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Related: Culture Forums, Support ForumsWhat was your all time favorite opening theme song from a television show--any genre. Mine was the theme song from "The
Jeffersons" What about you???
FalloutShelter
(14,190 posts)Where everybody knows your name.
debm55
(55,909 posts)eppur_se_muova
(41,012 posts)Walleye
(43,845 posts)OLDMDDEM
(3,040 posts)arkielib
(432 posts)Srkdqltr
(9,387 posts)murielm99
(32,705 posts)I still know the words.
Toody and Muldoon!
debm55
(55,909 posts)stillcool
(34,407 posts)I can see the waves breaking
debm55
(55,909 posts)Prof. Toru Tanaka
(2,904 posts)Like you posted, it is easy to remember the visual shots which were perfectly timed to the music. The dancer in the club interspersed with the ocean waves sunset shot is outstanding. And the camera rapidly zeroing in to the hotel balcony as Jack Lord turns his head for a close-up is swag at its best!
It is hard for me to give a second place nod as there have been a lot of good tv show themes through the years. And a lot of those were cop shows like Hawaii Five-0.
MiHale
(12,639 posts)They used a Lenny Cohen song
Who By Fire.
debm55
(55,909 posts)Jilly_in_VA
(13,823 posts)Ritabert
(2,002 posts)debm55
(55,909 posts)MuseRider
(35,134 posts)debm55
(55,909 posts)Last edited Sat Jun 21, 2025, 01:20 PM - Edit history (1)
PJMcK
(24,762 posts)I don't know how I never knew that! Thank you.
marble falls
(71,104 posts)debm55
(55,909 posts)MurrayDelph
(5,717 posts)I liked the little flourish they added in the theme for Tara King.
debm55
(55,909 posts)Omnipresent
(7,308 posts)The opening soft melody and the hard rock n roll close on the closing credits.
debm55
(55,909 posts)rsdsharp
(11,798 posts)KarenS
(5,050 posts)Johnny Cash sang it,,,,
debm55
(55,909 posts)Walleye
(43,845 posts)Walleye
(43,845 posts)debm55
(55,909 posts)Earl_from_PA
(294 posts)debm55
(55,909 posts)MuseRider
(35,134 posts)I was waiting for that one to come up. Such a jazzy, sexy theme song.
chicoescuela
(2,651 posts)So 1960 and so cool just like Pete
Cloudhopper
(165 posts)to be the theme from L.A. Law. An instrumental.
debm55
(55,909 posts)eppur_se_muova
(41,012 posts)I'm pretty sure everyone else associated with the show has passed on.
I had probably heard "Mars" from Holst's "The Planets" by that time, so it wasn't quite my first experience with five beats to the measure -- but at the time, I didn't recognize it as such!
PJMcK
(24,762 posts)Dont forget Paul Desmonds classic, Take Five, played with Dave Brubeck.
Prof. Toru Tanaka
(2,904 posts)And the fuse burning down through the credits as we see the different stars on the show as cool!
debm55
(55,909 posts)ProfessorGAC
(75,861 posts)...."Burning Fuse" which makes perfect sense.
patphil
(8,733 posts)debm55
(55,909 posts)patphil
(8,733 posts)They broke up in 1968, the song was recorded in 1975.
debm55
(55,909 posts)PJMcK
(24,762 posts)The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Love Is All Around.
ABC-TV Movie of the Week, Nikki by Burt Bacharach, (he wrote the song for his daughter with Angie Dickinson. Sadly, she committed suicide years later.)
My Mother, The Car which was the worst sit-com in history!
debm55
(55,909 posts)Perry Mason
debm55
(55,909 posts)BOSSHOG
(44,738 posts)debm55
(55,909 posts)AltairIV
(1,005 posts)The Avengers with Diana Rigg
The Persuaders with Tony Curtis and Roger Moore
Men from Shiloh the final season of what was The Virginian
debm55
(55,909 posts)Laffy Kat
(16,865 posts)MuseRider
(35,134 posts)It did not seem very descriptive but it was very nice.
debm55
(55,909 posts)Laffy Kat
(16,865 posts)That was a great series that deserved a better finale.
Buckeye_Democrat
(15,492 posts)I loved hearing the flute from the Taxi theme song when I was a kid, especially since it was one of my favorite TV shows at that time.
The Game of Thrones theme was well done:
The theme song for Brooklyn Nine-Nine made me chuckle, given how it so funnily captured the essence of 1970's cop-show theme songs that I heard as a youngster.
debm55
(55,909 posts)Sun-Moon
(235 posts)And we did it our way yes our way making our dreams come true for me and you
😁
debm55
(55,909 posts)LastDemocratInSC
(4,213 posts)debm55
(55,909 posts)33taw
(3,287 posts)debm55
(55,909 posts)Brother Buzz
(39,593 posts)debm55
(55,909 posts)Moostache
(10,983 posts)debm55
(55,909 posts)TommieMommy
(2,671 posts)debm55
(55,909 posts)generalbetrayus
(1,505 posts)Every time I heard that sad, depressing version of "Edelweiss" sung by a wispy female voice, I felt like slitting my wrists. Maybe "favorite" isn't the best word, but definitely the most memorable.
My girlfriend, looking over my shoulder, said, "The Dick van Dyke Show". She, obviously, is less warped than I am (but not by much).
debm55
(55,909 posts)Mister Ed
(6,812 posts)My all-time favorite Beatles song. It was recorded during the Revolver sessions in 1966, but I've read that John Lennon absolutely hated the finished recording. That might be part of the reason it was released in odd places in the U.S., filling space on the Yesterday...And Today album of odds and ends (and infamous for its original "Baby Butcher" cover photo), and used as the opening theme for The Beatles cartoon show that next season.
A beautiful song. Fills me with a feeling of euphoria whenever I hear it. Funny that I first heard it as a kid, while watching Saturday cartoons.
debm55
(55,909 posts)marble falls
(71,104 posts)... my parents both worked and I'd sneak in and watch on their color TV in their room. I thought I was the only one to remember that show.
boonecreek
(1,393 posts)The theme was from "Piano Sonata in A Major" by Franz Schubert.
debm55
(55,909 posts)DUgosh
(3,128 posts)And perfectly choreographed too
debm55
(55,909 posts)LogDog75
(1,114 posts)The opening is a musical/dance scene to Five O'Clock World by the The Vogues.
debm55
(55,909 posts)was played locally except for two songs--Turn Around Look at Me, and Five O'Clock World,
both went national.
area51
(12,572 posts)debm55
(55,909 posts)rsdsharp
(11,798 posts)debm55
(55,909 posts)KitFox
(508 posts)George Maharis 😁. As an adult, West Wing . I loved the show so much and the theme fit it so perfectly.
debm55
(55,909 posts)rso
(2,637 posts)In the Avenues and Alleyways from the 1970s British show The Protectors.
debm55
(55,909 posts)The Madcap
(1,758 posts)debm55
(55,909 posts)Ilsa
(63,855 posts)Thanks alot.
Ziggysmom
(4,059 posts)Melodrama meets Punk
debm55
(55,909 posts)LoisB
(12,381 posts)debm55
(55,909 posts)Diamond_Dog
(39,796 posts)debm55
(55,909 posts)ILikePie92
(223 posts)Last edited Sun Jun 22, 2025, 06:28 PM - Edit history (1)
The way the bass starts it out!
johnp3907
(4,221 posts)debm55
(55,909 posts)AllaN01Bear
(28,617 posts)IA8IT
(6,352 posts)Un sanitized movie version
AllaN01Bear
(28,617 posts)IA8IT
(6,352 posts)Our son (just walking) at 6pm after NBC News would hear the MASH theme song and would run to the tv and put his hands on the screen until it finished.
Today he is a hospital Chaplain
debm55
(55,909 posts)debm55
(55,909 posts)debm55
(55,909 posts)horrors she saw, but would get get teary eyed and leave the room. I would suppose the TV codes had to clean up what the war deaths and injuries were like.
cpamomfromtexas
(1,472 posts)debm55
(55,909 posts)Chipper Chat
(10,773 posts)debm55
(55,909 posts)DFW
(59,747 posts)THE ROCKFORD FILES
And from Germany, no one in the States knows this, but it was probably THE coolest German TV series EVER. It was about a small-time lawyer in West-Berlin in the 1980s. The guy had his ethics intact, but knew he was dealing with a system and colleagues that often didn't, and the more you were a stickler for rules and regulations, the less respect he had for you. He had all sorts of idiosyncrasies that made the series a fabulous hit. He smoked cigars while chilling out on his sofa with a bowl of green jello. It was written specifically for the actor who played the lawyer by one of his best friends, who was a professional script writer. It was never allowed to be released on its own by the composer, so I had to get a complete episode, and you listen to the first 40 seconds for the theme music. If you know German, you'll even get a kick out of the episode, but I don't think it was ever released with English subtitles.
debm55
(55,909 posts)Wiz Imp
(9,019 posts)debm55
(55,909 posts)Wiz Imp
(9,019 posts)debm55
(55,909 posts)Harold Shea
(61 posts)debm55
(55,909 posts)Ocelot II
(129,150 posts)debm55
(55,909 posts)emulatorloo
(46,135 posts)Late to the party but love this theme song:
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debm55
(55,909 posts)Kablooie
(19,043 posts)debm55
(55,909 posts)Enter stage left
(4,273 posts)debm55
(55,909 posts)Mr Ed! Willllllber
debm55
(55,909 posts)LetMyPeopleVote
(175,054 posts)Kid Berwyn
(23,031 posts)If the show were done today, they'd have discovered that the only thing lower than a whale turd is Donald J Trump.
debm55
(55,909 posts)Maninacan
(216 posts)It's about time only one season 1966-1967
pfitz59
(12,337 posts)Silly show, but memorable.
debm55
(55,909 posts)Permanut
(8,007 posts)...a tale of a fateful trip.."
debm55
(55,909 posts)Brother Buzz
(39,593 posts)debm55
(55,909 posts)CTyankee
(67,803 posts)debm55
(55,909 posts)Response to debm55 (Original post)
Wiz Imp This message was self-deleted by its author.
pandr32
(13,805 posts)I also enjoyed the versions of 'Little Boxes' on Weeds. Also, the old TV series Mission Impossible had great opening theme music.
debm55
(55,909 posts)Niagara
(11,554 posts)Jan Hammer's Miami Vice theme song:
It become a top 100 and winning Grammy Awards!
Bill Conti's Falcon Crest theme song:
Jerrold Immel's Dallas theme song:
Bear McCreary's The Walking Dead theme song:
Joe Cocker's With a Little Help from My Friends, The Wonder Years theme song:
debm55
(55,909 posts)PufPuf23
(9,709 posts)by The Dandy Warhols.
Usually I am a 60s, 70s or early 80s type of guy for TV and music.
debm55
(55,909 posts)Zorro
(18,346 posts)May be the most sophisticated TV theme tune ever.
debm55
(55,909 posts)SWBTATTReg
(26,057 posts)Two of my favs!
debm55
(55,909 posts)JMCKUSICK
(5,158 posts)debm55
(55,909 posts)Last edited Sat Jun 21, 2025, 06:25 PM - Edit history (1)
wcmagumba
(5,661 posts)and the Robot too, "Danger, Will Robinson"....
debm55
(55,909 posts)wcmagumba
(5,661 posts)Sequoia
(12,720 posts)That voice, and herds of cattle.....when I was 5 years old.
debm55
(55,909 posts)Squeaky41
(425 posts)Hitchcock's "March of the Marionettes"
debm55
(55,909 posts)Morbius
(893 posts)Danger Man (song Secret Agent Man, Johnny Rivers)
&
Twin Peaks (theme by Angelo Badalamenti).
debm55
(55,909 posts)TomSlick
(12,881 posts)Catch the trombone counter-melody in the second strain.
debm55
(55,909 posts)demosincebirth
(12,815 posts)debm55
(55,909 posts)Ilsa
(63,855 posts)Ann Hampton Calloway - a voice like buttah. I believe she composed this snappy tune and lyrics to open The Nanny:
Also, Star Trek Voyager's very majestic opening:
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And Star Trek Deep Space Nine, which is like a fanfare:
?si=R-i557S2V7yaCdrN
debm55
(55,909 posts)Figarosmom
(9,790 posts)debm55
(55,909 posts)iemanja
(57,410 posts)Starburster by Fontaines DC.
https://m.
debm55
(55,909 posts)OldBaldy1701E
(10,225 posts)He did so many that were great!
The A-Team
The Rockford Files - (got to number 10 on the Billboard charts)
The Greatest American Hero - (got to number 2 on the Billboard charts)
Magnum P.I.
Quantum Leap
Hill Street Blues - (got to number 10 on the Billboard charts)
The list goes on. He is perhaps the greatest television composer that has ever lived.
But, I have to say, in my personal opinion, it is the Star Trek theme. A close second is the theme to The Six Million Dollar Man.
debm55
(55,909 posts)terip64
(1,601 posts)I have always loved Harry Nilsson! Who remembers The Point? I loved that movie and the music!
debm55
(55,909 posts)It was a car commercial
terip64
(1,601 posts)He was great and I loved Bill Bixby! My Favorite Martian was another fun show!
The Wizard
(13,593 posts)debm55
(55,909 posts)VMA131Marine
(5,172 posts)debm55
(55,909 posts)ILikePie92
(223 posts)ROCKFORD FILES!!!
debm55
(55,909 posts)roscoeroscoe
(1,808 posts)Master of the Air on Apple
The Crown on Netflix
Jack Ryan on Amazon Prime