Blast from the Past: Best TV Themes of All Time (Part 2)

On some of the better blogs out there, you'll find detailed lists of the best blank of all time, with all sorts of details and notes, probably links and whatnot. And they'll rank them down to number one. Well, folks, I'm a hobbyist blogger, and while I like to think I'm good at what I do, I am also a procrastinator. Which puts my Blast from the Past column down into the later hours of each Sunday night (unless I manage to remember earlier), giving me a less than ideal amount of time to do all of that. So, while this is my second installment (not counting any earlier iterations I have likely posted over the years) of "Best TV Themes of All Time," I find that the first edition was misleading. They are a grouping of my favorites, but in no particular order. This week's batch contains themes I like better than some of last week's, and some from last week's are better than this. Consider each batch to be only part of a larger list, in no particular order, and we're all set!



1. Soap - A deliriously goofy spoof of soap operas, Soap was a trailblazer, tackling gay rights, abortion, alien abduction, amnesia, exorcism, murder, infidelity and all manner of scandals. And it had a charming, memorable theme.

2. Barney Miller - This jazzy theme was the highlight for me of the whole show, which mostly went over my tween-aged head at the time. In retrospect, the show was pretty great too.



3. CHiPs - The show was stock 70s drama with a dash of cheesy humor, and gave a terrifying view of Los Angeles freeway traffic. But the theme was classic.

4. Quincy, M.E. - Long before Crossing Jordan, Body of Proof or CSI: Wherever, there was Quincy, the original TV forensic investigator. And he had another classic 70s theme.



5. Sonny & Cher - I didn't realize at the time that the theme for this show was taken from one of the duo's best songs, The Beat Goes On. I was, after all, five years old when I started watching it.

6. Wonder Woman - This show was truly 70s cheese, but it starred the lovely Lynda Carter, who was a perfect casting choice. The theme had several versions, none a musical masterpiece. . .but there was something compelling about it just the same. Surely, it owes something to the 60s camp classic, Batman.



7. Night Court - Okay, this one makes me sure I've run a series on this topic before, as I know I've used this clip. But you know what? It's worthy of a rerun, and this is a great theme from one of the most surreal sitcoms ever to air, certainly for as long as this one did.

8. Bewitched - This was always one of my favorite shows, and I wish they hadn't almost ruined it as a premise with the Nicole Kidman "re-imagined" movie. Unforgivable! Maybe in a few years, they can revisit the idea of a witchy wife, and this time do it justice..



9. I Dream of Jeannie - As far as the magical sitcoms go, Bewitched wins hands down, in my opinion. But there is no doubt that Jeannie had a terrific theme (if you ignore the first season).

10. Green Acres - This was one of CBS's many rural-themed sitcoms, but it was by far the most surreal, a show that would be easy to dismiss as "stupid." But today we know better, don't we? Most of all, it had one of those "explain the premise in one minute flat" theme songs. How can you lose?

And that, friends and neighbors, will do it for this week's installment. Once again, small apologies if this topic has been revisited to often for your taste. Next week, I'll change gears, but I may come back to this idea with a third installment of --I promise--a different set of favorites. Happy Monday!