The Television Theme Song.
What do they represent? The really good ones stick out and represent what you are about to see for the next 30/60 minutes. Some of them may bring about memories of watching said series in a particular environment with a particular person perhaps. They are part of our cultural knowledge.
And yet the artform is basically extinct. Networks, seeking more ad time to make money, have basically eliminated the television theme song. Some still exist, but more on that later.
First I want to mention one particular person and one particular theme. The person is Mike Post, who is generally regarded as the scion of the television theme music. Indeed, his themes for Law & Order, Hill Street Blues, Magnum P.I., The A-Team and others are imprinted in our minds.
His one theme I want to talk about is L.A. Law.
Why do I choose this one? Because I read a blurb in TV Guide which gave it a most particular description, with which I think I can illustrate the importance of the artform. I read this blurb in a CD cover for TV Guide issued theme songs. They described the theme of L.A. Law as representing, and I paraphrase:
" A lady lawyer in a courtroom presenting a case. She is dressed in a stiff, lawyer like outfit. However, underneath this outfit is a sexy red negligee, maybe for surprising a guy later."
As you can probably guess, the trumpet and horns represent the lawyer side and the saxophone represents the negligee.
And anyone who had ever seen L.A. Law would probably make that an apt description for the program. So the theme, once again, represents what you, the viewer is about to see.
Now, to conclude, the television theme song is basically extinct from a lot of television. But there are exceptions. The most notable one IMO, is Game of Thrones.
An epic theme for an epic show. Helps to make it stand out. Wish television would go back to this artform more often.
What do you think?
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