A (Not So) Complete History of TV Theme Songs Sung By Cast Members
Most actors would sacrifice their first born child to score the lead role in a major television series. Especially if that major television series turns out to be a hit. A particularly lucky few have not only landed such gigs, but have managed to pull off the rare ego-stroking double-play of acting in the series and singing the theme song. Because they’re just that talented.
Or not. But we’ll let you decide that in this public airing of our most recent obsession. Note: We didn’t include “The Brady Bunch” or “Partridge Family” since those were sung by the entire cast and not just a single member (or two.)
Theme: “Eight Is Enough” from “Eight is Enough”
Sung by: Grant Goodeve
Verdict: The eldest Bradford brother belted this one out for dear old Dick (Van Patton). Interestingly, Goodeve replaced Mark Hamill in the role, who jumped ship after the pilot episode to become a Jedi.
Mp3: “Eight Is Enough“
Theme: “Those Were The Days” from “All in the Family”
Sung by: Carroll O’Connor and Jean Stapleton
Verdict: The best sitcom ever also has one of the best theme songs ever. Here’s the super cool “live” version with the extra verse.
Mp3: “All in the Family“
Theme: “The Unknown Stuntman” from “The Fall Guy”
Sung by: Lee Majors
Verdict: Extra points for having the balls to sing shitty, self-referential lyrics (”Well, I’m not the kind to kiss and tell, but I’ve been seen with Farrah…”) We know, Lee, we know.
Mp3: “The Fall Guy“
Theme: “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” from “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air”
Sung by: Will Smith
Verdict: We don’t know if it’s possible to sue yourself, but this “Parents Just Don’t Understand” ripoff warrants some kind of lawsuit.
Mp3: “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air“
Theme: “Gimme a Break” from “Gimme a Break”
Sung by: Nell Carter
Verdict: So nice, they wrote it twice! Here’s the original faux soul-gospel jam, followed by the toned-down, white boy Cosby version.
Mp3: “Gimme a Break (1982)“
Mp3: “Gimme a Break (1983)“
Theme: “Makin’ It” from “Makin’ It”
Sung by: David Naughton
Verdict: He went from Pepper to pauper after this “Saturday Night Fever” wannabe was canned, though the song stayed in the Top 40 well after the show went off the air. Trivial trivia: The B-side of this record is actually called “Still Makin’ It” (thanks, Michael).
Mp3: “Makin’ It“
Theme: “There’s A New Girl In Town” from “Alice”
Sung by: Linda Lavin
Verdict: We shit you not, there are five different versions of this song. But don’t worry, they all sound more or less like this one (from the first two seasons).
Mp3: “Alice“
Theme: “That’s So Raven” from “That’s So Raven”
Sung by: Raven Simone
Verdict: Raven by Raven? Malkovich? Malkovich. And it’s still our favorite catchphrase.
Mp3: “That’s So Raven“
Theme: “Brotherly Love” from “Brotherly Love”
Sung by: Joey Lawrence
Verdict: Following in the footsteps of ex-mother figure Nell Carter, “Woah”-ey barfed out this gem for his short-lived show starring the senior Lawrence alongside his two irritating kid brothers.
Mp3: “Brotherly Love“
Theme: “Living Single” from “Living Single”
Sung by: Queen Latifah
Verdict: If Big Willie Style could do it, why not Big Dana Owens?
Mp3: “Living Single“
Theme: “I’m A Survivor” from “Reba”
Sung by: Reba McEntire
Verdict: Malkovich Malkovich? Yes, still Malkovich. We don’t know what’s worse, nu-country or the fact that it took six years to get this turd off the air.
Mp3: “Reba“
Theme: “Friends Forever” from “Love, Sidney”
Sung by: Tony Randall et al.
Verdict: A show ahead of its time featuring a theme song behind its time. Somewhere in the middle lies Tony Randall.
Mp3: “Love, Sidney“
Theme: “There’s No Place Like Home” from “227″
Sung by: Marla Gibbs
Verdict: Flo knows apartments, although we can’t help but feel that she moved on down with this shaky theme song.
Mp3: “227“
Theme: “You Look At Me” from “Joanie Loves Chachi”
Sung by: Scott Baio and Erin Moran
Verdict: It’s true, she really does love him. Can you blame her? Look at that hot piece of ass. You must obey-o.
Mp3: “Joanie Loves Chachi“
Theme: “Moesha” from “Moesha”
Sung by: Brandi
Verdict: This one is almost unfair since Brandi is a fine singer. It’s included here mostly because an acquaintance of ours thought the show was pronounced “Moishe” and presumed it was about an old Jewish dude. Seriously.
Mp3: “Moesha“
Theme: “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” from “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood”
Sung by: Fred Rogers
Verdict: Everyone’s favorite neighbor was such a badass, he once tripled the funding for public broadcasting after reciting the lyrics to one of his songs at a congressional hearing. We’re getting weepy.
Mp3: “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood“
UPDATE: We’ve noticed a couple themes running through the comments and figured some housework was in order. “WKRP in Cincinnati” was performed by non-cast member Steve Carlisle, not the lovably nerdy Richard Sanders. “Family Guy” rules, but that falls under the “whole cast” exemption mentioned at the top of the post. And “Growing Pains” wasn’t sung or written by Alan Thicke, although that guy has penned some mighty fine tunes (our favorite being the theme to the game show “The Wizard of Odds”).
But we will cop to missing “Frasier,” “21 Jump Street” and the incredible “Walker, Texas Ranger.” It’s a (Not So) Complete History after all…
Related posts: Punk Rock TV Theme Songs | You Can Thank Us Later | The Truth About Chachi
03.21.07 at 6:28 am
Don’t forget Walker, Texas Ranger.
03.22.07 at 4:40 am
Can’t believe you made this list and left out WKRP… sung by Richard (Les Nessman) Sanders…
03.22.07 at 5:22 am
I second the WKRP comment. Man, that was classic.
03.22.07 at 5:26 am
No love for the Bradys?
03.22.07 at 5:52 am
Life goes on gets extra credit for having patty lupone sing amazingly and the rest…join in.
03.22.07 at 6:03 am
Dennis Waterman – Minder – I could be so good for you.
03.22.07 at 6:13 am
WKRP? OMFG! WTF???
03.22.07 at 6:23 am
Don’t forsget Kelsey Grammar sings the Fraiser Theme.
03.22.07 at 6:27 am
What about 21 Jump Street sung by Holly Robinson?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8I22SWpsvbU
03.22.07 at 7:08 am
Ummm doesn’t the great David Hosslehoff sing the Baywatch themesong!?!? how can that not be on here!!!!!?
03.22.07 at 7:10 am
I agree that those were the days was great, but I think WKRP was the best. Why is it not on the list? Who made the list? Maybe they should be fired.
03.22.07 at 7:41 am
Family Guy
03.22.07 at 8:02 am
where’s Walker Texas Ranger? I thought for sure Norris would be numbr 1.
03.22.07 at 8:03 am
Alan Thicke anyone? Not only did he sing and write the theme song to Growing Pains, but he also wrote a shitlod of other theme songs during that era
(And yes, I know it is depressing that I know that)
03.22.07 at 8:24 am
theres no way you left out family guy………
03.22.07 at 9:18 am
WKRP theme was performed by Steve Carlisle.
03.22.07 at 10:11 am
What?!?! No Laverne & Shirley?!?!? You’re killin’ me!
03.22.07 at 10:21 am
The theme from the Partridge Family was really only sung by David Cassidy (OK, Shirley Jones may have been chiming in–she did some backing vocals). The rest of the cast didn’t sing! But it was SUPPOSED to have been the group, I’ll give you that!
03.22.07 at 10:47 am
Laverne & Shirley “Making Our Dreams Come True” was sung by Cindi Grecco. And The Hoff didn’t sing the Baywatch theme…that was handled by ex-Survivor singer Jimi Jamison.
03.22.07 at 11:08 am
No Frasier? Help me out.
03.22.07 at 12:07 pm
BJ & the Bear, not to mention My Two Dads = Greg Evigan
03.22.07 at 1:03 pm
Scrubs theme song is sung by Zach Braff. How could you miss that one?
03.22.07 at 1:57 pm
West End Boy–check IMDB. Lazlo Bane sang “Superman” from Scrubs.
03.22.07 at 2:09 pm
Green Acres? The Monkey’s? Laverne and Shirley?
03.22.07 at 2:20 pm
Isn’t Cheers sung by Woody Harrelson.
03.22.07 at 4:50 pm
Robert Horton sang the theme for A Man Called Shenandoah. And beautifully!
http://roberthorton.com/shenandoah.mp3
03.22.07 at 6:36 pm
dukes of freakin hazzard
03.22.07 at 7:36 pm
Where is The Bill Cosby Show at?
03.23.07 at 10:28 am
There is more than one version of the theme from “Alice”.
03.23.07 at 11:22 am
Dawn Lewis wasn’t the “star of the show” but she wrote and sang the theme for the sitcom “Different World” as well as playing one of the lead characters, Jaleesa.
03.23.07 at 11:23 am
Ooops, my bad. She didn’t sing it. I just remembered Phoebe Snow sang it and then Aretha. But she did write it.
03.25.07 at 8:22 pm
What about “I could be so good for you” the theme tune from “Minder” sung AND written by Dennis Waterman.
03.26.07 at 12:06 pm
Does “Family Guy” count? It’s an” All in the Family” knock-off , but the characters do sing their theme song …
03.26.07 at 4:05 pm
From the ‘Update’ above:
>> “Family Guy” rules, but that falls under the “whole cast” exemption mentioned at the top of the post.
03.26.07 at 5:19 pm
Remeber the Saturday morning show called “Land of the Lost” by Sid & Marty Krofft? A family falls into an alternate world with dinosaurs, ape-men, pylons and insect-like humanoids called Sleestak? And the theme song started, “Mashall, Will and Holly, on a routine expedition, met the greatest earthquake ever known…” Can you hear it in your head? Anyhow, the theme song was sung by the kid who played Will (his name was Wesley Eure).
04.15.07 at 6:21 am
Cheers theme was sung by Gary Portnoy NOT WOODY HARRELSON, Dukes of Hazzard was sung by Waylon Jennings. And The Cosby Show… were there lyrics???
04.18.07 at 7:11 pm
What about “The Doris Day Show?” I believe that they used a variation of the song “Que Sera” as the show’s theme.
Don’t know if this counts, but one year I believe that Oprah herself had a theme song written that she sang. It didn’t last that long as her theme song.
Also didn’t Eddie Albert and Eva Gabor sing the theme to “Green Acres?” Remember, “darling, I love you but give me Park Avenue….the Chores…the Stores…you are my wife…goodbye city life…Green Acres, we are there.”
(How weird is it that I remember those words!)
04.22.07 at 8:02 pm
Cheers Theme was sung by Gary Portnoy. http://www.garyportnoy.com
05.15.07 at 7:27 pm
[...] A (Not So) Complete History of TV Theme Songs Sung By Cast Members. US. [...]
07.15.07 at 5:22 pm
Where the hell is the Monkees theme song….
Here We Come…Walking Down The Street…
Cmon…it HAS to be on the list!
09.07.07 at 5:54 pm
Steve Carlisle was my boss at a company I used to work for. I’ve always thought it was cool that I worked for the WKRP dude. Even cooler, he did some backing vocals on some Uriah Heep recordings. Hey Steve, if you are out there.
10.21.07 at 8:50 am
As well as singing & writing the theme song for Minder, Dennis Waterman also performs the theme song for New Tricks tv show (2006/2007). Not sure if he wrote it too
02.12.08 at 8:22 pm
Somerset, you were correct the first time. Dawn Lewis *did* sing the theme to “Different World” the first season, when the show centred on Lisa Bonet’s ‘Cosby Show’ character, Denise Huxtable, and co-starred Marisa Tomei. When the series was significantly re-tooled for its second season upon Ms. Bonet’s pregnancy-related departure (new sets, much expanded role for Jasmine Guy, etc.), the theme song was re-recorded by Phoebe Snow; Aretha Franklin was the *third* performer to sing it.
09.01.08 at 4:49 am
how in the wodrld did they forget about good times and the jeffersons& give me a break.
02.16.09 at 3:04 pm
Thank you so much for sharing these!!!! ^_^.
09.27.09 at 1:39 pm
Just want to say this webpage is a very nice trip down memory lane, with all the classic TV (songs) trivia. Thanks a lot to YuppiePunk(?) and the commenters! No telling how many peoples’ day you brighten with this page!
11.19.09 at 2:57 am
the 21 jump street theme song was sung by the girl who plays officer hoffs