# Most loved TV show themes **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 19, 2012, 8:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-loved-tv-show-themes/622407 "2012-05-19T08:49:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2012, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-loved-tv-show-themes/622407/42 "2012-05-19T16:59:40Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Okay. Here it is. > > [Mike Hammer (1956-1959)](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050039/) > > Here’s the tune! [“Riff Blues”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9s_4t7ilf4) > > To me this melody and especially this arrangement captures a mood of urban, burned-out loneliness… a man wandering the streets late in the day, not having anywhere in particular to go, lengthening shadows, lighting cigarette ofter cigarette. I’ve loved this tune since I was a little girl and way too young to have experienced any of those feelings. I know just what you mean. Much in common with _Street Scene_ and _Slaughter on Tenth Avenue_ and even _Rhapsody in Blue_. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2012, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-loved-tv-show-themes/622407/43 "2012-05-19T17:07:55Z")
> [@bmasters1](#): > > . . .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. . . . Actually, cut down to one-third from [the original original (pilot) intro](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLgZpIXFWKE), which was 90 seconds. When the pilot was aired as a two-parter in reruns, they reedited the standard 60-second intro that we’re more familiar with to fit the pilot,as there were some cast changes. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2012, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-loved-tv-show-themes/622407/44 "2012-05-19T17:08:46Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > No, _Harlem Nocturne_ (by the same guy who composed the _Andy Griffith Show_ theme – Earle Hagen) was used for the Keach Hammer. > > I seem to recall another Hammer between radio and Keach, though. The radio Hammer was played by Ted de Corsia. (see [Ted de Corsia - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_de_Corsia)) Harlem and Keach—that’s correct. Don’t know about the other one. It’s no accident that there are so many oldies listed. Back when these were recorded, you needed an orchestra of real musicians and composers like Hagen and Mancini and Jarre and Frontiere et al to put together a memorable theme. Nowadays, themes and incidental music are done mostly with synthesizers and in short fragments, if they’re done at all. It’s just not “cost effective.” The synthesizer trend really started with Hammer and the Miami Vice theme in the '80s, I think. Of course, anyone who was someone back then wanted their music played on Vice, but still… (Of course, I just don’t WATCH that much network TV any more, so my experience of the last 20 years is a bit limited. But still, NCIS is about the only current theme I can think of off the top of my head; the CSI themes don’t count, as they’re taken from The Who. Criminal Minds is the other other network series I watch regularly, and it doesn’t really have a theme. For now, I shall ignore The Simpsons, Family Guy, Beavis and Butt-Head, and King of the Hill…) I remember a few years ago when they were remastering STAR TREK TOS and rerecording all the music. It seemed a chore to have to dig out the original scores and actually hire the musicians to play the different parts. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2012, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-loved-tv-show-themes/622407/45 "2012-05-19T17:11:32Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > I know just what you mean. Much in common with _Street Scene_ and _Slaughter on Tenth Avenue_ and even _Rhapsody in Blue_. Hey, Zeldar, I know a seedy bar where we can meet later, chain smoke unfiltered Lucky Strikes, swirl cheap Scotch in our glasses, and stare at the setting sun while we ponder morosely where it all went wrong… ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2012, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-loved-tv-show-themes/622407/46 "2012-05-19T17:13:15Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Okay. Here it is. > > [Mike Hammer (1956-1959)](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050039/) > > Here’s the tune! [“Riff Blues”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9s_4t7ilf4) > > To me this melody and especially this arrangement captures a mood of urban, burned-out loneliness… a man wandering the streets late in the day, not having anywhere in particular to go, lengthening shadows, lighting cigarette ofter cigarette. I’ve loved this tune since I was a little girl and way too young to have experienced any of those feelings. Great tune, great theme. Thanks for finding and posting it! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2012, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-loved-tv-show-themes/622407/47 "2012-05-19T17:43:21Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Great tune, great theme. Thanks for finding and posting it! 🙂 Glad you like it! 🙂 Isn’t there a T.S. Eliot poem with a line something like “the burnt-out ends of smoky days”? It makes me think of that. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2012, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-loved-tv-show-themes/622407/48 "2012-05-19T17:47:49Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Hey, Zeldar, I know a seedy bar where we can meet later, chain smoke unfiltered Lucky Strikes, swirl cheap Scotch in our glasses, and stare at the setting sun while we ponder morosely where it all went wrong… Sounds like a date. You wear a tight sweater and I’ll have on a Stetson fedora. Remember those pulps with the tough detective and the barely clad young thing on the cover? Spillane City. TCM does a ripoff of [Nighthawk (disambiguation) - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nighthawks) whenever their offering is of the Noir persuasion. That’s what goes with the music. ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2012, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-loved-tv-show-themes/622407/49 "2012-05-19T18:17:54Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > Believe it or not, Dude, but I knew what those were going to be before I even clicked on them! Just add [this one!](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVHOn-S82ms) I miss that show. But not for long; I’m downloading it off of iTunes right now. ---
**Author:** ![bmasters1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5e925/32.png) [@bmasters1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bmasters1)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2012, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-loved-tv-show-themes/622407/50 "2012-05-19T18:31:26Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > Actually, cut down to one-third from [the original original (pilot) intro](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLgZpIXFWKE), which was 90 seconds. When the pilot was aired as a two-parter in reruns, they reedited the standard 60-second intro that we’re more familiar with to fit the pilot,as there were some cast changes. Correct! Thanks for pointing that out. I forgot about it. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2012, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-loved-tv-show-themes/622407/51 "2012-05-19T20:56:58Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > Sounds like a date. You wear a tight sweater and I’ll have on a Stetson fedora. And I will wear a pencil skirt, hose with seams, and peep-toe pumps. Why, oh why didn’t I stay in Peoria and marry the boy next door like Mama wanted me to? \*\ \*Light me another, will ya, baby? ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2012, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-loved-tv-show-themes/622407/52 "2012-05-19T21:02:33Z")
As they say on the Russian version of CHEATERS, no commentary is needed for this next clip: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/sto3p3eozg8/hqdefault.jpg "Victory At Sea Theme Song") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sto3p3eozg8) ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2012, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-loved-tv-show-themes/622407/53 "2012-05-19T21:11:50Z")
After a quick skim, I see there’s not much love for cartoon theme songs? Here are my favorites (including both cartoons and live shows): Animaniacs Pinky and the Brain Fairly Odd Parents Green Acres (Can sing every word but never saw an episode in my life) I Dream of Jeanie Tiny Toons Freakazoid Dexter’s Lab. HIMYM Seinfeld (does it count as a theme song? Love it though) Parks and Recreation (so fucking catchy, but never watch the show) Familly Guy/American Dad/Cleveland Show (love them all) Sealab 2021 Harvey Birdman Attorney at Law I can sing most/all of the words or hum the tune for those that don’t have words. There are probably more I love but these are the first that come to mind. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2012, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-loved-tv-show-themes/622407/54 "2012-05-19T21:32:06Z")
> [@drewtwo99](#): > > After a quick skim, I see there’s not much love for cartoon theme songs? [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/SIhEpjnaNlo/hqdefault.jpg "Jonny Quest intro music for the show") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIhEpjnaNlo) [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/WJ6qpulpmnc/hqdefault.jpg "The original Space Ghost opening") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJ6qpulpmnc) [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/BByhY5mY8n8/hqdefault.jpg "Moby Dick and Mighty Mightor") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BByhY5mY8n8) ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2012, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-loved-tv-show-themes/622407/55 "2012-05-20T00:29:49Z")
> [@Mr\_Downtown](#): > > I find the Big Bang Theory theme pretty catchy. Done (like Malcolm in the Middle) by They Might Be Giants. For a while I thought that too, but actually _Big Bang Theory’s_ theme is by the Barenaked Ladies. Here’s a theme I really liked. [Terriers](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVHOn-S82ms). Oops, which I see I’m not the first to mention. ---
**Author:** ![ZPG\_Zealot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e47c2d/32.png) [@ZPG\_Zealot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZPG_Zealot)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2012, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-loved-tv-show-themes/622407/56 "2012-05-20T02:30:47Z")
I always thought the original Battlestar Galactica (1970s) would be a great to set for a national anthem. And Space: Above and Beyond with the McQueen voice over. well, if we are ever at war with an alien species, that should be the recruiting commercial. ---
**Author:** ![Craneop2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6bbea6/32.png) [@Craneop2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Craneop2)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2012, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-loved-tv-show-themes/622407/57 "2012-05-21T00:30:35Z")
I liked the opening music from _Boardwalk Empire_. I like a driving beat like that and it kinda set the feel for the series for me. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2012, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-loved-tv-show-themes/622407/58 "2012-05-21T01:48:34Z")
The theme music for The West Wing was quite stirring and majestic. Makes you want to go out and vote or something. ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2012, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-loved-tv-show-themes/622407/59 "2012-05-21T02:10:29Z")
Dallas. It just kicks ass. Miami Vice and The A-Team, as well. For the BritDopers, how about Jamie and the Magic Torch, Tomorrow’s World, Top of the Pops (Phil Lynott’s version), and World in Action? ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2012, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-loved-tv-show-themes/622407/60 "2012-05-21T02:20:17Z")
Another whup-ass theme song. [Hell on Wheels.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7ApR8GOq7o) ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2012, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-loved-tv-show-themes/622407/61 "2012-05-21T04:18:32Z")
My favorite ever was from a short-lived show called **Glory Days**. (Emily from Revenge got her break on it.) It’s Tricky’s “Excess,” which is a damn fine song. Other than that, I’ve always been fond of the **Golden Girls** theme. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-loved-tv-show-themes/622407.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-loved-tv-show-themes/622407.md?page=4)