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What’s your favorite TV theme song?

Greg Burgas, AGAIN

Greg Burgas is at it again, this time asking, What’s your favorite TV theme song?

This is TOUGH for me. I have seven CDs called Television’s Greatest Hits. Each disc has 65 TV themes, starting with kids’ shows and then sitcoms, dramas, and the like. Plus I have show-specific albums for The Drew Carey Show (which had THREE different themes), Friends, The Simpsons, and others. I LOVE TV themes, at least the ones from the 20th century; I’m not really up on 1hemes from this century.

I was very fond of the Peter Gunn theme, written by Henry Mancini. But I only learned about it after the fact. It was so iconic that in 2023, CBS Sunday Morning captured his old mates such as Quincy Jones and John Williams rerecording it. Mancini, BTW, also wrote the theme for Newhart, the Vermont-themed show.

My all-time favorite theme song composer is Mike Post, who created, among others, Law & Order, The Rockford Files, and my favorite, Hill Street Blues, which has a certain melancholy that suits the program.

There are a lot of themes that include lyrics. Greg picked Cheers as his favorite, and it’s a very worthy choice. But I must admit being a sucker for the ones from an earlier era, such as Gilligan’s Island and the Hooterville Trilogy. My favorite from this era was Mr. Ed; I still remember most of the words.

Then there were the cartoons, almost all of which had lyrics. My favorite was Top Cat. I could make the case for George of the Jungle, though, because Weird Al Yankovic did a straight, non-parody version.

Fishin’ Hole

Earle Hagen wrote two of my favorite themes growing up, the shows of Andy Griffith and Dick Van Dyke. But I appreciated the themes of two of my dad’s favorite shows as well, Mission: Impossible and Star Trek.

I liked the themes of The Mary Tyler Moore Show, All In The Family, MASH, and Sanford and Son, which I heard on the radio recently.

But if I had to pick just two songs, one with lyrics and one without:

The Jeffersons – Movin’ On Up, sung by Ja’Net DuBois, “to that deee-luxe apartment in the sky”

Perry Mason – and the outro is really orchestral. I swear the Nylons’ beginning of Town Without Pity borrowed from the Mason theme.

Lydster: Love Island USA

Password

One of the things my daughter did quite regularly when she was home from college was go upstairs to her room to watch Love Island USA. Occasionally, she subjected her parents to it by watching it in the living room.

In two articles in major publications, it appears that the daughter has hit the zeitgeist. (I’ve never been particularly zeitgeisty.)

Bloomberg

On July 8, Future Party summarized the Bloomberg story Love Island Has Cracked the Code on Gen Z’s Attention Span. After noting that the ratings of reality shows have taken a beating in the past decade or so:

“Despite already being in its eighth season, Love Island USA is more popular than ever, according to Bloomberg.

“The first three episodes this season racked up 2.3 billion minutes viewed, putting it in the same league as premium scripted hits like House of the Dragon and The Bear.
“80% of viewers who started watching the season in its first two days have already watched at least 15 episodes — an incredible engagement rate.
“This season generated over a billion social media impressions across platforms in just 16 days after its premiere. The numbers have only continued to climb since then…
Last Looks: “Why does Gen Z love Love Island USA so much? Beyond the juicy drama, the show’s near-daily schedule fuels instant FOMO, while its interactive voting app puts viewers in the driver’s seat, letting them decide which contestants stay and which get booted off the island. That engagement has translated into major trading volume on prediction markets, with Kalshi even giving the show its own ‘dedicated tab’ in its culture section.” Ah, gambling! It reminds me of a recurring segment on The Daily Show.

“Gen Z has also proven to be starved for in-person socializing… and Love Island USA is helping fill that gap. The show has sparked a wave of public watch parties, with bars reporting boosted business thanks to group viewing — a notable turn of events given how much less Gen Z drinks than previous generations.”

NYer?

The New Yorker (June 27, 2026), mostly behind a paywall: “We all know what it is to be unhappy in love. In unhappy couples, each person feels unaccompanied; whatever they have, they wish for a little more. The unhappy speak our language, and we speak theirs. The punctuation of this language is the moment when a woman’s face falls with disbelief, and when she weighs, in a tearful yet luxurious silence, her desire against her dignity.

“At least, this is the language of unhappiness on reality TV. We are just now in the season of ‘Love Island,’ the most fluorescent of reality dating shows, in which young, tanned, and wonderfully naïve singles compete to fall in lust and become one half of the cast’s—and the nation’s—most popular couple.”

Fluorescent is right. If the Barbie movie found many ways to do pink, Love Island is an adult Candyland.

“The British islanders are currently sunning themselves in Mallorca; their American counterparts are enjoying similar tropical conditions and neon furnishings in Fiji. The communal bedrooms are open, the mike packs are strapped to this season’s bikinis (animal print and accent hardware abound), and a roster of ‘bombshells’ and Casa Amor hotties—seducers flown in to test the contestants’ romances—are said to be holding in isolation in nearby hotels…

“June is the original and proprietary ground for ‘Love Island,’ that hinge point when all the vague aspirations for the year have been half dashed, and the summer looks both opulent and devastatingly short.”

Naturally

Of course, I sent these pieces to my daughter, who was away in South Africa again until recently. As is her wont, she replied wryly, “Interesting, isn’t it?” It is. My daughter was part of a wave of viewers before the season ended in mid-July.

When I was growing up, I usually knew what the Top 20 shows were for any given week – often Bonanza, or later, All In The Family – based on the Nielsen ratings shown in the local papers. In a streaming universe, I have no strong idea. So I’m feeling mildly nostalgic about learning this tidbit.

I’ve been watching Password recently. One of the celebrity contestants was Ariana Madix, the main host for Love Island USA seasons 6 through 8. (No, I didn’t recognize her or even know her name; my daughter would have likely scolded me for this transgression.) There was even a series of Password clues about love, in honor of the series.

Sunday Stealing Is Artificial

Essential American songs of the last 250 years

Welcome to Sunday Stealing. Here we will steal all types of questions from every corner of the blogosphere. Our promise to you is that we will work hard to find the most interesting and intelligent questions. Cheers to all of us thieves!

Since it’s the 4th of July weekend, we’re going to keep this simple. On us all! The first question came courtesy of AI. Sunday Stealing Is Artificial.

4th of July Questions

1) If you could attend a 4th of July fireworks display anywhere in the United States, where would you choose?

I want to be somewhere with a great sightline, and not a lot of people setting off their own incendiary devices. In Albany, I used to have a great view in my former church’s parking lot on Lark Street. About 12 years ago, my daughter and I loved the view from the field behind Albany High School. But on the way home, only a half dozen blocks away, I felt as though we were going through a war zone. So, sadly, I settled for watching it on television.

2) What book are you currently reading?

Nothing. I’m doing a book review on Tuesday, July 7, at 2 pm at the Albany Public Library, 161 Washington Ave. The book is African-Americans in the Wyoming Valley, 1778-1990, by Emerson I. Moss. I picked this book because I have an ancestor, and indeed, a whole family to whom I am related, mentioned substantially in this book. Preparing a book review involves rereading, taking notes, and the like.

CCL

3) What have you been listening to?

Last week, CBS Sunday Morning offered up Essential American songs of the last 250 years. The presentation featured Sara Bareilles singing “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman” made famous by Aretha, and Jon Batiste performing “Georgia On My Mind”

Here’s the Spotify roster. Lists like this always generate a certain controversy. “Where’s X? What about Y?” The missed choice I read about most was “Take Me Home, Country Roads” by John Denver. A guy named Mike Smith had a list of 15 alternatives; I totally agree with Midnight Train To Georgia, probably 16 Tons, and El Paso.

4) What shows or movies have you been watching?

I finally watched Idiocracy, an absurd 2006 film which is becoming more believable by the year. “Corporal Joe Bauers, a decidedly average American, is selected for a top-secret hibernation program but is forgotten and left to awaken to a future so incredibly moronic that he’s easily the most intelligent person alive.” Will stupidity win out? One fan on Rotten Tomatoes wrote: “The most prophetic movie ever created. It predicted Trump’s America in an amazingly accurate and satirical way!”

My wife and I are FINALLY watching The American Revolution. We’re 2/6 of the way through the Ken Burns documentary. It’s amazing how little we knew about the period between Lexington/Concord/Bunker Hill and July 1776.

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Sunday Stealing is Artificial

“Americans now experience war more as an economic abstraction than a human catastrophe.”

Since it’s the Memorial Day weekend, we’re going to keep this simple. On us all! The first question came courtesy of AI, so Sunday Stealing is Artificial.

Before that, though, a link to a piece by Jeffery L. Degner titled Memorial Day and Remote War: Has Our Nation Lost Its Capacity to Mourn?

Memorial Day Questions

1) What freedom are you most grateful for?

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.” And by extension, the 14th Amendment restricts states from making or enforcing laws that abridge the privileges and immunities of U.S. citizens.

I take my freedom of religion and YOUR right NOT to be forced into religious ideology to be fundamental. This is why I rail against Christian nationalism. This is why I exercise my freedom of speech, my right to protest, and my need to bug my elected officials.

2) What book are you currently reading?

African-Americans in the Wyoming Valley, 1778-1990, by Emerson I. Moss. The Wyoming Valley, BTW, is an area in northcentral Pennsylvania that includes Scranton and Wilkes-Barre. I have a personal connection to the book, which I will discuss when I present a book review on Tuesday, July 7, at 2 pm at the Washington Avenue branch of the Albany Public Library. Inevitably, I will subsequently post some version of the book review on this blog.

Music

3) What have you been listening to?

Seals and Crofts. Dash Crofts of the duo died in March 2026; Jim Seals had died in 2022. Dash had the less pretty voice, as heard in Dust On My Saddle and Yellow Dirt. I saw the duo in NYC on November 12, 1971.

Beyond that, I’ve been listening to June birthday folk such as Prince (Let’s Go Crazy), Harry Nilsson (Coconut), Kim and Kelley Deal of the Breeders (Cannonball), and Paul McCartney (My Brave Face).

4) What shows or movies have you been watching?

Law & Order: Criminal Intent, which “follows the NYPD’s elite Major Case Squad as they investigate high-profile crimes using advanced behavioral psychology, while also revealing how each crime was planned and carried out from the perpetrators’ point of view.” It ran from 2001 to 2011. Of the 195 episodes, about 70% featured Kathryn Erbe as Detective Alexandra ‘Alex’ Eames and Vincent D’Onofrio as Detective Robert ‘Bobby’ Goren. Quirky doesn’t begin to describe Goren. In the final season, Julia Ormond played Goren’s shrink. Other episodes featured performers such as Jeff Goldblum and Julianne Nicholson.

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Sunday Stealing is F.A.B. yet again

More Brilliant Than The Sun

Law and Order Tornto Welcome to Sunday Stealing. Here we will steal all types of questions from every corner of the blogosphere. Our promise to you is that we will work hard to find the most interesting and intelligent questions. Cheers to all of us thieves!

Since it’s Thanksgiving weekend, we’re going to keep this simple. We stole this from a blogger named Idzie, who called this the F.A.B. (film, audio, book) meme.

F.A.B. yet again

F. Film: What movie or TV show are you watching?

I stumbled onto Law and Order Toronto: Criminal Intent. Since 1990, I have watched a representative sampling of most L&O programs, enough to anticipate their beats. But the rhythm of this show, while familiar, is fresh enough with its Canadianisms to enjoy.

Wikipedia: “The series premiered on February 22, 2024, on Citytv, and became the #1 prime-time drama of the year in Canada by attracting 1.1 million views on the first episode. The first season ran for 10 episodes; in June 2024, it was renewed for a second and third season.”

It stars Aden Young as Detective Sergeant Henry Graff, Kathleen Munroe as Detective Sergeant Frankie Bateman, K. C. Collins as Deputy Crown Attorney Theo Forrester, and Karen Robinson as Inspector Vivienne Holness. In the first few episodes, the latter two had far too little to do; that’s been rectified a bit.

In the US, the CW has been broadcasting the first season – I just finished episode 9. Season 2, already completed in Canada, will air in the US in 2026.

Music

A. Audio: What are you listening to?

I have finally allowed myself to listen to Advent/Christmas music. Also, I’ve been playing the CDs of Rebecca Jade, who, as it turns out, is the daughter of my sister Leslie; in other words, the first niece. Check out her videos; I’m particularly fond of Peter Sprague’s and her take on Wichita Lineman.

B. Book: What are you reading?

My daughter borrowed a book from a Western Massachusetts college library and insisted I read it before she has to return it in late January. It is titled More Brilliant Than The Sun: Adventures in Sonic Fiction by Kodwo Eshun. Buying the book, which was published in 1998, would cost north of $400.

I can tell you that the Discontents, which you would call the table of contents, namechecks Miles Davis, Grandmaster Flash, Cypress Hill, Funkadelic, Kraftwerk, the Jungle Brothers, Sun Ra, Alice and John Coltrane, and Pharoah Sanders. The index mentions others, such as John Cage, Chic, Queen, Public Enemy, Stevie Wonder, James Brown, and Sly and the Family Stone.

Being an obedient parent, I shall have read it by the deadline.

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