the saddest tv themes

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are taxi & coronation street

― fritz, Thursday, 4 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

by christ they'll make you weep

― fritz, Thursday, 4 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

the persuaders! (the actual show made you weep also, but that was boredom)

― mark s, Thursday, 4 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Mary Tyler Moore

― JM, Thursday, 4 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

...and Hill St. Blues

― JM, Thursday, 4 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Should have just made this a "Taxi" thread...no theme song could ever be sadder.

― Mark, Thursday, 4 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

no, no, no! it's the theme from m*a*s*h! 'suicide is painless'? come on that's miserable.

― fields of salmon, Thursday, 4 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

but it brings on many changes!! (which is good, surely?)

― mark s, Thursday, 4 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Nothing beats the ending tune to the Incredible Hulk.

As a kid watching that...I really felt sorry for that guy. I had a lump in my throat at times.

― Julio Desouza, Thursday, 4 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I always thought that the theme tune to Las of the Summer wine was rather melancholy.

― chris, Thursday, 4 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Why In The Name Of All That Is Holy Does Anyone Like The Las of the Summer Wine?

― mark s, Thursday, 4 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

no idea, it's shit and always has been, but that tune is just a bit sad is all.

I'll ask my Mum why she likes it though ;)

― chris, Thursday, 4 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

(yes but did you see what i did there?)

― mark s, Thursday, 4 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I did, I am slooooooow today, it is the calcification of my brain due to redundancy.

what does Dr Vick think of the Las of the Summer wine?

― chris, Thursday, 4 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

frankly i daren't ask her

― mark s, Thursday, 4 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

do it do it do it do it

― chris, Thursday, 4 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

ok then

― mark s, Thursday, 4 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

the song at the end of mystery science theatre 3000.

― chaki, Thursday, 4 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

CHAKI IS CORRECT

― ethan, Thursday, 4 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

The Littlest Hobo, ferchrissakes.
Agree about The Persuaders.
The melancholy reprise at the end of The Sweeney<.br> The Sky at Night.

― dan, Thursday, 4 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Orig. Tony Hatch version of Crossroads closing music with oboe & twangy guitar. Closing music of Joe 90 was pretty good too.

― harveyw, Thursday, 4 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

"sit ubu sit...good dog. WOOF" always brings a tear to my eye.

― chaki, Thursday, 4 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Prisoner Cell Block H

― electric sound of jim, Thursday, 4 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

much as i love taxi i have never thought of it as sad. once it gets going its the usual Bob James 'yea, everythings jus' allrite' vibe. love it

yes to prisoner cell block h, though

whatever happened to the likely lads? doesn't seem that melancholic at first, but, oh it is, when you think about it.

― gareth, Thursday, 4 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Bergerac.

― Wyndham Earl, Thursday, 4 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Chaki's contributions to this thread are brilliant and utterly accurate. (I much preferred the original Ubu, with that grainy, still photo of the black lab...)

Also, whoever said the M*A*S*H theme, but the synthesized later version, not Mandel's original marching-band-jazz version (great, too, but not sad).

― matthew m., Thursday, 4 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Angel. It is goth with violins and all that therefore sad.

― adam, Thursday, 4 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

pacific drive is melancholic, but the saddest would have to be paradise beach

― Queen G, Friday, 5 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

The MST3K closing theme is melancholic, yeah, but it's also somehow triumphant, a big noble fanfare. It's a unquestionably brilliant touch to end the shows that way, about the only serious as opposed to comedic part about the show.

― Ned Raggett, Friday, 5 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Well if you find "Sit, Ubu sit" melancholic, surely you have to appreciate the Sisyphean futility of Mr. Walter's daily executive grind, encapsulated in ' "Goodnight Mr.Walters..." "Nn-uh" '

And is there really anything sadder than Bagpuss?

― dan, Friday, 5 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Vaguely related thread from Jan

― Alan Trewartha, Friday, 5 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

All the above plus, 'Poor Lonesome Cowboy' from the end of Lucky Luke.

― maryann, Friday, 5 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Bagpuss

actually the whole end of the show used to make me upset, when all the toys turned back into just toys again, and the shot turns into a sepia photograph. i was about 4 at the time, so do not feel bad about admitting this

― michael, Friday, 5 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

On the children's TV slant - what about Dogtanian - very bittersweet and melancholy.

― dog latin, Friday, 5 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I vote for the theme to "Father Ted."

― Brent, Saturday, 6 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

i'm shocked that twin peaks has not been mentioned yet!

― xxooxxoo, Sunday, 7 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

one month passes...

What about the theme from "The life & times of Grizzly Adams" ("Maybe" by Thom Pace). Now that was pretty sad wasn't it?

― gus miller, Sunday, 19 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Oh', and "Beauty & the Beast"

― gus miller, Sunday, 19 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

"Small Wonder"

Mainly because it reiterated the show's cynical theme: having to create a soulless monotoned robot girl as the focus of affection for an emotionally stunted man whose frigid wife provides no joy.

Also, the theme for "The Price is Right," because it dredges up unpleasant images of a withered, liver-spotted old man having his way with past-their-prime models whose best shared talent is perfecting the arm wave/wrist flip for bringing attention to a tube of Ben-Gay. Combine that with the yodelling song from one of the pricing games for an utterly devastating TV musical moment.

― Ernest, Tuesday, 21 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

The Blake's 7 theme is imbued with the strange stink of lost bombast.

― N., Tuesday, 21 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Ernest, have you tried therapy (or stand-up)?

― Dan Perry, Tuesday, 21 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

There is an undercurrent of melancholy in the theme to "Cheers" that can be unbearably poignant (it helps to picture Cliffy and Norm while listening).

― o. nate, Tuesday, 21 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Undercurrent? The thing is practically sobbing 'LET ME SEE ALL MY OLD FRIENDS'

― N., Tuesday, 21 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

two years pass...

Great description of the Blake's 7 theme by Nick upthread! 'lost bombast' indeed; a forlorn effort at grandeur from Dudley Simpson.

I must say that "Ever Decreasing Circles"' end-theme is very melancholy, when the piano comes back in, slower and with aching gravity, for those final few phrases.
And, I'm surprised no-one mentioned the Perrin theme.

― Tom May (Tom May), Wednesday, 26 May 2004 17:03 (twenty-one years ago)

Remember "Dear John" w/ Judd Hirsch? (Was also in Taxi, coincidentally) Late 80's/early nineties, I believe. The lyrics went:

"Dear John
Dear John
By the time you read these lines, I'll be gone....."

― kickitcricket (kickitcricket), Thursday, 27 May 2004 05:00 (twenty-one years ago)

I second the person who said Prisoner: Cell Block H.

― Tim Ellison, Thursday, 27 May 2004 05:33 (twenty-one years ago)

The Waltons
Trailer Park Boys (assisted by the sepia photography)

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Thursday, 27 May 2004 07:03 (twenty-one years ago)

The first post on this thread still OTM, "Taxi" it is - I remember coming home from this sk00l that I hated being at in 5th grade, sitting down on the couch whilst the sun was going down, turning on the tv, hearing that theme and just wanting to cry, cry, cry.

i'm shocked that twin peaks has not been mentioned yet!

"Twin Peaks" came to my mind immediatley, too, but on reflection it's really not. It's idyllic, pretty, but not even melancholic I don't think...and the last notes are creepy, not sad (much like the entire show, I mean, I knew that it had been cancelled before Frost & Lynch's vision could could be fully realised, but no one told me it would end like THAT I mean WTF, I won't be able to sleep for weeks!)

MTSK3 has comedic parts? :)

― Daniel_Rf (Daniel_Rf), Thursday, 27 May 2004 10:25 (twenty-one years ago)

it's not "sad," exactly, but the honeymooners theme tune always seemed pretty haunting and melancholy to me, which seemed fitting considering the theme of the show (ralph kramden's constant failed attempts to make something of himself), and its rather dismal apartment setting.

― J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Thursday, 27 May 2004 10:53 (twenty-one years ago)

nine months pass...

Theme for Alice is kind of sad, just b/c Alice and Tommy's life seems so dead-end.

― Mark (MarkR), Thursday, 17 March 2005 16:01 (twenty years ago)

But she's feelin' good! She's the fresh, freckled face in the neighborhood.

― dave225 (Dave225), Thursday, 17 March 2005 16:09 (twenty years ago)

You can hear the Prison Cell Block H theme here. The show, if anyone doesn't know, was an Australian soap opera about a women's penitentiary!

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Thursday, 17 March 2005 16:18 (twenty years ago)

The first one on that list, the zip file of the closing theme, is the theme song in question. It was only played on the end of the show.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Thursday, 17 March 2005 16:22 (twenty years ago)

or at the end of the show, rather

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Thursday, 17 March 2005 16:22 (twenty years ago)

EARLY DOORS!

― PJ Miller (PJ Miller), Thursday, 17 March 2005 17:34 (twenty years ago)

What was that Tony Randall show with him and the little girl, where opening theme was a duet between them? That was some sad-ass shit.

― Mark (MarkR), Thursday, 17 March 2005 17:39 (twenty years ago)

Speaking of the late Tony R, there is something kind of melancholy about the Odd Couple theme, especially since the original credit sequence told the story of Felix's being "asked to remove himself from his place of residence."

― Ken L (Ken L), Thursday, 17 March 2005 17:41 (twenty years ago)

i'd say Bagpuss, i'm welling up just thinking about it, but i suppose this is more due to what it evokes than the nature of the music itself which is fragile but still vaguely cheery (ala Trumpton et al)

otherwise, Corrie i suppose

― Sven Bastard (blueski), Thursday, 17 March 2005 17:41 (twenty years ago)

the last great american hero song always made me melancholy as a small child. think it was the line "believe it or not it's just me..." like, I'm really a nobody, but I feel like I'm walking on air for a minute, then really it's just me, so who cares, but let me feel good for a minute. I was a melancholy kid who saw sadness in everything, though.

― cowlina, Thursday, 17 March 2005 18:33 (twenty years ago)

Mark, was that Love, Sidney .. something like that I think..

― dave225 (Dave225), Thursday, 17 March 2005 18:36 (twenty years ago)

For chrissakes - I was just about to mention the lonesome "Trailer Park Boys" theme with wistful sepia-toned visual accompaniment, when I looked closely and discovered I already did so, nearly a year ago!

I still find it somewhat surprising that some people could be saddened by the "Taxi" theme - always struck me as just some sorta fairly pleasant, bland pop-jazz of no mood in particular. But then again, that's the way I felt about Steely Dan until ILM intimidated me into listening closer...

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Thursday, 17 March 2005 20:12 (twenty years ago)

taxi is great! but, not sad! bob james records are never sad, they are full of yeah!

coronation st is sad. as is whatever happened to the likely lads, which is great

alice is great, but, again, not sad

― charltonlido (gareth), Thursday, 17 March 2005 20:21 (twenty years ago)

My wife brought a 45 of the Hill Strett Blues theme to the marriage, god bless her.

― Mark (MarkR), Thursday, 17 March 2005 21:04 (twenty years ago)

"Barney Miller." Sad because every time I try to come up with vocalese lyrics for it, I always just end up talking about the depressing stuff on the show.

― The Obligatory Sourpuss (Begs2Differ), Thursday, 17 March 2005 21:09 (twenty years ago)

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