O dear gods… the one typo I make is a racial slur! I meant LIKE!
Angel (that cello is haunting)
The World at War (another haunting theme)
Mission: Impossible
Peter Gunn
Babylon 5 – I like all 5 years, but I think year 3 is my favourite
Inspector Morse
Midsommer Murders
Barney Miller
Night Court
errr, there are lots more I really like, but I think I have to go make a CD now. 'scuse me.
Like:
Cowboy Bebop
Due South
The Saint
Rockford Files
The John Larroquette Show (first version)
Scrubs
Sanford And Son
The Bill Cosby Show (“Hikky-Burr”)
Hill Street Blues
A new one that I just heard that I like is the closing theme to the anime show FLCL (Foolie Coolie) on Cartoon Network.
Hate:
Doogie Howser MD
NYPD Blue
Enterprise
Leave It To Beaver
Perfect Strangers
But the worst TV theme song I’ve heard is to a gold panning show on The Outdoor Channel called Gold Fever. It is so ridiculously bad I’m surprised anyone would claim it. Echjoing reverb on parts of the vocals, spoken dialogue in “character” of an old prospector, silly psuedo-bluegrass music. Hypnotically bad.
Mission Impossible is one of the all time greats!
Hawaii Five-O…(Book 'em, Dano!)
St. Elsewhere.
Cheers. (Of course…this one is a given.)
I love the theme song to The Shield, but there’s really nothing about that show I don’t like!
But aren’t we forgetting the theme to “Good Times”?
How can no one have said the theme from SWAT yet?
Love:
X-files
Glory Days (it was a song by Tricky, got to love that)
X-files
Golden Girls
Facts of Life
Angel
Charmed
Hate:
Party of Five
Felicity (the second version)
Smallville, even though I usually don’t watch it (Remy Zero had one good song, and this is not it)
It shows up on the Kinks’ “Live from Kelvin Hall” album. Is that what you’re thinking of, or did the Who do it too? [Yeesh, that sounds like Dr. Seuss!]
I’ll second The Jeffersons and Malcolm In The Middle, and while we’re on FOX Sunday Nights I’ll throw in The Simpsons and King Of The Hill.
And of course, Monty Python now own Sousa’s Liberty Bell March. Can anyone hear it nowadays without expecting the PPLPBPHLP! at the end?
Late Show with David Letterman (great brass)
The Sopranos
The X-Files
King of the Hill
Hated: A song I heard years ago on a mercifully shortlived sitcom which I believe was called “Room for Two.” The lyrics went something like “Yubby Dubby dee, Yubby Dubby Da, Yubby Dubby Dub Dub,” and for all I know the stupid song may have been the reason the sitcom flopped.
Can’t say I care much for the theme from “Malcolm in the Middle” either, though “King of the Hill’s” song kicks a$$.
That would beThe NBC Mystery Movie, which premiered in 1971 and featured Dennis Weaver’s McCloud in addition to the segments you already mentioned. Later additions to the lineup included Hec Ramsey, Banacek, and Quincy. Henry Mancini composed the theme.
I like the songs that basically explain the show if you’re watching it for the first time. Among the best (some already mentioned):
“Ballad of Jed Clampett” (Beverly Hillbillies)
Gilligan’s Island (check out the lyrics from the lost pilot episode – site contains sound)
There’s a hold up in the Bronx,
Brooklyn’s broken out in fights.
There’s a traffic jam in Harlem
That’s backed up to Jackson Heights.
There’s a scout troup short a child,
Kruschev’s due at Idlewild
**Car 54, Where Are You? **
er…or The Sopranos.
[Dr Seuss voice]
*It’s exactly as I told you
I know it’s from the Who
I didn’t know about the other
Be it Ray Davies or his brother
I will find a cite for it soon
but I’m sure of Townsend and the Moon*
My favorite theme of all is BTVS. I listen to it all the time. In fact, it’s my #1 most listened to mp3 (thank you, iTunes).
I also love the old Wonder Woman theme song.
“Stop a bullet cold!
Make the Axis fold!
Change their minds,
And change the woooorld!”
And yes, I have a dance remix of it. Why do you ask?
Is the Frasier theme Tossed Salad and Scrambled Eggs part of a longer song?
In the vein of funky bass lines like Barney Miller, there’s the very groovin’ theme song to Night Court. Love that one. I will also admit to a certain fondness for the Keb’ Mo’ version of the theme to Martha Stewart Living, a.k.a. Mm Mm Mm Mm.
Worst. Theme. Song. Ever: Facts of Life
Just one?
If you have cable, keep an eye out for TV Land’s special on theme songs. I think it’s going to be on the 19[sup]th[/sup] and they include interviews with the various composers.
I’m not sure if this is a like or dislike. But I think The Daily Show theme is a song called Dog on Fire by Bob Mould.
Cowboy Bebop has a GREAT theme song.
Mission Impossible is a good call, ditto The Sopranos. The theme to Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law is fun.
The Who’s cover of the Batman theme is on the extended CD version of the album A Quick One. The liner notes for the album say that their version of the song was originally on the EP Ready Steady Who! released in November of 1966.