Best TV Show Theme Songs

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wE6_N-FAJnA&w=580]

TiVo queried the Twitterverse for our favorite television theme songs. Tunes from Friends, The Fresh Prince, and Greatest American Hero were offered up as contenders, with my initial submission being the diddy describing The Jeffersons ascension. After conferring with Friends (of my own), Cheers is a no brainer for any list of top TV show songs. After all, when the series concluded May 20th, 1993 it seemed as if the entire restaurant where I barbacked sang the tune together that evening. So who else belongs on this list? And do we include instrumentals?

16 thoughts on “Best TV Show Theme Songs”

  1. Personally, I prefer instrumental themes rather than vocal themes. How about the original Mission: Impossible theme? Or Lost In Space (old or new), which BTW was composed by John (Star Wars) Williams? Others which come to mind (in no particular order):
    Perry Mason
    Ironside
    Sanford and Son
    Mannix
    Babylon 5

  2. HBO’s The Wire is worth a mention – great song and cool how they mixed up renditions/performers season-to-season. Speaking of HBO, True Blood has a great intro – both song and visuals (even if the series went off the deep end a long time ago). Of course “best” and “memorable” of “favorite” are not necessarily the same… but how about Love Boat? Laverne & Shirley? The Muppet Show?

  3. What kind of crazy world talks about theme songs but doesn’t mention Magnum PI, Beverly Hillbillies, Andy Griffith, and The Dukes Of Hazzard??

  4. The best themes songs were shows from the 60s and 70s – after that, with a few exceptions (Friends, Cosby, Fresh Prince) — there wasn’t a whole lot of emphasis on the genre

    Gilligan’s Island – everyone between the ages of say 40 and 60 knows the words
    The Brady Bunch (a Gen X classic)
    The Partridge Family
    Mary Tyler Moore Show
    Welcome Back Kotter (I believe John Sebastian’s version actually made the charts)
    All In The Family
    Maude
    Hawaii Five-O
    Beverly Hillbillies
    Petticoat Junction
    Andy Griffith Show
    The Addams Family (another one everyone knows, even if they don’t know it as the Addams Family)
    Sanford and Son

    HBO also does well with theme songs:
    Sopranos
    Entourage

  5. One Day at a Time had a good theme song. For some reason I sing Mad Men over and over during the Mad Men theme song (which has no words). True Blood has a cool swarmy theme song.

  6. I also give my vote to Magnum PI, but I’d include the A-Team and Knight Rider too. Maybe Law & Order as well.

  7. Weeds (especially fun when they had different performers each week perform little boxes)

    Also a modern favorite is Big Bang Theory

  8. A few additions:

    Emergency.
    Hill Street Blues.
    Streets of San Francisco
    The Rockford Files
    Hawaii Five-Oh

    If you’re talking intros and include the visuals then:
    The Six Million Dollar Man
    New Girl
    and of course Baywatch

  9. The only shows that I don’t fast forward though the theme song are The Big Bang Theory and The Simpsons.

  10. Among those not yet mentioned:

    Green Acres – best TV show bar sing-along song
    The Greatest American Hero – writers of Seinfeld knew this
    WKRP in Cincinnati – show about a rock station had to have a good song
    The Bob Newhart Show (Home to Emily) – great change of mood mid-song
    The Hulk – melancholy at its best
    Gimme a Break – I know, but it’s Nell Carter singing and it really gets in your head

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