Previous installments: Day 1
I asked you to suggest your favorite TV themes. You responded with dozens and dozens of shows! Here’s the second batch, in the order they were mentioned. Come back tomorrow for more!
“The Andy Griffith Show” (“The Fishin’ Hole”) by Earle Hagen and Herbert W. Spencer. Hagen also performed the whistling. The song has lyrics by Everett Sloane, although they’re not used in the opening credits. (Hear the sung version here.) This one was suggested by Ben Weisiger. Patrick McCurry had this to say about the show: “Andy Griffith had some great chamber-winds scores. Theme not so much.”
“The Greatest American Hero” by Mike Post (music) and Stephen Geyer (lyrics), sung by Joey Scarbury. Tracey Kristen Parker (@TkristenParker on Twitter) listed this song. I used to watch this show and really liked the theme, and apparently I wasn’t alone — the song hit #2 on the Billboard chart in the summer of 1981.
“Peter Gunn Theme” by Henry Mancini. I’ve never met anyone who actually watched this show, but everybody loves the theme. Long before I knew this was the theme to a TV show, I grew to love it as the theme to the arcade game Spy Hunter, which I played the heck out of as a kid. The “Peter Gunn Theme” made the lists of Chris Kelsey and John Edwin Mason (@johnedwinmason on Twitter).
“Mannix” by Lalo Schifrin. I’ve never seen an episode of Mannix, nor had I heard the music until listening to it for this series, but I’ve been hearing the name “Mannix” for my entire life. In fact, I think references to the show made several appearances in Mystery Science Theater 3000 (the theme to which will be featured later in this series). Once again, Chris Kelsey and John Edwin Mason named this tune, as did Joe Dansak. (Hey, I made an unintentional Name That Tune joke.)
“The Bill Cosby Show” (“Hikky-Burr”) by Quincy Jones and Bill Cosby. Q makes his second appearance on the list with this theme to Cosby’s 1969-71 TV show. This tune, with its nonsense lyrics, was released as a single in 1969. Thanks to Rob Alley for suggesting this one.
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