Here are a few more TV Themes Favorites that didn't make The Top 50 ...
But still earned over a hundred votes each ...
CSI (This one was an Extra in 2013)
As the votes came in for this one, I couldn’t help but wonder if folks were really voting for the theme of the tv series (a great choice, by the way, thanks to the medical DNA tie-in to the song's title, "Who Are You") or The Who song that has become a Classic Rock Staple for the past five decades!
Still, the minute that opening beat hit, it grabbed you immediately, and you knew exactly what show you were watching. (A revival is planned for next year starring most of the original cast members.)
Obviously it was popular with its fans … a very loyal audience … The series ran for fifteen seasons … and spawned several spin-offs.
(Trivia Question / aka Old Bad Joke:
With all the spin-off series that this show launched, why were plans for a CSI: Ozarks edition scrapped???
They couldn't come up with enough convincing storylines because everyone there has the same DNA.)
TAXI (this one was an “Extra” in 2013)
One of MY favorites, this smooth jazz piece by Bob James enjoyed minor chart success (#83 in 1979) under its REAL title “Angela.”
It hardly seemed a fitting theme for the stellar bunch of misfits who made up the cast … but, without question, Judd Hirsch, Danny DeVito, Tony Danza, Andy Kaufman, Christopher Lloyd, Jeff Conaway and Marilu Henner were all at the top of their game for this comedy classic.
What does a yellow light mean???
CHICO AND THE MAN (this one did not make the list last time in 2013)
The rise to super stardom by Freddie Prinze is just another in a long line of celebrity tragedies.
Although already a successful stand-up comedian, this show pushed him over the top ... and not in a good way.
(The show itself really wasn’t very good … but I sure did love that opening theme song, sung by Jose Feliciano.) THIS should have been a MUCH bigger hit than it was. (It only peaked at #96 on the pop charts!)
DALLAS (this one was also an “Extra” the last time in 2013)
The underhanded dealings of oilman J.R. Ewing delivered top ratings for fourteen seasons on CBS in the late ‘70’s and early ‘80’s.
J.R., “honest” brother Bobby and their parents, Jock and Ellie Ewing, built an oil empire in … well, you can probably guess the name of the city, even if you’ve never seen a single episode!
Their main foils may have been Digger and Cliff Barnes (spread out over decades), but there really wasn’t an oilman, banker, politician or woman that J.R. wasn’t above screwing over. (He even helped to cause a miscarriage for Bobby’s wife Pam so that he and HIS wife Sue Ellen could produce the first Ewing grandchild.)
When the diabolical scoundrel was shot in his own office late one night (the “Who Shot J.R.” episode scored the highest television ratings EVER up to that point), fans around the world where stunned and beside themselves, having to wait an entire summer to find out Whodunit. (It was Sue Ellen’s sister, Kristin, just one of J.R.’s many flings.) The show even made a television star out of Priscilla Presley, Elvis’ ex!
(And who can forget Pam Ewing’s year-long "dream" where her husband Bobby came back from the dead, showing up in their shower one morning??? And how about Donna Reed replacing Barbara Bel Geddes as Miss Ewing for a season?!?!? Man, fans loved this show SO much, they’d accept virtually ANY storyline!!!)
Once that theme song came thundering in every Friday night, you didn’t dare move from the front of your TV screen. The nighttime soap opera was born!
LEAVE IT TO BEAVER (this was an “Extra” in 2013)
Of all the family sitcoms of the ‘50’s and early ‘60’s, this one was one of my favorites. A lot of the storylines just seemed so "real life" that nearly everybody watching could relate at some level.
Jerry Mathers and Tony Down were perfectly cast as brothers Theodore (“Beaver”) and Wally Cleaver … and who can forget Wally’s best friend Eddie Haskell??? (To this day, Eddie's name is used as the adjective to describe any kid putting on such an obviously phony front to deceive!)
I've always thought that the theme song to this one is a beautiful melody in its own right. (And I just love this six season mash-up on YouTube!)
