Pages tagged “doctor who”

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It's fashionable to lament the state of the TV theme song. Gone are the days when a show's whole premise was summed up in musical verse before every episode. Now we have Lost and it's single chord. And though I actually like Lost's simple spooky chime and have recently highlighted the 12 Best TV Theme Songs From Current Shows, there's no denying we're past the golden age of the TV show theme song. Take a look at the following list, and let me know where I'm wrong. I've included music without words, but I skipped over shows that used already popularized tunes like "The William Tell Overture" from The Lone Ranger and "Stand" from Get a Life.

40. The Rockford Files - Mike Post and Peter Carpeneter
You might not know the names of Post and Carpenter, but between them they composed theme music for a mind-boggling number of shows including CHiPs, Magnum P.I., The A-Team, Hunter, Hill Street Blues, The Greatest American Hero, Doogie Howser M.D., Quantum Leap and Remington Steele. If you're in your 30s, you can claim all you want that Prince provided the soundtrack to your childhood—but it was really Mike Post.

Next Monday we'll look at the Best TV Theme Songs of All Time. But while we lament the lack of a Cheers or M*A*S*H or Sanford & Son theme song in today's TV landscape, we've picked our 12 favorite theme songs from TV shows that are still in production. In the era of TiVo, the little ditties opening today's shows seem to be littler and dittier than their predecessors (I guess if people are going to fast forward through them anyway, why spend the effort?). But here are 12 that make us put down that remote:

[note: Sesame Street would have made this list until I realized they've pretty much ruined it.]

12. Friday Night Lights - W.G. "Snuffy" Walden
Veteran TV composer W.G. "Snuffy" Walden has scored music for a long list of TV shows, including thirtysomething, The Wonder Years, Roseanne, Ellen, My So-Called Life, Felicity and all three of Aaron Sorkin's masterpieces. For FNL, I just hope the former Windham Hill journeyman is sharing his royalty check with Explosions in the Sky, whose "Your Hand in Mind" featured prominently in the film the show was based on. The style and melody sound like a more accessible version of the Texas post-rockers' atmospheric riffing. Still, it's a great opening to a show that's not just for the booster-club set. [Thanks, Spencer, for the correction. And thanks, subversiveIRONY, for this YouTube mash-up with Coach.]