ghost of miles Posted February 23, 2022 Report Share Posted February 23, 2022 (edited) I’ve been revisiting some late-1970s sitcoms lately—Taxi, One Day At A Time, WKRP In Cincinnati, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and Soap, primarily—and am being reminded of how many great theme songs there were for shows back then—catchy one-minute snippets that established a very specific mood and became a sort of Pavlovian cue for spending half an hour in a favorite fictional setting. In addition to the programs above, here are some other notable show themes—some instrumental, some with lyrics: The Rockford Files Sanford and Son Alice The Six Million Dollar Man (hello, Oliver Nelson!) Good Times Happy Days All In The Family Barney Miller Baretta S.W.A.T. ... gotta be more, what am I forgetting? Edited February 23, 2022 by ghost of miles Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HutchFan Posted February 23, 2022 Report Share Posted February 23, 2022 The Streets of San Francisco Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teasing the Korean Posted February 23, 2022 Report Share Posted February 23, 2022 (edited) I would argue that the golden age of TV themes runs from roughly Peter Gunn in 1958 to about 1975, when Mike Post took over (and everything went to hell IMO). For example: Edited February 23, 2022 by Teasing the Korean Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Gould Posted February 23, 2022 Report Share Posted February 23, 2022 I am not even sure what all Mike Post wrote but for my money, the GOAT. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazztrain Posted February 23, 2022 Report Share Posted February 23, 2022 2 hours ago, ghost of miles said: I’ve been revisiting some late-1970s sitcoms lately—Taxi, One Day At A Time, WKRP In Cincinnati, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and Soap, primarily—and am being reminded of how many great theme songs there were for shows back then—catchy one-minute snippets that established a very specific mood and became a sort of Pavlovian cue for spending half an hour in a favorite fictional setting. In addition to the programs above, here are some other notable show themes—some instrumental, some with lyrics: The Rockford Files Sanford and Son Alice The Six Million Dollar Man (hello, Oliver Nelson!) Good Times Happy Days All In The Family Barney Miller Baretta S.W.A.T. ... gotta be more, what am I forgetting? If you broaden the time period a bit, I would throw in The Avengers and Mannix. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teasing the Korean Posted February 23, 2022 Report Share Posted February 23, 2022 (edited) 1 hour ago, Dan Gould said: I am not even sure what all Mike Post wrote but for my money, the GOAT. Interesting. For me, Post's arrival marks the end of the classic TV themes era. Perhaps because the composers of his generation lacked the compositional chops of the classic golden- and silver-age composers who preceded them. Here is a partial listing, in no order, of composers of TV themes roughly between Peter Gunn and the arrival of Mike Post: Henry Mancini Pete Rugolo Elmer Bernstein Warren Barker Count Basie George Duning Kenyon Hopkins Nelson Riddle Bernard Herrmann Jerry Goldsmith Dominic Frontiere Alexander Courage John Williams John Barry Lalo Schifrin Ron Grainer Earl Hagen Edwin Astley Laurie Johnson Hugo Montenegro Mort Stevens Dave Grusin Quincy Jones Pat Williams Billy Goldenberg Oliver Nelson Edited February 23, 2022 by Teasing the Korean Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel A Posted February 23, 2022 Report Share Posted February 23, 2022 Lots of good music there, but I don't have a problem with Mike Post either. I quite like the theme from Magnum P. I. The less well-known first theme by Ian Freebairn-Smith is also good (and jazzier). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Gould Posted February 23, 2022 Report Share Posted February 23, 2022 2 hours ago, Teasing the Korean said: Interesting. For me, Post's arrival marks the end of the classic TV themes era. Perhaps because the composers of his generation lacked the compositional chops of the classic golden- and silver-age composers who preceded them. Here is a partial listing, in no order, of composers of TV themes roughly between Peter Gunn and the arrival of Mike Post: Henry Mancini Pete Rugolo Elmer Bernstein Warren Barker Count Basie George Duning Kenyon Hopkins Nelson Riddle Bernard Herrmann Jerry Goldsmith Dominic Frontiere Alexander Courage John Williams John Barry Lalo Schifrin Ron Grainer Earl Hagen Edwin Astley Laurie Johnson Hugo Montenegro Mort Stevens Dave Grusin Quincy Jones Pat Williams Billy Goldenberg Oliver Nelson I am not as old as you and whatever themes those cats wrote I don't remotely know them or have interest in hearing them. I'm talking about the tv themes of my youth, same as GoM is. It's not really subject to debate, its nostalgia pure and simple. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghost of miles Posted February 23, 2022 Author Report Share Posted February 23, 2022 Although I'd agree that TV theme songs from the 1980s and 90s aren't generally as memorable as those from the 1970s, Mike Post is A-OK by me on the strength of Rockford Files and Hill Street Blues alone: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teasing the Korean Posted February 23, 2022 Report Share Posted February 23, 2022 (edited) 26 minutes ago, Dan Gould said: I am not as old as you and whatever themes those cats wrote I don't remotely know them or have interest in hearing them. I'm talking about the tv themes of my youth, same as GoM is. It's not really subject to debate, its nostalgia pure and simple. Taste is of course subjective, but we can discuss elements of composition and arrangement objectively. Given that you post regularly on a jazz message board, I would think that the writing of many of "those cats" might be closer to your musical aesthetics. Also, I like the film and TV music I do for its intrinsic value. Nostalgia is not a factor. Edited February 23, 2022 by Teasing the Korean Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Milestones Posted February 23, 2022 Report Share Posted February 23, 2022 The Hill Street Blues theme my be the finest TV theme of all time, at least for a dramatic show. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted February 23, 2022 Report Share Posted February 23, 2022 Who needs a theme song if you don't have any opening credits to put it under? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teasing the Korean Posted February 24, 2022 Report Share Posted February 24, 2022 26 minutes ago, JSngry said: Who needs a theme song if you don't have any opening credits to put it under? Well, I do, considering that most of my music accumulation, after jazz, is film and TV scores! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted February 24, 2022 Report Share Posted February 24, 2022 All driven by the visual, though. And I bemoan the trimming/elimination of a lot of opening and closing credit sequences (and the music that goes with them). It's a package deal when done right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shrdlu Posted February 24, 2022 Report Share Posted February 24, 2022 I sure did like Hank Mancini's music for "Peter Gunn", and the first of the two LPs is a favorite of mine. I have thought a lot about Mike Post and Pete Carpenter's music for many TV series. It is a brand, and templates were created, so that others could write individual scores within the style. At its worst, it is cliché-ridden: the daa, daa, dat-da-daa phrase etc. But I am very fond of Hunter, and I've seen all of them. I began to appreciate their soundtracks. Once you get away from the main theme, there are some nice passages, with an oboe etc. Only a small group was used. They appeared on camera in one episode, which was about a girl singer recording in a studio. So, I respect that duo and try to listen past the clichéd bits. In any case, I always mute or skip over the opening credits, because I am tired of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teasing the Korean Posted February 24, 2022 Report Share Posted February 24, 2022 12 minutes ago, JSngry said: All driven by the visual, though. That doesn't affect my enjoyment of it. I either like the finished product or not. If they are paired with great visuals, all the better! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Dryden Posted February 24, 2022 Report Share Posted February 24, 2022 Theme From M*A*S*H by Johnny Mandel. Yeah, I know that the movie was first, but it was in the 1970s, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gheorghe Posted February 24, 2022 Report Share Posted February 24, 2022 13 hours ago, HutchFan said: The Streets of San Francisco oh yeah. All those title tunes to police films then. And my wife and me like to see such police series and when we talk about our youth, there is so much in common, we both loved "Streets of San Francisco" and above all "Kojak", and those german police series with the "good cops" like "Derrik" "Kommissar" and so. And if we watch police series, we always have a ball "shouting" the title melody and often we have to laugh as much that we "forget" the further action. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shrdlu Posted February 24, 2022 Report Share Posted February 24, 2022 I like "Kommissar Rex", set in Wien in Österreich. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gheorghe Posted February 24, 2022 Report Share Posted February 24, 2022 2 hours ago, Shrdlu said: I like "Kommissar Rex", set in Wien in Österreich. oh me too ! But mostly the first series with Tobias Moretti. But it´s great and has a lot of Viennese humour in it, Maybe you would also like "Kottan". That´s really some typical Viennese scenes of the early 70´s Vienna and that incredible Police President who always has fights with the coffee automat. And I think the oldest one was titled "Mord in der Hartlgasse". That´s really great. That´s how it was when I was a youngster. And when older people still didn´t know how to say to a homosexual . That old woman says about her younger neighbour "he is , he is....I think he is...a "Dee Dee Dee". Once my wife picked up a T-Shirt for me with some more rosé colours and said this is cool, and I said "isn´t that a bit too "dee dee dee" ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shrdlu Posted February 24, 2022 Report Share Posted February 24, 2022 Der Schäferhund war sehr schön. Ich habe vier Schäferhunde gehat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted February 25, 2022 Report Share Posted February 25, 2022 Sections! But ok, happy househusbands, take this: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gheorghe Posted February 25, 2022 Report Share Posted February 25, 2022 8 hours ago, Shrdlu said: Der Schäferhund war sehr schön. Ich habe vier Schäferhunde gehat. Stimmt, er war sehr schön ! Ich habe leider keinen Schäferhund gehabt, weil wir viel reisen. Ich habe eine Katze gehabt, die ist 20 Jahre alt geworden. Woher kannst Du so gut deutsch ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shrdlu Posted February 25, 2022 Report Share Posted February 25, 2022 Wow, eine 20-jährige Katze! Ich hatte ein Freund in der Oberschule, deren Mutter Deutsche war. An der Universität hatten wir einen Dozenten aus der Tschechoslowakei, dessen Englisch schlecht war. Er verwirrte die Klasse, indem er Schrift deutsche Buchstaben verwendete. Ich ging zur Mutter meines Freundes um Hilfe. Ich habe hauptsächlich zu Hause Deutsch gelernt. Ich bin in Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz gewesen. And, after these messages, back to English, already in progress. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted February 26, 2022 Report Share Posted February 26, 2022 Dave Brubeck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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