Discussion » Questions » Television and Movies » Which TV series’ theme music or theme songs changed over the various seasons of the shows’ runs?
Randy D

Which TV series’ theme music or theme songs changed over the various seasons of the shows’ runs?

  I have been binge-watching several different favorite TV shows, and for the purposes of this post, I will use one particular show as an example: “Alfred Hitchcock Presents” (beginning in 1956). I fondly remember watching its reruns every now and then as a child, then sometimes throughout my teens, and later into my young adult years. The sound of the theme music is indelibly etched in my memory banks. 

  As I was watching the second season’s reruns tonight, it occurred to me that even though the theme sound has no lyrics, it’s just music, I don’t remember it ever having changed over the years. I’m fortunate in that I’m seeing the episodes in chronological order, so as I reacquaint myself with the show, it’s possible that later seasons just may have changes in the theme music, but I think that’s unlikely. An extension of those thoughts led me to wondering about other shows where that might have been the case, such as “Gilligan’s Island”, where the original theme song only named five of the seven characters, in later seasons, the Professor and Maryann were added to the lyrical line-up.

  So here’s the question: what are some TV series’ theme music or theme songs changed over the various seasons of the shows’ runs? You may name ant show or shows that was/were episodic or recurring in nature, of any genre (sitcom, drama, soap opera, animated, news, sports, reality, game shows, satire, documentary, variety shows, etc.). They may cover any  time period, country, location, etc.
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Posted - November 10, 2021
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Responses


  • 23650

    "The Brady Bunch"  -- the first season did not have "The Brady Children" singing the theme song.

    I prefer the Brady children had kept silent and let the first season's singers sing it. 



    First season:





      November 10, 2021 8:29 PM MST
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  • 23650
    I'm unsure but I believe "The Twilight Zone" had several different opening themes before "they" decided on that really famous theme. (I like the other openings better than the famous theme.)

    :)
      November 10, 2021 8:53 PM MST
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  • 17620
    Midsomer Murders.  I loved the theme and it changed over the many years but  it stayed the same as well. 
      November 10, 2021 10:16 PM MST
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  • 53526



      How did it both change and remain the same?



    ~

      November 10, 2021 11:45 PM MST
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  • 17620
    You've never heard different arrangements of a song?
      November 11, 2021 1:44 PM MST
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  • 53526

     

      That’s not what you wrote. Had you been more specific in your meaning than “changed yet the same”, it might not have called for questioning.  There’s absolutely no way to read your mind and infer from what you wrote that you meant the arrangement of the theme is what was changed while other aspects of it were the same. Thank you for clarifying. 
    ~

      November 11, 2021 2:01 PM MST
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  • 6023
    Doctor Who.
    The theme has changed multiple times since 1963.
    Generally, it changes each time there is a new actor portraying the lead character.
      November 11, 2021 7:04 AM MST
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  • 16838
    The basic theme remains the same, the arrangement changes. Similar to Thrifty's answer.
      November 11, 2021 3:15 PM MST
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  • 6023
    Yep.
    I have recordings of all the themes.
    It's interesting how the arrangement changes over the decades.
      November 12, 2021 6:55 AM MST
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  • 16838
    Do current affairs documentaries count? The Australian Broadcasting Commission's Four Corners has aired weekly for sixty years. After using a generic bass line for the first few shows, it adopted Robert Maxwell's Lost Patrol as its theme throughout the sixties and seventies, then changed to the more sombre theme still in use today.

      November 13, 2021 1:10 AM MST
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  • 53526

    Yes, as stated above, documentaries are included. I’m not at all familiar with the Australian one that you named, but it’s a series and a documentary. 

    ~

      November 13, 2021 1:35 AM MST
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