LarryC's World

I’ve been thinking about doing this post for some time. Then, last week, Peter Hartlaub did a post in the San Francisco Chronicle on this subject. I liked some of Peter’s choices, and think he was off the mark on some others. To recap, Peter’s choices were: ‘Twilight Zone’ (good choice), ‘Six Feet Under’ (OK), ‘The Wild Wild West’ (interesting), ‘The Sopranos’ (excellent), ‘Miami Vice’ (wrong, and I’ll explain why), ‘the Simpsons’ (no comment), and ‘The Six Million Dollar Man’ (hmmm). To be fair, he was looking at it slightly differently than I would, although he was slightly inconsistent. His criteria was that the intro explained what the show is about, and I was looking strictly at the music in general.

Before I start, let me just say that in general, I hate ‘best of’ lists. First, they seem to assume that there are only 5 or 10 or even a hundred of … whatever that are worth remembering. Secondly, every time I make a list, the moment I complete it, I immediately think of at least one and usually several other good choices. So, here is my list, by decade.

The 50’s: TV was in its infancy, and most shows copied movies, using a theme with credits. They also copied the radio voice-over technique. There are a couple of theme’s that stand out. Fred Steiner’s theme for ‘Perry Mason‘ is very memorable. But maybe because that show ran for so long. I really liked the Count Basie written theme for the short-lived Lee Marvin series ‘M-Squad‘. That would be my pick for the 50’s, but you only got about 20 seconds of it during the opening. But the pinnacle of TV music in the 50’s was for ‘Victory at Sea’. This 1952 show was 26 episodes long. The theme was composed by Richard Rodgers and it’s symphonic quality conveys the seriousness of the show’s subject matter.

The 1960’s started off with the 1960 show ‘Route 66‘. Nelson Riddle’s cool jazzy theme was perfect for the show. A lot of good TV themes came out of the 60’s. ‘The Twilight Zone‘ (actually premiered in fall 1959), a lot of cop shows, doctor shows and some memorable themes too. Some of my favorites include Lalo Schifrin’s themes for the detective show ‘Mannix‘ and his theme for ‘Mission Impossible‘, Quincy Jones’ theme for ‘Ironside‘ and Jerry Goldsmith’s theme for ‘The Man from UNCLE’. But if I were to pick one theme that was the ‘gold standard’ of the 60’s it would be this one:

Hawaii Five 0 premiered on September 20, 1968. The introduction with the quick scene cuts and driving beat, drum heavy music became the standard for the next 15 years or so. In fact it is pretty obvious that Michael Mann and Jan Hammer did their best to copy the Five-0 theme for Miami vice.

I seem to remember the 70’s as a decade of (often cheesy) comedies. The decade started off with ‘The Brady Bunch‘, and ‘Love American Style‘. Neither had a theme song I liked but they sure stuck in my head. Some other iconic theme songs from the early 70’s included ‘The Mary Tyler Moore Show‘ (click on hq if you watch this Youtube Video) and ‘M*A*S*H’. Of course the latter doesn’t count because they just ripped the theme from the movie, including the helicopters. On the drama/police shows, there was ‘Streets of San Francisco‘ (a personal favorite and one heavily influenced by the Hawaii Five-0 opening) and ‘Vega$‘ the Robert Urich PI show. Don’t forget ‘Taxi‘, a quirky, not cheesy comedy with a memorable theme. But there is one show I think really reflects the 70’s. Yes, I know it’s corny, it’s cheesy, it’s a copy of ‘Love American Style’, but I know you watched it…

Premiering as a made-for-tv movie in 1976, it became a series in 1977. I’ve never met anyone who had not watched at least a few episodes. Yes they may have admitted it reluctantly, but this show was a phenomenon. Anybody who ever worked in TV (until that time) and a plethora of aging movie stars were on that  show. Even some non acting types as the credits from this episode indicate, Bob Mackie and Gloria Vanderbilt(?). Besides, that Jack Jones theme just won’t go away.

The 80’s opened with ‘Magnum PI‘ and a cute opening sequence. It also brought us a slew of slick cop and lawyer shows, like Hill Street Blues and LA Law, both from Steven Bochco. We also had the previously mentioned Miami Vice. Unfortunately, I could not limit myself to just one clip from the 80’s. The first theme is from one of the best TV comedy series ever. Premiering in September of 1982, and running for 11 seasons, Cheers’ theme song is indelibly etched in my brain. The theme didn’t change much over the show’s long run, and this version, the best I could find on Youtube, is from the 7th season:

My other 80’s sample is a personal favorite. It premiered on March 3 1985, and ran for 4 seasons. The first 2 years were outstanding and some of the best television of the decade. The theme song is also fantastic. With music by Lee Holdridge, lyrics by Al Jarreau and performed by Al Jarreau, this is Moonlighting… (watch the clip in HQ)

I think that the 80’s were the final gasp of high quality theme music from network television. When the 90’s arrived, many TV shows opted to use songs from the pop music world like this Carole King song from ‘The Gilmore Girls‘. Those that developed original music were usually corny throw-aways like ‘Friends‘ or just a series of synthesizer sounds like ‘Seinfeld‘. It took until the end of the decade to find a show with a memorable theme. Thank you HBO. Premiering in 1999:

The 00’s began the trend of no themes at all. Shows just start, with the opening credits displayed over the first minute of dramatic action. This is pretty common these days. The other contributor to the lack of theme music is the type of show. Today we are overrun with so-called reality shows. Occasionally these have a theme, such as ‘The Amazing Race‘, but most are utterly forgettable. Once again, thanks HBO for being the one bright spot in the land of theme songs:

Well, there you have it, my picks for the best of the last 50+ years