Socially Speaking

Numbers 95-91 in my little list of the 100 Greatest TV Theme Songs Ever.

95. One Day At A Time — Not that I’m a big huge fan of this show or this song. But there’s a nostalgic element to this for me; re-runs of this show used to run at like 11:30 on Friday nights when I was a kid, and I remember sitting up with friends as an 11 year old watching this cheesy show.

94. Good Times — How come that when I was a kid, I didn’t realize how unfunny Jimmie Walker was? In hindsight, that’s like not noticing that Kate Gosselin was domineering. Anyway, the theme song and more importantly that opening montage it played over set the tone quite well for one of the first family series to be set not in the perfect suburb or among the elite but in poverty.

93. Eight Is Enough — No, the title does not refer to the combined number of arrests for the various Bradford kids, though it could have. As I look back on many 70s comedies, I now know why they added a laugh track: they needed to. But belly up to the dinner table, kids — there’s a plate of homemade wishes on the kitchen windowsill.

92. Mad Men — I haven’t watched much of the show; while the premise sounded interesting, between fatherhood and work I don’t remember the last time I was able to watch anything on a regular enough basis to get into it. But this theme song is a smooth blend of strings and groove, and adds to the series’ allure.

91. L.A. Law — Is there a theme song that screams 80s Yuppie any more than this one? Sure, others capture other elements of that decade quite well, but for the anthem of the much maligned Yuppie, I think this was unparalleled.