Jump to content

Best ever TV Theme Toons


saint_bert

Recommended Posts

Ski Sunday.

Hill Street Blues

M.A.S.H

Tales of the Unexpected

Moonlighting

 

I also used to like the tune to a tv series about a cruise ship, something along the lines of the Odean Line, I think it used to be on Sunday evenings.

 

Triangle

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Magical wasn't it..? I love that smaltsy 1960's theme. Just right for the programme. ;)

 

1960's ITV special agent dramas used to have some exciting theme tunes too, that really got you in the mood to watch, like:

 

Man In A Suitcase

The Baron

Department S

The Prisoner

Randall & Hopkirk [Deceased]

Danger Man

The Champions

The Saint [Roger Moore, no the Ian Ogilvy era]

 

Loads more too. Often the themes were a lot better than the shows themselves. They're all on Youtube.

 

EDIT: Here's a sample: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8QFd185Dbo

 

Man In A Suitcase.I'd stat up to watch it just for the theme tune as a kid.Hearing it on Chris Evans now I often resent the ginger tosser for 'borrowing' it.

 

Agree with that about the 1960's, there was something spectacular about the creations at the time, however limited or sometimes feeble they look now.

 

Westerns also : Bonanza,The Big Valley etc.

 

Thunderbirds.As laughable as it may now seem! Gerry Anderson refused to compromise with Lew Grade and demanded a 72 piece orchestra for the theme tune.Unheard of at the time for television production,let alone a children's programme.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

my friend and colleague at work (same person) admitted to me he used to cry when this came on the telly, he thought it was sad

 

i laughed and poked fun of him

 

It always brought a little tear to my eye too......along with 'Maybe'- the theme from The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeFZF502hF4

 

what about champion the wonder horse?

MY GOD!!! thats a flashback to my childhood !!!!(repeats,obviously!) i LOVE that song yeehar!!!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This always did the business for me way back in the 70's :

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8RfzkhqBLY&feature=related

 

Gerry Anderson is a God among men FACT . :D

 

For sheer impact,this is in my view remained the best opening of any of his productions :

 

 

"anything can happen in the next half hour" was enough to keep me hooked in the 1960's.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For sheer impact,this is in my view remained the best opening of any of his productions :

 

 

"anything can happen in the next half hour" was enough to keep me hooked in the 1960's.

 

I know exactly what you mean , I was torn between UFO and Stingray for the best Anderson title sequence , you could also add 'Thunderbirds' / 'Space 1999' / the surprisingly brutal 'Captain Scarlet' to the list as well . A magnificent body of work if I may say so , happy days .

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ski Sunday.

Hill Street Blues

M.A.S.H

Tales of the Unexpected

Moonlighting

 

I also used to like the tune to a tv series about a cruise ship, something along the lines of the Odean Line, I think it used to be on Sunday evenings.

 

Barney, I would have expected you, of all people, to come up with one of TV's all time classics... "The Flintstones"

 

;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Both good choices, but I'd also go along with...

 

Banana Splits

Flashing Blade

Robinson Crusoe.........there's loads of good theme tunes form the 60's & 70's tbh :smt045

 

i couldnt remember what flashing blades was called,all i could think of was blazing saddles.Robinson Crusoe classic tune.Why were all these programmes so badly dubbed into english?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Barney, I would have expected you, of all people, to come up with one of TV's all time classics... "The Flintstones"

 

;)

Also by Hoyt Curtin. Apart from having one of the coolest names on the planet he had one of the best jobs a musician could want: MD at Hanna Barbera. The only other that would come close would be the music director for Sesame Street.

 

oh and anyone remember Bonanza? Tenor guitar and Hoss's hat.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For us 40+s how about this one the Double Deckers! :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4C6Pe86YE4

 

I remember the first episode of The Double Deckers. Even as a kid I loathed it immediately, because it was British kids, on a mid-atlantic style show, trying to impress in an American way. It even had a US filmic feel about it. Awful, yuck... I almost wish I hadn't seen that bloody clip.

 

Back then I'd happily sit through hours of genuine US programmes, or genuine British programmes, but something that was clearly trying to be what it was not, just made me want to spew.

 

Probably the worst kids programme of all time. Notably, it didn't last, despite all its manufactured hip jollity.

 

I'd rather have watched The Magic Roundabout. Now that was class, in comparison:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

.

 

oh and anyone remember Bonanza? Tenor guitar and Hoss's hat.

 

Yes,I've mentioned it above.

 

The fire burning through the map image at the start was always a dramatic opening,or so it seemed to me as a schoolboy in the 60's,no matter how often I'd seen it before.

 

 

I must have been a bit of a latecomer to Bonanza though,as I don't remember too much of 'Adam' in it.'Hoss' & 'Little Joe' however were my early childhood heroes - along with Scott & Virgil Tracey- before they were superceded by Paine,Channon & Big Ron.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I make no claim that this was the best TV theme tune , but it's surely a good bet for the oddest :

 

 

A strange unsettling series for 1970's children's TV that has never quite left me , compared to the banal rubbish we serve up to kids these days it's a prime example of what can be achieved with a modicum of care and attention .

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I make no claim that this was the best TV theme tune , but it's surely a good bet for the oddest :

 

 

A strange unsettling series for 1970's children's TV that has never quite left me , compared to the banal rubbish we serve up to kids these days it's a prime example of what can be achieved with a modicum of care and attention .

 

Wow, I remember that. Very scary for a kids TV programme. Reminded me of the Tomorrow People also.

 

Cheers Charlie.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I make no claim that this was the best TV theme tune , but it's surely a good bet for the oddest :

 

 

A strange unsettling series for 1970's children's TV that has never quite left me , compared to the banal rubbish we serve up to kids these days it's a prime example of what can be achieved with a modicum of care and attention .

 

Excellent..! Bloody good cast of actors and set in Avebury too.

 

Had to chuckle at the end though. The person who went to all the bother of ripping the clip, and making the red titles, then suggested that if we wanted to see anymore we should buT the DVD. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I make no claim that this was the best TV theme tune , but it's surely a good bet for the oddest :

 

 

A strange unsettling series for 1970's children's TV that has never quite left me , compared to the banal rubbish we serve up to kids these days it's a prime example of what can be achieved with a modicum of care and attention .

 

i liked the HTV idents (or whatever they are called) at the beginning!

 

am now in a wistful world of trying to recall some others.... LWT, Southern, Anglian (from Norwich, its the quiz of the Week)....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

i liked the HTV idents (or whatever they are called) at the beginning!

 

am now in a wistful world of trying to recall some others.... LWT, Southern, Anglian (from Norwich, its the quiz of the Week)....

 

Can be seen again on the Freewheelers link posted above.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...