For the past two weeks, we’ve counted down the bottom 20 of my 100 top TV themes of all time.  This week, we’re in the 70’s!

Anyhow, let’s take a look at the next group of ten.

#80 THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES

Airdates: 1962-1971 (CBS)

http://youtu.be/QtvTE3m5jpM

A poor, backwoods family finds oil and moves to Beverly Hills?  It happened in this sitcom that was on for so long; it started off in black and white and ended in full blown color.

I guess for the original opening, they weren’t able to take the cast for a real drive down Rodeo Drive, so they used some really bad rear projection.  You can see how the scene bumps up and down as the camera car hits a pot hole, but the cast shot stays steady.

However, when the show transitioned to color, they got it right and reshot part of the opening credits, including a real live shot driving down Rodeo Drive!  When the show becomes a hit – the budget increases!

Just about everybody who was born up until the early 1980’s knew this theme song by heart.  I think it was even played on the radio at one point.

The show was remade as a movie in the early 90’s with Jim Varney that was surprisingly pretty good.  Most TV shows remade into movies these days just don’t work.

#79 227

Airdates: 1985-1990 (NBC)

It was the apartment building where everybody knew your name and loved to hang out.  The show made Jackee Harry a TV icon with her Sandra character.  However, by the time season 4 started, tension between her and star Marla Gibbs grew to such a point on the set, that executives gave Harry her own spin-off.  Sadly, after the pilot aired the show was not picked up and Harry was off the air.

The show continued on, but Harry’s loss was a blow the series never recovered from.  For season 5, they brought in a whole new slew of characters, but they couldn’t save the falling ratings.  Producers brought Harry back for the last 7 episodes of the season, but it was too late and NBC canceled the show.

#78 AMEN

Airdates: 1986-1991 (NBC)

Another staple on NBC’s powerful Saturday night sit-com lineup, this usually aired at 8pm right before 227.  Remember when Saturday night actually had half descent original programming?

Set in a Philadelphia church, this sit-com dealt with the antics of the less than holy Deacon Frye.  The opening credits were recently parodied by Cleveland on Family Guy this season.  This show was absolutely hilarious and I love the old Pennsylvania license plate on his giant car!

And check out the bonus end credits that were attached to the video.  Did you happen to catch Cuba Gooding, Jr. as a guest star?  That had to be early in his career.

For the show’s entire run, these credits never changed, outside of the addition of new cast members names on screen.

#77 DOOGIE HOWSER, MD

Airdates: 1989-1993 (ABC)

A simple keyboard theme is all you needed for this one.

A super genius kid becomes a practicing doctor, before he’s even a teen!  That can really happen, right?  Not if the insurance companies have anything to say about it!  But, of course it can – thanks to the magic of television.

At the end of every episode, Doogie would turn on his computer, which at the time was really only a word processor (his life would have been so different had the internet existed then), and type about what he had learned that day.  It always had some witty line and always had a cut away of Doogie as he pondered what he had learned.  I wonder how many kids ended up doing journals thanks to this show?

This was another series where the credits changed very little over the years, just new shots of Neil Patrick Harris as he grew up.

#76 MR. BELVEDERE

Airdates: 1985-1990 (ABC)

I love the creative use of photographs, not only of Mr. Belvedere’s adventures, but also the multi shots of the cast.

Just by listening to the song, you know you’ve got a legendary butler that moves in with a family from Pittsburgh.  What more do you need?

Here’s a look at the opening credits from the first two seasons.  The slide show like opening from the pilot makes me sick.  Glad they only used it once!

#75 THE TONIGHT SHOW STARRING JOHNNY CARSON

Airdates: 1962-1992 (NBC)

While the current incarnation of the show is hosted by Jimmy Fallon, Carson has long been considered the king of late night.  Only David Letterman has recently passed this show on number of episodes and number of seasons.

Carson was not the first host of The Tonight Show.  That was actually Steve Allen and it went on the air way back in 1954.

When Carson first took over as host, the show aired from 11:15pm – 1:00am.  That’s 105 minutes!  As more local stations began broadcasting 11pm news, Carson’s opening monologue was going unseen by the vast majority of the US.  NBC then decided to move the show to 11:30 and trimming it to 90 minutes.  In the 70’s, Carson grew tired of the 90 minute format and again trimmed the show to an hour.  It was finally moved to the current 11:35 time slot in 1991, to allow affiliates more commercial time in their late news.

The opening credits have undergone massive changes over the years.  Sadly, almost all of the pre-1971 shows have been lost.  Videotape was expensive then and NBC would simply tape over the air checks with another show.   There are years of great interviews and skits that will never again see the light of day.

#74 PICTURE PAGES

Airdates: in various forms 1974-1990 (CBS, Syndicated, and Nickelodeon)

I was so mad that I couldn’t have a pen that played music as you write.  I’d still like to have one now to drive my co-workers nuts!

Bill Cosby would teach kids reading, writing, and arithmetic using a series of puzzles that you can send away for and play along.

The show actually started in Pittsburgh in 1974 when a local grocery store gave away the books.  The segments went national in 1978 as part of the Captain Kangaroo program on CBS.  Later, kids cable network Nickelodeon picked up the rights and aired it as a half hour show.  Here’s a look at the seriously lame song on the Nick version:

#73 DUCKTALES

Airdates: 1987-1990 (Syndicated)

Scrooge McDuck and his three nephews were always going on an adventure to score more money.  As a kid, I always thought it would be awesome to jump into Scrooge’s money pit vault.  Now that I’m older, I realize that jumping face first into a deep vault of a zillion coins probably would really hurt.  Also, money is quite filthy… who wants to swim in filth?

I actually won tickets to the spin-off movie DuckTales: Treasure of the Lost Lamp from a local TV station.  The same station I ended up working at a decade later!

Thanks to the success of this show, Disney launched a whole afternoon of other cartoons including Tale Spin, The Gummi Bears, Chip ‘n Dale’s Rescue Rangers, Darkwing Duck, and a few more that I forget.  DuckTales was always the first and the best, though.

This show only lasted 100 episodes, but it seemed to go on forever!  DuckTales Woo-ooh!

#72 BONANZA

Airdates: 1959-1973 (NBC)

http://youtu.be/NP8qKiTltj0

A fictional ranch in Nevada back in the wild west days was the setting for this long lasting series.  Another show that started out in black and white and made the switch to color.

It is the second longest television western in history behind Gunsmoke.  It will probably stay that way, because people don’t seem to want TV westerns anymore.

I’ve seen a handful of episodes, but the cool part of the credits is how they set the map on fire and luma key to the first shot of video underneath.  Pretty great idea that was ahead of it’s time.

And holy moley Jeanne Cooper does not look comfortable posing for her guest star credit show!

#71 SIMON & SIMON

Airdates: 1981-1989 (CBS)

http://youtu.be/osYdKFhzzlc

They were two complete opposites, but they ran a successful private detective agency together.  It was basically, The Odd Couple of private eyes!  It was one of the many action drama/comedy shows of the 80’s.

I remember watching the show from time to time and reruns still turn up occasionally, but it was the awesome guitar sax combo of the theme song they used starting with season three that made this one memorable.  The shot of Gerald McRaney getting cold cocked through an open door is pretty priceless as well!  (He went on to star in the Army sit-com Major Dad, right after this!)

Take a look at how the opening credits were for the first couple of seasons and you’ll agree that the classic guitar sax combo was a hit!

THE 411

What: TV Theme Songs

Use: themes used to open a TV series or cartoon

Purpose: introduce main cast and introduce audience to the theme of the series

Numbers reviewed: 71 – 80

JERSEY JOE RECOMMENDS:

I hope you enjoyed the look at the next group of themes.  A few kids ones made it into the group this time. I still want a singing pen, Bill Cosby!

Check back next week when we take a look at numbers 61-70.  We’ve got Zordon, a fat delivery guy that loves the Mets, and a talking horse!

I don’t own any of the rights to these, nor did I upload them to YouTube.  This blog is presented for educational and informational purposes.

Image credit – James Vaughan