I know just what you mean. Much in common with Street Scene and Slaughter on Tenth Avenue and even Rhapsody in Blue.
Actually, cut down to one-third from the original original (pilot) intro, 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.
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.
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…
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.
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 whenever their offering is of the Noir persuasion. That’s what goes with the music.
I miss that show. But not for long; I’m downloading it off of iTunes right now.
Correct! Thanks for pointing that out. I forgot about it.
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? *<sniff> *Light me another, will ya, baby?
As they say on the Russian version of CHEATERS, no commentary is needed for this next clip:
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.
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. Oops, which I see I’m not the first to mention.
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.
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.
The theme music for The West Wing was quite stirring and majestic. Makes you want to go out and vote or something.
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?
Another whup-ass theme song. Hell on Wheels.
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.