Best TV Show Theme Songs

for me the two best matched songs and shows would be

All in the Family

Boy the way Glen Miller played
Songs that made the hit parade.
Guys like us we had it made,
Those were the days.

And you knew who you were then,
Girls were girls and men were men,
Mister we could use a man
Like Herbert Hoover again.

Didn't need no welfare state,
Everybody pulled his weight.
Gee our old LaSalle ran great.
Those were the days.


Cheers ("Where Everybody Knows Your Name")

Making your way in the world today takes everything you've got.
Taking a break from all your worries, sure would help a lot.

Wouldn't you like to get away?

Sometimes you want to go

Where everybody knows your name,
and they're always glad you came.
You wanna be where you can see,
our troubles are all the same
You wanna be where everybody knows
Your name.

You wanna go where people know,
people are all the same,
You wanna go where everybody knows
your name.

Lots of good ones out there. Sometimes the theme was better than the show.

Some of my favorites:

1. The Rifleman
2. The Untouchables
3. Peter Gunn
4. Cheers
5. The Man From U.N.C.L.E.
6. Star Trek (all of them, but mostly the original)
7. The Avengers
8. Green Acres
9. Veronica Mars

My favorite TV theme is from The Jetsons. I love that weird techno-jazz sound and it just fit the show so perfectly.

while the lyrics made this theme song

The Addams Family

They're creepy and they're kooky,
Mysterious and spooky,
They're all together ooky,
The Addams Family.

Their house is a museum
Where people come to see 'em
They really are a scream
The Addams Family.

(Neat)
(Sweet)
(Petite)

So get a witches shawl on
A broomstick you can crawl on
We're gonna pay a call on
The Addams Family.


The Munsters lyric-less theme song was kick ass

The Theme from the Patty Duke Show.

But what I really love is the theme from Pinky & the Brain.
http://search.able2know.com/About/22341.html

I was gonna say Cheers, too.

Spongebob is pretty good though. Complete with "I can't HEAR you!" from the pirate guy.

Oh and I LOVE the theme song from "One Foot in the Grave" (Eric Idle, pre-Spamalot):

ONE FOOT IN THE GRAVE

(OPENING)
They say I might as well face the truth
That I am just too long in the tooth.
So I'm an OAP and weak-kneed
But I have not yet quite gone to seed.
I may be over the hill now that I have retired
Fading away but I've not yet expired.
Clapped out, run down, too old to save
One Foot in the Grave.


(CLOSING)
They say I might as well face the truth
That I am just too long in the tooth.
I've started to deteriorate
And now I've passed my own sell-by date.

Oh, I am no spring chicken it's true.
I have to pop my teeth in to chew.
And my old knees have started to knock
I've just got too many miles on the clock.

So I'm a wrinkly, crinkly, set in my ways.
It's true that my body has seen better days.
But give me half a chance and I can still misbehave.
One Foot in the Grave.
One Foot in the Grave.
One Foot in the Grave.

i love one foot in the grave

Forgot about Cheers. You're right. Perfect.

Got one most of you probably don't remember. It's Howdy Doody Time!

Here are the lyrics from the Sopranos (Alabama 3). This song sets the tone for the show.


You woke up this morning
Got yourself a gun,
Mama always said you'd be
The Chosen One.

She said: You're one in a million
You've got to burn to shine,
But you were born under a bad sign,
With a blue moon in your eyes.

You woke up this morning
All the love has gone,
Your Papa never told you
About right and wrong.

But you're looking good, baby,
I believe you're feeling fine, (shame about it),
Born under a bad sign
With a blue moon in your eyes.

You woke up this morning
The world turned upside down,
Thing's ain't been the same
Since the Blues walked into town.

But you're one in a million
You've got that shotgun shine.
Born under a bad sign,
With a blue moon in your eyes.

When you woke up this morning everything you had was
gone. By half past ten your head was going ding-dong.
Ringing like a bell from your head down to your toes,
like a voice telling you there was something you should
know. Last night you were flying but today you're so low
- ain't it times like these that make you wonder if
you'll ever know the meaning of things as they appear to
the others; wives, mothers, fathers, sisters and
brothers. Don't you wish you didn't function, wish you
didn't think beyond the next paycheck and the next little
drink' Well you do so make up your mind to go on, 'cos
when you woke up this morning everything you had was gone.

When you woke up this morning,
When you woke up this morning,
When you woke up this morning,
Mama said you'd be the Chosen One.

When you woke up this morning,
When you woke up this morning,
When you woke up this morning,
You got yourself a gun.

Welcome Back Kotter

Have Gun Will Travel
(Ballad of Palladin)

Peter Gunn

Dragnet

Edgar, was just coming back to add Have Gun Will Travel. And how could I forget Dragnet? On the other hand, why can't I remember Peter Gunn?

Batman!

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Peter Gunn
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Peter Gunn was an American private eye television series which aired on the NBC and later ABC television networks from 1958 to 1961. The show's creator (and also writer and director on occasion) was Blake Edwards.


[edit] Peter Gunn
The title character (played by Craig Stevens) is a private investigator in the classic film noir tradition, which was a popular genre on American TV in the late 1950s. However, a few traits differentiate him from the standard hard-boiled detectives, such as Sam Spade or Philip Marlowe. Gunn was a sophisticated "hipster", a dapper dresser who loved cool jazz; where other gumshoes were often coarse, Peter Gunn was portrayed as the epitome of "cool". He operated in a nameless waterfront city, and was a regular patron of Mother's, a wharfside club; his girlfriend, Edie Hart (Lola Albright), was a sultry singer employed there. Herschel Bernardi played Lieutenant Jacoby, a police detective.


[edit] Music
The show's use of modern jazz music, at a time when most television shows used a generic, uninspired orchestra for the background, was another distinctive touch that set the standard for many years to come. Innovative jazz themes seemed to accompany every move Gunn made, ably rendered by Henry Mancini and his orchestra (which at that time included John Williams), lending the character even more of an air of suave sophistication. Most memorable of all was the show's opening (and closing) theme, composed and performed by Mancini. A hip, bluesy, brassy number with an insistent piano-and-bass line, the song became an instant hit for Mancini, earning him an Emmy Award and two Grammys, and became as associated with crime fiction as Monty Norman's theme to the James Bond films is associated with espionage. The harmonies fit the mood of the show, which was a key to success. The Peter Gunn Theme has been covered by numerous jazz, blues, and rock artists since, including Ray Anthony, the Blues Brothers, Brian Setzer, The Cramps, Jimi Hendrix, Aerosmith, ELP, Pulp and many, many others. A version by Art of Noise, with guest artist Duane Eddy on twang guitar (taking the piano riff) earned a Grammy Award in 1987. Furthermore, the riff has been incorporated into many blues and jazz songs. The theme is also used as the background music for the 1983 arcade game Spy Hunter. Today, many people with no knowledge of the original show still can identify the theme.


[edit] Adaptations
After the two-season run on NBC and the single season on ABC, Edwards made numerous attempts to revive the character in other media. A novel and a comic book were released in 1960. A feature film, Gunn, was made in 1967, and ABC carried a pilot in 1989 with Peter Strauss in the lead role, but they failed to catch on. In 2004 the "Peter Gunn Theme" was used in The Lion King 1½ when Timon and Pumbaa try to break up Simba and Nala.

Hiya Edgar, Thanks for all that info. I remember the show. I just don't remember the music from the show.

I remember the song from the Mickey Mouse Club though--

M-I-C, See ya real soon
K-E-Y, Why? Because we like you.
M-O-U-S-E

http://www.elite.net/~gurpal/tv1.htm

You can listen to the Peter Gunn theme by clicking on the link. Also, dozens of other shows.

Thank you, Edgar. I heard the first three notes, and it all came back to me.

I think my all-time favorite is the "Adventures of Brisco County, Jr" theme-- did any of you ever see that show for the blink of an eye that it was on before Fox gave it the ax?

As soon as I hear the first few notes of that music, I'm instantly fourteen years old again, sitting on the couch in my jammies on Saturday morning and ready to cheer Brisco on ...they use it on the Olympics now...

cyphercat, Sorry to say I never saw the show and don't know the theme.

On the other hand,

Who can turn the world on with her smile? (Mary Tyle Moore)

Fraggle Rock

Cheers is the obvious one. I'm a tad biased because it's my favorite show, but I believe Gilmore Girls' theme song is very good as well.