# Greatest TV Theme Song **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 22, 2000, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-tv-theme-song/26425 "2000-07-22T01:59:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![minlokwat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minlokwat/32/2844_2.png) [@minlokwat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minlokwat)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2000, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-tv-theme-song/26425/1 "2000-07-22T01:59:06Z")
Three Criteria. (like I’m the expert on this subject) 1. Musicality. Must capture the spirit of the series in terms of a musical sense. 2. Lyrics. Should sum up the essence of the series as a whole. 3. Well…maybe there are only two. But there should be some type of in-definable “fit” with the theme song and the series. Now then, many great nominees. “Suicide is Painless” (MASH), “Angela” (Taxi), “The Song from Cheers” (Cheers) but the winner is…… “Movin’ on Up” from the Jefferson’s. It has it all. Hand-clapping gospel sound, lyrics that sum up everything the show embodies (Yes, we all know it stunk in the final few years) but still there is no greater, inseparable “fit” between theme song and series and no body better even MENTION the Beverly Hill Billies, Gilligan’s Island, or the Brady Bunch. We’re talking MUSIC here. And don’t even THINK about bring up “The Facts of Life”. ---
**Author:** ![tiggeril](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tiggeril/32/7234_2.png) [@tiggeril](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tiggeril)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2000, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-tv-theme-song/26425/2 "2000-07-22T02:02:46Z")
MST3K… hands down. ---
**Author:** ![ChrisCTP](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@ChrisCTP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChrisCTP)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2000, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-tv-theme-song/26425/3 "2000-07-22T02:13:40Z")
The Fresh Prince of Bel Air 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![SterlingNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@SterlingNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SterlingNorth)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2000, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-tv-theme-song/26425/4 "2000-07-22T02:22:29Z")
I don’t know and don’t give a damn about the above criteria, but I liked the _a capella_ version of the Growing Pains theme. You know, the one they used for the last season. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2000, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-tv-theme-song/26425/5 "2000-07-22T02:27:57Z")
Red Dwarf (first two seasons). And I am going to mention Gilligan’s Island. You can’t forget it even if you tried. Green Acres fits the criteria, too. ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_H](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a5b964/32.png) [@Bill\_H](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_H)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2000, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-tv-theme-song/26425/6 "2000-07-22T02:30:37Z")
How about “Sanford & Son”? ---
**Author:** ![Myrr21](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Myrr21](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myrr21)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2000, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-tv-theme-song/26425/7 "2000-07-22T02:33:09Z")
MASH is good, as is Cheers, but… 1. The Incredible Hulk 2. Hawaii Five-O 3. Streets of San Francisco ---
**Author:** ![minlokwat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minlokwat/32/2844_2.png) [@minlokwat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minlokwat)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2000, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-tv-theme-song/26425/8 "2000-07-22T02:35:17Z")
No, No, No Just compare: "Well, we’re a-movin’ on up// to the East Side//to a deluxe apartment// in the sky//We’re movin’ on up// to th’East Side// We finally got our piece of the pie… with: “Just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale…” Come ON!!! ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2000, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-tv-theme-song/26425/9 "2000-07-22T02:35:24Z")
Just to clarify, minlokwat, lyrics are one of your criteria and two of your three choices are instrumentals? _Suicide is Painless_ had lyrics of course, but only in the movie as far as I know. I think the third criterium could be the visuals that accompanied the music (or is it the other way around?). The theme from _Mission: Impossible_ was great, but that little fuse burning along the bottom of the screen added an incredible tension. The music was butchered for the movies. I also nominate the themes from _Hawaii Five-O_ and _The Rockford Files_. ---
**Author:** ![minlokwat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minlokwat/32/2844_2.png) [@minlokwat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minlokwat)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2000, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-tv-theme-song/26425/10 "2000-07-22T02:42:54Z")
Dammit, “Angela” fits the “criteria”, minus the lyrics, because Bob James was asked to write a tune for the show in which Alex falls for the fat lady. (Surely, you remember that one.) Because the tune worked so well --on so many levels-- it became the theme song for the series. No idea why I’m bringing this up. But as far as theme songs it has to rank right up there. ---
**Author:** ![beakerxf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc79bd/32.png) [@beakerxf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beakerxf)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2000, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-tv-theme-song/26425/11 "2000-07-22T02:52:52Z")
Hmmmm, I’m going to mention the Facts of Life anyway. The lyrics in many ways captured the series. In your opinion, it’s not music, but it is in mine. ---
**Author:** ![Nacho4Sara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Nacho4Sara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nacho4Sara)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2000, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-tv-theme-song/26425/12 "2000-07-22T03:00:38Z")
My suggestions: 1. “Come and listen to my story bout a man named Jed, poor mounteneer barely kept his family fed.” 2. “You take the good, you take the bad, you take it all and there ya have the facts of life. The facts of life.” 3. “What would we doooo baby, without love, shalalala.” 4. “Sometimes you wanna go where everybody knows your name, and they’re always glad ya came.” and of course… 1. “Love is all around no need to waste it, you can have the town why don’t you take it, you’re gonna make it after all!” Yup, MTM gets me every time. When she spins with that beret! Damn, gets me every time! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![JoeyHemlock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7ba0ec/32.png) [@JoeyHemlock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoeyHemlock)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2000, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-tv-theme-song/26425/13 "2000-07-22T03:07:24Z")
I vote for the theme to the now defunct Weird Al Show ( [http://www.emsphone.com/Yankovic/WeirdAl/j\_Running\_With\_Scissors/theme.txt](http://www.emsphone.com/Yankovic/WeirdAl/j_Running_With_Scissors/theme.txt) ) which meets all of your criteria. A close 2nd place to “The Greatest American Hero”. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2000, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-tv-theme-song/26425/14 "2000-07-22T03:18:24Z")
“Keep them doggies rollin’…” - **Rawhide** or, for pure music alone without lyrics, how about **Bonanza**? ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2000, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-tv-theme-song/26425/15 "2000-07-22T03:25:03Z")
I’ve heard lyrics to the _Bonanza_ theme, and from what I remember, they sucked. We’ve already covered _M_A_S_H\*, and _The Andy Griffith Show_ theme ditched the lyrics as well. ---
**Author:** ![Quadzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/a4c791/32.png) [@Quadzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quadzilla)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2000, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-tv-theme-song/26425/16 "2000-07-22T04:31:58Z")
I’m with Tiggeril on this one - MST3K all the way. Musicality…well, er, it was someone with a very rudimentary knowledge of how to write music, apparently; also, it was done without a large orchestra. That sums up in a musical sense the entire series - they knew bad movies and improvised with props and such. (A bubble gum machine robot - come ON!) Lyrics…they hired someone who knew how to rhyme words. The series: they hired someone to heckle bad movies well. Okay, so maybe the lyrics part is slightly off-kilter with the spirit of the series. But the lyrics themselves captured the true cheesiness of the show. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2000, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-tv-theme-song/26425/17 "2000-07-22T05:19:30Z")
I happen to think “Peter Gunn” is still the coolest TV Theme tune of all time, just ahead of the “Perry Mason” theme. But if we’re limited to songs with lyrics… I’ll go with “Those Were the Days” from “All in the Family,” followed closely by “F Troop” and “The Addams Family.” ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2000, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-tv-theme-song/26425/18 "2000-07-22T05:27:48Z")
Mission:Impossible! Best t.v. theme ever. I have that tune in my head 50% of the time. ---
**Author:** ![Archer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@Archer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Archer)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2000, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-tv-theme-song/26425/19 "2000-07-22T05:33:54Z")
Miami Vice, no lyrics but a nice tune. And I sincerely doubt I will ever forget the “Gilligans Island” song. ---
**Author:** ![Lizard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@Lizard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lizard)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2000, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-tv-theme-song/26425/20 "2000-07-22T05:40:13Z")
I REALLY hate to do this, but well, the “Friends” theme fits the criteria put forth by the OP pretty well. “Suicide Is Painless” is a great tune…in the movie. I never figured out what the hell it had to do with the TV show, or whether we were really supposed to believe the Army would’ve tolerated a transvestite in 1953. (Okay, went off on a tangent there.) Here are my nominations for those unwilling to accept the above… “Happy Days” and “Cheers” (the complete version) Both themes would’ve been great songs WITHOUT the TV shows. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-tv-theme-song/26425.md?page=2)