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Top Ten TV Themes
Favorite horn music from boob tube themes.*
A few weeks ago I featured a series of “Horn-tastic” television series themes – American TV show themes where the French horn is prominent or featured.
This first five in the list below come from the original series; rather than rewriting the descriptive text, links are provided to the original posts.
The last five are new to make a brand-spanking new “top ten” list.
Again, these are in no particular order:
2.) Dallas
5.) The Adventures of Robin Hood
6.) Little House on the Prairie
A simple four-note solo horn starts it off. After this the solo horn doubles the melody throughout. The simple melody reflects the video – the simple times of a child dancing in the field.
7.) Xena, Warrior Princess This and the theme to Falcon Crest (#8) feature the horn not so much melodically, but as a means to establish the mood and atmosphere of the show. This campy spin-off show from an equally campy Hercules series featured a pulsing, odd-meter theme that hints of exoticism and ancient times.
8.) Falcon Crest
This show was basically a copycat of the Dallas – another wealthy and powerful family is featured – behaving badly of course. The horn is not used melodically so much as a background or platform for the main melody to soar upon.
9.) Fantasy Island
An exotic island where your wishes come true. The late Ricardo Montalban (a.k.a. Kh-aaaan!) starred in this one. The horn theme soars like Strauss’ Don Juan (who happens to meet Don Ho along the way).
Boss! Zee plane!
Honorable Mentions:
- Homicide
One cool horn lick, that gets passed around the brass but not much else. - Johnny Quest (original 1965 end credits)
Ha – no horns at all in this one, but this theme is just too frickin’ awesome. This is some hot lead trumpet playing (a double G at the end), and great flute and trombone solos during the underwater segments. The video below is of very low quality (bad stuttering), but it will give you an idea. Be sure to also check out the opening titles version.
*Source for these themes: TelevisionTunes.com and YouTube.com
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