TVSquad

I was bitching about the death of theme songs on my blog just last week. You can check it out, with links to many classic theme songs at:

http://travelswithlizbeth.typepad.com/travels_with_lizbeth/2006/10/please_bring_ba.html

My take is that I MISS theme songs. They put me in the mood for whatever I'm watching, and help me switch gears between two disparate shows. For the record, I'm not a TIVO girl, so I still watch things as they air.

And I was just watching Mike Post's interview on "The Greatest American Hero" DVD. The man scored something like 40 of Stephen Cannell's shows. His theme songs are ingrained in our collective memories. Twenty years from now none of us will remember the tone of Lost, because we won't have the theme song to refer to.

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Let's see, new-ish shows that have a theme song:
Battlestar Galactica
Dexter
Eureka
My Name is Earl (Kinda)
The Office
Desperate Housewives
etc.

I think this is just overblown. Fewer shows have them now but they're not going away.

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Desperate Housewives has opening titles, but I noticed this season that they don't use the full titles every episode. In the off weeks, I guess that's 30 more seconds to sell tampons and pickup trucks.

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House MD uses a sample of Massive Attack's "Teardrop" and it is a kickass theme. Studio 60's theme is also jiving with me.

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It seems like they've been slowly going away. Look at Three's Company and then look at Wings. Quite the difference.

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Just curious, as I don't remember Frazier ever having an extended opening title scene. The theme song everyone remembers from the show is the one played over the closing credits. I recall the opening being a slightly animated title card then the cast's names being shown over the opening scene. I don't recall any other shows dropping the opening credits before the early 90's, so I'd think Frazier did it that was because they wanted to be unique, not because of any time constraint.

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HBO shows are the best when it comes to theme songs. The Wire, The Sopranos and Deadwood all feature great openings.

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NCIS has the traditional theme and opening credits; it's one the catchiest in recent years.

Number3s didn't have the best theme, but I am disappointed they've dropped the opening credits this year.

Ghost Whisperer has opening theme and montage that's very appropriate to the nature of the series.

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Theme or no theme? Well, themes are just something to skip past on TIVO... so we could do without them.

Perhaps more can go into scores -- like in the 80's where the scores of most shows was the MTV playlist.

--
dwacon
http://dwacon.blogspot.com

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The new Smallville theme song/opening since last season is definitely up there with my favorites. Carnivale (the short-lived yet critically acclaimed HBO sho had one of the best openings around), and the CSI franchise always has catchy openings.

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I like theme songs (with words or not) that are specifically written for the shows. I just bought the theme to Growing Pains for a ringtone the other day - why? (painfully why right?) because it reminds me of the good ole days watching my fave shows when I was little.

I'm not too fond of shows that picked up songs for their intro (ex Dawsons Creek) - and so in my yes column includes the theme to Friends because it was specifically created for the show. It laps over into the No column only because the Rembrandts then created a fuller version of the song and slapped it on their album and then radio stations began to play it...etc etc.

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Yep who canot remember the credit- Music and Theme by Mike Post and Pete Carpenter. Being a product of the 80's I found to be quite memorable the music for St. Elsewhere (the original E.R.), Hill Street Blues, M*A*S*H, and who cannot forgot the opening music for the A-Team. I love it when a plan comes together.

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I would hate to see theme songs go. It puts me into the mood for whatever I'm watching. One of my favorite theme songs is the opening song from the tv show One Tree Hill. Forgot the name of the song tho...

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Matt Roush talks about this in this Monday's Ask Matt column:

http://www.tvguide.com/News-Views/Columnists/Ask-Matt/default.aspx

Yes, it used to be that every show had a theme song with the opening credits sequence. But, then again, there used to be a lot less television.

There are plenty of shows that I think work a whole lot better without theme songs.

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A couple stand out
- Veronica Mars
- The Wire
- Rescue Me !!!

Those are three theme songs I do not FF through. In fact Rescue Me's theme has become one of my favorite songs.

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Don't forget Prison Break's opening theme.

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Good riddance. I never used to mind theme songs, but now I realize that there's no excuse for a jingle and a montage taking up two minutes of a 22-minute show. I think 15 seconds is ideal. 30 seconds is tolerable. Anything longer than that is just more time for me to change the channel.

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I think they are on life support, as you said. I like them, as long as they are short and catchy. Like you said, the Scrubs one is a good example. My current fave is the How I Met Your Mother song.

Best Theme Song Ever award goes to the Firefly opening. I still have that as a ring tone.

BSG is good, but it is too long. Though I usually skip right over it to get to the action, so they could have changed it and I'd never know. :)

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I just want to give a shout out to the respective writers of two of the most awesome theme tracks I've heard in a long time: the theme songs to the Venture Brothers and the theme song to Harvey Birdman. Birdman, in particular, is amazing!

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I hate this trend and I miss ER's opening theme! Maybe I'm just a geek, but I love great TV theme songs. Who can forget classic like I Love Lucy, 77 Sunset Strip, Bonanza, or Gunsmoke? Who among us can at least hum Gilligan's Island, Bewitched, Star Trek (all of them!), Little House on the Prairie, or the Waltons? The Sci-Fi Channel tried to cut the opening themes from both Stargate series (two great modern theme songs!), but fans protested so much they are added back in the second half of the season. Boston Legal is another series with a great theme. Hell, I even liked the Rembrandts song for Friends.

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