Most loved TV show themes

Cafe Society
1

What is at least one of your most loved TV show opening themes?

One of mine is that one from Hart to Hart, especially in the opening strains where Max (Lionel Stander) talks about his employers (first Jonathan, then Jennifer [Mrs. H]), and then says that he himself takes care of both of 'em, 'which ain’t easy, ‘cause when they met, it was murder!’

Another one is the original version of the theme from Hawaii Five-O (the classic one w/Jack Lord); the current show had that cut in half, quite shamefully.

Others:

Trapper John, M.D.
Hardcastle and McCormick
Hill Street Blues
St. Elsewhere
Hotel
Vega$

2

My Top 20:

The Untouchables (with Robert Stack as Eliot Ness)
The Avengers (John Steed and Emma Peel)
Perry Mason (“Park Avenue Beat”)
M Squad (aka Police Squad and Naked Gun themes)
77 Sunset Strip
Mike Hammer (“Harlem Nocturne”)
Hawaii Five-O (with Jack Lord as Steve McGarett)
Wild, Wild, West (with Robert Conrad and Ross Martin)
Danger Man (with Patrick McGoohan)
Secret Agent (with Patrick McGoohan)
The Prisoner (with Patrick McGoohan)
The Persuaders
The Saint (post-1965)
Star Trek TOS
Star Trek DS9
Star Trek VOY
Time Tunnel
Combat!
Rat Patrol
12 O’Clock High

3

The Black Adder - The sound of hoofbeats cross the glade!
Knight Rider
The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd
Return of the Saint

and of course: Doctor Who

4

Hart to Hart was very good. Hill Street and St. Elsewhere are definitely in my top 100 playlist.

5

I’m glad we agree on those. With regard to Hardcastle, there were two themes used there (“Drive” and “Back to Back,” of which I believe strongly that “Drive” (used for all of #1, and then brought back for the remainder of #2 and all of #3) was the better of the two.

6

I’ll be the first to mention my all time favorite, Barney Miller.

Bum…bumbumbum…
mmm

7

The Odd Couple

8

Rockford Files

9

Taxi.

10

Cheers!

11

Believe it or not, I liked the theme to The Greatest American Hero.

12

Dr. Who already mentioned.

The Sopranos.

Obcsure (probably) for non-Brits, but Bergerac.

13

Let’s not forget Van Der Valk. Or The Sweeney. Or The Professionals. Or Mission Impossible. Or The Avengers. Or Thunderbirds. Or The Tomorrow People. Or Danger Mouse. Or Supergran. Or Jamie and the Magic Torch. Or Black Beauty. Or Follyfoot. Or Peter Rabbit and Friends.

14

Twin Peaks

Never seen the series because David Lynch does not agree with me, but I dig the intro.

16

To most of these I will add:

Peter Gunn
Mr. Lucky
Mannix
Then Came Bronson
Adventures in Paradise
The Bob Cummings Show (with all the models)
Air Power

and if you gave me another 20 minutes I could name 20 more! But hardly any of them would be from the last 10 years!

17

Dup-dweeeeee, da-da-da dwee dow. As brilliant, in its way, as anything Angelo Badalamenti ever did for Twin Peaks.

The openings Christopher Franke did for Babylon 5 in seasons three and five were quite nice, and the stuff he did for the show proper was interesting too.

18

Alfred Hitchcock Presents (Funeral March of a Marionette - Gounod)

19

George of the Jungle (“Watch out for that tree!”)
Laverne and Shirley
The Big Bang Theory
Firefly
Dastardly and Muttley (“Stop that pigeon!”)
Funky Phantom
Hong Kong Phooey

20

I actually do have a playlist of what I consider the 100 best TV themes on YouTube, though I cannot, unfortunately, make it public. Many of the suggestions above (Mission:Impossible, The Protectors, Cheers!) are on my list.

To bring some kind of order to it, I found I had to break it down into categories (sitcoms, westerns, SF, cop shows, PIs, and so on), and arrange them roughly in chronological order.

So—The Honeymooners, Amos ‘n’ Andy, and Jack Benny come before Dick van Dyke, The Beverly Hillbillies, Gilligan’s island, and Hogan’s Heroes, and they all come before Cheers! and
Night Court.

Man from UNCLE comes before Mission: Impossible; The Rebel and Bonanza come before Gunsmoke and Cimmaron Strip; Dallas comes before Knot’s Landing; Love Boat comes before Angie.

And so on.

One thing I loved doing was selecting themes from cartoons and Gerry Anderson series: Top Cat, Johnny Quest, Fireball XL-5, Stingray (opening and closing), UFO!

The only two I really wanted and couldn’t find were 77 Sunset Strip (at least not the full, closing version, with lyrics) and You’ll Never Get Rich (Sgt Bilko), one of my earliest childhood memories…

I think the only shows from the `90s I have are The Sopranos, Twin Peaks, and Due South, and nothing afterwards. They just don’t make TV themes like they used to…

21

Bonanza - I don’t know if it has a name
MASH - Suicide is Painless

I never watched MASH because I liked the movie better, but I liked the MASH (movie and TV) song.