Wednesday, May 17, 2006

Poll Results - Which of these TV Shows from 1985-1995 has the best original theme music?

Between the West Wing stuff and the network upfronts (not to mention trying to reduce the quack grass problem in my garden), I haven't been able to report on the most recent poll results - until now. We had a total of 14 voters - respectable but down from the previous two polls. There was a definite winner in this poll.

Tied for eighth with no votes are the themes from Picket Fences and Knot's Landing. I rather liked the Picket Fences theme myself; it was a nice fit for the small town nature of the show without really giving a hint of the quirkiness of the place. Tied for fourth with one vote each (7%) are Due South, The Nanny, LA Law, and The Cosby Show. I was never a big fan of the Cosby Show theme in any of it's numerous variations but the other three are favourites of mine. Due South was the case of an actual song - with words - that gave a sense of the show without really giving you the show's plot. On the other hand the theme from The Nanny gave you all the backstory of why Fran Fine is working for Maxwell Sheffield in a few minutes. It's brilliant. As for LA Law, from the moment that the trunk of whatever car they were using that season (it started with a Jaguar but was eventually the trunk of Arnie Becker's Bentley) and those first four or five notes created a tone of a successful organization. In third place, with two votes (14%) is the theme from Cheers. The song is simple and fairly memorable. It's easy to sing along to. In second place, with three votes (21%) is the theme from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. On the whole the Star Trek franchise was gifted with music that was eminently memorable - sufficiently similar to remind viewers of the series connection but unique enough to really stand out. Finally, in first place was the theme from Northern Exposure. There was a piece of music that was an ideal fit for the show, because just like the series it was marvelously quirky.

I want to work though these original themes to cover as much of TV history as I can, however I'm going to have to delay continuing with this for a couple of weeks because I have - or will have - a couple of polls related to the upfronts, but I can't do anything with this until Thursday when Fox and The CW announce their new shows.

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