Monday, April 22, 2013

TV Themes

Yikes!   

The mere mention of a poll to rank your all-time favorite television themes just filled our mailbox! We received over 125 nominations on the very first day!!! And some GREAT suggestions at that! So I guess we've just found our next official Forgotten Hits Poll!!! 

Please send in your nominations and votes now ... we'll keep tabulating and see what we come up with. 
A few random suggestions appear below ... but we want to hear about YOUR favorites! So get your votes in now!  

Hey Kent, 
I saw the list of tv themes on your site today with the Patty Duke Show bubbling under the top ten. I always liked her # 8 hit "Don't Just Stand There" ... I assume you've featured it at one time or another. 
BTW ... big news here in Sioux City this week. The Iowa Gaming Commission approved the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino for our little olde town. It will be open by mid-July of next year. Never thought I'd be able to add a Hard Rock Sioux City t-shirt to my collection. :-) 
Steve  
Yep, "Don't Just Stand There" is one of my all-time favorite Forgotten Hits ... and one of the very first we ever featured way back in 1999! (We've run it a few times since then ... no reason not to spin it again today!) This one for me was always a "You Don't Own Me" clone ... but I loved it just the same. (kk)  


Of all the great old TV theme shows , this is the best they could do? Fresh Prince? Sesame St.? Sheesh, are people this clueless? Who voted this list? Best one on the list is Route 66 - Great Nelson Riddle music. 
Ken  

Kent,
Regarding the 10 best TV themes, I can’t believe none of the westerns made it. Anyone with a memory recalls that the 60’s were dominated by westerns.
Bonanza, Maverick, Cheyenne, the Rebel, Wyatt Earp, Have Gun Will Travel … for cryin’ out sakes, the Davy Crockett and Rawhide themes were hit records! We seem to have this collective conscious disconnect going where we all forgot that before the Dick Van Dyke show, westerns were just about all there was to watch on the three network stations. I’d put either the Bonanza or the Rawhide themes in the top 10.
Rick Barr
New Colony Six / Shadows of Knight
"Bonanza" for sure ... that was one of those (kinda like the "Dallas" theme) where you couldn't help but sing-along with every time it came on. And while I like the theme from "The Beverly Hillbillies", I can't believe it beat out "Gilligan's Island" ... that one is TIMELESS! (kk)  



Peter Gunn  
Barney Miller
Have Gun Will Travel
Rawhide
Green Hornet
Karen (song by the Beach Boys)
Outer Limits
Mickey 

I think the Beverly Hillbillies theme song is one of television's all time best.
Les
I like it, too! (kk) 

I'll list a top 10 TV show themes: 
1 Munsters [with surf guitar] and Pat Priest as Marilyn
2 Sanford And Son
3 Mary Tyler Moore
4 Gilligan's Island [song better than the show]
5 Happy Days
6 Andy Griffith
7 Addams Family
8 Green Acres
9 Beverly Hillbillies
10 Top Cat
Tv theme songs included in my weekly oldies A to Z radio shows at
htttp://www.marktheshark.org/radio_shows.htm
Mark the Shark 

We've started tabulating your favorites ... let's see what the Forgotten Hits Nation comes up with for their all-time Favorite TV Themes. Send your votes in NOW!!! (kk)

Great Suggestions:
THE ADDAMS FAMILY
AMERICAN BANDSTAND
ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW
BARNEY MILLER
BATMAN
BETWITCHED
BRADY BUNCH
CHEERS
CHICO AND THE MAN
COURTSHIP OF EDDIE'S FATHER
DICK VAN DYKE SHOW
DRAGNET
FLINTSTONES
GEORGE OF THE JUNGLE
(Heck yeah cartoon themes count!!! We grew up with this stuff!!!)
GREEN ACRES
HAWAII FIVE O
HAPPY DAYS
LAVERNE AND SHIRLEY
I DREAM OF JEANNIE
I LOVE LUCY
JEOPARDY (Game shows, too!
THE JETSONS
LASSIE
LEAVE IT TO BEAVER
LOVE BOAT
LOVE AMERICAN STYLE
THE MONKEES
MOONLIGHTING
MY THREE SONS
THE ODD COUPLE
PETTICOAT JUNCTION
THE PARTRIDGE FAMILY
SECRET AGENT MAN (How did THIS one not make TV Guide's Top Ten List?!?!?)
WELCOME BACK KOTTER
WKRP IN CINCINNATI 

And I'll bet you can come up with at least a dozen more that absolutely belong on this list!!! 

Send 'em in and we'll tabulate all the votes!

***
So all this TV Theme talk got me to thinking ... 

The other day one of our readers wrote in asking about a song called "Love Is All Around" from the '70's ... 

>>>I love what you guys are doing with this project, and need your help. I'm looking for a B side from the mid to late 70s. The title was "Love Is All Around" but it is not the Troggs or Wet Wet Wet version ... this was a comedic song. I don't know the artists name but may have been the B side to "The Streak"? Any help appreciated. (Cliff)  

Well, this isn't a comedic song ... but the theme song to "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" was ALSO called "Love Is All Around", and is a GREAT track written and performed by Sonny Curtis, one of our early rock pioneers for the work he did with Buddy Holly and the Crickets. 

I'm guessing this ISN'T the track Cliff is looking for ... but here is the full-length, country single version that Curtis released. While it failed to chart on the pop chart, it DID make it to #29 on Billboard's Country Singles Chart in 1980 ... and is a great tune to boot!



One more ...

In between "I Spy" and the MAJOR hit series "The Cosby Show", Bill Cosby started as gym teacher Chet Kincaid, an otherwise pretty awful series that never showed Cosby's true talents. But it DID have a great theme song called "Hikki Burr", a piece put together by Bill Cosby and musical genius Quincy Jones. Give a listen: