All in the Family

The Munsters

For whatever reason the versions on Youtube don’t allow embedding.

Jonny Quest

Lost in Space

The Green Hornet

After purchasing an Al Hirt album the other I started thinking about how great his theme from the Green Hornet is and some of the other great theme songs.  I think there are two things that make a television theme great:

- a memorable melody

- it needs to convey the theme of the show, usually in a pretty short time frame

I picked out what I think are the ten best themes that fit this, spread out over two days.  Since it’s my list I’m throwing out shows that use preexisting songs, so that would rule out Rescue Me.  One of the most difficult parts about this is separating the song from the introduction as a whole.  I had considered the Hawaii Five-Oh theme as one of the great one but after listening to it on Youtube it turns out that the song is just okay, but the introduction itself is what’s so memorable.

Perry Mason

This one doesn’t immediately come to mind but I think it’s a solid theme that conveys the seriousness of the show while adding some dramatic tension early on in the episode.

Mission Impossible

Another one that really lets the view know  what sort of show it is.  There’s a sense of urgency as the tune progresses that sets up the show well. Despite the era that the show was produced, I don’t feel that the song is dated at all.

Beverly Hillbillies

It’s the only bluegrass song to ever reach number one, played by the master Earl Scruggs.  I realized I’m biased on this one but it matches the show perfectly.  The theme alone is more interesting than anything that ever happened on the show itself.

The Rockford Files

One of the things I like about the Mission Impossible theme is that it doesn’t sound dated.  However this theme, like the show itself, screams 1970s.  That being said it’s a great song and I love the harmonica break in the middle.

Speed Racer

The theme that was burned into the long term memory of thousands of generation x-ers. An instantly recognizable chorus and a sense of playfulness that matches the show perfectly.