Posted on 12/28/2007 10:39:39 AM PST by Cagey
Now, when you flip on your favorite TV program and it starts right into the plot, it almost feels like something is missing.
I write today about the passing of something special, fading away so subtly many of us have failed to take proper notice.
The death of the TV theme song.
Everybody's got a different story about that one composition that sticks in the head. My story reaches back to a childhood as an aspiring musician in hardscrabble Gary, Ind. - where negotiating the fluid, driving bass line of the theme to Barney Miller was an odd rite of passage in a community where your mettle was often tested more directly.
That's how it is with these songs; they worm into your heart and mind in the most unexpected ways.
There's the wonderful anticipation kicked off by the first notes of explanatory themes such as Gilligan's Island ("Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale ...") or The Brady Bunch ("... till the one day when the lady met this fellow ..."). You never grew tired of hearing the entire premise of the TV show you were about to watch, laid out in same catchy song every week.
There are the sleek jams, ranging from Barney Miller and Mission Impossible (did a trilling string tremolo ever sound cooler?) to the Theme From Ironside and even the junkman's comedy Sanford and Son.
Producer Quincy Jones was a master at this craft, cranking out themes for Ironside, Sanford and Police Woman that are so cool, listening to his box set sometimes feels like channel surfing through Nick at Nite.
Some themes even became hit records. Duane Eddy's signature guitar twang powered the theme for Peter Gunn to Grammy awards in the '50s and the '80s; the themes for Welcome Back Kotter, S.W.A.T. and Miami Vice all reached No. 1 on singles sales charts.
So why do so few current TV shows have memorable themes?
Fox's medical hit House starts with a few snatches of Massive Attack's instrumental tune Teardrop, barely enough music to cover the list of actors. CBS's blockbuster CSI franchise just stole popular hits from classic rockers the Who, including Who Are You? (C.S.I), Won't Get Fooled Again (C.S.I.: Miami) and Baba O'Reilly (C.S.I.: NY).
One version of the theme for NBC's Scrubs lasts less than 13 seconds. TNT's hit police drama The Closer hardly bothers with opening music at all, displaying the names of the cast over each episode's first scene, a lone guitar twanging in the background.
My hunch is that modern TV producers fear flip-happy viewers will take any excuse to surf away from a show and sample other channels. Eliminating the theme song is just another way to deal with the multitude of channels and remote control technology offered today's consumer, locking them into an unfolding show before they even realize it has begun.
I also blame Frasier - which may have started the anti-theme trend by taking its own cute tune (the jazzy shuffle Tossed Salad and Scrambled Eggs, sung by the star, Kelsey Grammer) and sticking it at the back of the show, to play over the closing credits after the episode was done.
And the three or four of us who still watch ER have noticed that the theme song, which once featured a fresh-faced George Clooney charging through the halls of County General Hospital with his co-stars, now all long gone, has been reduced to a single chord of music.
It's hard to describe the loss to pop culture when TV stops cranking out classic songs like the theme to All in the Family or The Jeffersons. But there's little doubt we've lost something special.
I wasn't singing Baba O'Reilly when I stepped inside the doorway to the first house I ever owned. I was shouting proudly about "movin' on up/to the East Side."
I finally had a piece of the pie. It's too bad the TV industry doesn't give us that flavor anymore.
Eric Deggans can be reached at deggans@sptimes.com or (727) 893-8521.
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Eric Deggans' top 10 TV theme song list
Let's admit upfront that my list of TV's top 10 theme songs is completely subjective, created mostly according to my nostalgia and musical preferences. Here's we go:
10. Sanford & Son - The swampy groove. The loopy melody. Toots Thielemans' amazing harmonica work. There are 10,000 reasons why Quincy Jones' theme helped make Redd Foxx the coolest junkman in TV history.
9. The Addams Family/The Munsters - Both tunes meld campy horror gloom with wacky comedy touches. And the Addams Family even tacked on classic lyrics: "They're creepy and they're kooky/Mysterious and spooky/They're all together ooky." Use of the word "ooky" = instant TV legend.
8. The Love Boat - Looking back, this lounge lizard classic ("Love . . . exciting and new") nails the faded '70s celebrity vibe of the series so well, you'd almost think it was intentional.
7. M*A*S*H (Suicide is Painless) - Transformed an elevator music classic into a resonant, powerful theme.
6. The Benny Hill Show (Yakety Sax) - No composition in the history of television so quickly communicates the idea: "wacky comedy ahead."
5. Gilligan's Island - Among all the explainer theme songs - Beverly Hillbillies, The Brady Bunch - this is most hallowed. And effective.
4. Miami Vice - What hipster didn't walk into a club during the '80s, pastel shirt and loafers securely in place, without this song playing in their head?
3. The Jeffersons - Only in the '70s would a sitcom about a successful black businessman come complete with a gospelized theme song ("Movin' on up!") straight from the pulpit.
2. The Sopranos - A3's throbbing, dance floor masterpiece Woke Up This Morning stands as the best modern-day TV theme song, for the best modern TV drama of all time.
1. All in the Family - Those Were the Days may be the best explainer theme song that wasn't, nailing the wistful anxiety of Edith and Archie Bunker so well, you loved hearing it week after week.
Catchy theme songs would require imagination on the part of Hollywood writers. Watch modern TV and tell me this still exists.
It’s about time, it’s about space,
About two men in the strangest place.
It’s about time, it’s about flight -
Traveling faster than the speed of light.
This is the tale of the brave crew
As through the barrier of time they flew.
Past a fighting minuteman,
Past an armored knight,
Past a Roman warrior,
To this ancient site.
It’s about caves,cavemen too,
About a time when the earth was new.
Wait’ll they see what is in sight!
Is it good luck or is it good night?
It’s about two astronauts, it’s about their fate,
It’s about a woman and her prehistoric mate.
It’s about time, it’s about space,
About two men in the strangest place.
They will be here right on this spot
No matter if they like it or not.
How will they live in this primitive state?
Will help ever come before it is too late?
Will they ever get away? Watch each week and see!
Will they be returning to the 20th Century?
It’s about time for our goodbyes
To all these prehistoric gals and guys. IT’S ABOUT TIME!
Best ever was the theme from “Rockford Files”!
I liked this one too:
Who is the tall dark stranger there?
Maverick is the name.
Riding the trail to who knows where
Luck is his companion
Gamblin’ is his game.
Smooth as a handle on a gun
Maverick is the name.
Wild as a wind in Oregon
Blowin’ up a canyon
Easier to tame.
Riverboat ring your bell!
Fare-the-well Annabelle!
Luck is the lady that he loves the best!
Nachetz to New Orleans
Livin’ on jacks and queens
Maverick is the legend of the West.
Riverboat ring your bell
Fare-the-well Annabelle!
Luck is the lady that he loves the best!
Natchez to New Orleans
Livin’ on jacks and queens
Maverick is the legend of the West.
Maverick is the legend of the West.
The Rockford Files theme song is burned into my brain.
Rollin rollin rollin
keep those doggies rollin ...
Oh, another one is Gilligan’s Island. You can sing Amazing Grace to the melody.
THANK YOU!!
I have sung that theme for people and they think I’m making it up. I began to think I was dreaming it. What year was that?
magnum, hill street blues, cheers, growing pains, wonder years, a team, air wolf, quantnum leap, star trek, battle star gallactica, greatest american hero, fame, highlander.. those are the good ones i remember.
Beverly Hillbillies
Come and listen to a story about a man named Jed
A poor mountaineer, barely kept his family fed,
Then one day he was shootin at some food,
And up through the ground came a bubblin crude.
Oil that is, black gold, Texas tea.
Well the first thing you know ol Jed’s a millionaire,
Kinfolk said “Jed move away from there”
Said “Californy is the place you ought to be”
So they loaded up the truck and moved to Beverly.
Hills, that is. Swimmin pools, movie stars.
Well now its time to say good by to Jed and all his kin.
And they would like to thank you folks fer kindly droppin in.
You’re all invited back a gain to this locality
To have a heapin helpin of their hospitality
Hillybilly that is. Set a spell, Take your shoes off.
Y’all come back now, y’hear?.
“Dallas” had an excellent theme.
i think i was a bit young for dallas. i don’t think i’ve ever seen it.
It’s About Time was produced by the immortal Sherwood Schwartz, creator of The Brady Bunch and Gilligan’s Island (Gilligan was then in its third year earning solid ratings for CBS).
It’s About Time ran only one season on CBS, from September 11, 1966 until August 27, 1967; the sitcom starred Jack Mullaney and Frank Aletter as two 1960’s astronauts who break the time barrier and end up in prehistoric times.
I believe the term back then was "sheep herder"
Police Squad.
Sometimes you wanna go
Where everybody knows your name
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