I remember that White Collar changed its theme song a couple of seasons in. I didn’t particularly think the new one was an improvement musically, but I did like the show very much, and it seemed to me that if USA went to the trouble of commissioning a new theme song, it meant that it thought the show was a hit and would be around for a few seasons. They gave up on the new theme song and went back to the original within a few episodes, which I found rather miraculous. I mean, how often does that actually happen?
Regarding “Comedy Tonight” as the Muppets’ original theme song–I think I’ve solved the mystery. The Muppet Show debuted on 1976, and the third episode featured the ensemble singing “Comedy Tonight” as a production number. It’s quite possible that I missed the first two episodes and watched this number, not realizing it was several minutes into the episode of a show I’d never seen before: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOyI35ldSPA
I saw a video about a slight change to The Muppet Show theme song. The original is:
C C A B A# B G
and the new version is:
C C A B A B G
A change worthy of discussion here! BTW I prefer the original.
FTR, “Comedy Tonight” was itself the third opening number Sondheim wrote for A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, after “Love Is in the Air” and “Invocation.” (You may have heard the former number in The Birdcage.)
SquidBillies (Adult Swim cartoon) had many guests perform the opening song. Some notables I can recall were Todd Snider, Drive-By Truckers and Neko Case.
Show was ridiculous, but damn funny.
Love the tune. Don’t know about the lyrics.
