I talked about Tom Hanks the other day, and I neglected to mention that the theme I posted to his TV show “Bosom Buddies” changed from the Billy Joel tune to another due to rights issues. It’s not uncommon on TV shows to dump a theme song between seasons. As I’ve noted Sometimes it will take a TV show time to find it’s voice, so to speak. It can go through changes in cast and even premise before finally hitting that magic formula. And at times, this can even include the theme song!
Now it’s true that some shows intentionally change up their theme song every year. The Cosby Show, for instance, gave us new titles and music almost every season. Boy Meets World’s theme evolved with the show of course. And Sabrina also updated the visuals and music every year. Sometimes it’s just to update things, like Gilligan’s Island adding “The Professor and Mary Anne” to the song or the briefer but still awesome version of the Full House theme we got in that show’s last year.
But sometimes a theme will just be, wrong. So wrong that it is quickly tossed aside and forgotten. Here are ten examples of what I mean. One rule these are themes that aired for a few episode at least, and weren’t just part of a pilot presentation that never aired on TV. Since those are usually thrown together and often tossed fast. “The Nanny” is a great example of this and if I had found a decent clip I’d have posted it.
Oh and as usual this just opinion, if you loved these theme songs then more power to you.
I Dream of Jeannie
Not gonna lie, until this moment I never knew there was any other version than the classic. Weird. And it’s bad, like a rejected version of the Dick Van Dyke Show theme.
The Flintstones
This seems incomprehensible! How many of us know the theme song by hear? Heck I wasn’t even a fan of the show and I know it! But nope, this is what we got at first and man is t bad. Ok “Rise and Shine” inst a bad melody, I’m just saying it doesn’t fit the show at all and it’s no wonder they changed it.
Happy Days
Don’t get me wrong Bill Haley & The Comets’ “Rock Around the Clock” is a classic. But as the theme to The Happy Days? No. I guess it did fit the mood of the first two seasons since the show was drenched in the 50;s then and felt different being single camera rather than the way they shot it later. Still..no.
The Brady Bunch
Yeah ok I’ve gone over this before. But man that Peppermint Trolley version was bad. So bad that they tossed it out and had the kids sing the theme from season two on. This isn’t unusual for a theme song to be re-recorded with an improved sound. But this version is soooo boring.
The Facts of Life
I am adding this as a tribute to the great Charlotte Rae who passed away recently. She WAS The Facts of Life and was awesome on Different Strokes too. The theme here, is not very good. Not because of her singing, it’s just a bad arrangement and I am glad they re-recorded it. Of course as Ive discussed it wasn’t just the theme that go retooled after Season one, but that’s a different topic.
Gimme A Break
While Charlotte Rea’s version of her theme is passable, good lord is Nell Carter’s first version of Gimme A Break bad. Again, not her fault Carter was a classically trained singer. The problem wasn’t the way its sung, the song sucked and would get an upgrade to a much more fitting melody. And that opening riff is awful it makes you want to turn the channel!
Family Matters
I wish I knew what happened here. Was the regular theme not ready so that used this? I mean, at with Happy Days and Flintstones the songs were bouncy and fun. This? Why would you use “What a Wonderful World”? A song used in Good Morning Vietnam!!! Yeah this did not last! And yes the show’s opening did air like this I still remember how hard my jaw hit the floor when I heard it.
Growing Pains
Here is an interesting example. What if the song is ok but the visuals are not? The song never changed for this series, a song I loved, but teh visuals did. What was up with the stupid visuals in season one? I mean did they have any point?
King of Queens
I get the feeling that they just didn’t know what to do with this show. I think we all know the opening the series had for most of its tun. A decent song and visuals, fits the show well. Not quite what we got in season one. Instead we got an opening that was just, lazy.
The Drew Carey Show
This ridiculous theme was changed? You don’t say. Yeah I was not a huge fan of this show but even I know “Cleveland Rocks” is a million times better. If you liked it, cool, but I think it’s as stupid as the show was. Like I said with "The Flintsones" and "Happy Days", Moon over Parma is a fine song. But what is it doing here???????
In all these examples the change was a vast improvement over what had been before. In fact the replacement became so popular we forgot the original even existed!! Sometimes however a change is bad. So bad, that it gets changed back! Here’s a clip from Seinfeld’s season three premiere where an experiment was tried. It failed HARD. Adding sound effects to the theme music. It hurts to listen!
But give them credit for realizing the mistake and fixing it. Still this opening exists to this day as a, curiosity.
There are plenty more out there, from drama’s too, so feel free to comment and let me know which one’s I missed.
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