Who says the TV theme song is dead?
Here, EW ranks the 25* most distinguished ditties.
Hum along with us as we celebrate the best of the best.
Netflix
And don’t you dare hit that “Skip Intro” button.
“It can sound quirky,” Lopez explains.
Sometimes, to make a memorable theme song, it helps to conjure a little musical witchcraft.
Everett Collection
The song is so DIY that you might hear executive producer Derek Drymon typing in the background.
(Listen for it as Finn and Jake stroll through the Ice Kingdom.)
“It kind of retains that handmade quality.”
Sonja Flemming/CBS
Plus, Ward adds: “I thought the keyboard clacking sounded nice.”
D.C.
23.Big Mouth
“I’m going throughchanges,” Charles Bradley wails on “Changes.”
Though that took some convincing.
Lee Norris, Antwon Tanner , Sophia Bush, Chad Michael Murray, Hilarie Burton, James Lafferty, Bethany Joy Lenz in ‘One Tree Hill’ season 5.Everett Collection
“He’d never heard ofOzzy Osbourne,” explains Brenneck.
“And he couldn’t relate to a song about a breakup.”
“I get chills just thinking about it,” Brenneck says.
Lewis Jacobs/NBC
And he’s not alone.
Tragically, Bradley died at age 68, six days beforeBig Mouthlaunched in 2017.
“Anything that keeps his music alive is incredible,” Brenneck says of the song living on.
Paul Schiraldi/HBO
“It’s a blessing.”
“She’s biracial and grew up in a similar time period,” says series co-creator Peter Saji.
And so, that will always be the legacy for me."
David Gray/WB Television
Fortunately, fellow EP Cynthia Chvatal came up with something a bit more hummable.
“He watched it from his private plane and loved it.”
Good thing money was no object: “CSIwas built on original score and needle drops.
Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer on ‘True Blood’.Jaimie Trueblood/HBO
There was a time where it cost $52,500 per airing.”
“It really became a thing,” she says.
She laughs before humming the iconic four beeps.
HBO
“People still use it as a ringtone.
It’s so catchy!”
Sydney Bucksbaum
17.One Tree Hill
The combination ofOne Tree HillandGavin DeGrawwas just pure magic.
Frank Ockenfels/WB TV
“My job was to say yes.”
It was like, ‘Jesus, what are we going to do if he says no?’
" Finally, the team procured Waits' number and called him directly.
FOX
Wait until my wife comes home.'
And then, the next day, he approved it!"
And what was the backup plan had Waits' wife not gotten the VCR working?
You’d be reading right now about “A Common Disaster” by Cowboy Junkies.
(Or maybe not.)
Ruth Kinane
13.Parks and Recreation
Like withThe Office(see No.
After listening to 70-plus entries, he and his teen daughter chose Vincent Jones and Gaby Moreno’s track.
“There wasn’t a close No.
He also knew the perfect band to do it.
“I have been a hugeBarenaked Ladiesfan since I saw them open forAlanis Morissetteon theJagged Little Pilltour.
Their shows always included amazing, improvised raps, one of which became their hit ‘One Week.'”
Apparently, the story of everything that ever existed was fresh in his mind.”
“[Smallville] was Superman for a new generation,” says Gough.
“We wanted something fresh and youthful but that also stated its purpose.”
So they wanted us to do head turns and a really classic cheesy TV [opener].
We all put it on and it was instant."
sang to herself, “Who’s that girl?
It’s Jess!”
“That’s what we always thought Jess was thinking when she has this in her head.”
A loft-y goal, achieved.
I was like, ‘I’m putting it on there anyway,'" he recalls.
“And then the record failed.”
Everett lost his record deal in subsequent years and fell into a financially rough spot.
But it was that same song that turned his career around.
“It’s a mitzvah,” he says of the whole trajectory.
“It’s further proof that you’re free to’t control anything.
I’ve had plenty of ups and downs since then, but I’ve gotEntertainment Weeklycalling me today.
That’s crazy!”
That day would come with theSeinfeldco-creator’s next series,Curb Your Enthusiasm.
“Yeah, you know…it’s not the worst thing in the world.
(The song ended up onMad Menafter creatorMatthew Weinerheard it as bumper music on NPR.)
“We made that album all in one fell swoop,” says producer RJD2.
The first pass on that song is basically what you hear.”
Don Draper (Jon Hamm) would be envious.
“She changed the lyrics because she’d outgrown the stand-by-my-man theme of the original,” Goffin says.
“The song had a new life.”
“There [weren’t] a lot of iterations.
“There were certain keywords that were mentioned like, ‘This needs to be a journey.
The adventure needs to be there.'”
I thought, what if I mixed that with this hip-hop feeling?”
The track was greeted enthusiastically by show creatorJesse Armstrong.
“His response was, ‘F— yeah!'”
“That felt like solid approval.”
Clark Collis
2.The O.C.
Phantom Planet’s “California” was more than the theme of this Fox sensation it was its anthem.
“It was the best choice the band could have made.”
1.Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
When it comes to theme songs,Crazy Ex-Girlfriendwent big.
But that wasn’t always the plan at least not the “four different songs” part.
It was then that the team realized they might need to make a change.
In season 2, Rebecca was, as the song declares, just a girl in love.
(She’s not responsible for her actions!)
But what ended up being a 1930s-inspired number started out as something else entirely.
“The setting was the 1970s, a laThe Mary Tyler Moore Show,” Bloom says.
“There were shopping bags.
The whole concept was a parody ofThat Girl.”
But when Dolgen pointed out that theMaria Bamford Showhad beaten them to that idea, they pivoted.
“I sent Adam the lyrics.
And Adam then turned it around.”
with making theCrazy Ex-Girlfriendthemes undeniably catchy.
We’d have to agree.
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