Happy Days Theme Song Tv Land

We all know what you have when you take the good, you take the bad and you take them both. We know what happened when a lovely lady met a man named Brady - and where everybody knows your name and they're always glad you came.

Television theme songs are embedded in our memories. A mere note, a couple words strung together and, as if brainwashed, we can recite an entire verse.

What were "The Jeffersons" movin' on up to? A deluxe apartment in the sky, of course. Where was love exciting and new? "The Love Boat," obviously. Who promised to make their dreams come true? Duh. "Laverne and Shirley."

The 40 songs topping "Inside TV Land: TV's Top 40 Theme Songs," tomorrow at 9 p.m. on the cable channel TV Land, make for a satisfying trip down memory lane with shout-outs to "Scooby Doo," "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and the No. 1 theme song, from "Gilligan's Island."

Interspersed in the hourlong special are some fun tidbits: Never quite understood that one line from "All in the Family"? It's "Gee, our old LaSalle ran great." Sherwood Schwartz wrote the theme to "Gilligan's Island," the first song he ever wrote, in one night. And in the second season, he revised the lyrics to include the Professor and Mary Ann.

The most recent song on the list, compiled from more than 150,000 votes cast at www.tvland.com, is the theme song for "Friends," which comes in at No. 8. Today, "Friends" is one of the few sitcoms that actually allows time for a theme song. Most comedies treat a theme song as a luxury. Fearful that the clicker-happy television viewer might change the channel, the networks often squish the credits over the opening scene. "Scrubs" barely has time to get out one line of Lazlo Bane's "Superman" before the credits are over.

Dramas don't fare much better these days. They're either elaborate introductions designed to give the novice viewer a recap of what has happened thus far - think "24" or "Alias" - or a show uses previously released rock songs as an opening. "Dawson's Creek" captured teenage angst with Paula Cole's "I Don't Want to Wait." The death-obsessed investigators of "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" groove to The Who's "Who Are You?"

But what has happened to the television theme song? What will today's children sing to their children? The gloomy theme to "Ed"? The song for "Good Morning, Miami"? The days of the campy, hokey and totally enjoyable theme song seems to be a thing of the past. It is not, however, too late to change. Therefore I humbly offer the following suggestions:

** We need more themes with the show's title in the song. Here's an example:

** She's straight, he's gay.

They love each other, but not that way.

Together there's no problem they can't face** because they're Will and Grace.

** We need more songs that give a show's back story, as in "Gilligan Island" or "The Beverly Hillbillies." Here's a little ditty I dreamed up for "24."

** Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale,

a tale of a special agent named Jack.

He's been up all day trying to prevent a terrorist attack.

Trying to prevent a terrorist attack.

He lost his wife, his daughter's estranged and Nina is a traitor.

He's very tired, but he'll have to sleep later. **

He'll have to sleep later.

** We need more songs in which the cast members sing, as in the openings for "The Brady Bunch" and "All in the Family." The perfect show for this would be "Everybody Loves Raymond," a comedy that has never been tied to any particular theme. Debra and Ray could sit at the piano.

** Boy I wish we'd move from this place.

Your mother is such a disgrace.

We never see our kids at all.

Your brother's way too tall. ** See how easy it would be? After all, ideas are all around, no need to waste them.

Copyright 2002
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.

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