The Music Of My Heart

I'm wary of writing a blog that always 1) criticizes everything (some of the easiest writing to do is just to say why everything and anything sucks) and 2) ranks random things that don't need to be ranked (generally no one cares how you rank anything). So I was compiling a list of my five favorite TV theme songs/openings ever, and I started to rank them, only to realize that there wasn't a lot of basis for objective comparison and no one cares about ranking TV theme songs in the first place. So all that being said, here's five I truly love:

Charles in Charge
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZ2pQ0YF_ak&mode=related&search=

Seriously, how hot was Nicole Eggert? There's a better version of this theme song on youtube, but it's for the season when Nicole Eggert wasn't on the show, and what would be the point of you watching that clip? I loved the lack of believability of the entire show. Charles was a male live-in housekeeper/babysitter, and when the family moved, the new family (with Nicole Eggert) kept him around! And built out the whole basement as a bachelor pad for him, complete with a bed that folded up into the wall. The most absurd thing was that hot chicks would date this male nanny, who should have been going after Nicole Eggert in the first place. Anyways, it's not the best show, but it's a great theme song.

Family Matters
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJmXpstLBSM&mode=related&search=

So the link is for a Norwegian broadcast, hence the "Alle unter einem Dach" title instead of "Family Matters", but this is the full version of the song (the song itself is in English). I love the ch-ch-ch-ch opening, and the moment of suspense before the awesome piano riff comes in. I liked the cast in this season, which includes Jaimee Foxworth, whose childhood stardom went so well she eventually became a porn star, and Telma Hopkins, Aunt Rachel. They could never figure out what to do with the Aunt Rachel character, so they had her open a diner that was meant to become a hangout like "The Max" or "The Peach Pit". Back in high school Ali used to make us eat at this crappy "diner" - it's actually kind of a fast food grill with booths to sit - called "Fantastic Cafe", arguing that our group needed a hangout spot. I must have been there a dozen times, which is a dozen times too many.

Doogie Howser, M.D.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tD7STskaKrE

No lyrics here, and a long intro sequence of Doogie's accomplishments before we meet any of the cast. But it's a great song, and I like how they incorporated the music into other moments of the show too. Doogie is now the funniest guy on the solidly funny "How I Met Your Mother", which you should check out if you have the time. Not the best show ever, but consistently pretty funny.

Hey Dude
http://www.retrojunk.com/details_tvshows/249-hey-dude

This is probably the corniest theme song I've ever heard. It's so wonderful in its awfulness - watch this a few times and try not to sing along. Ben Stiller's wife, Christine Taylor was in this show. The two of them came to Princeton my senior year, and someone's "question" was "I loved Hey Dude". I never figured out who that person was, but I'm sure we could make great friends.

Growing Pains
http://www.retrojunk.com/details_tvshows/373-growing-pains

A duet! Great move for theme songs, and I always wondered why there weren't more. Duets are catchy and cheesy - a perfect fit for a theme song. As you know, Kirk Cameron is now an especially serious evangelist Christian - someone linked me to his website once, and a flash animation of him walked forward and asked me if I was a good person, and I had to click yes or no. I mulled it over for a moment and chose yes. Then it told me that most people think they are good people because they haven't done anything really bad, like kill someone. Evidently there is more to being a good person than just that.