The 12 Best TV Theme Songs from Current Shows

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Next Monday we'll look at the Best TV Theme Songs of All Time. But while we lament the lack of a Cheers or M*A*S*H or Sanford & Son theme song in today's TV landscape, we've picked our 12 favorite theme songs from TV shows that are still in production. In the era of TiVo, the little ditties opening today's shows seem to be littler and dittier than their predecessors (I guess if people are going to fast forward through them anyway, why spend the effort?). But here are 12 that make us put down that remote:

[note: Sesame Street would have made this list until I realized they've pretty much ruined it.]

12. Friday Night Lights - W.G. "Snuffy" Walden
Veteran TV composer W.G. "Snuffy" Walden has scored music for a long list of TV shows, including thirtysomething, The Wonder Years, Roseanne, Ellen, My So-Called Life, Felicity and all three of Aaron Sorkin's masterpieces. For FNL, I just hope the former Windham Hill journeyman is sharing his royalty check with Explosions in the Sky, whose "Your Hand in Mind" featured prominently in the film the show was based on. The style and melody sound like a more accessible version of the Texas post-rockers' atmospheric riffing. Still, it's a great opening to a show that's not just for the booster-club set. [Thanks, Spencer, for the correction. And thanks, subversiveIRONY, for this YouTube mash-up with Coach.]


11. Chuck - "Short Skirt/Long Jacket" by Cake
The music supervisors at NBC used songs by The National and Bon Iver in the same episode, and they nail the opening credits with an instrumental version of Cake's "Short Skirt/Long Jacket."