; Tangled Up In Blue: The One About TV Show Theme Songs

Thursday, September 29, 2005

The One About TV Show Theme Songs

I got this idea from the eternally lame Emmy awards, which made its snubbed actors warble through television show theme songs this year. After I finish posting, feel free to talk amongst yourselves, kids.

1.) Buffy the Vampire Slayer theme by Nerf Herder
2.) King of the Hill theme by The Refreshments
3.) "Woke Up This Morning" (The Sopranos theme) by A3
4.) "Life Goes On" by Patti LuPone (but written by The Beatles..., so technically, not gay)
5.) "Movin' On Up" from The Jeffersons
6.) "Nobody Knows" (The Grey's Anatomy theme) by Psapp
7.) "Let It Shine" by Randy Newman (from a defunct sitcom in the '70s)
8.) South Park theme by Primus
9.) The Simpsons theme by Danny Elfman

That should get you started...

19 Comments:

Blogger Glen said...

The theme song for "Sanford and Son" is awesome. Also, you got to love Walon's singing on the "Dukes of Hazzard".

6:15 PM  
Blogger John H said...

Old school - Theme from Peter Gunn. bass line still rules.

Miami Vice theme - can't remember who did it, but it fit the show and it was catchy (at least for the first 300 times I heard it).

More recent: Denis Leary's great show about firemen: Rescue Me - Come On, Come On by the Van Bondies

Sopranos theme song by A3 - Woke up this morning...

7:44 PM  
Blogger Stella said...

Dude...

Knight Rider.

8:32 PM  
Blogger Kat Coble said...

Jan Hammer did Miami Vice.

i had the k-tel theme songs record, and became addicted to, of all things, the Baretta theme.

still never seen the show.

The themes that always make me teary-eyed are St. Elsewhere and The Waltons.

9:02 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

It's the Refreshments not the Replacements.

3:14 AM  
Blogger T.V. Fritz said...

I forgot Primus from "South Park."

7:37 AM  
Blogger T.V. Fritz said...

Thank you, sir.

7:37 AM  
Blogger T.V. Fritz said...

And who can forget the theme from "The Facts of Life." God, I miss Tootie and the whole gang. I was two when the show aired, and when I grew up, I wanted to be the next Tootie.

7:43 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Randy Newman's "It's A Jungle Out There" from "Monk".

"Mission: Impossible" by Lalo Schifrin

"Hawaii Five-O" by Morton Stevens

"The Odd Couple" by Neal Hefti

"Teen Titans" by some little Japanese girls

"WKRP in Cincinnati" by Tom Wells

"Spongebob Squarepants" by Mark Harrison

And the king daddy "Rockford Files Theme" by Mike Post, I think.

8:07 AM  
Blogger T.V. Fritz said...

They used Warren Zevon's "Even a Dog Can Shake Hands" song on a short-lived Fox sitcom. I forgot the name of it. It had Jay Mohr and Illena Douglass. "Action," I think it was called.

9:05 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

MY TOP TEN...from back in the day.

1) Three's Company - By: Joe Raposo and Don Nicholl
2) The A Team (no idea who wrote it)
3) Chips - By: John Parker
4) Magnum P.I. - By: Mike Post
5) Dukes of Hazzard - By: Waylon
6) The Wonder Years "With a Little Help From My Friends" - By: The Beatles
7) Cheers "Where Everybody Knows Your Name" - By: Gary Portnoy and Judy Hart Angelo
8) Laverene and Shirley - By: Norman Gimbel & Charles Fox
9) The Jeffersons "Moving on Up" - By: Jeff Barry and Ja'net Dubois
10) Dallas - (no idea who wrote it)

10:15 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The best part of The Incredible Hulk musically, is the sad piano bit they would play at the end of each episode. After Dr. Banner and The Hulk had helped the nice old man and his granddaughter keep ranch/store/restaurant/factory from falling into the evil hands of the crooked developers/mobsters/contractor/union organizers, Banner would have to leave town. As he walked down the road, the piano would hammer home the lonliness of his Fugitive-like existence. Freeze Frame. Roll End Credits.

10:38 AM  
Blogger T.V. Fritz said...

I forgot the Wonder Years! Man, I'm so lame.

12:08 PM  
Blogger Glen said...

How about the Beverly Hillbillies theme song by Flatt and Scruggs?

4:11 PM  
Blogger dolphin said...

Charmed theme - "How Soon is Now" by Love Spit Love

5:03 PM  
Blogger Joe Powell said...

gotta go with that mention of Peter Gunn theme as a keeper (works as big band or screaming guitar solo) and Mission Impossible too.
yeah to Buffy too. maybe the only time a TV show which had musical episode that wasn't all "Brady-fied."
there needs to be mention of the Gilligan's Island theme and Twilight Zone as part of collective culture.
have to add that no show had as many musical permutations as "The Simpson" have done -- dozens or more.

10:54 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Six Feet Under Title Theme - Thomas Newman
The Addams Family
Perry Mason
I Love Lucy
M.A.S.H.
Joepardy

But the best is:
The Adams Family

They're creepy and they're kooky,
Mysterious and spooky,
They're all together ooky,
The Addams Family.

Their house is a museum
Where people come to see 'em
They really are a screa-um
The Addams Family.

(Neat)
(Sweet)
(Petite)

So get a witches shawl on
A broomstick you can crawl on
We're gonna pay a call on
The Addams Family.

11:10 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

In addition to Post/Caprenter's "Rockford Files", I'd include the theme from "Barney Miller" as a must in any themes collection. "Angela" for Taxi would be in that same collection.

If you're going to include South Park and The Simpsons, you have to consider "The Jetsons" and "Johnny Quest" themes.

12:02 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Firefly - (I think it was made by Joss Whedon)

Invader Zim - (not sure, but it still rings in my head)

Prison Break - not the actual theme music, but as the show is showing scenes from previous shows at the begining there's some really good music playing in the background.

9:38 PM  

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