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If you ever binge watch Buffy, that theme song makes you want to stab your own eardrums out after a season or two. I hate it with the entirety of my being. I still had to vote for it over family ties.
So… Cheers is going to take this whole thing down, right?
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It should, but I’m not detecting that it has quite that much strength in the voting.
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Agree, there’s definitely an anti-soft rock movement afoot. And I can’t entirely disagree, but for me Cheers stands out from the rest. Winner could easily end up being something like Bonanza, Hawaii 5-0, or Peter Gunn.
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Yeah, Cheers is up against Peter Gunn next, which is a very difficult second-round draw. If it can survive that then things will look a little rosier. But it’s vulnerable pretty much right away. It’s going to be stupid when it loses, but I’m prepared for the likelihood.
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I think Cheers is the favorite, but I wouldn’t come to close to betting it against the field. Cheers wouldn’t make my top 10 (top 20 probably), but no denying its iconic value, and how hard it hits the forum demographic
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I did a little research and the version I updated in the spreadsheet has 1.1 million views. As far as I know, that would have been enough to make it into the competition. Can you make an exception for the link in future rounds? The 1.6 million view version here is really bad and will actively harm it from winning the competition. This theme song is the GOAT in my opinion and it’s a shame a terrible sped and pitched up version is being used as the competition theme. A regular, ‘The Chipmunks Do the Jeffersons’ feel to it. Again, this is the version I want to use instead and it has 1.1 million views, which is nothing to sneeze at:
I’ll go with whatever you decide.
This week began to get away from me but I wanted to give my justifications for the previous Round 1 Block 4, even though that’s already closed:
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The A-Team is a solid iconic theme from TV theme song overlord Mike Post. It’s ‘in-between’ Mike Post. He hadn’t fallen into his cheesy phase yet, but you can feel it working its way in. His high horns are too high pitched, but he has a lot of good bass elements in the song and the low horns are good. There are many variations that are played inside the song, showing a bit of range. Still, the first part is the icon everyone knows and was used for the main theme. As I said, solid and iconic, but it’s not enough. That late season version of the Dallas theme is a certified banger, and it’s a shame it got crushed in the competition. The early season themes of that are weak but this is filled out and gives you all the pompous attitude you need to get into the show. It is what a theme song is supposed to do and it isn’t one I couldn’t wait to get over with before the DVR era. The original version of that theme is a solid C. The one here is A+ and that’s why I give it to Dallas.
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I’ve already stated my disdain for the elevator music extravaganza Welcome Back, Kotter theme. It had no chance here vs. the happy go lucky Andy Griffith theme song, one of the simplest and best in TV history.
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Everyone now knows my GOAT is The Jeffersons theme. The Flintstones theme had no chance here and there are issues inside 1960s mixing that change that theme from being spectacular to just okay. The song is very well arranged but the vocals are murdering the excellent track underneath. Blend the vocals instead of sitting them on top, and this song would be way more memorable. I love the double bass in the track. It helps it move. Now to the GOAT, The Jeffersons. No song in TV history has ever told its story better and more economically, with a better track, and with a better vocal performance. Ja’net DuBois will forever be remembered for this song despite having a serviceable acting career as well. It is the GOAT…the GOAT.
To you above I smh. Please fix this in the next round.
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I did not dig The Sopranos theme at all. I remember not liking it when it was on TV and that remained the same. The S.W.A.T. theme is cool and moving taking you right into what I’m hoping was an exciting show. This was an easy choice for S.W.A.T. for me.
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Hawaii Five-O is an iconic TV show theme. Even the updated version of the show’s theme song is great. It is Hawaii and it is a cop show, it is great! Sesame Street’s theme song is great for what it is but this wasn’t really a competition for me. I’ll always go cool over any form of cheese and it’s a shame Hawaii Five-O was taken down by Sesame Street.
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The Brady Bunch theme, as seen here, is polarizing. I hated the 70s look and clothes growing up and hated that dam theme song too. I did not watch The Brady Bunch for all of these factors even though it’s one of my wife’s favorite TV shows. I’ve seen parts of numerous episodes with her since being married and it’s not a bad show, it just should feel bad for all the style cues it had from the clothes, hairstyles, and that dam theme song. I was surprised by the Airwolf theme. I remember the theme and show, though I did not watch it and never would have (maybe Friday nights on CBS?). The synth track is surprisingly layered and cool for its era. There’s no major separation from it and the Knight Rider theme in quality, though I think the synth choices are better in this one. If you like that one you should like this one.
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The Benny Hill Show and The Partridge Family is a competition between two earworms. I like the Yakety Sax, though this version is a very poor version of it (drum arrangement is bad and not sitting in the mix right). I watched The Benny Hill Show growing up all the time so I’m intimately familiar with how they used the theme. The Partridge Family was essentially The Brady Bunch dialed up times 12 on cheese. The theme song isn’t the cheesiest thing ever and it has some really nice elements but every time that song came on growing up, I changed the channel. I never would have watched an episode of the show and never will now. I went with the theme from The Partridge Family, largely because it’s just ‘more’. It’s one of those I’ve reevaluated like the One Day at a Time theme that I can appreciate for its construction even if I don’t overall like the song. Solely because of that, it beats Yakety Sax for me, which wasn’t really constructed as an original theme song.
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I’d forgotten what the Full House theme song was and was impressed. That’s not a typically overly gross cheesy ABC theme. There’s meat in the song and it tells its story well. It still has cheesy elements but doesn’t overwhelm the song. This is quite good for what it’s trying to do and I think it will make a deep run. The version used here of Facts of Life is one of the weakest versions of the theme song, which does a decent job of telling the story of the show and is an ok song. It just gets steamrolled by the Full House theme. I didn’t realize how much of a beat down this would be but it is in song construction.
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Round 1 Block 5 justifications:
- Wow, that Little Einsteins theme is annoying. The way the characters sing it is irritating. I’m guessing that’s what the characters sound like in the show and why they’re doing it that way. The Get Smart theme is an elite parody of spy music and anyone who doesn’t get that needs to re-listen to it from that perspective. It manages to still sound like a cool song but there is something in it that is intentionally playing something ‘bad’. The guitar. That guitar is playing that way as a joke. It’s way too out front and is hilariously cheesy intentionally. The mix in future seasons makes this really obvious, though it is almost mixed ‘too’ well here. There are also near squeaks in the horns that let you know you shouldn’t take this show too seriously. You know you’re not in for something serious even though the main title makes it look serious. The end title shows that it’s not and here are both the opening and closing credits:
I’ve told my Don Adams story on the site a few times, but man he was an icon for me growing up. When I met him, it was probably the most disappointing celebrity meet I’ve ever had. I was star struck. I went up to him and said, ‘Hi I’m so and so’ and he says, ‘Hi’ and shakes my hand, like he didn’t want to talk to me. And it was all downhill from there. Even as much as Don Adams ultimately pollutes the Get Smart theme, this was a slam dunk between the two.
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I’ve never heard the Goof Troop theme song before and I wish to never hear it again. That song probably influenced a generation of white pop rappers and is embarrassing in the odd amount of appropriation it does. The Muppet Babies is a tight song that tells what it is economically. This is an easy win for it with me.
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Fraggle Rock again tells its story well in its dated style, but it is going up against the second greatest TV law procedural in Matlock. Just like the theme, it’s only a bit behind Perry Mason. Dixieland jazz brings you into the show even though you don’t know Matlock has a closet full of the one suit he wears in court. This is an easy win for Matlock. If you’ve never watched the show, give it a shot, it’s worth your time, especially as background watching.
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Knight Rider vs. The Streets of San Francisco was the toughest one for me. Growing up, I thought the Knight Rider theme was cheesy and it was. The clipped nature of every synth and drum makes it sound funny. It’s still likable as a theme and I found a non-clipped version of it on YouTube that’s extended that you can see here. It’s a good theme, solid, ‘futuristic’ and appropriate for the show. The problem is that it’s up against The Streets of San Francisco. I feel like some people are letting their music tastes rule their choices. This is an excellent song, constructed extremely well and sits really well in its era. I had to go with it over Knight Rider, even though this was very close for me. Here’s the extended version of the Knight Rider theme for those into that:
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For The Addams Family vs. Mad Men this isn’t a competition. The Addams Family theme is one of the most iconic and memorable TV theme songs of all time. The combination of its words and snaps with the visuals of the family is A+. The Addams Family was an expensive version of The Munsters (regular people doing macabre things), while The Munsters was an A+ knock-off of Leave It to Beaver with monsters. There’s zero to criticize about the theme of The Addams Family and it wins hands down over Mad Men without even listening to it. I had never heard the Mad Men theme before and what a disaster that is. It does nothing, it’s era inappropriate, and doesn’t even seem remotely related to the show. That’s a bad theme song. How is it in this competition when so many other great songs were left out?
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Buffy the Vampire Slayer managed to make me pick one of my most hated theme songs in TV history, Family Ties. The Buffy song is straight annoying and a waste of two script pages. Joss Whedon famously turned out to be a bad guy in Hollywood, so it’s appropriate that his song makes me never want to think of him again. The song for Family Ties is elevator R&B cheese and inexorable from the show. It’s right in the Cheers pantheon of elevator cheese theme songs, but Buffy made me pick it. I hope I never have to pick it again.
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Bonanza vs. Raised by Wolves presented two repetitive songs. Bonanza is a solid western theme song. It’s memorable and not boring. That’s about all it has going for it. Raised by Wolves is repetitive and boring. That’s about all it has going for it other than some cool instrumentation occasionally. I chose Bonanza because it does its job. I don’t know what job Raised by Wolves is doing.
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Chip 'N Dale vs. Tales from the Crypt was a bit of a challenge. Tales from the Crypt just is more to me, even with the chessy aspects of the song taking over the cool aspects. Chip 'N Dale is cheesy but it tells a story. The story it told is ‘Tales from the Crypt is gonna beat you in nunnehi’s eyes’.
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A bunch of the instrumental themes to cop/military shows do absolutely nothing for me.
SWAT, Miami Vice, A Team, Knight Rider, Streets of SF
All those get rolled by the geezer lawyer show imo.
Cheers is probably the best of cheesy feel good 80s sitcom but there’s a low ceiling. If nothing else, Sheriff John Brown coming for that ass. No way Cheers ships.
What’s Sheriff John Brown?
I still say the coolest open/theme is from Emergency! I can’t find an example of it on YouTube but will continue looking. In some season they began wrapping the credits into the cold opens. They had this very intense vamp bass that would play while the paramedics worked on a victim. A character would show up on screen and they’d freeze it with their credit. Then, they’d do more scene, it would cut back to the hospital and a doctor would get another credit with a freeze frame, while telling the paramedics what to do. This would go on for about a minute and was by far one of the best credit and exposition cold open styles I’ve ever seen on television. When they were ready to transport, it would cut to the main title theme song.
Every TV show that uses music to drive the cold open into the main title probably had this show as an influence knowingly or unknowingly. Tying the music of cold opens into the main title music, if you’re doing a full main title is the only thing that should ever be done. It’s always something I’m paying attention for and The Walking Dead was one that always did as an obvious example.
He comes for boys who do bad things despite having gone to school and learning the golden rule.
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What show lol
Cops
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I think I have to stick with the one on the spreadsheet as the entry, but you’re welcome to encourage people to judge based on this one whenever it’s in a block.
Sounds good
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Whoa
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Damn this really is true, isn’t it?
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