Regular readers here know that I spotlight on one Saturday a month a classic TV theme song from the past. The operative word here is "past." In the last fifteen years, those wonderful opening credits plus music have all but disappeared. With increased network commercial loads, program content has been reduced significantly.
For instance, back in the day, a "Murphy Brown" episode was 24 minutes long without commercials. When the show was rebooted in 2018, it was tougher for the writers to tell a story because they only had 21 minutes to do so. So, no more opening credits set against a Motown song. All shows in 2022 now deal with the same restraints.
So, the main casualties to all this are those great opening credits and theme songs of the past. Some of them ran over a minute. In certain cases for me, it was the very best part of the show. In some cases, I would tune in for the opening and not even watch the program. That would be the case with one of my favorite openings..."Mannix."
Ah, yes.
Another one of my favorites set up the premise of the series perfectly. As demonstrated with the first season opening of "Mary Tyler Moore."
It's interesting that, once the show became a hit, the lyric "how will you make it on your own" was changed to "you just might make it on your own."
Also marvelous around the same time was the way "The Odd Couple" was set up every week. Granted it's the same theme music that came from the movie. But, still, you enjoyed hearing about Felix' break-up every Friday night.
Moving to the 80s, I joyously awaited the opening moments of my favorite prime time soaps from Lorimar. Was there anything more bold and lush than "Dallas?"
As much as I loved the opening to Southfork, no other TV show made me feel more welcome than the sliding panels of the fabulous "Knots Landing." You waited for every season to see who got elevated to star status and was no longer listed in the guest credits.
So what got me to thinking about these theme song openings? Well, I have recently taken to binging on Hulu the 90s drama "Picket Fences." I am revisiting and enjoying it for the first time since its original airing. And the terrific piano opening might be one of the last great TV theme songs.
Truly, "Picket Fences" might be one of the last great TV openings. "The Sopranos" might win the designation of the very last of the remarkable TV series openings every week.
Those are just a few of mine. You probably have several of your own.
But I offer this one addendum. When we were putting together episodes of our new web series sitcom, one of the things we insisted on.
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