Modern TV Theme Tunes

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Was watching Six Feet Under last night and it struck me that it has a pretty good theme, but not what I would call a theme tune (ie its all a bit tricksy and quite hard to hum). Looking back at the hey-day of TV Themes - the sixties - with all this bold orchestral scores it seems that maybe something has been lost. Or am I being uncharacteristically nostalgic.

So what are the great moden themes. Is it okay to just nick an appropriate pop song (a la The Sopranos, Roswell) or should you have a homemade good theme. It strikes me that both of the Buffy series have lousy theme tunes. So on the Greatest TV Themes of All Time alongside The Avengers and Doctor Who what recent efforts would make the grade?

― Pete, Tuesday, 9 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

only fools and horses - cant be beat

― born clippy, Tuesday, 9 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

The main thing that makes me want to watch Six Feet Under is that tune.

Do TV companies still commission original songs for the theme tunes of sit-coms? Eg Only Fools And Horses, Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads, etc.

― Tom, Tuesday, 9 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Both tuines for Only Fools And Horses were written and sung by John Sullivan - the writer. Similarly with the Perry & Croft sitcoms, they did their own theme tunes (pastishes yes but original tunes).

― Pete, Tuesday, 9 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

The "That's My Bush!" theme song, which was written in the spirit of the catchy, old fashioned "theme song explains the premise of show" theme songs.

― Nicole, Tuesday, 9 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

i rather like the buffy theme

― gareth, Tuesday, 9 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

i love the buffy theme! The only other TV I watch regularly is Newsnight and The Simpsons (oh and, um, Aphrodisia *cough*) so I'm struggling to come up with any modern classics. But, yes, original themes + exciting title sequences always better than nicking existing songs.

― Jeff W, Tuesday, 9 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

why have so many successful tv shows of recent times had such terrible title sequences (x-files!!) and awful themes (CSI!!). the new star trek manages both -- it has to be seen/heard to be believed.

― Alan Trewartha, Tuesday, 9 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

It's awful. But anyone who watches the new Star Trek deserves the theme song - it is rub.

― Nicole, Tuesday, 9 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I like the way the BB theme tune sounds all menacing before kicking in proper at the end of each programme.

― Madchen, Tuesday, 9 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

i don't find that bubbling under sound menacing. it makes me feel warm and cozy (tho this might still be the association with the joy of watching it for bb1 -- i wuv the chooon).

― Alan Trewartha, Tuesday, 9 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

This happens to me with the Eastenders theme tune, it calms my fevered brow and soothes me whatever upset I have endured that day (esp. when accompanied with a glass of wine & a fag).

― Emma, Tuesday, 9 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Big Brother is a genuine goodie, hence its chart action. You've got to rmember the X-Files tune also charted (how?) - but I agree re the opening sequences. er has such a non-entity as a theme, and dare we even talk about that Ally McBeal thing (but it is an original song)?

Here's a challenge for you, why not write a new theme tune for Ally McBeal to the tune of another famous theme with lyrics which explain the concept of the show. (Concept!)

Simpson theme is magnificent of course.

― Pete, Tuesday, 9 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

All I can say is that thank goodness I stopped watching any new Trek shows somewhere around 1995, because everything I've heard about this new theme song scares me silly.

I am permanently damaged by all the theme songs I heard growing up in the late seventies. I can even remember the chorus to Hello, Larry, for heaven's sake!

― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 9 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

The King of the Hill Theme RAWKS.

― Matt DC, Tuesday, 9 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I prefer the Angel theme to the Buffy theme, similar though they are. University Challenge is another classic. I also think some themes (not great in themselves) give you a thrill when you hear them just by their association with the programme to come (eg Eastenders during a really exciting storyline or something.)

― Archel, Tuesday, 9 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Enterprise is indeed the worst ever, though the Smallville one made a decent stab at the title.

― Martin Skidmore, Tuesday, 9 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

kids in the hall music is way garagey and indie sounding

― chaki, Tuesday, 9 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I quite like the title sequence of the Sopranos. There have been a large number of appaling themes that have sprung to my attention lately- last night I was thinking about how awful the bad girls one is, and yet it is such a fine programme. Soap opera themes are easy to get stuck in ones head- emmerdale farm, young and the restless, eastenders. Talk shows are bland in comparison.

One of my favourite themes is the Thunderbirds music.

― Menelaus Darcy, Tuesday, 9 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

three years pass...

Does anyone know where I can find audio of the Big Brother Australia theme song? It is on a cd? Or downloadable from the net? I can't find it anywhere! Please email any suggestions to jujuearp@gmail.com

― Juliet, Monday, 24 April 2006 04:42 (twenty years ago)

five months pass...

This made me search and revive this thread.

Depending on the tune, I kinda think I miss having standard theme songs to connect with shows. Having said that, there definitely are too many terrible ones.

One of my all-time faves is All In The Family's Those Were The Days, and I have to admit that Cheers' Everybody Knows Your Name definitely has nostalgic value for me. Oh, and that leads to the closing theme from Frazier, performed by Kelsey his own self.

As for today, I absolutely love the use of Little Boxes for Weeds. First season was the original by Malvina Reynolds, and now they're using a different cover version for each episode. Cracks me up.

― shorty (shorty), Friday, 20 October 2006 22:35 (nineteen years ago)

going back aways, I think the Punky Brewster theme song was a masterpiece. Bittersweet sunshine pop with a swirly soft-psych bridge mmmm. The only ones I can even remember right now is the ones for the Daily Show and Colbert Show(practically the only TV shows I watch anyway). And the Shield, which I remember for its awfulness.

― tremendoid (tremendoid), Friday, 20 October 2006 23:06 (nineteen years ago)

I like the Lost theme.

― Rotgutt (Rotgutt), Saturday, 21 October 2006 00:08 (nineteen years ago)

Babylon 5 had a different theme for each season, which was a bit odd. And most of them were pompous and pretty bad - but season 3 had the main theme which was done by the Berlim Symphony Orchestra and I LOVE it. It is really epic, dramatic, and loud. Suits the season and what happens in it, very well.

― Trayce (trayce), Saturday, 21 October 2006 00:43 (nineteen years ago)

All of this makes Jesse Frederick-Conaway, who composed the music to G-rated sitcoms such as ABC's "Full House" and "Family Matters," a little sad. There is, he thinks, "this desire to be super hip."

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Saturday, 21 October 2006 00:46 (nineteen years ago)

the simpsons theme is surprisingly rubbish when you think about it.

― wogan lenin (dog latin), Saturday, 21 October 2006 02:31 (nineteen years ago)

Doogie Howser M.D. vs. Law and Order - fite!

― Kim (Kim), Saturday, 21 October 2006 02:49 (nineteen years ago)

the last great theme song on tv was That's My Bush.

― chaki (chaki), Saturday, 21 October 2006 02:56 (nineteen years ago)

The Simpsons theme is classic Danny Elfman! He has this great style that is very... hmm, busy and full of counterpoint and melodies everywhere. I mean the Simpsons is just so ubiquitous now that everyone must be sick of it though.

― Trayce (trayce), Saturday, 21 October 2006 05:58 (nineteen years ago)

I especially dislike the sound of the ad breaks disappearing between shows to be replaced by more ad breaks within shows. Jesus, American broadcast television was bad enough before. It must be almost unwatchable now.

― accentmonkey (accentmonkey), Saturday, 21 October 2006 06:17 (nineteen years ago)

The Battlestar Galactica theme with the hindi mantra at the beginning is fairly awesome.

― Mike Stuchbery (Mike Stuchbery), Saturday, 21 October 2006 07:42 (nineteen years ago)

the podcast thing for BG series 2 episode 1 suggested that the UK theme and the US theme were different.

> Babylon 5 had a different theme for each season

such a geek... 8)

― Koogy Yonderboy (koogs), Saturday, 21 October 2006 10:06 (nineteen years ago)

I really like the theme tune for the West Wing, though the changes in arrangement are markedly different from series to series.

Bizarrely, and for absolutely no reason whatsoever, the theme tune to Fifteen To One has just popped into my head while reading this thread. Hmmmmm.

Smallville's theme tune is atrocious. I can't even remember the Enterprise one because it and Smallville are inextricably linked in my head in the "shite my husband used to watch on a Monday night" category and Smallville came first so I heard its tune more.

― ailsa (ailsa), Saturday, 21 October 2006 10:11 (nineteen years ago)

Not modern per se, but the theme tune to Film (insert year here) has an amazingly calming effect on me. I should out it on my ipod for when I get stressed out at work.

― chap who would dare to welcome our new stingray masters (chap), Saturday, 21 October 2006 12:53 (nineteen years ago)

"king of queens" has a pretty traditional theme tune

― RoxyMuzak© (roxymuzak), Saturday, 21 October 2006 19:17 (nineteen years ago)

MR. ED

― fauxhemian (fauxhemian), Saturday, 21 October 2006 20:11 (nineteen years ago)

I'm goin' down to South Park
gonna have myself a time.

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Saturday, 21 October 2006 20:12 (nineteen years ago)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWJ5sI7i8U0

it's classic half-assed randy newman-for-hire, but i like it.

― Kudos, spaz-boy (Pareene), Saturday, 21 October 2006 21:31 (nineteen years ago)

venture bros. so ass-kicking

― lemin (lemin), Saturday, 21 October 2006 22:01 (nineteen years ago)

i don't like the family guy song, even though it ought to be a classic. maybe it's because i've heard it about 10 million times.

― wogan lenin (dog latin), Saturday, 21 October 2006 22:20 (nineteen years ago)

And the Shield, which I remember for its awfulness.
-- tremendoid (kemeti...), October 21st, 2006.

haha, yeah. i don't hate it, but what the fuck is it? a guy going YAAAARGGGGHHHHHH. the way it scratches in is good though.

the lost 'theme' really *is* good!

― benrique (Enrique), Monday, 23 October 2006 07:30 (nineteen years ago)

the king of the hill music is good!

― wogan lenin (dog latin), Monday, 23 October 2006 09:56 (nineteen years ago)

sometimes i wish the Lost theme was actually 'Make Your Own Kind Of Music' with cheesy to-camera expressions from the cast as their names come up on screen.

― ;_; (blueski), Monday, 23 October 2006 11:14 (nineteen years ago)

Wasn't the BB theme done by Paul Oakenfold? it's wonderful and up beat for a tv prog, not sure i'd want it on my walkman tho.

I love the Nightingales theme, sung by Robert Lindsay himself I believe. Captures the whole easy-late-night feeling that the programme was set in.

― Ste (Fuzzy), Monday, 23 October 2006 11:36 (nineteen years ago)

The West Wing theme tune was written by W.G. Snuffy Walden, which is what I plan to name all my children.

― Hello Sunshine (Hello Sunshine), Monday, 23 October 2006 12:02 (nineteen years ago)

cheesy to-camera expressions from the cast as their names come up on screen

i had this idea the other week! case of deja vu.

― benrique (Enrique), Monday, 23 October 2006 12:07 (nineteen years ago)

the music is what turned me right off 'the west wing' at first. it improved.

― benrique (Enrique), Monday, 23 October 2006 12:08 (nineteen years ago)

The best part of Family Guy is the opening theme.

― got yourself a fish biscuit! (nickalicious), Monday, 23 October 2006 12:51 (nineteen years ago)

Which is a really obviously throw-backy sort of thing.

― got yourself a fish biscuit! (nickalicious), Monday, 23 October 2006 12:51 (nineteen years ago)

The theme to 24 is pretty stirring.

― chap who would dare to welcome our new stingray masters (chap), Monday, 23 October 2006 12:52 (nineteen years ago)

Sopranos theme remains great for me.

― ;_; (blueski), Monday, 23 October 2006 13:14 (nineteen years ago)

four years pass...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RH0Rlrz4UXo&feature=related

― remy bean, Tuesday, 4 October 2011 02:03 (fourteen years ago)

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