WONDER WOMAN - Charles Fox/Norman Gimbel lyrics (see also Fox's THE LOVE BOAT) DALLAS - John Parker THE INCREDIBLE HULK - Joe Harnell ORPHAN BLACK - Two Fingers KNIGHT RIDER - Stu Phillips THE JETSONS - Hoyt Curtain (see also Elfman's THE SIMPSONS) "Angela" (Theme From TAXI) - Bob James THE GREATEST AMERICAN HERO - Mike Post/Stephen Geyer THE WALKING DEAD - Bear McCreary THE X-FILES - Mark Snow
Honorable mentions: PETER GUNN - Henry Mancini (see also Lalo Schifrin's MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE) STAR TREK - Alexander Courage TWIN PEAKS - Angelo Badalamenti WKRP IN CINCINNATI - Tom Wells/Hugh Wilson lyrics (see also David Shire's "There's a New Girl in Town" from ALICE) MORK & MINDY - Perry Botkin (see also Botkin's HAPPY DAYS and LAVERNE & SHIRLEY) THE BOB NEWHART SHOW - Lorenzo Music (yes, the original voice of Garfield) "Come and Knock on my Door" (Theme from THREE'S COMPANY) - Joe Raposo (also lyrics) BATTLESTAR GALACTICA - Stu Phillips DEXTER - Rolfe Kent DRAGNET - Walter Schumann (see also Irving Szathmary's GET SMART) And not sure if counts as a main theme, but Vince Guaraldi's indelible "Linus & Lucy" from the Charlie Brown animated features.
Doubly honorable mentions for themes for TV broadcasters:
HBO Feature Presentation - Ferdinand J. Smith
CBS Special Presentation
The latter fascinatingly created from bits of Morton Stevens's soundtrack to the original "Hawaii Five-O" series:
And, of course, "The Mission" (Theme for NBC News) - John Williams
So many good ones to be sure, but I'll give my top ten "a go:"
HOLOCAUST (Morton Gould) THE MOD SQUAD (Earle Hagen) THE MAGICIAN (Pat Williams) LANCER (Jerome Moross) GET SMART (Irving Szathmary) HAWAII FIVE-O (Mort Stevens) TIME TUNNEL (John Williams) GREEN ACRES (Words and Music by Vic Mizzy) THAT GIRL (S1 and S2-4 arrangements, Earle Hagen) MANNIX (Lalo Schifrin)
Ah, how our respective generations shine through! (Mine included)
In no particular order:
DR. KILDARE (J. Goldsmith) NBC MYSTERY MOVIE (H. Mancini) THE DEFENDERS (L. Rosenman) THE VIRGINIAN (P. Faith) VICTORY AT SEA (R. Rodgers) THE WEST WING (S. Walden) WILD WILD WEST (R. Markowitz) KUNG FU (J. Helms) PERRY MASON (F. Steiner) HOLLYWOOD AND THE STARS (E. Bernstein)
Forgot a biggie: MANNIX (L. Schifrin) (Glad Broughtfan caught that one!)
1 - Rat Patrol - best ever by far 2. - Peter Gunn - coolest ever by far 3. - Battlestar Galactica - Stu Philips 4. - The Waltons - love Goldsmiths music 5. - Amazing Stories - Williams 6 - Mission: Impossible - how could this not be in anyone's top 10? 7. - Lost In Space - Williams main title with the countdown 8. - Falcon Crest - best of the night time soaps 9. - Hawaii Five - O 10. - Star Trek Voyager
TominAtl wrote: 6 - Mission: Impossible - how could this not be in anyone's top 10?
right!? that's the reason i did a follow up top 10. the initial 10 were things that left longstanding visceral/psychic impressions on me when watching the show (at age 3 or 4 i was literally dancing around the living room when DALLAS came on).
unfortunately M:I was about 10 years ahead of my birth/aural cognition. which kinda sucks now that i've heard some of those scores — all horn blasts and chugging strings and sneaky jazz percussion and the occasional creepy synthesizer and/or anachronistic electric guitar riff. a few of my favorite things. the M:I theme wouldn't really come into my life until i was in jazz and marching band in the early 90s, and of course the mid-90s with the launch of the film franchise.
National Geographic Van Der Valk Lost in Space (2nd version) Mission Impossible Rockford Files Peter Gunn Batman Superchicken Barnaby Jones The Pacific
12 O'Clock High (Frontiere) The Big Valley (Duning) The Fugitive (Rugolo) Lost in Space (Williams) Hollywood and the Stars (Bernstein) Combat! (Rosenman) Hallmark Hall of Fame (?) Top Cat (Curtin) Ellery Queen (Bernstein) Dr Kildare (Goldsmith)
