2008 Woodie Awards
Top 10 TV theme songs of our generation
Zach Wingerter
Issue date: 4/2/08 Section: The Edge
These days, the TV theme song is an art of the past. Many shows have ditched the "Brady Bunch"-esque storytelling theme song for shorter and sometimes solely instrumental ones. For instance, the theme from "ER" has gone from its classic length to a shorter, trendier theme so it can use more time for the story.
Like the clothes make the man, the theme song makes the show. If someone remade "Green Acres" and it starred the talentless Matthew Lillard and the horrendously ugly Lisa Kudrow but it kept the old theme song, I'd TiVo every episode.
On the other hand, if NBC decided to let Nickelback and James Blunt work together to make a new theme song for "The Office," I'm not sure if anyone could get past it.
Because everyone loves to reminisce, I have compiled the Top 10 TV theme songs of our generation. The cutoff for the list is any and all shows that still had new episodes on television as recently as 1990.
No. 10: "Saved by the Bell"
Not only can you not avoid singing along when it comes on, but you immediately recognize the song just by the ringing bell sound at the beginning. It takes you back so fast that you stop focusing on whatever it is you're doing at the time as soon as the bell rings in eager anticipation of the snare drum downbeat. By the way, the second line in that song (the part you mumble through because you never thought to look up the actual lyrics) is "And the 'larm gives out a warning."
No. 9: "Duck Tales"
The theme song to "Duck Tales" ("Woo-Ooh!") was so great that you never once thought about how utterly impossible it would be to dive into and swim through a vault filled with coins, as Uncle Scrooge does during the opening. The "tales of daring do-bad and good-luck tales" part made up for any implausibility the opening theme throws at you.
No. 8: "Married With Children"
"Love and marriage, love and marriage" - It's odd, but thinking about that song stirs up images of Al Bundy, not its iconic performer, Frank Sinatra.
Like the clothes make the man, the theme song makes the show. If someone remade "Green Acres" and it starred the talentless Matthew Lillard and the horrendously ugly Lisa Kudrow but it kept the old theme song, I'd TiVo every episode.
On the other hand, if NBC decided to let Nickelback and James Blunt work together to make a new theme song for "The Office," I'm not sure if anyone could get past it.
Because everyone loves to reminisce, I have compiled the Top 10 TV theme songs of our generation. The cutoff for the list is any and all shows that still had new episodes on television as recently as 1990.
No. 10: "Saved by the Bell"
Not only can you not avoid singing along when it comes on, but you immediately recognize the song just by the ringing bell sound at the beginning. It takes you back so fast that you stop focusing on whatever it is you're doing at the time as soon as the bell rings in eager anticipation of the snare drum downbeat. By the way, the second line in that song (the part you mumble through because you never thought to look up the actual lyrics) is "And the 'larm gives out a warning."
No. 9: "Duck Tales"
The theme song to "Duck Tales" ("Woo-Ooh!") was so great that you never once thought about how utterly impossible it would be to dive into and swim through a vault filled with coins, as Uncle Scrooge does during the opening. The "tales of daring do-bad and good-luck tales" part made up for any implausibility the opening theme throws at you.
No. 8: "Married With Children"
"Love and marriage, love and marriage" - It's odd, but thinking about that song stirs up images of Al Bundy, not its iconic performer, Frank Sinatra.
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