# TV Shows Whose Theme Song Changed During The Show's Run **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 19, 2015, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-whose-theme-song-changed-during-the-shows-run/710308 "2015-01-19T19:59:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![BurnMeUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@BurnMeUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BurnMeUp)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2015, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-whose-theme-song-changed-during-the-shows-run/710308/101 "2015-01-20T20:36:33Z")
> [@ISiddiqui](#): > > **New Girl** has changed. The theme song used to be a slower version with a singing part (by Zooey Deschanel), but now its a quicker version of the original without singing. If only some other[super attractive person](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=18065062&postcount=26)had thought of suggesting that earlier ---
**Author:** ![RobotDevilDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e19adc/32.png) [@RobotDevilDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobotDevilDog)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2015, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-whose-theme-song-changed-during-the-shows-run/710308/102 "2015-01-20T20:38:08Z")
Growing Pains had at least 4 different versions of the same song, with the singers frequently changing: B.J. Thomas (solo) B.J. Thomas & Jennifer Warnes B.J. Thomas & Dusty Springfield uncredited a capella version ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2015, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-whose-theme-song-changed-during-the-shows-run/710308/103 "2015-01-20T22:00:41Z")
_The Flintstones_ song changed at some point in its trajectory. I _thought_ the change corresponded to a change in the accompanying artwork, adding in Pebbles and then Bamm Bamm, but that doesn’t seem to be the case MUSIC: Older: (sorry, hads one of those YouTube 4 second ads in front) [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uq7noaMwLfg) Newer: sorry no link, can’t find the damn thing. The big band sound at the very beginning was more attenuated; the bird that Mr. Slate yanks on to signal end-of-day SQUAWKED instead of making that industrial-whistle sound like the above link has, and the overall audio quality was better on the choir and so on. I don’t think the words wer changed. CARTOON: originally the two couples and the cat and Dino the dinosaur; then Pebbles was added; then Bamm Bamm was also added. The two kids get popped up on top of Dino’s head at the drive-in ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2015, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-whose-theme-song-changed-during-the-shows-run/710308/104 "2015-01-20T22:26:45Z")
**Garfield and Friends** went through three opening themes: [Friends Are There](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMELnad_HRE) [Ready to Party](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIPRFitgIc4) [Whatever the hell this is](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHCdP7hjs1Q) ---
**Author:** ![Scoobysnax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@Scoobysnax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scoobysnax)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2015, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-whose-theme-song-changed-during-the-shows-run/710308/105 "2015-01-20T23:21:34Z")
The Sons of Anarchy theme changed for the portion of Season 3 spend in Ireland [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/UQzkzv5i93s/maxresdefault.jpg "Sons of Anarchy - Irish Theme "This Life"") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQzkzv5i93s) ---
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2015, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-whose-theme-song-changed-during-the-shows-run/710308/106 "2015-01-21T00:20:07Z")
My wife just watched the entire run of [The Guardian](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Guardian_(TV_series)). Although the show ran from 2001 to 2004, the first season had an intro theme, with horns and no words, that sounded straight out of the 1970s. Then it completely changed, instead using the song “[Empire In My Mind](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzAFwHb3Jgs)” by The Wallflowers (along with a completely different opening title sequence.)…so it then sounded straight out of the 1990s. ---
**Author:** ![randwill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@randwill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/randwill)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2015, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-whose-theme-song-changed-during-the-shows-run/710308/107 "2015-01-21T15:16:04Z")
A lot of anime shows change the opening AND closing theme at the halfway point in the series. Episode 4 of “Angel Beats” changed the style the opening theme, “My Soul, Your Beats”, to compliment the content of that episode. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2015, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-whose-theme-song-changed-during-the-shows-run/710308/108 "2015-01-22T00:51:10Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > South Park, but the only part that changed was Kenny’s indecipherable lines (which are, if you care to look them up, completely filthy). There have apparently been three versions of his part of the opening theme. There have been other changes over time besides just Kenny’s mumbling. > [@Quimby](#): > > Scrubs changed the brief clip of the song “Superman” it played at the beginning of each episode at one point. They slowed and strected it out. There was a total of one episode in the 2nd season that had a different, longer opening, and modified version of the song. I’m not saying your thing didn’t later happen, but that one episode opening has always left me going “huh?” > [@Chronos](#): > > _Farscape_ went from having a non-verbal song that sounded like an orgasm, in its first season… to a different non-verbal song that sounded like a completely different orgasm, in later seasons. I’m just now watching the show and still in season one. I hope the 2nd orgasm is better than the first. That was a bad orgasm. Apparently they do exist. ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2015, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-whose-theme-song-changed-during-the-shows-run/710308/109 "2015-01-22T04:36:40Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > I can’t believe we missed a **major** one! > > _Family Guy_ notoriously had a bit in the original theme song that, to some viewers at least, didn’t sound like what was intended. After the chorus sings > > “Lucky there’s a man who > Positively can do > All the things that make us…” > > Stewie says “Laugh and cry.” > > Somehow, viewers took that as Stewie saying “Effing cry.” It was changed in later seasons to have Stewie enunciating the words “laugh and cry” more clearly. > > FWIW, I never thought it was anything but “laugh and cry.” Neither did I. IIRC, Stewie said it in his “posh” voice, and it sounds more like “leff 'n cry”, which is probably what led to the confusion. > [@tim-n-va](#): > > “Petticoat Junction” adjusted the lyrics to match changes to the cast. The original had the line “it is ran by Kate come and be her guest” and the later one had “there’s a lady MD, she’s as pretty as can be”. When Bea Benaderet was on the show, the second verse was something like: \*There’s a little hotel called the Shady Rest at the Junction It is run by Kate, come and be her guest at the Junction And that’s Uncle Joe, he’s a-movin’ kind of slow at the Junction \* After she left, it became: _There’s a little hotel called the Shady Rest at the Junction It is run by Joe, come and be his guest at the Junction There’s a lady MD, she’s as pretty as can be, at the Junction_ > [@AHunter3](#): > > _The Flintstones_ song changed at some point in its trajectory. I _thought_ the change corresponded to a change in the accompanying artwork, adding in Pebbles and then Bamm Bamm, but that doesn’t seem to be the case Actually, in the first season or two, the theme wasn’t “Meet the Flintstones”, but the instrumental “Rise & Shine”, which used a completely different video. Reruns replaced the original opening with a version of the later opening with a 1966 copyright date (and also had the line “through the courtesy of Fred’s two feet” missing, so the ending is out of sync); this in turn was replaced with a newer version. A couple of others: _Doc_ (starring Barnard Hughes) originally had a song with lyrics, before switching to an different instrumental _Caroline in the City_ originally had a very brief opening of Caroline the comic strip character before changing to a montage of various strips Do game shows count? _Celebrity Sweepstakes_ switched from one theme to another, then back to the original. The 1970s _Name That Tune_ had three theme songs. _Hollywood Squares_ used a disco theme for its syndicated weekly version in the late 1970s. When 1970s _Sale of the Century_ switched to a two-couples format, the theme changed. ---
**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:** [January 22, 2015, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-whose-theme-song-changed-during-the-shows-run/710308/110 "2015-01-22T07:15:48Z")
> [@That\_Don\_Guy](#): > > _Hollywood Squares_ used a disco theme for its syndicated weekly version in the late 1970s. It also went through two different themes during its daytime run on NBC. Steve Allen wrote lyrics for the first one (“The Silly Song”), which Peter Marshall performed on Steve’s syndicated talk show in the late '60s and early '70s. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2015, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-whose-theme-song-changed-during-the-shows-run/710308/111 "2015-01-22T08:37:27Z")
**Gilligan’s Island** had a weird Calypso number for its pilot episode (as well as a somewhat different cast), and it had the infamous lyric change from “And the rest” to “Professor and Mary Ann.” **Star Trek: Enterprise** , keeping “Faith of the Heart” for its whole run except where noted earlier, changed the lyrics and instrumentation in a later season. Law & Order kept the same basic theme but shifted from “downbeat” to “sweeping” around the third or fourth season. \*\* Blackadder\*\*, of course, had a different period theme song for each season. ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2015, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-whose-theme-song-changed-during-the-shows-run/710308/112 "2015-01-22T08:42:20Z")
The Simpsons’ theme song has had [many different versions.](http://www.snpp.com/guides/sololist.html#solos) 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2015, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-whose-theme-song-changed-during-the-shows-run/710308/113 "2015-01-22T20:53:25Z")
“Designing Women” had a “Georgia on my mind” sound-a-like song for it’s opening credits (IIRC, unless it was just an odd instrumental version of it) and then later had Ray Charles’ performing the actual song. ---
**Author:** ![lew\_cody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e274bd/32.png) [@lew\_cody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lew_cody)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2015, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-whose-theme-song-changed-during-the-shows-run/710308/114 "2015-01-23T01:51:11Z")
> [@That\_Don\_Guy](#): > > Do game shows count? > _Celebrity Sweepstakes_ switched from one theme to another, then back to the original. > The 1970s _Name That Tune_ had three theme songs. > _Hollywood Squares_ used a disco theme for its syndicated weekly version in the late 1970s. > When 1970s _Sale of the Century_ switched to a two-couples format, the theme changed. From 1975-83, when it was a daytime-only show, “Wheel of Fortune” used a brassy theme (with bongo and synth accents) composed by Alan Thicke. It was replaced by Merv Griffin’s “Changing Keys” in 1983. That tune was in turn rearranged several times, and the last vestiges of it eventually disappeared. The first two runs of “Password” each changed themes. The show’s rather bland theme of 1961-63 was replaced by a much more distinctive, rather swinging Bob Cobert composition in the summer of '63. The ABC run had one theme from 1971-74 and another in 1974-75, both good in their own ways. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2015, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-whose-theme-song-changed-during-the-shows-run/710308/115 "2015-01-23T02:15:15Z")
> [@Omega\_Glory](#): > > Monk. In fact, this is the only show ever to win the Best Title Music Emmy multiple times. ---
**Author:** ![SirRay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@SirRay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SirRay)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2015, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-whose-theme-song-changed-during-the-shows-run/710308/116 "2015-01-23T02:45:50Z")
Add the 1960s Spy Sit-Com ‘Get Smart’ to the list - for the first four seasons the intro music was the same, but the fifth and last season the theme was changed to, I guess a more jazzier or pop style, coinciding with the move of the show to CBS. Someone was nice enough to [compile all six of the Get Smart intros](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csqhWHSrbdY) - The B&W pilot (Max drives a Ferrari from a parking spot on one side of the street to a spot on the other), Season One and Two (Max parks a red Sunbeam Tiger), Season Three and Four (Max parks a blue VW Karmann Ghia), and Season Five (shots of various Washington DC landmarks, then Max parking a gold Opel GT), and finally the TV Movie ‘Get Smart Again’ (which I am not counting here). In all the regular season intros, Max’s walk down the hallway of many doors to the phone-booth elevator at the end looks to be the same video, with just different Title credits super-imposed. Man, viewing them all together, it’s amusing how unsynchronized the door-closing sounds are from the visuals of the doors closing. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2015, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-whose-theme-song-changed-during-the-shows-run/710308/117 "2015-01-23T06:39:11Z")
After the first season of _CHiPs_, the theme song was re-arranged into a disco/funk version. [http://chips-tv.com/Fun/sounds.shtml](http://chips-tv.com/Fun/sounds.shtml) (at the bottom of the page) _The Dick Van Dyke Show_ theme changed slightly depending on which video version was used. The percussion was different at the point where Dick tripped over the ottoman, sidestepped it, or just walked around it then tripped on the rug. All 3 versions at once: [Dick Van Dyke Opening Times Three - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPsofhzu9f0) There was also another opening, with stills and credits only, and the theme song was broken up with short bongo sequences. But I’m not sure if that was for season one or only used for syndication. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2015, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-whose-theme-song-changed-during-the-shows-run/710308/118 "2015-01-23T10:30:52Z")
> [@Horatio\_Hellpop](#): > > \*\* > Blackadder\*\*, of course, had a different period theme song for each season. And in the second season different lyrics for each episode. **That 70’s show** changed to a different artist covering the same song after the first season. ---
**Author:** ![jrbor76](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9e8a1a/32.png) [@jrbor76](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jrbor76)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2015, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-whose-theme-song-changed-during-the-shows-run/710308/119 "2015-01-23T16:29:00Z")
Two _major_ changes (both after the first season or half season IIRC): _Kojak_ and _Magnum PI_. And a smaller but still noticeable change after the first season or so: _The Rockford Files_. ---
**Author:** ![rsa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/839c29/32.png) [@rsa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsa)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2015, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-whose-theme-song-changed-during-the-shows-run/710308/120 "2015-01-24T05:16:01Z")
All in the Family had a number of different versions of “Those Were The Days”. Jeopardy had several different different theme music openings. The “Think” music has always been the Final Jeopardy music. BTW, I had heard that Merv Griffin made a few million on the “Think” music, but according to Wikipedia Merv said he made over $70 million! :eek: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-whose-theme-song-changed-during-the-shows-run/710308.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-whose-theme-song-changed-during-the-shows-run/710308.md?page=7)