army, but it’s not too serious — exactly like the show itself.
Honorable mentions: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly (these last two are genuinely haunting, filled with melancholy shadings — I love ’em), Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie (utterly infectious), The Wild, Wild West, Dallas, The Six Million Dollar Man, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Voyager (hated the show, which was the beginning of the end of my affair with modern Trek, but a nice song), Dharma and Greg, Cheers, Airwolf, The A-Team, The Rockford Files, The Greatest American Hero (a.k.a. “Believe It Or Not”), Quantum Leap (how can you tell I like the work of Mike Post?), The Andy Griffith Show, and Ally McBeal (a great song of hope and perseverance).
And there you have it — another minimal-value peek into my low-brow world…
