Sanford and Son

100 Memorable TV Theme Songs – Part 8

Here’s a truth bomb: I don’t actually watch much television anymore. Specifically, I don’t watch hardly any traditional sitcoms or dramas. Don’t misunderstand…my TV is on alot, but either a) it’s background noise and I’m not really paying attention, or b) I am tuned in to very specific programming. I DVR “my stories” (thanks to my grandmothers & a childhood babysitter). I love my wrasslin’. On autumn weekends I am happy to vegg out watching hours upon hours of football. Occasionally I might check out the local news. And that’s pretty much it. Once upon a time I used to scope out the Fall Preview edition of TV Guide and decide what new shows I wanted to give a whirl, but that was a LONG time ago. Is TV Guide even a thing anymore?? I sincerely have no idea. The last network television program I remember being excited about was Designated Survivor almost a decade ago, and it faded into the abyss rather quickly. Am I missing out on some good stuff?? Probably. Do I care?? No. Thanks to streaming, if I REALLY get in the mood to watch a conventional TV program I can just rewatch an old favorite. Which reminds me of the task at hand. If you need to catch up please check out the following:

Part 1  Part 2  Part 3

Part 4  Part 5  Part 6

Part 7

30 Peter Gunn (Peter Gunn)

Peter Gunn was a detective series that aired in the late 1950s. It is unlikely that I would’ve been interested in it even if I had been born, which I wasn’t yet. However, the iconic theme song, composed by the legendary Henry Mancini, was also used two decades later on the big screen for The Blues Brothers.

29 Mister Ed (Mister Ed)

A horse is a horse, of course, of course

And no one can talk to a horse of course

That is, of course, unless the horse is the famous Mr. Ed

Just imagine that pitch meeting, in which someone floats the idea of a sitcom starring a talking horse. Whatever the approach may have been obviously worked. The theme was written by the same songwriting duo who won an Academy Award for the Doris Day tune Que Sera Sera (from the 1956 Alfred Hitchcock/Jimmy Stewart film The Man Who Knew Too Much) and also wrote the Christmas classic Silver Bells. It is interesting to note that the actor who voiced Mr. Ed…Allan Lane…portrayed cowboy Red Ryder on the big screen in the 1940s. Red Ryder, as we’re reminded each December, is admired by a certain enthusiastic young boy in northern Indiana who desperately wants a replica of the crime fighter’s gun.

28 Mickey Mouse March (Mickey Mouse Club)

Come along 

Sing the song 

And join the jamboree

M-I-C-K-E-Y  M-O-U-S-E

Mickey Mouse has been the beloved mascot of Disney for nearly a century. The character has starred in movies, comic strips, and TV shows, most notably The Mickey Mouse Club in the 1950s, which also introduced the world to Annette Funicello. It’s been revived a few times, including the early 90s with a cast that included Justin TImberlake, Britney Spears, Ryan Gosling, Keri Russell, and Christina Aguilera. 

27 William Tell Overture (The Lone Ranger)

The Lone Ranger has been around since the 1930s. He was introduced on a radio program, and has since spawned books, TV shows, comics, and movies. Italian composer Gioachino Rossini wrote the William Tell Overture in 1829, Tell being a legendary 14th century Swiss folk hero. It’s a beautiful piece of music that’s actually about 11 minutes long, but most of us are only familiar with the finale section associated with The Old West’s masked vigilante lawman.

26 Dallas (Dallas)

Every Friday night at 9pm for over a decade my whole family would gather in front of our television to watch the wheelin’ & dealin’ and tribal conflict of the uber wealthy Ewing Family, especially the battles between sibling oilmen JR & Bobby. Because the show ran for 14 seasons the instrumental theme music was tweaked a few times, with the disco vibe of the early years giving way to a slightly New Wave interpretation. Having said that, unless one sat down & listened to each season’s opening individually, most probably wouldn’t notice a huge difference.

25 Angela (Taxi)

On the opposite end of the spectrum from Dallas’ majestic orchestral theme that evolved over a decade & a half, we have a simple, laid back, almost melancholy jazz tune from a sitcom that aired for a criminally short five seasons. The song wasn’t originally intended to be used as the show’s theme, as it was written for an early episode featuring a character named…you guessed it…Angela. However, the powers-that-be pivoted, making that cab ride across the Queensboro Bridge a journey that lives on in the collective memory of an entire generation. The song’s composer, Bob James, is allegedly the second most sampled artist in hip-hop history, after James Brown. I cannot opine on the veracity of that claim.

24 With a Little Help from My Friends (The Wonder Years)

What would you think if I sang out of tune?

Would you stand up and walk out on me?

Lend me your ears and I’ll sing you a song

And I’ll try not to sing out of key

My friend Greg once advanced the notion that “time travel is always cool”, a statement with which I generally agree. The Wonder Years didn’t necessarily address time travel, but the framing device was that of a middle aged narrator in the 1980s reflecting on his teen years in the 1960s. Perhaps, in this case, it’d be more accurate to say that nostalgia is cool, which is also mostly true. Actually, the television show was partly inspired by the 1983 film A Christmas Story, which is now a beloved holiday classic, but The Wonder Years had come & gone long before the 24 hour Christmas Eve marathon became an annual tradition. Kudos to the series’ creators for recognizing genius way before anyone else. Anyway, the theme song was originally a Beatles’ tune from the 1967 album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Joe Cocker released his cover a year later, and it became a #1 hit. 

23 The Streetbeater (Sanford & Son)

Harmonica isn’t an instrument we hear very often, and rarely is it the centerpiece of a song. That’s what sets The Streetbeater apart. Motown icon Quincy Jones apparently composed it in less than a half hour then recorded it just as quickly. That’s quite impressive for a tune that is still instantly recognizable nearly a half century later.

22 Tossed Salads & Scrambled Eggs (Frasier)

Hey baby, I hear the blues a-callin’

Tossed salads and scrambled eggs

And maybe I seem a bit confused

Yeah maybe, but I got you pegged!

But I don’t know what to do with those tossed salads and scrambled eggs

I LOVED Frasier. If you catch me in the right mood I might be bold enough to assert that Frasier is a better sitcom than Cheers, which I am fully aware is sacrilege to many people. I think it has something to do with my age and the fact that Cheers began when I was nine years old, airing until I was in college, while Frasier debuted when I was in college and was a source of comfort during my complicated 20s. At any rate, the mandate from producers to songwriters tasked with crafting the theme was that there be no direct mentions of psychiatry or a radio program. I think we can all agree that what they came up with is quite creative & snappy. It is also unique that the theme song was not played during the brief opening sequence, but was part of the closing credits.

21 Johnny’s Theme (The Tonight Show)

Late night television has been part of a national conversation lately, and I haven’t been shy about expressing my opinions on the subject for several years. Suffice to say, no one did it better than Johnny Carson. My father loved Carson’s Tonight Show, and I grew up watching it whenever I didn’t have school the next day and could stay up late. Johnny’s Theme originated as a song called Toot Sweet, written by Paul Anka for teen pop star Annette Funicello in 1959. Anka then released his own cover, retitled It’s Only Love. Carson asked Anka to compose an instrumental version, which opened each Tonight Show for three decades.

Stay tuned for Part 9…coming soon!!

50 Favorite TV Shows…..50-41

I ran some numbers on this list just for fun.

As far as network representation, NBC has 21 shows, ABC 11, CBS 9, The WB/CW, ESPN, and HBO have 2 each, USA & MTV each have 1, and there are 2 shows that are/were strictly first run syndicated. Curiously enough Fox has apparently never produced a show that frosted my cupcake all that much.

18 of my choices were mainly 80’s shows, 14 were 90’s shows, 4 came and went before I was even born (ahhh…the magic of reruns), and only 5 shows emanate from this century (2000 and beyond for those of you in Wyoming County, WV who might be having a friend from civilization trained in the literary arts reading this to you). Only 8 are still in production.

27 of my selections are comedies and 11 are dramas. A couple of shows are the difficult to pigeonhole hybrid dramedy, and then we have a game show, a couple of soap operas (thanks to my childhood babysitter), four late night comedy talk shows, two sports talk shows, and a few shows that simply cannot be categorized.

This information may not interest anyone but me, but I found it thought-provoking.

Now, onto the first ten selections!!

 

 

50     Dawson’s Creek

          WB 1998-2003

I always found the crew from Capeside, Mass. To be far more interesting than those other high schoolers on the left coast that resided in the 90210 zip code.


 

49     Sanford & Son                      

          NBC 1972-77    

My Dad and my Papaw Jim loved the adventures of junkyard magnate Fred Sanford and his son Lamont. I always got a kick out of the banter between Fred and his sister-in-law Aunt Esther. This show was cancelled when I was 5 years old, but reruns were so ubiquitous throughout the 80’s that it was never really off the air.

 

 

48     Three’s Company

          ABC 1977-84

As a red-blooded American pre-pubescent boy I had an appreciation for “jiggle TV”, a term which makes me laugh now. The explicit, craptastic vulgarity so pervasive on television today makes this show seem like religious programming in comparison. In an early season of the 90’s hit Friends the characters are watching an old rerun and someone sardonically says “Oh…I think this is the episode of Three’s Company where there’s some kind of misunderstanding.”, which pretty much encapsulates the show perfectly. It wasn’t exactly Shakespeare, but I think maybe it flies under the radar when looking back at past great comedies.

 

 

47     The Waltons

          CBS 1972-81

The vast majority of this show’s original run came when I was too young to appreciate good quality television, but reruns were plentiful throughout the 80’s. One would not think a family drama about a large family’s triumphs & tragedies during The Great Depression would be all that entertaining, but I must say, television would be much better off if more family friendly, morally upright, well written shows like The Waltons were still around.

 

 

46     The Golden Girls

          NBC 1985-92

Here we have another premise that would seem to fly in the face of conventional wisdom but proves that maybe all that mumbo jumbo about target demographics and appealing to a younger audience isn’t always accurate. Who would think that a teenage boy would enjoy a show about a group of female seasoned citizens relishing the autumn of their years with the vitality (and libido) of women half their age??

 

 

45     Batman                                  

          NBC 1966-68

Spiderman is okay. Superman is…well…super. But for my money the coolest superhero of all time is Batman. He’s not from another planet. He isn’t the result    of some lab mishap. He doesn’t have any super powers. He’s just an ordinary guy that happens to be filthy rich, psychologically damaged, and dresses in a cowl & cape to exact vigilante justice on bad guys. And while the big screen versions of the story (both the 90’s Tim Burton flicks and Christopher Nolan’s gloomy vision) are more in line with the gritty tone of the comic books, I really love the campy, kitschy cheesiness of the 60’s TV show starring Adam West & Burt Ward (with the well-known rogues gallery of villains played by folks like Burgess Meredith, Caesar Romero, Eartha Kitt, and Frank Gorshin). It was on before I was born of course, but when Burton revived interest in The Caped Crusader two decades ago old reruns started showing up on television and I was instantly hooked.

 

44     The Love Boat

          ABC 1977-86

I’ve not been on a cruise…yet. But when the time comes how cool would it be to find love with another passenger, have dinner at the Captain’s table, and get drinks from a bartender as cool as Isaac?? Love Boat served as a side job for many past-their-prime TV & movie stars, who played passengers. This concept kept the show fresh for a few years longer than it otherwise may have been since the main cast were actually just supporting players on a weekly basis. And let’s talk about the disco infused theme song!! I’ll admit publicly that I still…25+ years later…randomly belt it out (badly) on occasion.

 

43     Full House

          ABC 1987-95

Cute babies?? Check. A saccharine sweet TV Dad no real father could ever live up to?? Check. A lil beefcake for the ladies?? Check. Conflicts that were all easily solved and wrapped up with a very special life lesson in less than 30 minutes?? Check. This wasn’t anywhere near the cutting edge, but rather a show that knew exactly how to push all the right buttons and did so with reasonable success for nearly a decade. It’s what we all seemed to prefer back in the day.

 

42     Newhart                                 

          CBS 1982-90

Some from an older generation might prefer comedian Bob Newhart’s previous effort, the 1970’s sitcom The Bob Newhart Show, in which he played a Chicago shrink hilariously interacting with co-workers and patients. However, I lean toward Newhart’s second foray into TV in which he played a Vermont innkeeper & author hilariously interacting with employees and townsfolk. This show produced undoubtedly one of the greatest series finales in the history of television on May 21, 1990 (less than 2 weeks before my high school graduation).

 

41         Coach

          ABC 1989-97

In 1983 Craig T. Nelson played a hardnosed high school football coach in the film All the Right Moves, one of Tom Cruise’s early stops on the upward climb to superstardom. Six years later Nelson would again play a football coach, this time at a fictional Minnesota college in quite possibly one of the more underrated sitcoms of the 1990’s. Curmudgeonly Coach Fox’s interactions with his two blundering assistant coaches, Luther & Dauber, were the centerpiece of the amusement, as was the relationship with his classy, way out of his league girlfriend.

 

 

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