# The all-time best TV show theme song **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 14, 2003, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-all-time-best-tv-show-theme-song/161408 "2003-03-14T18:56:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2003, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-all-time-best-tv-show-theme-song/161408/81 "2003-03-16T06:07:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Bomzaway \* > **Enterprise has a nice theme song, _Faith of the heart_ by Rod Stewart. It’s okay.** The **Enterprise** theme is performed by Russell Watson, not Rod Stewart. From [this website](http://www.startreksoundtracks.com/sts-index-ent.html) > [@](#): > > **"Where My Heart Will Take Me" and “Faith of the Heart” are the same song, but with different titles. The song, written by Diane Warren and titled “Faith of the Heart,” first appeared in the Robin Williams movie Patch Adams and was performed by Rod Stewart. When recorded for Enterprise, the song was performed by Russell Watson and re-titled "Where My Heart Will Take Me."** ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2003, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-all-time-best-tv-show-theme-song/161408/82 "2003-03-16T06:31:17Z")
1.Mr Lucky 2. Inside the Actor’s Studio (by the same man who wrote the theme for _Twin Peaks_ 3. M_A_S\*H 4. Jackie Gleason’s Theme “Melancholy Serenade” (He couldn’t read music but wrote his theme music.) 5. The Pink Panther (used in the movie first) **widdershins** , did you know that Paul Anka wrote the _Tonight_ show theme? ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2004, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-all-time-best-tv-show-theme-song/161408/83 "2004-11-26T16:31:10Z")
Bosom Buddies. “my Life” by Billy Joel. He shoots…he scores. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Anthropomorphic\_Mouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Anthropomorphic\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anthropomorphic_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2004, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-all-time-best-tv-show-theme-song/161408/84 "2004-11-26T16:46:45Z")
> [@Robot Arm](#): > > **Mission: Impossible** > > And they completely, utterly and totally butchered it for the movie. They took the original syncopated 5/4 and beat on it with a rock until it was “something you could dance to.” Ought to be illegal. Woah! Are you talking about the version made by the two guys from U2? 'Cause I absolutely love that version (and the original as well). I thought it was brilliant. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2004, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-all-time-best-tv-show-theme-song/161408/85 "2004-11-26T16:49:02Z")
**Hogan’s Heroes**. I’d know that whistling anywhere. ---
**Author:** ![Paisley\_Park](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Paisley\_Park](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paisley_Park)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2004, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-all-time-best-tv-show-theme-song/161408/86 "2004-11-26T16:52:49Z")
**Magnum P.I.** ---
**Author:** ![Bites\_When\_Provoked](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bites_when_provoked/32/18073_2.png) [@Bites\_When\_Provoked](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bites_When_Provoked)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2004, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-all-time-best-tv-show-theme-song/161408/87 "2004-11-26T17:09:53Z")
> [@cmkeller](#): > > The Greatest American Hero, “Believe it or not, I’m Walkin’ on Air…” That was the exact thing that popped into my mind when I saw the thread title! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2004, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-all-time-best-tv-show-theme-song/161408/88 "2004-11-26T17:22:54Z")
There are a lot of great ones, but Cheers is the best, IMO ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2004, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-all-time-best-tv-show-theme-song/161408/89 "2004-11-26T18:58:56Z")
Doctor Who (Jon Pertwee/ Tom Baker era) ---
**Author:** ![Sweetums](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Sweetums](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sweetums)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2004, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-all-time-best-tv-show-theme-song/161408/90 "2004-11-26T19:16:05Z")
There are some that have been mentioned that I like (Peter Gunn for exapmple). Still, my favorite: \*Take my love. Take my land. Take me where I cannot stand. I don’t care, I’m still free. You can’t take the sky from me. Take me out to the black. Tell ‘em I ain’t comin’ back. Burn the land And boil the sea. You can’t take the sky from me. Have no place I can be since I found Serenity. But you can’t take the sky from me. \* ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2004, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-all-time-best-tv-show-theme-song/161408/91 "2004-11-26T19:22:17Z")
My favorite, by a very large margin, is the music to the Inspector Morse series by Barrington Pheloung. Though I can definitely get behind votes for Angel and Mike Hammer. ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2004, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-all-time-best-tv-show-theme-song/161408/92 "2004-11-26T20:30:33Z")
Al Jarreau singing “Moonlighting” or Joey Scarbury singing “Believe It Or Not” would interchangeably top my theme songs with lyrics list. Quincy Jones’ instrumental “Streetbeater” (Sanford and Son theme) is excellent, and the extended four and a half minute version is well worth listening to. ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2004, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-all-time-best-tv-show-theme-song/161408/93 "2004-11-26T20:59:53Z")
The theme from the first season of _Monk_. Catchy little tune. I despise pop tune-ring tones on cell phones, but I’d love to have that one for my cell phone if I knew how to find it and download it. ---
**Author:** ![Kaitlyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/73ab20/32.png) [@Kaitlyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaitlyn)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2004, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-all-time-best-tv-show-theme-song/161408/94 "2004-11-26T21:59:42Z")
> [@cichlidiot](#): > > I agree with the already mentioned **Greatest American Hero** and **Cheers**. Two more I’ve always liked are **The Courtship of Eddie’s Father** and **Welcome Back Kotter**. I’d throw in the Simpson’s version of All In The Family (“for no reason here’s Apu”), but I guess that doesn’t really count.😛 Nah, the best Simpson’s parody of a tv theme song is of the Flintstones: _Simp-son, Homer Simp-son, He’s the greatest guy in his-to-ry. From the town of Springfield He’s about to hit a chestnut tree._ And then he does. ---
**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:** [November 26, 2004, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-all-time-best-tv-show-theme-song/161408/95 "2004-11-26T23:16:22Z")
There was a British series called **Star Cops** that ran for nine episodes in 1987. The theme song was “It Won’t Be Easy”, written and performed by Justin Hayward of the Moody Blues. Excellent show, excellent song; but I’ll be surprised if very many people have ever heard it. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Death](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecccb3/32.png) [@Evil\_Death](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Death)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2004, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-all-time-best-tv-show-theme-song/161408/96 "2004-11-26T23:25:26Z")
> [@FabioClone](#): > > Come on, people. > > **Knight Rider** Yea, verily, and anyone who disagrees can fuck right off - though I do have a soft spot for the original Battlestar Galactica theme, it being the one good thing about an otherwise naff show. Other themes which are very good but not the best include: _Babylon 5 Stargate SG-1 Millennium_ and of course _Highlander_, though that may be cheating as it used a Queen song. ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2004, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-all-time-best-tv-show-theme-song/161408/97 "2004-11-27T01:42:51Z")
> [@Bomzaway](#): > > I just heard the theme song from **Alf** which is actually really good. It’s light, happy, and the bass is cooking. I can think of very few TV theme songs that I’d actually _want_ to hear. > > In no particular order: > > The aforementioned **Alf** theme. > > The theme song for **King of the Hill** was written by one of the Refreshments (for you Tempe music scene followers) and it’s actually called something like “triangles and yahoos” or vice versa. > > **Enterprise** has a nice theme song, _Faith of the heart_ by Rod Stewart. It’s okay. > Any others? Gilligan’s Island It told you the story every time. ---
**Author:** ![uncleangus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/779978/32.png) [@uncleangus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/uncleangus)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2004, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-all-time-best-tv-show-theme-song/161408/98 "2004-11-27T03:19:25Z")
I really enjoy the jazzy themes of Bewitched, Dick Van Dyke, the Jetsons, Flintstones, Peter Gunn. Just reading this thread is triggering my brain with dozens of short minute long blasts of greatness. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2004, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-all-time-best-tv-show-theme-song/161408/99 "2004-11-27T03:32:37Z")
**Law and Order** , the original, has a perfect theme song. Even the variants they use for the imposter shows are still pretty good. ---
**Author:** ![davenportavenger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f8ce5/32.png) [@davenportavenger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davenportavenger)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2004, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-all-time-best-tv-show-theme-song/161408/100 "2004-11-27T03:42:51Z")
I thought the Futurama theme encapsulated the show’s tone quite nicely. I also like the theme to Aqua Teen Hunger Force a lot. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-all-time-best-tv-show-theme-song/161408.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-all-time-best-tv-show-theme-song/161408.md?page=6)