Hey Freak!

Oh, sure, I coulda said "Happy Cinco de Mayo," but I'm sure a lot of people have mentioned that, with no attention going to the underappreciated standard movie phone prefix, 555.

In honor of Cinco de Mayo, I'ma teach you some spanish that's practical, and you can use it tonight:

Dos cervezas, por favor.
(Dose serve-AY-suhs, poor fah-VOR)

Don't worry - it's not dirty. It just means "Two beers, please." See? Practical. If you want some more tips, call 555-3825.

OK. So, I was thinking (never a good sign)... remember the days of TV show themes? Yeah, shows now have themes, but back in the 70's and 80's (and earlier - back to the 50's), TV show themes were much bigger and more important. When you heard the theme, you like, knew it was time to get excited. You know, like... The Love Boat Theme. The Happy Days theme. The theme from SWAT. The Dukes of Hazzard theme. All very memorable themes. Nowadays? I dunno; it seems like signature theme songs are going the way of the dodo. Law & Order? Great show. Theme? None. Just one note. Sure, you hear that one note, and you know it's L&O time... but damn, how skimpy on production, yanno?

So anyway. I was just wondering... what was your favorite TV theme growing up? Or now?

And, off the top of my computer... here's every TV theme that I happen to already have on my computer (right-click, save as... yadda yadda yadda):

The Love Boat. Set a course for adventure, your mind on a new romance.

Buck Rogers in the 25th Century. And a bonus... the 'original' theme song, with words and all: Suspension. Hello, finalist for 'gayest theme ever.'

How Do You Talk to an Angel? Heh. You just know it's gonna be a shitty show when you base it all around... a song. But hey, at least it launched the career of Jamie what's-his-name.

Superman. This song sounds much much happier when it's played as the theme from Scrubs. This original version is kinda depressing...

Shit. I thought I had the Dukes of Hazzard theme on here. Oh well.

Dos cervezas, por favor.

Ok, I'll agree the doing-doing Law & Order thing is kinda lame but the dude that does that whole schpeel on SVU has an incredibly sexy voice...and that makes me so totally not care that the doing-doing is lame.

You know what TV theme we are just HATING right now? The one for that new show The Office - it sucks! Paul was like, "What is this, new episodes of Barney Miller?" It's weird how so many shows now just reuse some pop song for their theme song. You don't see too many "What would we dooo babyyy without us, sha la la la!" themes nowadays.

Yes, but "dos cervezas, por favor" could easily BECOME dirty, with a little imagination. That's the true beauty of it.

Mine was probably WKRP. Or Mash.

You know what I theme song I love, even tho I didn't hear it til I was in my 20s? The Hair Bear Bunch. Cartoon Network used to play it at like 3am, and I'd always watch it after I got off work, back when I was tending bar.

Don't know why, but I've always liked the theme song to Growing Pains, especially in leter episodes when they changed it from the campy 80's version to the male acapella version.

i'm partial to the 80s theme songs: Facts of Life, WKRP, Different Strokes, Growing Pains. Love Boat was a good one too. Loved Greatest American Hero. And any list about theme songs HAS to include Love American Style's theme song.

Dos más cervezas para mis amigos por favor!!

Lotsa Luck, the Yank version of the Brit On The Buses, had a cool theme tune.

http://www.sitcomsonline.com/sounds/lotsaluck.wav

Punky Brewster! "Maybe the world is blind..."

I'm a big fan of the themes from House and ER. House's intro is called Teardrop by Massive Attack and Portishead. My beef with them is that the actual songs arn't that great, they just use the intros which are kickass.

I knew exactly one phrase in Spanish before I spent two weeks in Cuba. Though I am sure to butcher the spelling, it was "dondez es la cervezas". So I was looking for the beer, while you here are offering tips for people who've already found it.

I'm going to go ahead and assert that this is the most useful site on the internet. 05-05-05? That's good to know.

Second!

Dude, the Law and Order theme is toootally a theme song! In fact, every version of Law and Order uses the same theme, but plays a different interpolation of it. It's hella catchy too - not unlike your boy, Peter Gunn or Hawaii 5-0 (without the energy).

Fave theme song from back in the day was Family Ties. Very beautiful.

Sha na na naaaaah.

Funny you should post this today. I've been listening to my favorite bootleg cd today, which is all punk covers. Lots of theme songs on there. Let's see, I've got Cheers, Gilligan's Island, Popeye, and Saved By The Bell. And those are just the telly themes. Thanks for the Love Boat song. I luuurve me some Love Boat.

Waaaait...hello? Law & Order has a theme! I can sing you the whole thing. The doink-doink is only a little scene breaker. It has a song in the beginning. Each variation on L & O classic (SVU, CI, TBJ) has a modified version of the song...SVU's sounds more edgy, TBJ's is just weird (kinda synthy) and CI's...well, I forget CIs. But they have a theme.

What about these oldies but goodies?
Gilligan's Island
The Beverly Hillbillies
Welcome Back, Kotter (which is now in a really stupid commercial for indigestion or something so the song gets stuck in my head every morning now)
Facts of Life (someone already said that one)
Even Gunsmoke and Little House on the Prairie are etched in my permanent memory bank.

Dang, I could really go on. This is fun.

Happy 05-05-05 to you! Cinqo cervasas, por favor!

DUDES! How is Knight Rider not on here? My laptop at work plays that when I boot it up, and I am way psyched to start the day.

Check it out.

I actually have to go with the House, MD theme, which is Teardrop by Massive Attack. I really like that song.

Old school favorite theme? Wild Wild West.

favorite TV theme now:

Gilmore Girls!

I think it's just b/c I love the show sooo much, and it's really the only TV show that I watch.

as far as old TV themes, I (sadly) loved the Saved By the Bell theme. Yeah, I'm a dork that didn't watch quality TV.

You'd love Retro Junk. Highly recommend it for not only TV theme songs but old-ass commercials!!! :D

Mentioned already but I loved and still enjoy the Greatest American Hero.

And don't tell Ash Law and Order SVU or CI dont have themes...she recognizes which show is on by the intro and dances to them everytime.

I like the Barney Miller theme - that bass is quite funky - like old-school funk. The Laverne and Shirley theme was fun too. Yeah I'm old.

Years ago when Quincy was in syndication and played at 4:00, we had a dog that trained herself to eat at that time. It was a coincidence that we always fed her at 4:00 and then watch the show. If we were 30 seconds late and she heard the theme music, she would let us know that it was "Quincy time" Yeah, she was pretty confused on the weekends though.

My list:
Little House on the Prairie
M*A*S*H
Cheers
Golden Girls (Thank you for being a friend)
Love Boat
Laverne and Shirley
Mork and Mindy

The second-most Spanish phrase: "¿Donde esta el baño?" If you drink enough cervezas you will require el baño!!

I'll have to go with the Law & Order (so many themes, even Family Guy used it for their opening on Sunday). CSI does something similar, where all the themes are Who songs

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