TV Poll: What's Your Favorite Theme Song?

Soft spot here for the Doctor Who theme music. No lyrics, but it was composed by Ron Grainer and developed into the theme version by electronic music pioneer Delia Derbyshire--and it's lasted for decade after decade after decade... Just the first few thrums call me back to being a teenager (in good fun ways, not realistic awful ways).

Fresh Prince of BelAir

Suicide is Painless was the theme from the original Altman film on which the MASH was based. IIRC, the lyric itself was never used in the TV show. (but what kind of school has fifth graders singing a song called 'Suicide is Painless?')

I don't know if I have a favorite, but The theme from Laverne and Shirley is a great music.

@p_luk: You are correct on both counts, although I don't recall whether the Altman film used the lyrics either. But I still have the lyrics committed to memory. Maybe we need two divisions, like the Oscars: best original theme and best "adapted" theme.

@ Richard: there's another thing we don't see any more--the theme with lyrics that tell you exactly what the premise and backstory of the show is. Someone should write one for Lost. It would be the length of an entire episode. And you could set it to the music of Fresh Prince. (Now this is the story all about how / My plane got ripped, turned upside down...)

The Altman film did use the lyrics. The song was sung during the suicide/last supper scene for The Dental Don Juan of Detroit, Walt Waldowski aka The Painless Pole.

BTW, the lyrics were written by Robert Altman son, Michael.

Not sure I'm getting the idea of Theme Song as used in this question correctly but my girlfriend and I love the opening song for Firefly.

The theme song that I will NEVER forget - and all the words to it and that best defines my childhood as well would be "The Brady Bunch". Come on, you know you're singing it too...! Cheesy, yes. Classic, yes.

It's theme songs folks! Exactly what the TV brass do NO want these days. They are afraid of itchy remote fingers. But wow...back in the Day...60's...70's...and into the 80's....what a golden age of theme songs.

Here's a story...about a man named BRADY! (The Brady Bunch)

Now sit right back and hear a tale...a tale of a fateful trip...that started from this tropic port... (Gilligan's Island)

Who can turn the world on with her smile....who can take a NOTHING date...and suddenly make it all seem worthwhile.. (Mary Tyler Moore).

.....those were the daaaaaaaaaaaaaays. (All in the Family)

And the wordless themes....Lost in Space, Star Trek, Perry Mason, Peter Gunn, St. Elsewhere....

Just so many. Today...you are lucky to get a two note HOOK. It's sad...and I miss them all!

Who can tru

I'm working on writing a parody of a sitcom theme song as part of a project this summer, and as principal inspiration I'm drawing on two of my favorite sitcom theme songs, even though they are animated [which doesn't matter, as far as I'm concerned]: The Flintstones and The Jetsons.

There's that brassy element in both of them that I'm trying to use as a hook, not to mention that the lyrics are so classic.

Theme from SWAT and Miami Vice are my votes.

I love the Star Trek - Next Generation theme song, and love the Buffy the Vampire theme and the "somebody save me" theme from Smallville. The Brady Bunch theme song will, unfortunately, be stuck in my head ad nauseum in perpetuity, although I really wish it weren't!

Magnum P.I., the one and only ringtone for my cellphone.

Gotta go with the Lonely Man Theme from The Incredible Hulk. Still chokes me up.

How can you not start at the top, at that "deeeluuuxe apartment in the skyyyy?" Although it's interesting that a remix is now being used in a flashy car commercial or something.

Since I was at the right impressionable age in the 70s, I also have a soft spot for the themes from "Alice" and "One Day at a Time." Singing along at the top of the show was the best part!

There are so many I could list! The A-Team was a good one, and Miami Vice (I admit it, I had the soundtrack on cassette...) The Greatest American Hero theme was so good that I tracked it down and bought the 45. The original Battlestar Galactica opening, not so much the theme song, but the voiceover, is so classic (although the theme was good too!)

And all the kids shows I used to watch are springing to mind too. The Muppet Show, Fraggle Rock, The Great Space Coaster, and 321 Contact are all good ones. Sesame Street holds a special place in my heart.

But the Firefly theme is my all time favorite. It's such an amazing piece of music.

Maybe it's generational but I remember some really great cartoon themes like Underdog and Hong-Kong Phooey (admittedly the cartoons themselves were debatable.)

And the A-team.. classic! And I fear for the day when there will be a generation that grows up not knowing all the words to the Gilligan's Island theme song.

The Ponz:

Great topic. Might I suggest themes from The Rockford Files (instant wayback machine to the 70's watching TV with Dad) and Barney Miller (that fantastic opening base line).

I appreciate the fact that Gilmore Girls introduced Carol King to a new generation - the same teenage girls who complained relentlessly when I played James Taylor in my classroom simply started singing along when "Where You Lead" would come on.

Bonanza, Cheers, Branded, Rifleman, Lost in Space, Star Trek (the Patrick Stewart one, used the Jerry Goldsmith theme from the Robert Wise film), Courtship of Eddie's Father, Six Feet Under, ROME, Dick Van Dyke Show, Beverly Hillbillies, etc. etc. For most of today's shows, I'd be hard pressed to recall an identifiable theme. In the glory days, the music theme got you excited as the show came on.

Being from the UK I can think of some classics that stick in my head, The various versions of the Black Adder theme, especially season 2 with different lyrics for each show. The theme from Red Dwarf especially the line "goldfish shoals nibbling at my toes". US themes, currently Dexter it has that nice suburbia feel but with a creepy dark undertone. Fresh Prince, I sit there and rap along each time it comes on as I am sure most people do if not out loud. Tis true though that most new TV shows have unmemorable themes, very sad indeedy.

GOOD TIMES. Though, as a 8-year-old white kid in the suburbs I didn't quite understand it all, I think I understood the bittersweet irony.

Also - Brady Bunch, Facts of Life, Beverly Hillbillies, Green Acres, Mr. Ed.

Youngins the lot of you... Two great oldies:

1. Hawaii 5-0
2. Dragnet

Ah, one more.

Mission Impossible

How can we have this discussion without mentioning the musical styling of Alan Thicke (a.k.a. Jason Seaver of "Growing Pains") who wrote the theme songs to "Diff'rent Strokes" AND "The Facts of Life"?

I really think, though, that the 80s were the golden era of TV theme songs - Airwolf, MacGyver, Greatest American Hero, Growing Pains, Who's the Boss?, Family Ties (Sha-na-na-naaaaa!), Miami Vice, Hill Street Blues, Cheers, and the "change it every season" theme song of the Cosby Show.

Some moderns classics:
-Arrested Development
-Curb Your Enthusiasm
-Seinfeld

All understated (compared to the older songs), but all very memorable, recognizable, and hummable.