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Have TV music themes lost their magic?

It has been argued that TV theme tunes and TV title sequence music has been decreasing in quality in the past decade. The article below argues that TV music themes have become unmemorable, tuneless and not in keeping with the sentiment of the programme. Director of hand-made-music.co.uk and professional TV composer Laura Callaghan, however, argues for the case of TV music. She claims that "TV music themes and TV title sequence music has to change with the times, and I think that there is now a lot of variety heard currently in TV music. Whilst I agree that some TV music themes are not catchy or tuneful in the traditional sense, they do hold the character of the programme to which they are associated." TV music should reflect the nature of the programme, Laura Callaghan suggests, "and the best example of fantastic, but tuneless, theme music is that from the American series, ‘Lost'. The TV composer Micheal Giacchino sums up the feel of the programme and yet doesn't have a distinct, or whistle-able tune." The debate continues...

Below is an article from The Associated Press, International Herald Tribune...

NEW YORK don't remember much about high school biology or physics. Couldn't tell ya how to compute a calculus problem. But, for the love of Will Smith, the theme song to "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" remains fresh in the mind.

Smith's catchy rap opened each episode of his hit '90s sitcom, in which he starred as a street-smart teen from Philly who moves in with wealthy relatives. A whole generation knows it by heart - that, and the "Saved by the Bell" song.

TV themes, from "The Beverly Hillbillies" to "The Brady Bunch" to "Cheers" to "Friends," conjure up memories of cozy nights, childhood bliss and a universal nostalgia for bygone days. But, today, show themes are doing a fast fade as the networks crunch their programming budgets.

Are they about to join the variety hour in the TV graveyard?

"It's a rarity today," TV historian Tim Brooks said of the catchy, tuneful opening. "It's kind of like the Broadway musical producing hit songs - it just doesn't do that anymore."

Back in the day, even into the '90s, shows usually had a "main title," a 40-to-60 second opening montage that introduced the cast and was often set to music written by a composer, said Jon Burlingame, author of "TV's Biggest Hits," a history of themes. Songs summed up what a show was all about, whether spinning the tale of how a group of wacky castaways ended up on "Gilligan's Island," telling how a spunky single career woman was "going to make it after all," or describing why six touchy-feely Manhattan singles were there for each other.

Read more about TV theme songs article.
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/10/20/america/...