A Noted Television Theme

 

As more commercials intrude into a network's time slot, not only has the episodes been trimmed, so has theme song length on various series. Gone are the one minute themes from the Sixties to the Eighties to introduce a show. One of the best short themes of the Twenty-First Century is for the long-running CBS hit series, NCIS. Electronic musicians, Matt Hawkins, Maurice Jackson and Neil Martin joined forces under the name, Numeriklab, to create the theme in 2002, though the arrangement has evolved slightly since then. A slick synthesized work with a melody that comes off as if played by classical mainstream instruments. Scroll down the linked page for the cool NCIS theme.

Note: Speaking of CBS, the original Magnum, P.I. series theme was another hit for Mike Post. The theme has been effectively edited for the new CBS revival series. A theme better shortened for an opening, yet it still captures all the memorable elements of the original.

A Noted Television Theme

 

Dick DeBenedictis (1937-) is an American pianist and composer of music for numerous television series. The ten-time Emmy nominated musician composed music for Police Story, Columbo, Father Dowling Mysteries, The Rockford Files, Hawaii Five-O, Phyllis, and two Matlock spin-offs, Jake and the Fatman and Diagnosis: Murder. Upon retirement, he began a teaching career at universities in Los Angeles and New York City. 

He wrote the theme to Andy Griffith's second hit series, a composition that is easy to remember but difficult to forget: http://www.televisiontunes.com/Matlock.html

A Noted Television Composer

 

Richard Markowitz (1926-1994) was an American film and television composer. After composing for numerous low-budget films in the late Fifties and a hand full in the Sixties and Seventies, it was television that provided him steady work, composing for popular series between the Sixties to the Eighties, everything from Ben Casey, Mission: Impossible to Murder, She Wrote in which he received the ASCAP Film and Television Music Award for 1988, 1989, and 1990. But it was his unusual western theme for an unusual series, The Wild Wild West, for which he is best remembered. Prior, he wrote the theme for, The Rebel, most notable for it being sung by Johnny Cash.

A Noted Television Theme

 

Police Woman was an NBC police procedural television series created by Robert L. Collins and starred Angie Dickinson and Earl Holliman from 1974 to 1978. It was the first hour-long television drama starring a woman, although Beverly Garland's one-season 1957 syndicated series, Decoy, was the first American television show to focus on a female police officer.

Though not ground-breaking or unique, the theme by Mort Stevens was not entirely original, either. After writing the theme, he called his good friend and fellow composer, Jerry Goldsmith, and told him he copied his main theme from the Derek Flint secret agent spoofs starring James Coburn. The melody for the two themes is exact but Morton's orchestration turned it "inside out." Goldsmith gave his blessing and both had a good laugh. Morton's signature theme for "Hawaii Five-O" became a huge chart hit, unlike Police Woman.

A Noted Television Theme

 

The Return of The Saint was a popular but short-lived reboot of the original with Roger Moore. This time out, Ian Ogilvy starred in the British action-adventure series airing from 1978-79 in the UK on ITV and also broadcast on CBS [late-night Fridays] in the US. Simon Templar drove a Jaguar XJ-S with plate number "ST 1". The producers made the iconic stick man graphic a major component during the opening title sequence, having it run and jump within live-action scenes. The cool theme was written by Brian Dee and Irving Martin with John Scott composing the overall series music. 

Watching drummer, Clive Jenner, from Ealing Drum Studios, post his "track-of-the-month" series is always stellar on YouTube.