This was one of those shows that will inevitably leave out one or more of someone's favourite tune. In this case, how could they omit "WKRP In Cincinatti," one of the best TV themes ever?

Also, barely a mention of "Welcome Back" by John Sebastian, of Welcome Back Kotter fame. If I'm not mistaken, it may be the only TV theme to ever make it to #1 on Billboard. And to my knowledge, it's the only theme in the medium's history that actually led executives to rename a show due to its opening song. It was originally supposed to just be called "Kotter." But the tune was so good, they changed the title to match it.

And, while they paid tribute to Green Acres and the Addams Family, they never mentioned the name Vic Mizzy, a genius composer who was responsible for those two iconic themes and a number of others. 

But I'm nitpicking. It was certainly an interesting hour and they could almost do a six part series on the subject if they so desired.  Although I suppose someone would have to come up with a theme song for it if they did... 

RadioActive wrote:

This was one of those shows that will inevitably leave out one or more of someone's favourite tune. In this case, how could they omit "WKRP In Cincinatti," one of the best TV themes ever?

Also, barely a mention of "Welcome Back" by John Sebastian, of Welcome Back Kotter fame. If I'm not mistaken, it may be the only TV theme to ever make it to #1 on Billboard. And to my knowledge, it's the only theme in the medium's history that actually led executives to rename a show due to its opening song. It was originally supposed to just be called "Kotter." But the tune was so good, they changed the title to match it.

And, while they paid tribute to Green Acres and the Addams Family, they never mentioned the name Vic Mizzy, a genius composer who was responsible for those two iconic themes and a number of others. 

But I'm nitpicking. It was certainly an interesting hour and they could almost do a six part series on the subject if they so desired.  Although I suppose someone would have to come up with a theme song for it if they did... 

 

I enjoyed the show, even though they paid way too much attention to The Brady Bunch and The Nanny. Of course that's because they scored interviews with Christopher Knight and Fran Drescher.

Also, it may be my old ears, but it seems most of the theme songs used were not the originals. Most glaring was The Fresh Prince. That sure didn't sound like Will Smith to me.

As mentioned, so many themes were left out, including a favourite of mine, The Munsters, a great guitar driven instrumental.

I enjoyed the show, and found Don Lemon's attempts at singing funny.  He did a good feature report on Marvin Gaye's What's Goin On a few months back, so Don is a music fan it seems!

I was surprised that the theme from Hawaii Five O wasn't featured.  This song was a top 40 hit and also made a bit of news when the reboot version of the program came out a few years ago on CBS.  The new Hawaii Five O was roundly criticized for their initial poor treatment of the iconic theme song.  It was so different from the original and cut down to about 15-20 seconds.  So much flak came back from fans of the song that CBS recut and increased the length of the theme soon after the show's debut.  

Overall an interesting hour that brought back some memories and a perfect lead into the History of the Sitcom.

RadioActive wrote:

Tq345 wrote:

As mentioned, so many themes were left out, including a favourite of mine, The Munsters, a great guitar driven instrumental.

Not sure if you ever heard this tune, but it incorporates The Munsters Theme in the song itself. That, if nothing else, makes it stand out. 

 

Thanks for pointing that out RA. It's not really my style of music, but the inclusion of the Munsters theme makes it quite enjoyable.

Also, note to Lorne: The theme from SWAT is also a favourite. And I like the fact that the reboot uses an updated but very faithful version of the original as its theme.

I really seem to be drawn to the old instrumental themes, especially those by Mike Post. The Rockford Files is a particularly good one.

RadioActive wrote:

Fall Out Boy isn't exactly my taste, either, but I remember the first time I heard this odd single. I was in a Best Buy looking for something when the song started playing on the store's in house system. Normally, it wouldn't attract my attention but when The Munsters theme kept repeating, it definitely piqued my curiosity. 

As for the great Mike Post, (real name: Leland Postil, and yeah, I would have changed it too!) I interviewed him in the 1980s around the time the Hill St. Blues theme was on the charts. He struck me as an extremely humble and shy man, who seemed genuinely puzzled why anyone would want to hear what he had to say. He told me he wrote the Hill St. theme in about 15 minutes. He just sat down at the piano and it flowed out of him. Pretty amazing for something so iconic.

I've often since wondered about how the virtual end of theme songs affected him, but he probably makes enough to retire with all the times the various "Law & Orders" play that "Ching Ching" stinger on the show. He's explained he wrote it with the idea of a jail cell door closing in mind.

It's truly incredible how many TV themes he's written. Check out the video on his website. It's 11 minutes long and features familiar tune after familiar tune. A remarkable resume.  

Fantastic video RA. It shows what an imprint Post had on TV for decades.
 

RadioActive wrote:

Tq345 wrote:

So many themes were left out, including a favourite of mine, The Munsters, a great guitar driven instrumental.

And I'm sorry to say I just discovered this frightful horror on YouTube, a song that stretches back to the 80s. (In this case, that could mean the 1880s!) It's Butch Patrick, the kid who played Eddie on The Munsters, cashing in on his former TV role in a song done to that series' famous theme song. It's called "Whatever Happened To Eddie?" 

But be warned - like the Munsters, this earworm may come back to haunt you all day if you dare to hit "play." YouTube won't let me embed it here, but if you're curious you can hear it here. 
 

 
Good lord. You know the expression "so bad it's good"?

That's not applicable here.