And Your Choice for the Best TV Theme Song Ever Is... 'Gilligan's Island'!

Yahoo ^ | 4/12/13 | David Nemetz

[MissTed]

We started our Theme Song Thunderdome bracket with 32 of the greatest TV theme songs ever. You responded with more than 277,000 votes. And now that the dust has settled, Yahoo! TV users have officially selected one theme song as the best of all time: "The Ballad of Gilligan's Isle," from "Gilligan's Island."

We admit it: We clearly misjudged this perennial favorite, saddling it with a lowly 12-seed in the bracket. But it proved us wrong by rolling through the tournament, knocking off heavy hitters like "Diff'rent Strokes," "The Addams Family," and "The Andy Griffith Show" on its way to the final round. And even going up against an all-timer like the "Cheers" theme song in the finals, "Gilligan" found a way to squeak out a narrow win, cementing its status as your favorite TV theme song ever.

The enduring legacy of "Gilligan's" jolly sea-shanty theme is, of course, its impossible-to-forget lyrics (we know, we've tried) that told the entire tale of the S.S. Minnow's ill-fated "three-hour tour" in a single minute. And that was Sherwood Schwartz's intention from the start. Schwartz not only created the series, but also co-wrote the theme song (along with composer George Wyle), which Schwartz crafted as a quick way to get new viewers caught up without having to waste time on exposition. Schwartz went on to repeat this approach with another beloved '60s TV classic: "The Brady Bunch."

[KarlInOhio]

I didn't see how they split their brackets, but here are the 32 starters:

(1) 'Cheers'
(2) 'M*A*S*H'
(3) 'The Golden Girls'
(4) 'All in the Family'
(5) 'Laverne & Shirley'
(6) 'Taxi'
(7) 'The Simpsons'
(8) 'Happy Days'
(9) 'The Twilight Zone'
(10) 'Miami Vice'
(11) 'The Monkees'
(12) 'Family Ties'
(13) 'Saved by the Bell'
(14) 'Dawson's Creek'
(15) 'The Facts of Life'
(16) 'The Greatest American Hero'

(1) 'Friends'
(2) 'The Jeffersons'
(3) 'The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air'
(4) 'The Brady Bunch'
(5) 'Diff'rent Strokes'
(6) 'Three's Company'
(7) 'The Mary Tyler Moore Show'
(8) 'The Andy Griffith Show'
(9) 'The Love Boat'
(10) 'The X-Files'
(11) 'Beverly Hills, 90210'
(12) 'Gilligan's Island'
(13) 'The Addams Family'
(14) 'The Sopranos'
(15) 'The O.C.'
(16) 'The Dukes of Hazzard'

No Hawaii Five-O? No Prisoner? No Bonanza? Shoot the people who came up with the origiinal seeding.

[envisio]

no

[jaydubya2]

Actually, there are words for the Andy Griffth Show theme too.

[envisio]

Bundy! Yes!

[ßuddaßudd]

Nobody liked the theme to SWAT ?¿

[dfwgator]

Suicide Is Painless.

[Daryl Dixson]

Right On ! Hawaii five O by the Ventures...awesome

[mrsmith]

Good Grief!

No Rawhide, Peter Gunn, The Saint, Mission Impossible?

[dfwgator]

What about ABC’s Wide World of Sports?

[MarketR]

Five-O

Never gets old!

[envisio]

Well thanks alot!

[1_Rain_Drop]

what?no Beverly Hillbillies?

[TomGuy]

Nostalgia

http://www.televisiontunes.com/index.php

There are too many memorables ...

Dallas
Perry Mason
Hawaii 5-O
Maverick
Daniel Boone
Hawaiian Eye-ahhhh
77 Sunset Strip

[Kartographer]

Hell On Wheels Theme (Full Version)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPlIXgKI8ew

[latina4dubya]

I have always enjoyed the theme from Barney Miller, or Sanford and Son. Although, they are instrumentals.

i like those... but as far as instrumental theme songs go, i think The Newsroom is the best ever...

[dfwgator]

what?no Beverly Hillbillies?

Or the Bel-Airabs....

Listen to the story about a man named Achmed
Poor Bedouin trying to keep his family fed
Then one day he was shooting at some Jews
Up from the ground comes a bubbling ooze
Saudi soda
Persian Perrier
Kuwait Kool-aid

Next thing you know old Achmed's a billionaire
Kin folks say "Achmed move away from there"
Said "California is the place to set your lair"
So they got up and they moved to Bel Air
Next to Beverly Hills that is
Swimming Pools
Movie Stars
Jews

The Bel-Airabs!

[Kartographer]

Also!!!

Firefly

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nLUOj6MaOM

[1_Rain_Drop]

I have the M*A*S*H* series. One day a friend and I watched a few episodes. He calls me the next day and says he can’t get that theme song out of his head. It’s catchy. Good thing he didn’t know the lyrics. oh, and he’s a funeral director.

[holymoly]

As far as instrumentals, I always liked the techno-pop theme music from "Airwolf".

Honorable mention for the theme from "Branded", starring the late Chuck Connors:

All but one man died,
There at Bitter Creek,
And they say he ran away ...

Branded!
Marked with a coward's shame.
What do you do when you're branded,
Will you fight for your name?

He was innocent,
Not a charge was true,
But the world will never know ...

Branded!
Scorned as the one who ran.
What do you do when you're branded,
And you know you're a man?

And wherever you go
for the rest of your life
You must prove ...
You're a man!

[dfwgator]

And where’s “WKRP In Cincinnati”?