Three Westerns:
Maverick***
Cimarron Strip
Gunsmoke
- Miami Vice
- WKRP in Cincinnati
- The Simpsons
I submit that the three best are all from the past 15 years or so. I know, crazy.
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Black Sails - Still on the air.
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Game of Thrones - also still on the air
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Farscape- Not sure if we should use season 1 and 2 or not. I went with season 3.
Lots of great ones here. I’ve had the same “fave five” for a long time, and it hasn’t changed. In no particular order:
Hawaii 5-0
Get Smart
Magnum PI
Star Trek TOS
Star Trek TNG
We could have a thread of “favorite TV theme songs by Mike Post and Pete Carpenter” and it wouldn’t have to change much.
Blast from the past: George of the Jungle
Watch out for that tree!
Three service comedies:
McHale’s Navy
F Troop
***Gomer Pyle, USMC*** The last two in particular really do make great military marches!All of the good ones are taken!
So, off the top of my head, some other favorites.
Branded
Police Squad!
Night Court
Honorable mention: PUSA’s version of * Cleveland Rocks* from the Drew Carey Show.
Fernwood Tonight Fernwood 2-Night Theme Song - TelevisionTunes.com
The Garry Shandling Show (already mentioned by others here) (starts at :35) It's Garry Shandling's Show - Theme Song - YouTube
Medical Center, simply because of the insane synth crescendo near the beginning
Medical Center TV show theme song - YouTube
*Route 66
Perry Mason
Alfred Hitchcok Presents*
*Hawaii 5-0
Mission: Impossible
The Wire*
Lots of good ones here, though a bit surprised that nobody has mentioned these 3 from the 70’s:
Not gonna do ones already mentioned. How 'bout.
Mannix
S.W.A.T.
Taxi.
One more please? This one has words.
Baretta
BTW, I did not realize there were so many versions of the great Barney Miller theme. Also, how much time am I gonna waste clicking links in this thread? Many, many time. That’s how much.
The last two have already been mentioned.
I’d like to mention that the new (current) version of Hawaii 5-0 has an opening theme, both audio and video, that are VERY worthy of the original, and I think the producers deserve a shout-out for preserving the legacy of the that awesome show.
My mistake. Upon further review, those mentions of MTM and WBK were additionals to a top 3.
The first two are easy
Hawaii 5-0
Mission: Impossible
but rounding out the top 3 is very difficult, there are a lot of great themes to choose from. I gotta go with
Hill Street Blues
And one that I haven’t seen mentioned yet
They were at least smart enough to know that when something’s that good you don’t mess with it. I saw a video that made the rounds when the reboot was coming out; it was at the recording session for the new theme and everyone saying “don’t mess up the theme song”. And the version in the video is great. Unfortunately, they cut it much shorter for the opening of the show, and in my opinion they did screw it up, completely lost that brass counterpoint during the recapitulation of the theme.
Shagnasty was the first to mention the Lone Ranger theme (Rossini’s ‘William Tell’ overture.)
It is a magnificent orchestral piece.