“The Medal of Honor pleased and thrilled his proud little family group
While pinning it on some blood was spilled, and so it was planned he command
F-Troop!
Where Indian fights are colorful sights and nobody takes a lik’n
Where paleface and redskin both turn chicken.”
Steve
Wonderful silliness; one of my favorites!
JimA
Not a series theme, but a piece written by Jay Chattaway for one episode of Star Trek TNG. IMHO, the best ep ever of any ST series. It’s almost comical watching the opening credits of the ep, because there are so many Producers, Assistant Producers, Associate Producers. Seems like everyone wanted their name on that ep. The flute showed up, from time to time, for the rest of the run of TNG, and in one of the TNG movies. It sold at auction a few years ago, for a pretty fancy price.
This clip is from the end of the ep. Frakes does the best thing he did in all of TNG, get out of the scene, and Picard starts playing around the 1:40 mark.
Orchestra treatment of the same piece. Gets a little overblown in the middle, but it’s OK.
I wasn’t going to post - but two dozen comments in, and no love for the Hill Street Blues theme?
Technically questionable as a “series”, though the movie was shown over two evenings. Elmer Bernstein brought his western movie chops in the theme, which really kicks off at about the 3:45 mark. (this is another one where I tend to back up the DVD and listen to the music a second time)
Yes, I liked “Hill St” too. So much good music. So little time.
Steve
@VeeEnn wrote: “Can anyone recall the first TV series they watched regularly as a child.”
The earliest TV series that I recall were:
The Modern Farmer, information broadcast from the University of Ohio, which I found fascinating as a Brooklyn kid. We called it “The Farm Program.” Memory Lane: ‘Modern Farmer’ – Lee Duigon
Mighty Mouse. The Many Adventures of Mighty Mouse |
My older brother, Jeff (@OrmontUS), and I used to watch these shows early in the morning while our parents were still asleep. B&W TV of course. This would have been in 1956 or 1957.
Wendy
The Howdy Doody Show.
DB2
Here’s another one I always liked. The show sort of disappeared for years until the age of digital sub-channels and niche genre broadcasting (narrowcasting). The High Chaparral.
Get Smart. Great show, too.
@WendyBG …as I mentioned, we didn’t get a TV until 1960 and back b then, we didn’t have all day TV so for hours at a time there was, quite literally, nothing to watch apart from “the test card” which the tv repair guy could use to adjust the “horiz hold” etc (whatever things like that were) or a never ending loop of the potters wheel during the “interlude”. Even when my daughter was quite little, there was pretty limited TV viewing during the day, especiallyearlymornings. Strange to think of now
@VeeEnn the test signal was part of the introduction for the 1963 science fiction series, “The Outer Limits.” The announcer said, “We will control the horizontal. We will control the vertical.” Watch at least the first 5 minutes of this video.
“The Outer Limits” was the first TV science fiction series that I’m aware of. Long before “Twilight Zone.” My Dad used to listen to Buck Rogers on the radio as a kid and was very into science fiction, subscribing to “Analog” magazine.
Wendy
Another one I watched in the 60s. Some years ago, the pilot ran as a movie. I watched the opening and said “what is he doing married to a blonde? he was married to Linda Cristal” Over the course of the movie, the blonde was killed, thus clearing the way for him to marry the girl from the hacienda next door. Sticks in my mind that was one of the first TV shows that showed Hispanics being every bit the equal of white people in sophistication and wealth. Native Americans were still depicted as savages, who attacked the ranch often, so it wasn’t totally “woke”.
Westerns were all over TV in the 60s. But they were expensive. All the wardrobe and props had to be custom made. Lots of livestock. Lots of outdoor shoots. For a sitcom like “Barney Miller”, all they need is a couple sets in a studio, a small cast, and the props and wardrobe could be bought at K-Mart.
In the early 90s, when Bruce Campbell starred in “The Adventures Of Brisco County Jr”, they had a heck of a time pulling everything together. All the stunt men who knew how to ride and handle a gun were on the brink of retirement. The “Larame St” backlot set was being torn down as they used it. Suburbs had grown up around the ranches that had been way out in the country in the 60s, so they had to pay the residents of the houses to be quiet while they were shooting.
I rather liked the music on “High Chaparral” too.
One of the TV networks pinched the music from “…Brisco County” for their Olympic coverage.
“Pete Hutter” was one of the recurring characters on “Brisco County”. They kept killing him off, but what the actor did with the character was so weird they kept bringing him back.
The Modern Farmer (along with some cartoon shows) in the early AM were probably the earliest though Pinky Lee and the Mickey Mouse Club were in the PM. Somewhere in the early mix were Amos and Andy, Rin Tin Tin and Sargent Prestone of the Canadian Mounted Police.
Jeff
As a young lad, I cut my teeth on 70’s TV cop show theme songs. The Hill Street Blues theme was written by Mike Post who wrote a ton of cop show theme songs i.e. Rockford Files, Magnum P.I. Law and Order, etc.
However my favorites were not typically Mike Post compositions, although I really liked them. I liked themes like Mod Squad (early influence), Baretta, Starsky & Hutch (theme varied over the seasons, some are better than others) and especially Streets of San Fransisco.
I thought the SSF theme was incredibly hip, and still do. It has the super-hip drum beat, the awesome clavenet, and of course, the insane wah-wah guitar by the great Larry Carlton and then cultimates with the unhinged sax solo. I don’t think the suits at the studio were paying attention when they cut that one.
I learned to play guitar and played in a bunch of bands, and still do occasionally. My thing has always been insane wah-wah parts. Which admittedly are usually best in small doses. But it all comes back to my roots of 70s TV cop show themes.
What is your favorite TV theme song?
Not my favorite, but indelible in my memory since I first heard it on January 12, 197i.
Edith and Archie Bunker duet
“Those Were the Days”
The next day at work and thereafter every show, people reacted, did you watch, did you hear, did you laugh, did you find outrageous and so on. One of the best TV sitcoms ever.
Regards,
Ray
I was shuffled off to bed at 7 or 8pm in 59 or 60, so no prime time viewing. Saturday morning was mostly cartoons, but I know I watched Rin Tin Tin, Sergent Preston, Roy Rogers, The Lone Ranger and Sky King. I distinctly remember Sky King, because it came on at noon. The TV station announced the time, with a chime. I heard “it’s high noon…bong”, then Sky King would start.
I must have watched Captain Kangaroo and Romper Room in the days before school. I remember watching Shari Lewis and Lambchop. Wiki says that show started in the fall of 60.
Rocky and Bullwinkle was my first TV memory in 1966 Cherryhill NJ with my mom and sister. Zenith TV set.
Then came The Monkeys not shortly after in 1968. Along with Batman and Robin. Then Gilligan’s Island.
Also the Met’s winning the World Series. Dad wanted me to see that. Those games were still day time games.
