# Which TV theme songs have changed? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 11, 2003, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-tv-theme-songs-have-changed/200898 "2003-09-11T03:06:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2003, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-tv-theme-songs-have-changed/200898/61 "2003-09-12T13:09:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mr2001 \* > \*\ ***Garfield and Friends** started with “Friends are there to help you get started / to give you a push on your way” and changed to “We’re ready to party, we’re ready / I hope you bring lots of spaghetti”. \*\* And towards the end of the show’s run, “He’s fat and he’s lazy/he sleeps and he’s so crazy.” > [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Dooku_ > **WKRP in Cincinnati originally showed someone in their car changing radio stations, playing little snippets of different stations, until they landed on the station that would play the theme song. In later seasons they just started the theme song.** I was going to mention this. The snippet I vividly remember is a news broadcast, something like “the President, while not intoxicated, could not explain his lack of clothing.” ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2003, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-tv-theme-songs-have-changed/200898/62 "2003-09-18T17:41:30Z")
I don’t know why, but this one popped into my head the other morning while I was shaving. I swear that when I watched “Lone Ranger” reruns when I was a kid, they had two different opening themes. There was the one that I think everyone is familiar with, with the voice-over over _“The William Tell Overture”_ – “A cloud of dust and a hearty hi-ho Silver”. But I also remember one version of the opening with a song about “Six Texas Rangers” and it told the story of their ambush and how the one surviving ranger became the Lone Ranger. I have no idea which one was first, though. Didn’t they use the William Tell Overture version back when it was on radio? ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2003, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-tv-theme-songs-have-changed/200898/63 "2003-09-18T17:54:35Z")
I saw a very early episode of “That 70’s Show” last night, and the theme song was sung differently, and missing the “we’re all alright” lines. ---
**Author:** ![Missy2U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@Missy2U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Missy2U)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2003, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-tv-theme-songs-have-changed/200898/64 "2003-09-18T18:11:49Z")
“Bonanza” has had at least three different themes - two were different recordings of the same song, the third was something altogether different. And sucky. Real sucky. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2003, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-tv-theme-songs-have-changed/200898/65 "2003-09-18T18:24:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by TeaElle \* > Also, Law & Order’s theme song has never changed. Variations on the theme are heard on the spin-offs, but the familiar “bum-bum do-do-do-do-do” theme has been in place since “Everybody’s Favorite Bagman.” (Yes, I know Law & Order episodes by title.) ?? If it changed for “Everybody’s Favorite Bagman”, then it _has_ changed. I should have said “the first few episodes” rather than “the first season” on Page 1. ---
**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:** [September 18, 2003, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-tv-theme-songs-have-changed/200898/66 "2003-09-18T19:10:48Z")
_ **I know some! I know some!** _ The original “Scooby-Doo” theme music was redone at some point to make it sound ‘funkier’ (“Scoobeh Doobeh Doo…”). It’s the same song, same words, but a different recording. Oh! Also – the Flintstones (the version with the singing) was recorded more than once. I have no idea which came first, but one sung version sounds “flatter” and tinnier, as if sung by fewer people and less forcefully, – perhaps the recording quality just wasn’t as good. The bird that serves as the end-of-day work whistle (just before Fred yells “yabba dabba doo” and heads for his car) sounds like a real work whistle in the hi-fidelity version and like a bird squawking “awwwk!” in the other. ---
**Author:** ![Isabelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b5a626/32.png) [@Isabelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isabelle)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2003, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-tv-theme-songs-have-changed/200898/67 "2003-09-18T19:12:13Z")
I’m suprised no one metioned “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2003, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-tv-theme-songs-have-changed/200898/68 "2003-09-19T19:06:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Annie-Xmas \* > \*\*I saw a very early episode of “That 70’s Show” last night, and the theme song was sung differently, and missing the “we’re all alright” lines. \*\* The first year, the theme was sung by the cast, IIRC. The theme is currently sung by Cheap Trick. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2003, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-tv-theme-songs-have-changed/200898/69 "2003-09-19T19:30:54Z")
Here’s a very minor change, but…the opening music for “Bewitched” changes ever so slightly for the Dick Sargeant (2nd Darren) episodes. But more importantly, a narrator’s voice is added who states “Elizabeth Montgomery starring in…Bewitched!” over the opening animation. At the end of the opening credits, the voice also states “Also starring Agnes Moorehead as…Endora!” It might also be worth mentioning that most of the daytime soaps have had numerous theme songs over the years. That’s not too surprising given that most of them have been on for 30+ years, and hence their themes become extremely dated. I remember “One Life to Live” (the only soap I’ve ever followed) had a cheery, upbeat theme with lyrics when I first watched it in the mid 80s. there have since been two or three different opening themes since then, all of them instrumental, the most recent one being an annoying guitar heavy theme that sounds like it could’ve been recorded by Whitesnake. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-tv-theme-songs-have-changed/200898.md?page=3)