TV Themes - Police Stories & Westerns
Those who grew up at a time where Western movies, War and Police & Detective stories were the diet were fed on television and in the cinemas with not much to choose from. When you turned to Chinese movies they were all sword-fighting sagas. Television was the main source of entertainment and if you have one at home, you can't complain albeit a very small one. Those were times where many who could not afford one have to find their way to a community centre, sitting on benches to watch TV in the open. From time to time, they may screen some movies in the open on a big screen.
Friends in school, siblings or cousins will also talk about the TV series when they met. As there were only very few programmes, you can actually remember the line ups from Mondays to Fridays, then Saturdays and Sundays. You remember the characters in the TV series and at the time the programme came on, you are just too familiar with the catchy and unique Theme song and music of each one. I am very sure that if you survived that era, you will remember vividly some of these themes. Let me take you down Memory Lane with some unforgettable TV series and their themes.
Hawaii Five-O
Steve McGarett (Jack Lord) and Daniel where the catch phrase is "Book him Danno". Till this day, Hawaii Five-O, a CBS production created by Leonard Freeman with the theme music composed by Morten Stevens has been immortalised. Of course there was Chin Ho and Kono. A new movie is in the making but it was the theme music that inspires anytime. We have played this as a signature tune in the school stage band. The music sounds as sweet and powerful today as it was when it screened for twelve seasons from 1968 to 1980. It was the longest-running crime show on American TV until 2003. I still feel the adrenalin rush each time I hear it. Maybe it has to do with the band where we used to perform it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LnK8b_jk8w&NR=1
Police Story
Hawaii Five-O
Steve McGarett (Jack Lord) and Daniel where the catch phrase is "Book him Danno". Till this day, Hawaii Five-O, a CBS production created by Leonard Freeman with the theme music composed by Morten Stevens has been immortalised. Of course there was Chin Ho and Kono. A new movie is in the making but it was the theme music that inspires anytime. We have played this as a signature tune in the school stage band. The music sounds as sweet and powerful today as it was when it screened for twelve seasons from 1968 to 1980. It was the longest-running crime show on American TV until 2003. I still feel the adrenalin rush each time I hear it. Maybe it has to do with the band where we used to perform it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LnK8b_jk8w&NR=1
Police Story
Police Story was an anthology always featuring a police officer of the LAPD with the setting in Los Angeles. The stories were always good. Scott Brady, Vic Morrow and Tony Bianco starred. It also generated spin-offs like Police Woman which starred Angie Dickinson and Man Undercover which starred David Cassidy. Police Story evolved into TV-movies and a precursor to others like NYPD Blue. Here's the simple but well-remembered tune from the theme:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RcE8HDDVjo
Police Women
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RcE8HDDVjo
Police Women
Angie Dickinson was hot in the starring role of an undercover agent. Its success led to other programmes like Charlie's Angels and Wonder Woman.
Special Weapons And Tactics (SWAT) was a 70s series which starred Steve Forrest and Robert Urich. The fast tempo theme music was a favourite.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Iwp1d7eKbA&feature=relatedA Team
The A Team was an 80s series about a group of ex US Special Forces who work as Soldiers of Fortune.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyz_2DEah4o&feature=related
Magnum GI
Mustachioed Tom Selleck starred as Thomas Magnum the P.I. and was one of the highest rated show on US Television.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64GyuozXtnQ&feature=related
Dan August
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64GyuozXtnQ&feature=related
Dan August
Dan August starred Burt Reynolds in a short-lived 70-71 series as police lieutenant investigating homicide. The reruns were more popular when Reynolds' movie career soared.
The Six Million Dollar Man
Starred Lee Majors as Steve Austin which also spawned off with the Bionic Woman.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7zNY0I5JNI
Ironside
Raymond Burr starred as the wheel-chaired Detective Chief - Robert T. Ironside of the San Francisco Police Dept. (SFPD) from 1967-1975. Doesn't he influence the current day Patrick Stewart as Professor Charles Xavier in X-Men? Here's Quincy Jones's music as theme:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNS0u6USBT8
Mannix
Mannix ran from 1967 to 1975 and starred Mike Connors. He was the coolest guy around as he got kicked and punched silly. Shot at, ran off the roads by cars, chased by helicopters. For 8 years! Phew!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CF_49tWPNWA&feature=related
Kojak
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CF_49tWPNWA&feature=related
Kojak
It starred Telly Savalas from 73-78 replacing the popular Cannon series as Lt. Theo Kojak. His hairstyle is quite popular these days.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1z-3vP9HQ-E&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1z-3vP9HQ-E&feature=related
The Rockford Files
Aired on NBC TV from 74-80 and starred James Garner as PI Jim Rockford. The series' theme shot to the Billboard Hot100 and stayed for 44 weeks and won a Grammy.
At the time this was a very slick and stylish Spy-Fi genre that starred Patrick MacNee (John Steed) & Diana Rigg (everybody loves Diana Rigg who went on to be a Bond girl) from 1961 to 1969. They resurrected the show as The New Avengers with Patrick MacNee reprising but Joan Lumley replaced Diana Rigg. I remembered this fondly because grandma would buy some "pao" and "siew mai" for the children as the hawker comes at this time slot every week on a motor bike. Try char siew pao with chilli, that's a real revenge. I like (say with a grin).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0YOlU3SMgs&feature=related
The Saint
I know many of you love Roger Moore who was The Saint, Simon Templar way back before he became James Bond (62-69). He was the smooth and suave Robin Hood type adventurer who frequently disguised himself. He's probably the Saint as Simon Templar's initial was ST. It has a trademark logo with the simple skeletal shape of a man with a halo above the head.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3x2MHT1Q7E&feature=related
The Streets of San Francisco
This show ran from 72-77 and starred would you believe it Michael Douglas. Many actors guest-starred in the series who would later become famous and successful in their own rights - Leslie Nielsen, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Robert Wagner, Nick Nolte, Tom Selleck, Martin Sheen, Paul Michael Glaser, Bill Bixby (Incredible Hulk) and David Soul.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_P7_jSDF9yw&feature=related
Men From UNCLE
From 64-68, we followed the exploits of two secret agents played by Robert Vaughn and David McCullum who works for U.N.C.L.E. (United Network Command for Law and Enforcement). James Bond creator Ian Fleming contributed. Napoleon Solo the good guy versus Russian bad guy Illya Kuryakin. Intriguing names and Bond-like.
Mike Hammer
Here is one guy who is unpretentious. What you see is what you get. Stacey Keach as Mike Hammer.
Miami Vice
Produced by Michael Mann for NBC, there is no sleeker set than this. Music and visual effects were in abundance. It starred the stylish Don Johnson (Sonny Crockett) and Philip Michael Thomas (Rico Tubbs) and ran from 84-89. It's like the New Wave of the 80s. Beautiful scenery, colours, sports cars and music were the order of the day. T-shirts under Armani jackets, linen pants and slip on loafers = Cool and Sleek! My kind of guy! Here Jan Hammer's gave us a hint:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGkurWAXgZs&feature=related
Starsky & Hutch
Ran from 75-79, it starred Paul Michael Glaser and David Soul (the singer). Yes! They used a red Gran Torino in this show.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PCyMsCq0Cw&feature=related
CSI
Crime Scene Investigation (CSI) began screening in 2000 produced by Jerry Bruckheimer. The other spin-offs are CSI: Miami and CSI: NY. The show was criticised for its graphic violence, images and some sexual content and inaccurate portrayal of how police solve crimes but it was the most watched show on TV by 2002. Intriguing gadgets some of which may not have been invented made them somewhat like sci-fi thriller. They always have unusual camera angles and plenty of graphic portrayal of knife and bullet trajectories, how blood would spray and organs were damaged, etc. Very sleek. CSI: Miami has Horatio Caine (David Caruso of NYPD Blue) as their leader. Well, maybe in Miami things are always sleeker.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPlvB5h6jXw (NY)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5NQlpZp238&feature=related (Miami)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sarYH0z948 (Scenes from CSI Miami)
The Lone Ranger
Clayton Moore starred as the Lone Ranger and Jay Silverheels as Tonto (49-51, 54-57). Lone Ranger is a masked cowboy (in grey garb and black belt, gloves and mask with a red hanky round the neck and a white hat) in the American old West who gallops on his clever white horse Silver (like Zorro) fighting injustices with the aid of a clever American Indian called Tonto. Tonto addressed the Lone Ranger as "Kimosabe" which means Trusty Scout or Faithful Friend. There was a joke that one day Lone Ranger and Tonto was surrounded by Indians in the plains and LR said: "Tonto, we have been surrounded by Red Indians" and Tonto replied: "What do you mean we, Kimosabe?"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxIuIxqo2So&feature=related
The Rifleman
Chuck Connors starred as Lucas McCain set in 1880s New Mexico and ran from 58-63. I'm not really that old but when such films did come here, it may have been some years later. He has a special rifle with trigger mechanism for rapid fire shots. An upright man with his son fighting for fair play.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkM0NT4YMlo&NR=1
Bonanza
From 59-73, an incredibly long time and one of the longest running TV Westerns. Starred Lorne Greene, Dan Blocker and Michael Landon as the Cartwright family. Pernell Roberts played Adam, Dan Blocker as Hoss and Landon as Little Joe. It's a family thing confronting issues while living on a land called Ponderosa in Nevada. Well, the theme music is fabulous as it rang for many years in our ears. Catch it:
Bat Masterson
From 58-61 about a marshal. I remembered only because he used a cane hence the name Bat rather than a gun.
Daniel Boone
About an adventurer and ran on TV from 64-70. Played by Fess Parker who also played as Davy Crockett. His trademark was a racoon skin cap with a tail. Do that today and he'll get hammered by animal rights groups.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrLx-Jqm980&feature=relatedGunsmoke
Ran from 55-75, the longest running prime time drama with stories unfolding in Kansas during cattle days of the 1870s and starred William Conrad.
Davy Crockett
David Crockett was a real American folk hero and called King of The Wild Frontier. He became a politician in Tennessee.
Combat
A great war serial with Vic Morrow (Sergeant) and Rick Jason (Lieutenant) which ran from 62-67. Who would forget this about American soldiers in France during World War II? The cast members were real veteran soldiers. Listen to the unforgettable theme:
Rin Tin Tin
Rin Tin Tin was actually a German Shepherd dog and life in the US Calvary Post.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5hB3sDbMSo&feature=related
Twilight Zone
It can't be complete without some horrors and mysteries. Twilight Zone was the X-File of days gone by. Ran from 84-85, think of it as ET meets Poltergeist meets X-File. Cetainly, you will be delighted by the theme music/song.
Others
The Green Hornethttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIwsqFjfKPs
See Bruce Lee in action:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsO7Xr6njMA&NR=1
The Young and Restless
I never get tired of this song. It transmits lots of energy and feelings of days gone by - of places and faces. I am sure you will love it in its different version.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUFQ4Fmy8FI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kOMkKpGVYw&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1_xDytEB1Q&feature=related
Why do I show you all these? A childhood memory remembered. How time flies. Memories of old flood through my entire mind as I went through preparing it. I thought of places, people and faces. Nostalgia at its very best. There is no time for anger or unhappiness. All things shall come to pass. My eyes are welling up and I just can' explain it. Hope you will really enjoy it as I have actually been searching music stores for these on CD for quite some time.
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