You woke up this morning Got yourself a BEST TV THEME TUNES POLL NOMINATIONS AND DISCUSSION gun (End date - 12/11/12

I kinda like the Homeland theme - sorry.

Another "defend the indefensible" - the 2000s Battlestar Galactica theme

no-one say Justified, yuk

:/

Futurama theme is an homage to Pierre Henry's "Psyche Rock": http://youtu.be/AOqfWj0HqNE

The show couldn't get the rights to the original, so they came up with something that sounds similar.

Red Dwarf Closing Theme

Oh yes I'm aware of that. And I would have probably still mentioned it if it actually was Pierre Henry's "Psyche Rock".

I never knew that about the Futurama theme (also it's the first time I've ever heard "Space Rock"), but that's neat.

The theme from Mr. Show sounds an awful lot like Blondie's "A Shark in Jet's Clothing" (so much that it has to be intentional).

lol Homeland and Justified are the worst themes on TV right now probably

runners-up are Copper and Rizzoli & Isles for both transparently trying to copy the Dropkick Murphys song used in The Departed in similar crappy ways

what is wrong with the Homeland theme?

unless they have a different theme for Season 2, which I haven't seen?

tbf it's about the awkwardly intercut dialogue from the show and cheesy visuals more than the music itself

i mean, has ANY other show's theme song featured clips of dialogue excerpted from episodes, and if so was it ever a good idea?

i like the awkwardness, i think it adds to the musical tension in the composition

468 Nominations so far:

$25,000 Pyramid
321 Contact
60 Minutes
77 Sunset Strip
ACTION NEWS THEME
Adventure Time
Airwolf
Alf
Alice
All In The Family
All That
Alter Image (Channel 4, 1980s, by Mick Karn)
Amazing Stories
Andy Griffith
Angel
Animal Magic
animaniacs
Are you Being Served!
Ask The Family ("Acka Raga" by Joe Harriott & John Mayer)
Azumanga Daioh
Baa Baa Black Sheep
Bagpuss (main theme)
Banana Splits
Baretta
Barnaby Jones
Barney Miller
Batman
Batman Animated Series
Batman: The Animated Series
Battle of the Planets
Baywatch
BBC Cricket/Test Match Special (Soul limbo)
BBC Snooker theme
Beauty and The Beast
Benson
Bergerac
Beverly Hills 90210
Beverly Hills Teens
Bewitched
Big Bad Beetleborgs
Bill Nye The Science Guy
Black Beauty
Blake's 7
Blossom
Bobby's World
Bod
Bonanza
Bonanza theme song sung by Lorne Greene
Bourbon Street Beat
Box of Delights
Branded
Brideshead Revisited
Bucky O Hare
Buffy The Vampire Slayer
Cagney & Lacey
Callan
Camberwick Green
Camp Cariboo
Captain Planet
Captain Pugwash
Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons
Champion the Wonder Horse
Channel 4 Tour de France theme (by Pete Shelley!)
Chappelle's Show
CHARLES IN CHARGE
Charlie's Angels
Cheers
Cheggers Plays Pop
Children of the Stones
Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers
CHiPs you guys
Clarissa Explains It All
Clayface theme (Feat of Clay episode)
Clone High
Columbo
COPS (Inner Circle - Bad Boys)
Cosmos
COUNT DUCKULA
Cowboy Bebop "Tank!"
Crossroads
CSI ("Who Are You")
CSI: Miami ("Won't Get Fooled Again")
CSI: New York ("Baba O' Riley")
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Daktari
Dallas
Danger Mouse
Daniel Boone
Daria
Darkwing Duck
Dave Allen at large
Davy Crockett
Deadman Wonderland
Denver the Last Dinosaur
Dexter
Dexter's Lab
Different Strokes
Different Worlds" from Angie, the short-lived Robert Hays/Donna Pescow sitcom
Diff'rent Strokes
Doctor Banner ... pelted by gamma rays" theme - Incredible Hulk
Doctor Who theme (70s version)
Doogie Howser, M.D.
Doug
Dr Katz
Dragnet
DuckTales
Dukes of Hazzard
Earthworm Jim
Edgar Wallace Mystery Theatre
Emergency!
Emmerdale Farm
F Troop
Family Ties
Fat Albert. HEY HEY HEY
Father Ted
Fingerbobs
Fireball XL-5
Firefly
Fish
Flight of the Conchords
For Pete's Sake" - the Monkees 2nd season closing credits song.
Formula One (i.e. Fleetwood Mac - The Chain)
Fraggle Rock
frasier
Freakazoid
fresh prince of bel air
Friends
Fruity flute" - Farmhouse Kitchen
Full House
Futurama
Game of Thrones
Germany's Tatort
Get Smart
Get Stuffed
Gilligan's Island
Golden Girls
Grandstand
Grange Hill (BBC, 1970s-early 80s)
Greatest American Hero
Green Acres
Growing Pains
Gumby
Gummi Bears
H.R. Pufnstuf
Happy Days
Hardcastle & McCormick
Harry's Game
Harvey Birdman, Attorney At Law
Have Gun – Will Travel
Have Gun Will Travel (The Ballad of Paladin)
Hawaii 5-0
Hawaiian Eye
Here Come the Double Deckers
Hey Dude
HILL STREET BLUES
Hill Street Blues
HIMYM
Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy
Hockey Night in Canada
home and away
Home Improvement
Homicide: Life on the Street
Hong Kong Phooey
Hooperman
Hunter
I Dream of Jeannie
I Love Lucy
I Married Joan
I Spy
In Living Color
In The Heat of The Night
In The Night Garden
Inspector Gadget
Ironside
It's A Knockout
It's a Living
Jeffersons
Jem
Jeopardy!
Jim'll Fix It
JOANIE LOVES CHACHI
Josie and the Pussycats
Kids in the Hall
King of the Hill
Kingswood Country
Knight Rider
Knightmare
Kojak
Kung Fu
LA Law
Lambchop's Playalong - The Song That Doesn't End
Lars Von Triers' Riget (The Kingdom)
Late Night With Conan O'Brien
Late Night with David Letterman
Lavern and Shirley
law and order
Law And Order "DUN DUN"
'Left Bank Two' (the gallery theme from Vision On)
Linus and Lucy
Liquid Television
Little House on the Prairie
Living Single
Lois and Clark
Lost in Space (seasons 1 & 2 only!)
Lost in Space- but only the John Williams version
Louie
M*A*S*H
MacGuyver
Mad Men
Magnum, P.I.
Magpie
Maid Marian and Her Merry Men
Malcolm in the Middle
Man in a Suitcase
Mannix
Mary Tyler Moore
Mastermind
Masterpiece Theatre
Match Game
Match Of The Day
Matlock
Medical Center
Melrose Place
Metalocalypse
MIAMI VICE
Miami Vice - Crockett's Theme
Mickey Mouse Club
Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers
MINDER
Misfits of Science
Mission Impossible
Mod Squad
Moesha
Monkees
Monkey
Monty Python's Flying Circus
Moonlighting
MPD-Psycho - Strange New World (Lucy Monostone)
Mr Benn
Mr. Belvedere
Mr. Freeze Theme (Heart of Ice episode)
MST3K Love theme (end credits song)
Munsters
Muppet Babies
Murder She Wrote
My Three Sons
NBA on NBC theme (composed and performed by John Tesh)
neighbours
New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
Newhart
NewsRadio
Night Court
Northern Exposure
NYPD Blue
Old Grey Whistle Test
One Day at a Time
Open University theme
Otherworld
Outlaw Star
Oz
Paranoia Agent
Partridge Family
Pee-Wee's Playhouse
Perfect Strangers
Perry Mason
Peter Gunn
petticoat junction
Picture Box
Pokemon
Police Squad!
Police Woman
QUANTUM LEAP
Rag, Tag & Bobtail
Rainbow
Randall and Hopkirk Deceased (1969 version)
Rawhide
Reading Rainbow
Red Dwarf Closing Theme
Red Dwarf!!
Renegade
Riptide
Robin Of Sherwood
Robin's Nest
Rockford Files
Rockliffe's babies
Rocko's Modern Life
Roobarb & Custard
Room 222
Round the Twist
Rugrats
Sailor Moon
Salute Your Shorts
Samurai Jack
Samurai Pizza Cats
Sanford & Son
Saved By the Bell
Scooby-Doo (original non-Scrappy version)
Scrubs
Sealab 2021
SECRET AGENT
Seinfeld
Sesame Street
Sharky and George
Sifl and Olly
Silk Stalkings
Silver Spoons
Simon & Simon
Sister Sister
Six Feet Under
Six Million Dollar Man
Ski Sunday
Sledge Hammer!
Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em
Sopranos
Sorry!
Space Ghost Coast 2 Coast
Space: 1999
Speed Racer
Spider-Man (1967)
Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends
Spongebob Squarepants
Star Trek
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Starsky & Hutch
Stingray (60s series)
Stingray (80s series)
Super Chicken
Supertrain (any version of the theme)
SWAT
Swedish children’s TV show “Alfons Aberg”
Tail Spin
Tales From the Crypt
Tales of the Gold Monkey
Tales of the Riverbank
Tales of the Unexpected
Taxi
Tazmania
Teen Titans
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Tenspeed and Brown Shoe
Terrahawks
TERRIERS
The ‘60s Iron Man cartoon
The Addams Family
The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe
The Andy Griffith Show
The A-Team
The Avengers
The Banana Splits
the BBC series Roughnecks
The Beverly Hillbillies
The Big Match
the Bikers take Belfast theme - the Sons of Anarchy theme from the latter part of Season 3
the bill cosby show - the orig show
The Bill Cosby Show (Not the Cosby Show- I mean the one with “Hikky Burr” as the theme tune)
The Bill!
The Bob Newhart Show
The Brady Bunch
The Bugs Bunny & Tweety Show
The Bugs Bunny Show
The Bugs Bunny/Looney Tunes Comedy Hour
The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour
The Changes
The Clothes Show (In the Night by The Pet Shop Boys)
The Colbert Report
The Commish
The Courtship of Eddie's Father
The Daily Show
The Electric Company
The Equalizer
The Facts of Life
The Fall & Rise of Reginald Perrin
The Fall Guy
The Famous Five
The Film Programme aka Film 72,73 etc
The Flashing Blade
The Flintstones
The Goodies
The Great Egg Race
The Great Space Coaster
The Green Hornet
The Groovie Goolies
The Heights
The High Chaparral
The Incredible Hulk - Lonely Man Theme
The Jeffersons
The Jetsons
The League of Gentlemen
The Littlest Hobo
The Love Boat
The LWT music (aka "here they come now, Morecambe and Wise")
The Magic Roundabout
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
The Mighty Hercules
The Mod Squad
The Monkees
the muppet show
The Mysterious Cities of Gold
THE NANNY
The New Zoo Revue
The Partridge Family
The People's Court
The Persuaders
The Pink Panther
The Price is Right?
The Prisoner - Ron Grainer
The Prisoner (1967-8)
The Protectors
The Raccoons - Run With Us
The Rebel
The Road Runner Show
The Rockford Files
The Rookies
The Saint
The Simpsons
The Spectacular Spider-Man
The Spiderman theme song, particularly the French version for the Quebecois market
The State
The Streets of San Francisco
The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! end theme ("Do the Mario")
The Sweeney
The Tomorrow People
The Tracey Ullman Show
The Tripods
The Twilight Zone
The Two Ronnies
The White Horses
The White Shadow
This Is Your Life (UK)
Three's Company
Thunderbirds
Thundercats
Tiny Toon Adventures
Toma
Tomorrow's World (1966-1979, John Dankworth)
Tomorrow's World (1980 onwards, Denton & Cook)
Top Cat
Top of the Pops
Transformers
Twin Peaks
U.F.O.
Ulysses 31
Uncle Feedle (from Bagpuss)
Underdog
University Challenge (OG version)
Unsolved Mysteries
Venture Bros
Walker, Texas Ranger
Weekend World ("Nantucket Sleighride")
Welcome Back Kotter
Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads
When The Boat Comes In
Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?
White Horses
Whiz Kids
Who's the Boss
Why Don't You...?
Wild World of Animals (closing)
Wild World of Animals (opening)
Wiseguy
WKRP in Cincinnati end theme
WKRP in Cincinnati opening theme
Wonder Woman
World In Action
X-Files
X-Men (90's series)
Z-Cars
Zorro

You forgot Homeland!

And might as well throw in nu-Who Doctor Who theme

And Sons of Anarchy

And The Wire (5 nominations - one for each season)

noone had actually said they were nominating Homeland

Well, I am now!

Homeland discussion was happening while I compiled

i am kinda curious if we end up w/ different nominations for any shows that changed theme songs during their run -- like Boy Meets World had 2 different themes but they basically went from bad to worse. The Wire just had different recordings of the same song, probably doesn't need much of a distinction made between who likes which best.

Here's The Wire list:

The Wire Season 2(Tom Waits)
The Wire Season 4 (kids version)
The Wire Season 1 (blind boys of alabama)
The Wire Season 3 (neville bros)
The Wire Season 5 (Steve Earle)

oh and Treme has a good theme song.

probably doesn't need much of a distinction made between who likes which best.

the versions of the song are pretty different though, as opposed to the variations on the Doctor Who theme from the past 7 years

though i guess "strategically" it would be best if it was just one option as opposed to 5.

Are "Mary Tyler Moore" and "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" the same thing? I nominated the latter.

I'm kind of for leaving 'Doctor Who' as a single entry, even though the more recent versions have been godawful arrangements of the classic. Mainly because it changed multiple times throughout its run, so either we have ALL of them as separate entries (risking vote-splitting or simply redundant entries b/c people only want to vote for the original) or we should just have one.

Also, I believe "The Prisoner - Ron Grainer" and "The Prisoner (1967-8)" are the same thing. Unless there was another show produced at exactly the same time with exactly the same name.

The Adventures of Pete & Pete

xp - it's the same w/the variations a la Doctor Who.

I was expecting some shows nommed twice, one with a The, to get duplicates on the list. Cheers for pointing out MTM

btw i had been thinking lately about shows that have distinct end themes that run over the final credits that aren't the same thing as the opening theme song -- maybe it wouldn't make sense to include them here but i could collect ideas for a quickie poll thread in one of these threads? The Wire and The Incredible Hulk come to mind

The Adventures of Pete & Pete

― some dude, Saturday, November 3, 2012 6:32 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This is Mark Mulcahy, isn't it? Never actually saw the show, but <3

Sons of Anarchy has this as well, but the end theme isn't all that interesting

I nommed both the opening and closing themes from WKRP, seeing as how I was the star of the show and all.

I believe Monk retained its original theme music as an end theme when it switched to 'It's a Jungle Out There' for the main theme...

yeah good call but it is just kinda boring. also feels tonally inappropriate like 90% of the time considering how often awful things happen at the end of episodes of Sons of Anarchy.

maybe Sons of Anarchy should only be listed once, and not have the Irish version as a separate option?

http://youtu.be/K2Tke7OA27k

xp - this season is just ... just ... wow, up there with "omg they've stolen the baby!"

lol i forgot about all of that

this season has been good so far imo!

to avoid confusion with the character specific theme songs

Batman Animated Series: Mr. Freeze theme (Heart of Ice episode)
Batman Animated Series: Clayface (Feat of Clay episode)

xp - yes it has! even though the scenes that are supposed to be in Oakland aren't shot there.

ah i thought you were saying upthread that this season was as goofy as the irish babynapping season

The Adventures of Pete & Pete

― some dude, Saturday, November 3, 2012 6:32 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This is Mark Mulcahy, isn't it? Never actually saw the show, but <3

― emil.y, Saturday, November 3, 2012 2:36 PM Bookmark

Yup - with the show's private band, Polaris. One entire episode revolves around the younger Pete overhearing the band practicing one day, and becoming obsessed with recreating the one song ("Summerbaby" - it's great) from memory, when the band disappears and no one knows what he's talking about. It was a really good show.

only theme song that i got a cassingle of by mailing in a cereal boxtop.

i used to softly jam out to picket fences

All in The Family

It's a theme that is deliciously horrid. Its something you love to hate. And of course, has been parodied to death (most noticeably/notably by Family Guy).

nm I just noticed its been nommed. sorry.

As far as Americans only voting for American TV themes and other bullshit nonsense, I'm the one who nominated Tales from the Riverbank FFS! I'm an unusual case, possibly, but I have a feeling that UK shows will not be underrepresented.

I like having a general "Doctor Who Theme" nomination because then you can vote for whichever version is your favorite and it will eliminate vote splitting. I mean the one from the first series (aka season 1 of the classic show) is my favorite cause its the spookiest but I can see why others might like the later ones like the Pertwee/Baker era one cause it's more crisp and sounds a bit more like actual music.

The Powerpuff Girls

Merrie Melodies
Looney Tunes
(I don't know what the themes were for the "Bugs Bunny Show" versions; I'm talking about the classic intro music for each cartoon.)

The Tonight Show theme (Johnny Carson era; written by Paul Anka)

Can I request a wording change for one of my nominations? I'd like the 1st Batman in the list to be

Batman (Neal Hefti, 1966)

Also want to nominate another Hefti theme, for The Odd Couple

i think if "Yakety Sax" gets nommed that'll have a healthy chance at some American votes lol

nobody has nominated Yakety Sax aka the Benny Hill theme?

I totally am.

I was just talking to a noise "bro" last night about going to a Bee Mask show and proclaiming that Yakety Sax was 100000000X better