One of the things that has largely disappeared from television in the past two decades is memorable theme songs. Today, most shows don't even have a real theme and credit sequence. The standard (for an hour-long show) is a seven- to ten-minute first act, followed by a title card and some kind of quick musical sting, and then the credits are superimposed over the opening scenes of the second act. For a half-hour show, there's a three- to five-minute prologue, a very fast music and title sequence and, again, the credits roll over the opening of the first act.
The last show I can remember with a memorable theme is The Big Bang Theory...and before that, probably Friends.
I bring this up because last night, just before bed, an old theme song popped into my head...and it was for a show that I rarely watched when it was on (and it was only on for one season)--Gidget. It may have popped up because Turner Classic Movies was running the original movie with Sandra Dee last night. In case you're interested, the theme sequence is linked to below:
What TV themes are still stuck in your head?
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Years ago, at our Church I did a music trivia night and one of the features was TV theme songs. Back then, people could actually identify the “Bewitched” or “Andy Griffith” or “Mash” theme songs very easily. Actually I was thinking last week about how unidentifiable the music is for a lot of shows now. For one thing, our TV choices have multiplied by 10X and for another there is a spate of what I call “reality/dramady/true crime shows which don’t need a theme. As an old dude I will always look back on those theme songs with nostalgia.
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