# TV Shows You Remember -- But Just Because Of Their Music/Themes **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 8, 2006, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-you-remember-but-just-because-of-their-music-themes/339024 "2006-01-08T17:30:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2006, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-you-remember-but-just-because-of-their-music-themes/339024/1 "2006-01-08T17:30:04Z")
We’re going way back for this one, but _Adventures In Paradise_ starring Gardner McKay was a so-so show, but the music was great. 50’s show. All I can remember is the opening credits and the theme music. I remember liking the shows but the ones Henry Mancini did the music for are memorable mostly for the music. Peter Gunn and Mr. Lucky. Late 50’s and early 60’s. I remember the stars but little else. Bonanza, Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, The Rebel (Johnny Yuma), Rawhide, Mannix, The Bob Cummings Show, Gerald McBoing-Boing, Perry Mason, Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Others where you can hum the tune but would be hard pressed to describe anything that went on in the show? ---
**Author:** ![SSG\_Schwartz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@SSG\_Schwartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SSG_Schwartz)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2006, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-you-remember-but-just-because-of-their-music-themes/339024/2 "2006-01-08T17:51:56Z")
“People let me tell you 'bout my best friend” I can remember the theme from Courtship of Eddie’s Father, but not even who played in it. Right now, I am humming the theme from New Zoo Review, and therefore remember who the cast was, but nothing else. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2006, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-you-remember-but-just-because-of-their-music-themes/339024/3 "2006-01-08T18:05:01Z")
There was this mini-show tagged onto the end of _3-2-1 Contact_ called “The Bloodhound Gang”. _Whenever there’s trouble We’re there in a double… We’re the Bloodhound Gang! If you got the crime We got the ti-me. We’re the Bloodhound Gang!_ I can remember Vickie (there were actually two of them, I think) but besides her and the theme song, I can’t remember anything else from that show. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2006, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-you-remember-but-just-because-of-their-music-themes/339024/4 "2006-01-08T18:13:02Z")
I was trying to remember this when I put up the OP, but in _Have Gun, Will Travel_ whenever something significant happened (seldom, as I recall) or it was about time for a commercial there was this ominous dum-dum-dum-DUM thing that would be a good signal you were supposed to be paying attention. It was a lot like those licks they had in most westerns when the Indians were about to do something nasty. For the longest I thought Paladin’s first name was Wire! Not too long ago I had the opportunity to see an episode of HGWT. Awful. Cheesy. Silly. Used to be a favorite show. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2006, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-you-remember-but-just-because-of-their-music-themes/339024/5 "2006-01-08T18:40:50Z")
There was a brief spin-off of Cheers starring Carla’s ex-husband Nick. It had a catchy theme song that started something like: “It’s hard to be a nice guy when you’re reputation’s bad. Being goody-good must drive you absolutely mad!” The only thing I actually remember about the show itself was Norm showing up once. I have even more vague memories of theme songs from short-lived TV shows of my childhood in the 1970s. There was a sitcom (presumably called “Lotsa Luck,”) which had a theme song that ended: “But in order to survive, just to keep yourself alive, what you really need today is -” Cut to different people, each saying “Lotsa luck!” about 5 or 6 times. And then there was a comedy/soap set in an alternate woman-dominated world that had a sort of proto-rap theme that outlined the alt-history of this world; fragments of it pop into my head at odd moments, lines like “Adam sprang from the rib of Eve, full grown,” and “while she adminstered the gov’t, he crocheted.” I don’t even recall the title of the show, but I think that a rose featured prominently in the opening. Does anybody else remember this? ---
**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 8, 2006, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-you-remember-but-just-because-of-their-music-themes/339024/6 "2006-01-08T18:56:31Z")
Wanted Dead or Alive (if that’s the one that had the “bullet in my shoulder, blood running down my vest” song as its themesong?) The Patty Duke Show ("…but they’re cousins") The Green Hornet (cool instrumental, jazzy-classicalish) ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2006, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-you-remember-but-just-because-of-their-music-themes/339024/7 "2006-01-08T21:47:35Z")
**The Fall Guy** (he made Eastwood look so fine, don’t you know?) **Tour Of Duty** (excellent use of the Rolling Stones’ _Paint It Black_) ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2006, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-you-remember-but-just-because-of-their-music-themes/339024/8 "2006-01-08T21:58:27Z")
**The Texas Wheelers**. I listen to their theme song all the time, since they used John Prine’s “Illegal Smile.” The oddnesss of using a song about marijuana use for a prime time family comedy is memorable. Though I wouldn’t mind seeing it again, if only to see Mark Hamill before **Star Wars**. ---
**Author:** ![fifty-six](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@fifty-six](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fifty-six)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2006, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-you-remember-but-just-because-of-their-music-themes/339024/9 "2006-01-08T22:43:55Z")
“The Great American Hero” Belive it or not, I’m walkn’ on air I never though I’d could be so free Flying away on a wing and a prayer Who 'oo could it be? Belive it or not, It’s just me. I dont think I even remember one thing about the show except for the song. I was young though. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2006, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-you-remember-but-just-because-of-their-music-themes/339024/10 "2006-01-08T23:03:27Z")
Hawaii Five-O, and Miami Vice. ---
**Author:** ![pesch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pesch/32/4925_2.png) [@pesch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pesch)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2006, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-you-remember-but-just-because-of-their-music-themes/339024/11 "2006-01-08T23:14:51Z")
> [@Miss Mapp](#): > > I have even more vague memories of theme songs from short-lived TV shows of my childhood in the 1970s. There was a sitcom (presumably called “Lotsa Luck,”) which had a theme song that ended: > > “But in order to survive, just to keep yourself alive, > what you really need today is -” > > Cut to different people, each saying “Lotsa luck!” about 5 or 6 times. … Hmmmmm _I used to buy a pickel, It only used to cost a nickel And a dollar used to be worth a half a buck But in order to survive Just to keep yourself alive_ You know the rest. “Lotsa Luck.” A Dom DeLuise vehicle. It was created in the post-“All in the Family” days when the networks believed that stories about working people that pushed against the boundaries of good taste would be a success. On “All in the Family,” the joke would be to hear the toilet (or, as Archie put it: “Terlet”) flush. On the first episode of “LL” \we got to see the toilet.\ The episode was a long shaggy-dog story in which DeLuise had to go out, buy the toilet and install it. In the last scene, there was a ceremonial moment, with the family gathered around, of the first flush. Then, as a kicker joke, they try to close the door and realize the toilet’s in the way. That’s the only episode I can remember, but the theme? Etched on granite. Yep. Can’t remember my kids’ birthdays (and I was there for one of them!), but I can remember mid-70s sit-com plots. ---
**Author:** ![pokey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ebca7d/32.png) [@pokey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pokey)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2006, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-you-remember-but-just-because-of-their-music-themes/339024/12 "2006-01-09T01:27:52Z")
I don’t know if anyone in the world besides me remembers **Vision On** and I don’t really remember anything about it except it was the type of show I watched because I wasn’t allowed to watch anything good, ever. I had the theme music stuck in my head for years and years and this thread reminded me of it and how sick I am of not quite remembering what the show was called. So I had to go on wikipedia and look through a list of every UK TV show ever to see which one rung a bell. So the theme music is “Java” by Al Hirt. The stupidist song ever right after Yakkity Sax. For years I could see the credits in my head. It had a pen writing “Vision On” and then the words turned sideways and got mirrored so that it made the shape of a bug. I couldn’t remember what the words were though! Some guy was on it who yelled about Science. I love the theme. It’s been in my head for about 25 years now. I always used to jump around the living room to it. I downloaded it. I can’t stop listening to it. I’m never going to get sick of it. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2006, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-you-remember-but-just-because-of-their-music-themes/339024/13 "2006-01-09T01:39:08Z")
“ **It’s About Time** , It’s about space, It’s about two men in the strangest place…” Aside from those lines, the premise of astronauts who somehow found themselves in prehistoric times, and Imogene Coca playing the main cavewoman, that’s all I’ve got. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2006, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-you-remember-but-just-because-of-their-music-themes/339024/14 "2006-01-09T01:46:17Z")
> [@pokey](#): > > I don’t know if anyone in the world besides me remembers **Vision On** and I don’t really remember anything about it except it was the type of show I watched because I wasn’t allowed to watch anything good, ever. It was an Art show aimed at the deaf, so there was almost no words spoken through most of it, and it was entirely visual. Obviously, they had to have some kind of audio for the non-deaf, so that was mostly funky odd catchy music. It had little cartoons, like the clock numbers that were re-made into people and objects, or the council worker mole man who used to dig up odd things like whales and statues and bridges, or the girl that walked with a tortoise whose thought bubbles were cynical jokes. The main hosts included the great artist Tony Hart, Sylvester McCoy (Seventh Doctor Who) as the guy who used to do everything backwards, and a weird Rube Goldberg-like inventor called Wilf Lunn. Great show. ---
**Author:** ![Millit\_the\_Frail](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/51bf81/32.png) [@Millit\_the\_Frail](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Millit_the_Frail)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2006, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-you-remember-but-just-because-of-their-music-themes/339024/15 "2006-01-09T01:57:28Z")
“I want **Charles in Charge** of me!” Nothing about that show except the theme sticks. Ditto for **The Facts of Life**. Why yes, I grew up in the 1980s. ---
**Author:** ![pokey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ebca7d/32.png) [@pokey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pokey)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2006, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-you-remember-but-just-because-of-their-music-themes/339024/16 "2006-01-09T02:07:18Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > It was an Art show aimed at the deaf, so there was almost no words spoken through most of it, and it was entirely visual. Obviously, they had to have some kind of audio for the non-deaf, so that was mostly funky odd catchy music. From googling it, I found this [site](http://www.its-prof-again.co.uk/vision_on.htm) with some clips and both of the clips I looked at I remember! What a weird feeling. Now I know I will be looking at Vision On stuff all night. ---
**Author:** ![Eureka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/74df32/32.png) [@Eureka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eureka)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2006, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-you-remember-but-just-because-of-their-music-themes/339024/17 "2006-01-09T02:37:42Z")
Gilligan’s Island and the Brady Bunch OK, I might know a little more than the music of Gilligan’s Island, but I learned the words and tune to both of their theme songs as camp songs as a young girl scout, but probably never watched any actual episodes. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2006, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-you-remember-but-just-because-of-their-music-themes/339024/18 "2006-01-09T02:43:01Z")
> [@pokey](#): > > So the theme music is “Java” by Al Hirt. The stupidist song ever right after Yakkity Sax. Jim Henson did a great routine to this song on various variety shows with two Slinky-shaped Muppets. A _very_ catchy tune. ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2006, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-you-remember-but-just-because-of-their-music-themes/339024/19 "2006-01-09T04:34:26Z")
\*\*Simon and Simon. \*\* I never watched the show, but I liked the theme song, same with **Miami Vice**. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2006, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-you-remember-but-just-because-of-their-music-themes/339024/20 "2006-01-09T04:43:02Z")
Hawaii-five-o There was “Book him Danno” and nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh nuh nuhhhh, da da da da daaaa. I don’t think there was anything more to the show. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-you-remember-but-just-because-of-their-music-themes/339024.md?page=2)