NFT: 100 best TV theme songs of all-time

The British Tv show: The Avengers
Batman
Star Trek

That was the first song I thought of…
Joke!

.

...

Chips, but as others have said, where's the A-Team? Or Knight Rider? The Fall Guy? Magnum PI? Hunter? Or Family Ties, Growing Pains, Facts of Life?

“Combat” not in the top 100 ... Hawaii 5-0 should be number 1.

used to be relevant and good decades ago. Now I'm pretty sure its written by crappy AI.

Love and the Marriage fit like a glove...

Nobody disses Franz Schubert.

Patti's into rock n roll
a hot dog makes her lose control

such as Baretta, CHIPS, Barney Miller, Baa Baa Blacksheep, etc.

I do think these lists are dumb, however; it is funny to see you old farts get riled up over something so dumb lol

What # was The Sopranos?

In comment 15926314 Spiciest Memelord said:

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used to be relevant and good decades ago. Now I'm pretty sure its written by crappy AI.

Nope. TikTok Babysitters.

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In comment 15926341 Route 9 said:

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I do think these lists are dumb, however; it is funny to see you old farts get riled up over something so dumb lol What # was The Sopranos?

Pretty high, around 20, deservedly

UP IN THE CLUB

In comment 15926351 Enzo said:

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.

The lyrics are pure poetry.

In comment 15926336 Eric from BBI said:

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such as Baretta, CHIPS, Barney Miller, Baa Baa Blacksheep, etc.

CHIPS is #96. But your point still holds.

intro and outro were both a favorite of mine!

In comment 15926342 Route 9 said:

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In comment 15926314 Spiciest Memelord said: Quote: used to be relevant and good decades ago. Now I'm pretty sure its written by crappy AI. Nope. TikTok Babysitters.

It's worse than I imagined.

Maverick?
Lone Ranger?
Mr. Lucky?

Thanks to those who mentioned Rawhide, Beverly Hillbillies and some of the other glaring omissions

I Forgot one more:

"MoonLighting" (A Young Cybil Sheppard)

In comment 15926374 Piranah In NC said:

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I Forgot one more: "MoonLighting" (A Young Cybil Sheppard)

and Bruce Willis with hair

I can’t read the list because it keeps jumping around on me. But it’s the best theme song ever.

In comment 15926204 rnargi said:

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In comment 15926182 smshmth8690 said: Quote: but the Munsters has to be in the top 10. Doesn't even make the list.

Can't believe this. Munsters is one of the best.

In comment 15926357 Drewcon40 said:

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intro and outro were both a favorite of mine!

Nope. Glaring omission.

that the themes from Family Ties and Growing Pains did not make this list. Both were GREAT theme songs!

Also, for those of you who don't know, Alan is from Jersey, an OG internet guy and a Giants fan. There's a reasonable chance he's a lurker, or even a poster.

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The list is mixing a lot of apples, oranges, dragonfruit, etc. We've got sitcoms, dramas, and kids shows, among others. We've got instrumental themes alongside ones with lyrics, preexisting songs right next to ones written expressly for each show, etc. We tried to cover as many bases as we could in terms of style, genre of music, genre of show, and era, among others, but that's ultimately an impossible task. There's only one game show theme, one talk show theme, and one sportscast theme, and no reality show themes at all. (One of them got cut late in the process.) The top 100 shows list received some entirely fair criticism for leaning too heavily towards scripted TV. Making these lists is an impossible balancing act in many ways, where once you introduce one type of show or song, then you in theory should be considering all of them. (It's one of the reasons Matt Zoller Seitz and I put so many limitations on ourselves for TV (THE BOOK).) In some cases, we chose to avoid that kind of problem, like when someone proposed using "Handbags and Gladrags" from the U.K. Office, before everyone else recognized what a can of worms we'd be opening to have only one international show. But we probably could have cast a wider net in terms of the kinds of American series featured. In terms of time periods, the gravitational pull of those Seventies songs was incredibly powerful. What an amazing, amazing decade for theme music, such that at least half the list could have been filled with songs from that era and there wouldn’t have been a single, “What is that doing there?” As it is, we had to leave off relatively famous ones like Baretta and What’s Happening??, as well as some more obscure ones like Making It. (My friend Joe Adalian suggested that when I wondered if we could use some disco; the CHiPs theme is probably the closest the actual list got.) The penultimate draft of the list was actually missing a few more, but we collectively decided we couldn’t leave off S.W.A.T., The Odd Couple, and some others.

Behind the scenes of Rolling Stone's best theme songs ever list - ( New Window )

There are so many names on the byline. I would be curious what the average age of those byliners are.

In comment 15926258 Greg from LI said:

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I still can't stop snickering at some nothing of a show called "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend" that virtually no one has ever seen (or knew existed) landing at #4.

Exactly.

And tell me how Knight Rider isn't top 10, let alone top 100??!!?!?!?

JFC.

In comment 15926569 NINEster said:

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In comment 15926258 Greg from LI said: Quote: I still can't stop snickering at some nothing of a show called "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend" that virtually no one has ever seen (or knew existed) landing at #4. Exactly. And tell me how Knight Rider isn't top 10, let alone top 100??!!?!?!? JFC.

Knight rider theme was my first phone "custom" ring tone. Once you could use mp3's or whatever sound clips were back then it was my first order of action to get it and make it my ring tone.

lol.

I still think it's a good ring tone but now like half the planet I have the default iphone ring tone that makes everyone look at their phones like the mental patients in Strange Brew.

In comment 15926188 pjcas18 said:

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unless I missed it and if i didn't this list has 0 credibility. Not top 100? It should be top 20.

I've always said that for the people who don't like the current National Anthem because of the lyrics or it's too hard to sing or whatever, the A-Team theme music should replace it. There are no words, but the stadium crowd can just yell out the melody. It's very patriotic and energetic sounding even without actual words:

"And now...everyone please rise and remove your hats for our new National Anthem"
Everyone: DANT DAN DANNN! DUNT DUN DAAAAA!.....

The world is run by 19 year old girls?? Really??

Other national teams will simply forfeit to a country with such a badass anthem.

In comment 15926639 Spiciest Memelord said:

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Other national teams will simply forfeit to a country with such a badass anthem.

Not with Ashley and Becky running the show now. Nope. Too toxic.

I'm of a certain generation and have my favorites.

Car 54
Mr Ed
Mash
The Jackie Gleason Show
Bonanza
Beverly Hillbillies
Branded (and the parody "Stranded" toilet paper version too!)

etc.

In comment 15926657 aquidneck said:
[quote] I'm of a certain generation and have my favorites.

Car 54
Mr Ed
Mash
The Jackie Gleason Show
Bonanza
Beverly Hillbillies
Branded (and the parody "Stranded" toilet paper version too!)

Upon further review, you get my vote ... Car 54, Mr Ed were great.

Stranded ... trapped on a toilet bowl, what do you do if you’re stranded, and don’t have a roll ... to prove you’re a man, you must ....

No psycho dad.

Bull. Fucking. Shit. WKRP in Cincinnati is at least top 30.

In comment 15926331 I'mRonBurgandy? said:

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Patti's into rock n roll a hot dog makes her lose control

....

haha - and no "GillIgan's Island"? A travesty

Kids in the Hall?

Garbage list.

The song was (allegedly) sung by Tom Hanks and, it’s a Billy Joel song!

Period. No way you can hear that song and get jiggy.

Also no Family Guy

Not on the list.

Neither is Gilligan's Island
Perry Mason
Get Smart
Married With Children
Animaniacs / Pinky & The Brain
The Fall Guy
The Honeymooners
Patty Duke
Magnum P.I.
Hill Street Blues
The Cosby Show
Inspector Gadget
The A-Team
Knight Rider
Laverne & Shirley
Golden Girls
Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
The Simpson's

I could keep going. Trash list.

In comment 15926993 HMunster said:

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Not on the list. Neither is Gilligan's Island Perry Mason Get Smart Married With Children Animaniacs / Pinky & The Brain The Fall Guy The Honeymooners Patty Duke Magnum P.I. Hill Street Blues The Cosby Show Inspector Gadget The A-Team Knight Rider Laverne & Shirley Golden Girls Fresh Prince of Bel-Air The Simpson's I could keep going. Trash list.

Gilligan's Island is #2, and some of those others are also on the list (Simpsons is 18, maybe more on the list), but agree with the overall sentiment.

there's a tie at #2, but the next song is #3 when it should be #4.
So there are 101 songs (assuming I didn't miss any other ties further down the list).

for a top 50

...Spoiler Alert...

these are at the top of that list:
1. Cheers
2. M*A*S*H
3. Sanford & Son
4. The Simpsons
5. All in the Family
6. The Jeffersons


Paste Magazine The 50 Best TV Theme Songs of All Time - ( New Window )

In comment 15927018 pjcas18 said:

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In comment 15926993 HMunster said: Quote: Not on the list. Neither is Gilligan's Island Perry Mason Get Smart Married With Children Animaniacs / Pinky & The Brain The Fall Guy The Honeymooners Patty Duke Magnum P.I. Hill Street Blues The Cosby Show Inspector Gadget The A-Team Knight Rider Laverne & Shirley Golden Girls Fresh Prince of Bel-Air The Simpson's I could keep going. Trash list. Gilligan's Island is #2, and some of those others are also on the list (Simpsons is 18, maybe more on the list), but agree with the overall sentiment.

Oops! Missed that. Thanks.