TV Theme Songs

[Argo]

Not really a tv theme used for a game show, but a real song used for a theme. On our local cable access channel in Newfoundland, Canada, there was a show called Trivia Plus which aired in the early-mid 90s. The theme was an edited version of Nightlife by Spyro Gyra. When it picks up in the middle of the song, it is very game showy. 

A weird story about the theme. I liked it so much i was trying to find enough tapes of the show to rebuild the theme in its entirety, but later found out it was a real song, and i already had it on a cd.

Crazya heh
Mark

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'Argo\' post=\'128596\' date=\'Aug 22 2006, 10:53 PM\']
A weird story about the theme. I liked it so much i was trying to find enough tapes of the show to rebuild the theme in its entirety, but later found out it was a real song, and i already had it on a cd.
[/quote]
Not game-show related, but I did the same thing not long ago...I was busting my hump, upon learning of an obscure Duran Duran release called "Burning The Ground" (a megamix of their 80's hits, released to promote the Decade album, though it does not appear on it) to find the video, only to learn that I had it on a DVD compilation I had received for my birthday a couple of months before.

[GS Warehouse]

[quote name=\'cweaver\' post=\'128458\' date=\'Aug 22 2006, 03:32 PM\'][quote name=\'William_S.\' post=\'128409\' date=\'Aug 21 2006, 11:36 PM\']ESPN Sportcenter: Maybe for an Edgy gameshow of some kind, but definitely something in your face.[/quote]
I could see the last part of the theme (ending with the "DA-duh-DA, DA-duh-DA!" bit) being the perfect cue for the part where the end game/bonus round ends and a new contestant enters the stage.[/quote]
Taking this idea in reverse, the TTTT80 theme sounds like it belonged on early ESPN.

[uncamark]

Something else just came up:

Back in college, our radio station had on the carted "playlist" (in quotes, since we were a "free-form" station, but the cartridges were there to try to get the jocks to play new releases) was an instrumental by, IIRC, Barry Miles and Silverlight called "The Travelers."  One of the DJs one day described it as something you might hear on "TPIR"--and it did have that sort of 70s Kalehoff-ish quality to it, as an uptempo, light pop-jazzy sort of piece with synthesizer as the lead instrument.

[Jay Temple]

I used the Moody Blues' "Question" as the theme when I played, appropriately, Go with some friends. An instrumental version of that would serve almost any show well.

[TimK2003]

Going through some of my "TV's Greatest Hits" CD's...

For those who remember "One Day At A Time", the instrumental version of the theme (which was used as the credits rolled) would make a pretty decent game show theme.  

As would the first theme used in the series "CHiPS".  The 2nd "disco-ized" theme -- used during most of the show's run -- could be a contender as well.

[CherryPizza]

[quote name=\'fostergray82\' post=\'128365\' date=\'Aug 21 2006, 03:37 PM\']

-First SNL theme (actually the second version of the first version, redone around 1976)
[/quote]

I was producing a play in the 90s that had a game show taking place in it.

We used this music as the "game show theme" (nobody here in Aus would have recognised the music, so we got away with it)... so yeah, great minds think alike

[opimus]

Nick's Angry Beavers. Very Chuck Barrisish.

[DoorNumberFour]

I always thought the theme from "The Jeffersons" would have fit Monopoly in a funny sort of way.

[clemon79]

I think the Sanford & Son theme would fit with damned near anything.

ObGS: "The Streetbeater" is on the same Quincy Jones album that "Chump Change" is on.

/about two people who come here will get that

[cweaver]

[quote name=\'Jay Temple\' post=\'128779\' date=\'Aug 23 2006, 08:29 PM\']
I used the Moody Blues' "Question" as the theme when I played, appropriately, Go with some friends. An instrumental version of that would serve almost any show well.
[/quote]

As long as we've veered away from TV themes for a bit...

I always thought the instrumental bridge from Frankie Valli's "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You" sounded an awful lot like "Bob and Merrill's Theme" from The Hollywood Squares.

[BobbyLankford_83]

How about the original ABC World News Tonight theme that was used from 1978 to about the late 1980's or early 1990's? It was composed by Bob Israel, of Score Productions ,the same man who did the music for many Goodson-Todman shows.

That WNT theme has been redone several times since its introduction in 1978 after the Reasoner-Walters mess ended,and has been redone recently when Charles Gibson moved over from Good Morning America to WNT.

[megamanj1986]

[quote name=\'BobbyLankford_83\' post=\'129143\' date=\'Aug 25 2006, 07:22 PM\']
How about the original ABC World News Tonight theme that was used from 1978 to about the late 1980's or early 1990's? It was composed by Bob Israel, of Score Productions ,the same man who did the music for many Goodson-Todman shows.

That WNT theme has been redone several times since its introduction in 1978 after the Reasoner-Walters mess ended,and has been redone recently when Charles Gibson moved over from Good Morning America to WNT.
[/quote]

Speaking of anything from ABC, I think the original 1979-late '90s variation of the theme song from 20/20 sounded like it could be something used as a GS theme.

Also, I add in:

The NBA on CBS theme from 1982-90 also sounded like it could've been something else as well.

The John Davidson Show's theme song also could of sounded like an '80s GS theme in a way, b/c take out the vain opening credits and just listen closely to the theme song, I swear that it sounded like something from the '80s.

[BrandonFG]

[quote name=\'megamanj1986\' post=\'129650\' date=\'Aug 29 2006, 05:52 PM\']
The NBA on CBS theme from 1982-90 also sounded like it could've been something else as well.
[/quote]
Speaking of sports:

-NBA on NBC (I believe it's called "Round Ball", written by John Tesh)
-NFL on FOX
-TNT had a catchy NBA theme around 2001 or '02, that they've since changed

Back to other TV shows, I'll add Magnum P.I.

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'fostergray82\' post=\'129675\' date=\'Aug 29 2006, 06:58 PM\']
-NBA on NBC (I believe it's called "Round Ball", written by John Tesh)
[/quote]
"Roundball Rock" is the actual title.

/the more you know