This blog is a friend of the arts, especially music, so I was thrilled when Audre Myers submitted a review of various programs’ theme music.

Theme music does a great deal to set the tone and mood for a show; we all instantly recognize the difference between the theme music for, say, a cheesy Eighties family sitcom and a brooding detective serial.

Perhaps the greatest theme music composer of all time is Mike Post, who wrote music for Law and Order, Quantum Leap, Magnum, P.I., and The A-Team, among others.  You’ve never heard of him, but you’ve certainly heard his music:

Audre has quite a few examples for your consideration, and they’re all interesting in their own way.  Even the ones she doesn’t like are, as she acknowledges, fitting to their respective shows.

With that, here is Audre’s overview of theme music:

I like theme music; I think many of us can hum the opening theme music to our favorite programs – maybe even if we’re not watching. Theme music used to bother me; let’s get to the story already, I thought. But there’s a reason they tie opening (and often closing) music to the name of the program and the stars who are the characters. We hear the music and, like those famous trained dogs, we react with the kind of response the writers and producers wanted to instill.

I really like the music for West Wing. It has a sense of weight and import as well a line of melancholy along with something springy and hopeful. That’s an awful lot of information to pack into an opening theme but listen and decide …

The biggest fan of The Walking Dead has to be yours truly but the theme music irritates me. Ok; it drives me crazy. Millions of people love that stupidly irritating cello piece played by Yoyo Ma but it has the same effect on me – it’s like three notes played over and over and over again. Nails on a chalkboard! (Bach: Cello Suite No.1 in G Major) In any event, with that energy and sense of immediacy and urgency and impending doom of the Walking Dead series music grates on my nerves and a lot of the time I turn the sound down. Considering the premise of the series – it’s perfect! But I don’t like it. What do you think?

Big fan of all things English, the theme song to Last Tango in Halifax is an unadulterated delight! I especially like the little ‘pixie dance’ at the end of the music. Charming!

Everyone’s favorite – well, those of a certain age, anyway – is the theme music from MASH. How tickled were you when you found out the title of it? Do you remember the name? “Suicide is Painless”. What a name!

Among the themes I like a lot, Haven has a special place. Haven was a TV series based on the Stephen King book, The Colorado Kid. Something’s not quite right in Haven, Maine … strange things happen there and the character Audrey is pivotal. I think you can find Haven on Plex, maybe on YouTube … not real sure except it’s no longer available on Netflix, which is where I saw the series in the first place. Welcome to Haven …

And then there’s the theme music to Captain Kangaroo. Do you remember? How happy and perky is this?

Theme music has a definite place in the world; it can tie us to place and time, it can relate to our lives or our memories, it can introduce us to notes and sounds we’ve not encountered before. It creates atmosphere, anticipation, deeper enjoyment. Theme music is a good thing and by and large – I’m a big fan.