Favorite TV show theme song/montage?

[davy]

I got a pretty fuckin' soft spot for Fraggle Rock. The song is catchy as hell and the visuals do a good job of laying the foundation and getting you PUMPED UP.

http://youtu.be/BMu7WvM_zik

And as long as I'm looking back that far, Heathcliff (http://youtu.be/cxI5fSp1cco), Gummi Bears (http://youtu.be/g2z8V2yL5P0), and especially Thundercats (http://youtu.be/CjaTkPYzK00).

Apologies in advance if this causes an 80s cartoon derail.

[Greg Nog]

Huh.  Linked on the youtube sidebar from the Fraggle theme was the theme for Darkwing Duck.  I used to love that show, but it still kind of amazes me that someone basically pitched "Okay... think DuckTales... meets The SHADOW" and it got greenlit.

[davy]

Yeah! I watched that shit daily. It came on right after Tailspin, I think.

That's a lot of crazy ass ducks.

[RoyBiggins]

Fuck anybody who doesn't love the inexplicable splendor and weird dated wardrobe of Cosby Show S5 open.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbVVsP0uins

[Greg Nog]

Yeah! I watched that shit daily.

Somewhere in my parents house is a sketchbook of most of the recurring characters on that show, which I would draw from the TV by recording an episode, pausing the videotape, and trying to draw as much of the pose as I could before the auto-unpause feature kicked in after five minutes.

[Little Sixes Little Nines]

Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, obviously.

Also, Huff.

[monkeypants]

Barney Miller and Night Court both get props for some pretty kickass bass lines.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ox-DmJ9H3ng

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjiWblC_iG8

[clare]

Dr Who (70s) and The Goodies.

[milly balgeary]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMqLks7qnew

Maybe the greatest

Edit -- also Carnivale is, in my opinion, the best unfinished TV show ever. It came too soon for you, Carnivale. But it's poetic, too, because there are no "middling" seasons. It's 2 seasons of CRAZY high concept magical realism happening in the depression in the dust bowl and involving carnies and a devil man preacher. Simply the greatest. Maybe. I don't know.

[Thermofusion]

Oh shit yeah, I always sat through the title sequence of that show, great stuff.

1st season Carnivale still the best thing HBO's ever done IMO

[milly balgeary]

Oh shit yeah, I always sat through the title sequence of that show, great stuff.

1st season Carnivale still the best thing HBO's ever done IMO

Yeah, man. I'll rep for both seasons. It's got no peers. I love the Wire and all that, but nothing touches Carnivale. It's why shit like TV has a reason for having been invented. It finally says to all who behold it, in a biblical, crushing empyrean voice, "Now You Have A Reason To Vacuum Your Mind Out With TV". Crushing genius.

[dieblucasdie]

Look, I'll rep for Carnivale (even the weird middle part of S2) with you guys against the haters: no one loves weird religious pyschosexual imagery more than ya boy.  But "better than The Wire" is crazy talk.

[milly balgeary]

Ha, OK maybe it isn't. But there seems to be an unhealthy fixation with police procedurals by many americans.

I have an unhealthy fixation with apocalypse.

You know?

Look, Law and Order is a bucket of tripe by any measuring stick but the measuring stick that likes police procedurals a lot and doesn't mind watching the same thing over and over and over and over and over again. If there was a Law and Order version of Carnivale, that was all syndicated and shit, I'd be like, "OH Yeaaahhhh"... so it comes down to unhealthy fixations, and in that sense, my adulation for Carnivale might be a bit over the top because of the apocalypse thing. I understand the weakness of my presentation and hope you understand that I seek to get by based on my enthusiasm and heartfelt love for all things to deal with carnivals and devil preachers and the unnatural.

So, yeah, The Wire is probably better and I love that shit, but since I don't masticate the beef basted head of  a police procedural, I generally put something more in the realm of my interests above it, and yes, I like midgets and magic a ton!

[dieblucasdie]

Pretty sure Buffy/Angel is the syndicated apocalypse procedural

[milly balgeary]

Speak not of Angel. That was during Whedon's cocaine-fueled muppet fucking period.

[Antero]

I have never seen "Carnivale" but now I think I must.

"Deadwood" had a fantastic opening theme/montage.

"Boardwalk Empire" probably is the most massive failure of a theme song compared to the show itself.  Good god.

[Nick Ink]

All of the above, plus:
Hill Street Blues
Fresh Prince Of Bel Air

And if we're going British:
The Professionals

[jebreject]

Fuck a Fresh Prince

[Antero]

What Jeb said.

[Ashley]

how is this not mentioned yet

its got a custom typeface and everything

[Thermofusion]

Ha, OK maybe it isn't. But there seems to be an unhealthy fixation with police procedurals by many americans.

I have an unhealthy fixation with apocalypse.

You know?

Look, Law and Order is a bucket of tripe by any measuring stick but the measuring stick that likes police procedurals a lot and doesn't mind watching the same thing over and over and over and over and over again. If there was a Law and Order version of Carnivale, that was all syndicated and shit, I'd be like, "OH Yeaaahhhh"... so it comes down to unhealthy fixations, and in that sense, my adulation for Carnivale might be a bit over the top because of the apocalypse thing. I understand the weakness of my presentation and hope you understand that I seek to get by based on my enthusiasm and heartfelt love for all things to deal with carnivals and devil preachers and the unnatural.

So, yeah, The Wire is probably better and I love that shit, but since I don't masticate the beef basted head of  a police procedural, I generally put something more in the realm of my interests above it, and yes, I like midgets and magic a ton!

I agree with all this. The Wire was a landmark achievement but Carnivale hits my receptors harder. Also I think Lost might be the Law & Order version of Carnivale, although that's probably kind of mean to L&O.

[milly balgeary]

Hah. Season 1 of Lost was great, wasn't it? It's hard to remember, under all the other seasons of bamboozlin'.

[milly balgeary]

This was really good too http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xM7xSSDd7TQ

[Ignatius]

I liked the X-Men animated series credits.

[Babar]

What Jeb said.

yeah fuck that privileged capitalist scum. Lets turn to cartoons a little, I propose the intro to Batman: The Animated Series which presents a simple story with good use of music that introduces the dark character of Batman. Then there's the hilarious intro to the cancelled Watchmen cartoon series.

x-post: Iggy beat me to the saturday cartoons. hey the gargoyles had an awesome intro right? I can't bother to link it though.