Soundtracks to Copaganda

As a kid I *really* liked this theme (not enough to shell out for a 45 of it, but tbf I was seven years old when the show premiered and by the time I was in a position to buy records it was no longer on the charts).

The theme tune was released as a single and spent 16 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, rising as high as #10.
I don't know what kind of synth Mike Post used for the first part of the tune, but it transitions well to the harmonica and then the sort of country-rock guitar.

YouTube video by 1000 Mission Street The Rockford Files Season 1 Intro

THE ROCKFORD FILES (1974-80) gave James Garner his first TV his since MAVERICK, in the role of an ex-con (wrongfully convicted and pardoned) PI working low-rent cases in Southern California and living in a trailer. Very mid-70s.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1zY...

HART TO HART was created by Sidney Sheldon, who had written a thing or two about preposterous rich people (and, speaking of preposterous, also came up with THE PATTY DUKE SHOW and I DREAM OF JEANNIE).

It's not a given, but I've found that in general the likelihood of an opening expository narration is proportional to the preposterousness of the show's premise.

YouTube video by 11db11 Hart to Hart Theme (Intro & Outro)

HART TO HART (1979-84) belongs in the same "rich people solve crimes" subgenre as MATT HOUSTON (and Batman, I guess), but was more successful. Note the use of strings here to suggest luxe (and perhaps femininity, Stefanie Powers being a lead)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kPv...

Oops, forgot the run dates: 1976-81, during which five seasons there were three major cast changes. (Farrah Fawcett left after s1, replaced by Cheryl Ladd; Kate Jackson was fired after s3 and was replaced by Shelly Hack, who in turn was replaced by Tanya Roberts for s5.)

(Actually I already posted MATT HOUSTON back in September, but there'll be others, fear not.)

Another instance of (male) composers (Jack Elliott and Allyn Ferguson) using strings to signal femininity.
(Cop show composers also used them to connote luxe, which we'll see in future posts.)

YouTube video by The Rap Sheet "Charlie's Angels" 1976 TV Intro

Sweeping horns and strings laid over a disco beat make the CHARLIE'S ANGELS theme one of the most 1970s things ever.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtaE...

Sadly, the *music* and the opening animation are pure horse opera, as if the producers were worried about scaring off some of their audience by putting the gonzo content on the packaging. It's fine, but a real missed opportunity if you ask me.

YouTube video by The Rap Sheet "The Wild Wild West" TV Intro

Like superhero stories, Westerns often embody law-enforcement themes but have their own set of tropes, so OI haven't been super interested in posting any music from them. One exception is WILD WILD WEST, because "science fiction spy Western."

www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuCu...

Producer William Dozier was hoping to capitalize on the success of BATMAN with this show, but the more serious tone didn't catch on (though it did help catapult Bruce Lee to fame in the US).

jazzy brass fanfare. The result goes *hard.*

"Flight of the Bumblebee" had been the Hornet's theme music since the radio show of the '30s, but Billy May's arrangement gives it an extra wallop by sandwiching the Rimsky-Korsakov trumpet solo (played by Al Hirt) between a jazzy rhythm section (driven by an upright bass) and an equally (cont.)

YouTube video by tvradiodude Green Hornet Open

I've been steering clear of superhero stuff so far because it's a totally different vibe, but I do want to post THE GREEN HORNET (1966-7).

www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIws...

*and of course in turn followed MOD SQUAD, duh

The premise foreshadowed 21 JUMP STREET in that Cassidy's assignments usually had him infiltrating young people's spaces. It only ran six episodes.
The pop-soul theme song was apparently sung by Cassidy and suggests he wasn't trying *that* hard to escape the shadow of Keith.

YouTube video by The Rap Sheet "David Cassidy: Man Undercover" TV Intro

A less successful POLICE STORY spinoff was DAVID CASSIDY, MAN UNDERCOVER (1978), in which the former Keith Partridge tried to shake his teen-idol image through the time-honored vehicle of a police procedural.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmFe...

This is one of my favorite cop-show themes; the suspenseful piano opening for the bump-and-grind rhythm section (including brass) overlaid with feminizing strings. Problematic? Absolutely, but I love it still.

YouTube video by TVTunes Quiz Police woman Intro

Occasionally a POLICE STORY episode would get spun off into its own series; the most successful of these was POLICE WOMAN (1974-78), starring Angie Dickinson as Sgt. Pepper Anderson, who mostly worked undercover in roles that often excused revealing costumes.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHmv...

Goldsmith's theme puts woodwinds over a funky rhythm section, leaving the brass for the big finish. It's more introspective than the usual procedural theme.

The series was noted for its realism; not having watched it, I can't say how often it tackled LAPD's deeper issues of racism, corruption and abuse of force.

YouTube video by 11db11 Police Story Theme (4 Different Versions)

POLICE STORY (1973-77) was an anthology series created by LAPD detective-turned-novelist Joseph Wambaugh. The full theme music only ran over the end credits; this video contains four different arrangements of Jerry Goldsmith's tune.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8WA...

(that's 118 weekly TV episodes vs. approximately 7.5 months or 30 weeks of raids and arrests)

The music is solid, basic cop-show stuff, heavy on the brass and bass drums.

YouTube video by The Rap Sheet "The Untouchables" (1959) TV Intro

THE UNTOUCHABLES (1959-63) ran approximately four times as long as Eliot Ness' historical operation against Al Capone's syndicate (counting Capone's conviction as the end date).

www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZTj...

The third new leg of the second season, FARADAY AND COMPANY, starred Dan Dailey as a PI who returned to LA after nearly three decades in a South American prison to find his son in the family trade. I have yet to find an intro clip.

YouTube video by Fuzziato MacGyver Intro Season 1

Speaking of MACGYVER (1985-92), Richard Dean Anderson's beloved action engineer had one of the most generic theme tunes I've ever listened to. Could easily run behind the credits of ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT or some half-hour sports highlight show.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hAg...

Eight episodes aired in the spring of 1988, but the show went on to find a cult following (though AFAICT it's never been released on video)

The theme music is entirely appropriate but also unmemorable, as if someone had programmed a synthesizer to create a generic classical piano etude.