Longest Surviving Main Theme Songs...

[TimK2003]

A recent conversation amongst friends brought this interesting question.

Among the longer-running game shows (including multiple versions and gaps between versions ), what are the 5-10 oldest themes that have more or less kept the same melody in continuity?

First thought was Jeopardy!, but you could only count the years since Trebek started the show.  The familiar theme was only used as the Final Jeopardy think music in the 1st Fleming version.

Pyramid was another possibility, but Donnymid broke the streak.

Price is Right could only go back to Barker's start, but it seems like that theme melody is the oldest lasting continuous theme -- different arrangements but still the same melody throughout.

Supermarket Sweep is another possible Top 5 contender even if you only count David Ruprecht's versuins.

What would also be themes that have remained more or less intact the longest?

[Blanquepage]

Ya know, I see Jeopardy a little differently. The melody appeared before it became the actual main theme...but since the melody IS the heart of the theme, it's essentially the same.
And that'll be my profound truth of the day 
To the point of your question though, the original WML end theme was used for the whole 17 years, so I'd say that's another.
Kaplan's "Happy Wheel" tune stuck around for...16 years, was it?

[BrandonFG]

Marshall's Hollywood Squares switched to the more familiar theme song in its second or third season, and mostly kept the same melody with a disco-based update in the late-70s. That's what, about 13 years?

Same for LMaD. Dunno if it was used from Day One in 1963 but I found a 1968 episode with the theme, which was updated over the years up to the Canadian version. The Brady version's used that theme for at least a decade, so I dunno where that ranks on the all-time list.

Dating/Newlywed Game had at least a good 20-something year run between the 70s and 80s versions and updates. The 1996 reboots used a different - but almost reminiscent - theme before using a new version of the classic themes.

[Kevin Prather]

The Match Game 90 theme was just an updated version of the 70s theme, so unless you're counting MGHSH as an interrupter, that's one theme that went for almost twenty years straight.

[WhammyPower]

Weakest Link's had the same melody between its two runs.

/If you call four notes a melody.

EDIT: Oh, Now You See It could absolutely count towards this (if you bar the brief period where they used the alternate theme.)

//Thanks, Quincy.

[Chief-O]

Same for LMaD. Dunno if it was used from Day One in 1963 but I found a 1968 episode with the theme, which was updated over the years up to the Canadian version. The Brady version's used that theme for at least a decade, so I dunno where that ranks on the all-time list.

The 1984 theme actually begins with a brief call-out to the old theme, before it all goes its own direction. I could say the same for the Canadian theme as well.

[DYosua]

If we include foreign shows, UK Countdown has been using the same melody for almost 42 consecutive years, with only a couple reorchestrations during that time.

[BrandonFG]

Same for LMaD. Dunno if it was used from Day One in 1963 but I found a 1968 episode with the theme, which was updated over the years up to the Canadian version. The Brady version's used that theme for at least a decade, so I dunno where that ranks on the all-time list.

The 1984 theme actually begins with a brief call-out to the old theme, before it all goes its own direction. I could say the same for the Canadian theme as well.

How it took me this many years to figure that out, I’ll never know but now I can’t unhear the melody. Those opening notes always reminded me of the Lorimar-Telepictures jingle.

[carlisle96]

The syndicated To Tell the Truth...an instrumental version was used for the 1990 NBC run

[TimK2003]

The syndicated To Tell the Truth...an instrumental version was used for the 1990 NBC run

However  Robin Ward's version of TTTT put a wedge between the Moore/Garagiola and Elliott/Swann/Trebek versions.

Seems like there was an unwritten rule that nearly all 1980's reboots had to use different music.

[Jeremy Nelson]

If we include foreign shows, UK Countdown has been using the same melody for almost 42 consecutive years, with only a couple reorchestrations during that time.

I'd go a step further and include University Challenge in that list. Same melody and all since 1963, save for seven years from 87 to 94 when it was off the air. I miss the jaunty 1960s/70s version.

[Ian Wallis]

Seems like there was an unwritten rule that nearly all 1980's reboots had to use different music.

For some of them it's too bad - Now You See It resurrects the exact same theme 15 years later, but Tattletales changes their music after just a four-year hiatus.  I always thought the '70s music package for Tattletales was stronger.

[aaron sica]

I always thought the '70s music package for Tattletales was stronger.

I'm just the opposite. The '70s theme sounds like it could have been used on TPiR, but I love the 80s theme for how peppy it is.

[Clay Zambo]

Now You See It resurrects the exact same theme 15 years later, but Tattletales changes their music after just a four-year hiatus.  I always thought the '70s music package for Tattletales was stronger.

I thought that was odd, too, since Tattletales had an almost identical set in both runs. I'm a huge fan of both themes, though. Immense fondness for the 70s tune, particularly the B section. I'd love to hear an orchestral version of the 70s theme, but the 80s is (as the kids say), a bop. (Do the kids, in fact, still say "bop"?)

[SuperMatch93]

Usually the say "banger" these days. At least, in my experience.