June 21, 2007
The theme song gets the axe as network shows become prime real estate
GRAMMY.com
Bryan Reesman
Remember when you could instantly hum the opening ditties to "The Addams Family," "The Greatest American Hero" or "Cheers"? They were as infectious as any pop hit. But can you recall the themes to recent Top 20 shows like "NCIS" (Naval Criminal Investigative Service), "House M.D." or "Criminal Minds"? The network television theme song is becoming a thing of the past as main title sequences are increasingly being cut down or excised altogether from contemporary series. Just look at any recent popular shows. The main title to "Lost" is a drone. "Brothers And Sisters" and "Still Standing" simply offer logos with no music. FX's "The Shield" serves up a logo with a few seconds of electronic noise.
"This trend has been going on for a while," observes Stephen Battaglio, senior correspondent for TV Guide, of the diminishing theme song. "…what has happened is that you have so much non-program time you have to accommodate now that programs are shorter and shorter." And the themes are being shortchanged in an era of trigger-happy, remote control channel surfers.
"It's not the end of the theme song, it's the end of the show opening, the main titles," asserts Paul Brownstein, an award-winning DVD producer who has worked on reissuing shows like "The Odd Couple," "Get Smart" and the forthcoming "This Is Tom Jones." "The main titles on shows back in the day would run up to a minute or more every single week for years, and then in reruns over and over and over again. Now that's valuable real estate that's worth a lot more than showing actors' names. They also feel that it's a tune out that gives people enough time to check out what the other guys are doing, knowing the length of the music." Thus dramatic shows regularly start with a recap of past episodes or jump right into the action before utilizing a brief theme song.
Themes have not vanished en masse, but they are becoming less important in the grand scheme of television programming, with more time devoted to storytelling. "It's not about the theme songs being memorable; the shows aren't memorable," believes Brownstein. "You remember theme songs because they were from shows that were on for more than four weeks. Even a flop was on for a whole year back then."
Brownstein adds that the repetition of certain themes that lasted for a longer time contributes to a greater cultural memory of famous TV tunes as opposed to recent shows. Back in the '60s, for example, a typical series produced around 39 episodes per season, whereas today the number averages 22, according to Brownstein. Hit shows like "Gunsmoke" ran up to 20 years. But there were also fewer shows on, and three major networks (ABC, CBS and NBC) dominated the airwaves in a time before cable television.
Brownstein also revealed that an hour-long show in the '60s ran for 52 to 54 minutes. Today an hour-long show lasts approximately 40 to 42, which means a third of the viewing time is commercials that slice into narrative time. And with more hour-long dramas and fewer sitcoms being produced, there has been an increase in original soundtrack material during shows, especially with cinematic entries like "Lost," "Heroes" and "Battlestar Galactica" playing out like mini-movies, with music helping to maintain the narrative tension and ease viewers back in from jarring commercial breaks.
"Looking across the board at our shows, I was expecting to see that trend [of diminishing title themes], but most of our shows still have a main title song," observes Erin Gough Wehrenberg, executive vice president of current series for NBC. "It's a different kind of main title song. It's not like the 'Two And A Half Men' song or the 'Friends' theme song, which was written for that show with lyrics that reflect the theme of the show, but a show like 'Friday Night Lights' has a very specific opening that is 35 to 40 seconds long and uses music that is very indicative of the show. Anytime I hear that music, I immediately think of 'Friday Night Lights.'"
Wehrenberg also points out that the recent comedy "30 Rock" "has a very specific title choice for the music that they have. There's a tongue-in-cheek, retro feel to the music that they wanted for a very specific reason."
Cable shows like "Deadwood" and "The Sopranos" can devote more time to opening sequences since the shows air without commercial breaks. "Then again the actual amount of music that is in a [network] show like 'Heroes' averages 30 minutes a week," remarks Wendy Melvoin, half of the music team of Wendy & Lisa, former Prince band members who now score "Heroes" and "Crossing Jordan." "That's a lot of music for a 42-minute show. So to output that kind of music that quickly… kind of balances out that your title sequence is kind of short."
"The main title is viewed as prime real estate to mess around and get rid of it and put more explosions and babes and whatever you need to [influence people] to choose to watch that show," quips "Battlestar Galactica" composer Bear McCreary. "Ultimately I think the main titles are more useful for people that are already watching the show. The fans really like the main title because it’s familiar, and we get used to it. For me the greatest theme songs are 'The A-Team' and 'Magnum, P.I.' and stuff from the '80s that you hear and definitely know what it is. I'll watch an entire show just because it's got a good theme song, but I'm in the minority, I think."
"When you're trying to tell a story, why would you want a minute taken up with a theme song when you can just have a logo and move on?" offers Gord Lacey, creator of TVShowsOnDVD.com. "We actually watch TV to watch the show not to hear the theme." As someone who watches most of his television in DVD form, Lacey finds himself skipping themes so he can get to the main event. "If I watch 22 episodes over a few days, I get really pissed off at studios if I can't skip the theme song. I prefer it when there's not a long, drawn out theme song."
Lisa Coleman, the other half of Wendy & Lisa and co-composer of "Heroes," remarks that some network executives even get nervous about recap music. "They want it to be more action oriented, and on 'Heroes' we tend to be counterintuitive with our action scenes," Coleman explains. "We don't actually play much action music. We go dreamier with it. But at the beginning of the show they really want to draw you in and have fast drums…"
While it has been recognized that music is essential to a program in one form or another, in the halcyon days of network TV, even in the '80s, the theme was as important in branding a show as its title, premise and characters. "Frankly I think television seems to be going the wrong way," believes McCreary, who studied at USC under Joseph Harnell, the Emmy-nominated composer for "The Incredible Hulk." "I think if you really want to get people's attention, a really good, catchy song is the way to do it."
"I think if you get a piece of music that is already strongly identifiable, like the way 'CSI' has used the Who music, I think that shows are willing to make the exception and to devote the time to the credits because they know it's part of the show's brand and part of the image," states Battaglio. "But to do a theme today that would be new and would somehow break through and become a part of a culture would be very tough."
(Bryan Reesman is a New York-based freelance writer.)
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