Past or present, what are your favorite tv theme songs?

Those that I like quite a bit are:
Happy Days
Cheers
Taxi
MxAxSxH
Hill Street Blues
Hawaii Five-O
The Dick Dyke Show
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These are alright, too.

The Andy Griffith Show
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
The Flintstones
Laverne & Shirley

 

again? why not!

in no particular order....

the odd couple (neal hefti)
green acres (vic mizzy)
the dick van dyke show (earle hagen)
the smothers brothers show (1st show- the sitcom) (perry botkin jr.?)
the addams family (vic mizzy)
the andy griffith show (earle hagen)
the gary shandling show
my mother the car
car 54 where are you?
the phil silvers show- sgt. bilko
the jetsons
room 222
mannix (lalo schrifin)
newhart (henry mancini)
the bob newhart show

in the cases of neal hefti, earle hagen and vic mizzy the incidental music is often as good as the themes.

i'm sure there's a bunch i forgot

 

King Of The Hill (The Refreshments)

 

The majority of these seem to be kids shows from when I was young!

Magnum (The first one)
The A-Team
Knightrider
The mysterious cities of Gold
The Raccoons
The fall Guy
Huckleberry Finn
The Littlest Hobo
Dukes of Hazzard
MASK
Jeeves and Wooster
Fraggle Rock
Quantum Leap
CHIPS

 

C'mon, everybody! Pucker up and whistle the Leave It To Beaver theme!

 

Barney Miller

 

The Avengers
Batman
Dr Who

 

It isn't possible to beat the theme for The Jeffersons.

 

Wild, Wild, West- Love the bass line, always wondered if it was Carol Kaye.
Green Acres- Great crackling guitar.
Secret Agent Man- Always loved the guitar.
Man From U.N.C.L.E.

 

"Just two good ol' boys..."

Maybe I just like Waylon Jennings.

 

Land of the Lost
Sanford & Son (aka "The Streetbeater")
Hawaii Five-0
Andy Griffith Show (aka "Fishing Hole")
60 Minutes
Green Acres
Lost In Space

 

some great bass playing on this one, and on "sanford and son".

 

one i forgot, love this one.

 

Perry Mason- Intense, man.

 

I'll get pilloried for this. But since I NEVER watched the show (and therefore never had the chance to get sick of its theme song, even when it became of Top 40 hit), the Friends theme is actually a very good song.

Anything with an electric 12-string is OK with me...which is also why I liked the theme music from Judging Amy, a show my wife was a fan of. I only rarely watched it, but I used to see it in passing and also when they reran it during my lunch hour and I was home.


As for classic stuff, yeah the Leave It to Beaver theme will also always strike a nostalgic chord. The Aadams Family theme was cool, too. Then there was that soprano sax on the My Three Sons theme. I swear I remember seeing a variety show where someone actually came on and played it. As an alto sax player in grade school myself, I was fascinated by the concept of a saxophone that wasn't curved!

And how about Captain Kangaroo's theme music? I used to love it when he unlocked the Treasure House and it would keep playing until he hung up the keys on the hook, at which point it would magically stop.

On one show, he missed the hook and the keys fell to the floor. The theme music obligingly stuttered, but then kept on playing until he hung them up properly! How many years ago was that now? Probably close to 50...and yet I still remember!

 

i always thought the friends theme was a lot better than the show was.

captain kangaroo, is another one i missed. it's called "puffer billy", there must be some train connection there. i use that as a bass warm up sometimes, someone always recognizes it.

in philly we had some great local kids' shows, one called the gene london show had a great theme: "come right on into the general store...."

i haven't heard it for years, but i think the sax on my 3 sons was either an alto or a c melody, i could be wrong though. fred macmurray was a sax player in his earlier years.

 

The theme from Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids is outtasight!

 

One I always liked as a kid was the theme to Emergency!--anyone else remember that one?

 

West Wing
Dr Who
Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea
Lost In Space 2nd version by John Williams
Pretty Much all the Star Trek Themes except the first one
Stargate SG1 and Atlantis...
Lost...

 

That Gene London theme is a real blast from the past, il pleut!
Anything else that you're hankerin' for.....you'll find at Cartoon Corners General Store!

 

Chuck Connors' "Branded":

"All but one man died.
There at Bitter Creek.
And they say he ran away.

Branded, scorned as the one who ran.
What do you do when you're branded, and you know you're a man.

Wherever you go, for the rest of your life
You must prove, you're a man".

 

The Saint
UFO
Barney Miller
Red Dwarf

 

I'm glad someone mentioned this one. Incredible song. Most of my favorites have been mentioned already...Leave It To Beaver, Dick Van Dyke, Andy Griffith...but here's a few more.

Mission Impossible
I Love Lucy
Dobie Gillis
Jackie Gleason (ending theme)

 

"Spiderman, Spiderman, does whatever a spider can..."

C'mon sing it, everybody!