Top 5 Fridays – TV Theme Songs

I have stated my love of TV time and time again on this site. So it should come as no surprise that I am devoting this weeks top 5 list to the TV theme song. That very special 15 to 60 seconds that lets you get prepared and alerts you to whats to come. Sometimes it serves as a warning signal, giving you just enough time to throw down your jacket and vault over the couch, and other times it let you mentally prepare for the upcoming awesomeness that you were about to witness. Nowadays it seems like the theme song is not as respected as it once was. Which is a shame. So here it is, my top 5 Favorite theme songs.

5. Friday Night Lights - This is the perfect example of a theme song that gets you set for the mood of what is to come. Its not fun, its not happy but its beautiful and haunting. Just like the show it is attached to. Some theme songs are composed to be memorable and to make you want to sing a long. W.G. Snuffy Walden composed this theme and has managed to make it the perfect intro to the best show on TV.

4. The Muppet Show -  When a show is as great and special as this, sometimes the theme song is irrelevant. But what I love about the Muppet Show theme song is how it ties into the overall concept of what is happening. The Muppet Show is about a variety show being put on by a collection of muppets. I feel that if this was real and wasn’t being broadcast that they would sing this song for the theatre audience anyways, and that is what makes it special. It also introduces us to the characters and their personalities, so you can be a first timer and still get what is about to happen. “Its time to play the music….”

3. A-Team – Not every theme song on this list has to be a great piece of music. Sometimes they just have to convey the excitement and energy of the upcoming hour of TV. When I was a kid, I loved the A-team. I was part of the Mr. T fan club and even went as BA Barracus for Halloween one year. So when I heard the opening notes of its theme  song, you have no idea how excited I got. For that reason alone, I have put it on the list. Imagine how excited I am going to be when the feature film comes out.

2. The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. “Now, this is a story all about how, My life got flipped-turned upside down, And I liked to take a minute, Just sit right there, I’ll tell you how I became the prince of a town called Bel Air” Feel free to continue the rest on your own, or to start singing this at the office or in class and see how many people join in and finish the song. This was one of the shows that I loved as a teen. I watched the whole series from beginning to end. It was so funny and was the vehicle the proved that rappers can act and helped catapult Will Smith to super stardom. This is how he became the Prince of Bel-Air.

1. Cheers - Need I say more? Well for the sake of fairness I will. To me this is the quintessential TV theme song. It is as memorable as anything else on TV, it has lyrics we all know and love, and it can only really work as a theme song. It was so popular at the time that a full length version was recorded and it actually charted. Weird. It sets the mood for the show and gets you ready for a night of comedy. And it speaks the truth, I only wanna go where everybody knows my name. Memories.