Random Top Ten

Random Top Ten!!!

Top Ten TV Theme Songs

Well not so random, actually. Ken Levine notes a passing meme asking bloggers to list their favorite TV themes. So:


10. Welcome Back, Kotter
So sweet and nostalgic and yet not cloying. Like the theme much better than the show, actually.

9. Chicago Hope
The original theme was a beautiful piece of music, with some elegant trumpet fanfares. They switched it out after the first season for something serviceable, but lesser.

8. Peter Gunn
As a child of the 80s, this is of course the theme to the arcade game Spy Hunter. So cool.

7. M*A*S*H
Such a sad, despondent little tune for a comedy.

6. Incredible Hulk
A perfectly simple and effective moody, sad piano theme.

5. Mission Impossible
An instantly iconic piece of music-making. One of those melodies that seems like it always existed.

4. The Simpsons
As much as I love Alf Clausen's scoring work for the series proper, Danny Elfman contributed a remarkable bit of music here, with snappy horns and a sense of controlled chaos that fits the show to a T.

3. Sesame Street
Come on. This is good stuff.

2. The Muppet Show
My pulse still quickens upon hearing this, just as it did when the show would start when I was a kid.

1. Taxi
One of only two of these themes on my iPod (the other is the Sesame Street theme, which is on a decent CD of music from the show I got for my kids). A great little smooth jazz piece, with that distinctly 70s combo of flute and electric piano.

Until Whenever