THEME = TV songs: “Family Ties”, “The Flintstones” & “Friends”
This week’s edition features 3 family favorites….
#1 “Family Ties” | 09/22/1982 – 05/14/1989
This series theme, “Without Us”, was composed by Jeff Barry & Tom Scott in 1982. During Season 1, the shortened opening version was sung by Dennis Tufano & Mindy Sterling; for the rest of the show’s seasons, Johnny Mathis & Deniece Williams provided the well-known vocals. This instrumental of the full song is by the London Starlight Orchestra.
FYI: Gary David Goldberg created this series, reflecting the transition from the 1960s & 1970s to the 1980s. Set in suburban Columbus OH, this series featured Meredith Baxter-Birney, Michael Gross, Michael J Fox, Justine Bateman, Tina Yothers, Brian Bonsall, Marc Price, Scott Valentine, Tracy Pollan & Courteney Cox. Among the guest stars: Dick Sargent, Judith Light, Tom Hanks, Geena Davis, River Phoenix, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Christina Applegate & Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Goldberg didn’t plan it, but “Family Ties” became a comic reversal of “All In The Family” (conservative parents; liberal children).
#2 “The Flintstones” | ABC | 09/30/1960 – 04/01/1966
The opening & closing credits for Seasons 1 & 2 was “Rise & Shine”, an instrumental that accompanied Fred on his drive home from work. Starting in Season 3, the opening & closing credits switched to the familiar “Meet The Flintstones”, partly because the original theme resembled the theme of “The Bugs Bunny Show” which also aired on ABC at the time. The familiar tune was recorded with a 22-piece jazz band & a 5-voice singing group, Skip Jacks. The melody was derived from part of the ‘B’ section of Beethoven’s Piano Sonata #17, Movement 2. The B-52’s recorded a cover of it for the 1994 movie.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdX6fwfrULI
FYI: until “The Simpsons”, this series was the most-financially successful network animated franchise for 3 decades. Since the original 6-season series, the franchise has featured 11 more TV series (between 1971 & 1996), 11 TV specials (between 1977 & 1993), 5 TV movies (between 1987 & 2001), 1 animated film & 2 live-action films (1994’s ‘The Flintstones’ & 2000’s ‘The Flintstones In Viva Rock Vegas’).
#3 “Friends” | 09/22/1994 – 05/06/2004
Co-written by series producers David Crane & Marta Kauffman, along with Michael Skloff, Allee Willis, Phil Solem & Danny Wilde, this theme was original offered to They Might Be Giants & R.E.M. Originally, the theme was under a minute long. But, after Program Director Charlie Quinn & Radio Announcer-Music Director Tom Peace looped the short version into a full-length track & broadcast it on WYHY (Nashville TN), it became so popular that the song was re-recorded as a 3-minute pop song & officially released 05/01/1995 from The Rembrandts’ album ‘LP’. It later peaked at #17 on the Billboard Hot 100, #1 on the Adult Contemporary & #23 on the Modern Rock Tracks charts. Internationally, it reached the Top 10 in 7 other countries: Canada (#1), Australia (#3), New Zealand (#3), England (#3), Ireland (#5), Norway (#5) & Belgium (#10).
FYI: this series was originally named “Insomnia Cafe”, then changed to “Friends Like Us” before settling on the familiar 1-word title. 6 main characters: Rachel Green (Jennifer Aniston), Monica Geller (Courteney Cox), Phoebe Buffay (Lisa Kudrow), Joey Tribbiani (Matt LeBlanc), Chandler Bing (Matthew Perry) & Ross Geller (David Schwimmer). Similar to “Cheers” appearing on “The Tonight Show” after its series finale, “Friends” Central Perk coffee house provided the set for “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno” after the series finale.