This week marks the start of the fall season for the major networks. As Holly and I watched the season premier of Two And A Half Men I was taken a back when the titles came on and I heard the title song. It was pathetic! Some low male groans and one little soprano wispy cry and that was it. The whole titles took no more than 10 seconds tops. That got me thinking about theme songs and how they haven’t totally disappeared, but they are certainly a rarity.
When I think about some of the classic TV shows, they all had a theme song. Cheers, All In The Family, Three’s Company all had memorable theme songs that you could probably sing parts of, if not the entire thing. “Come and knock on our door…” or “One, Two, Three, O’Clock, Four O’Clock, rock…”, each of those makes you immediately think of the television show associated with it. Not all shows had words in their theme songs, but they still had distinctive songs that you could quickly identify the show from, such as Bonanza, Seinfield, and Law and Order.
Yet in recent years, it seems like most television programs are opting for quick little snippets for their theme music. Will and Grace is minimal at best and so are many of the new shows this season. And this lack of good music isn’t just restricted to regular programming, commercials are even worse. What ever happened to “You deserve a break today…” or one of the many other jingles that has captured our heart. Now days just using some obscure techno song seems to be enough. I’ll take a “I’d Like To Teach The World To Sing” over some girl dancing weird sitting in a car any day.
IMNSHO, if companies want their customers to relate and identify with their products they need to take the time and effort to brand the product in all aspects. Sure a cool commercial is important, but there’s nothing quite like having your customers singing the tune in their head all day. Isn’t the point that you want it to be “…Where everybody knows your name.”?