GOAT TV Theme Songs: Bracket Set (Post 1228), Finals: Jeffersons vs. Mssion: Impossible

Y&TR is a classic of its genre. Top of the pops for soap operas imo

2 Likes

Yeah, I voted Wire but I’ve got no beef with that result if it holds.

1 Like

I think it’s a pretty fair feature of the best TV theme songs that people want to listen to them divorced from their actual shows. To that end, YouTube views is a strong metric. I also think that a good seeding metric is objective, easy to administer, and even that it does produce some weird results that generate controversy that can potentially be resolved by the actual votes. Thus, views might even be a better metric than I realized when I proposed it. I am enjoying the arms race to find high view videos of beloved themes, and I enjoy the play-ins needing multiple support to get started. The nominated songs are usually winning, so this system is keeping the best in without having to vote on everything.

2 Likes

Here is a song that featured in a TV show by a cast member that is amazing

Yeah, if it wasn’t clear, I’m not complaining; my post was a defense of your choice that contained an acknowledgment of the setup’s limitations. I don’t have a better idea for an objective metric. And there’s practically no chance of the eventual winner being culled out this way, so its flaws are far from fatal.

It’s going to give us wonky seeding that only somewhat gauges actual strength, it’s going to be impacted significantly by recency bias, and it’s going to do things like give the Seinfeld theme a pretty high seed even though it’s only really being listened to because of the quality of the show (which is to say that I don’t really think the view counts are divorced from the show itself in many cases).

But again, it’s probably the best we’ve got. The alternative of letting one person just guess at strength or something is clearly worse.

1 Like

Plus I think if anyone had a better alternative, they would say so. Better an imperfect system that gets us into the competition than none at all.

I was following you. I just elected to elaborate.

2 Likes

I agree with you here, but I’m not sure if it’s for the same reason. I think a person could come up with a seeding that correlates with the final vote better than sort-by-views. But, given the nature of the internet, I think it’s healthier for controversy to be directed at the output of an objective standard than at the output of a person, even if I think that in general some controversy about the rankings and the discussion it creates is good and part of the fun.

1 Like

Okay, but I would have to conduct the job interview. It would just be a one-question interview where I would move my glasses to the end of my nose, clear my throat, and ask with the highest level of earnestness, “Do you think the Family Matters theme was a bop?” And then incorrect answers would be cause for disqualification.

(No, really, I agree with your whole post.)

2 Likes

I went hunting for videos earlier to give safety to some songs that I think clearly deserve it, with some success. Unfortunately I hit dead ends with every attempt to boost Saved by the Bell and Mr. Belvedere, so those just might be in danger since they now sit on the bubble.

1 Like

Speaking of controversy, our current #1 with 46 million views, that particular clip is a movie theme. The original version of the song is a movie theme, too. Even the original cartoons were theatrical shorts years before they ever appeared on TV. Does the Pink Panther theme really qualify as a TV theme? Like, we aren’t putting the James Bond theme in this bracket even though I’ve watched Dr. No on TV, right? I think MASH is the only other contender that wasn’t originally for TV, and I didn’t accept the movie version of the theme.

2 Likes

It counts

You could argue for that video not counting, but there was definitely an episodic TV series for two seasons that has this theme. I couldn’t see much of a case for excluding it outright.

This video would still get it into the tournament, just in a lower seed. And to the extent that it matters, I’m strongly guessing that would just result in knowingly underseeding it since it will almost surely be a strong entry.

2 Likes

I don’t think that should dq a song. If it has a theme on TV, it doesn’t matter if the same theme was used in a movie. I’d only dq it if it were only used in the movie.

1 Like

I guess I have to begrudgingly admit that the episodes of The All New Pink Panther Show were made for TV. The rest were all theatrical releases that later appeared on TV, and if that were the case for all of them, I don’t think they should qualify.

2 Likes

Fair point.

Last call for nominees or play-ins

1 Like

Looks like we might have a several-way tie at 1M views that overlaps the bubble, if I’m reading right that the note is going to bump three entries down. So maybe those will need a multi-way play-in of some sort?

1 Like

If you need one more

Edit: only the first twenty seconds or so ever appears as the theme song.

1 Like