Encyclopedia of Television Theme Songs

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Product Description

Featuring 1,000 detailed entries, this encylopedia examines the phenomenon of television theme songs. Organized alphabetically by TV series from The A-Team to Zorro, the individual themes are designated by title, composer, lyricist and performer, with an analysis of how the theme captured the show's spirit. Each entry also includes the series' cast credits, its network, the years of its original run, and an in-depth program description.
Fascinating facts and anecdotes about each theme song are included, along with an assessment of its popularity, and (whenever appropriate) a list of industry awards that the song has won. Devotees of the captivating and oftimes unforgettable themes for such series as The Brady Bunch, Gilligan's Island, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Rawhide and Scooby-Doo have a genuine treat in store.

Encyclopedia of Television Theme Songs Review

I love TV themes. So imagine my joy when I heard that a book devoted to just TV theme songs had been released. Unfortunately, this book was not the comprehensive guide I had hoped for. First of all, I applaud Mr. Robinson for actually producing a book on a subject that is slowly facing extinction and, to its credit, there are some facts that I was unaware of and found very interesting but in lieu of many of the mistakes in the book, I'm not sure how credible those facts are. A couple of glaring errors that show up are:

-In the introduction, the author states, "...Rhoda had an instrumental theme song by Henrietta and Lorenzo Music...", but in the actual listing, it credits the theme (rightfully) to Billy Goldenberg.
-In the listing for Green Acres (1965), the author states, "Green Acres was the first TV sitcom to have its stars sing its theme song". In a previous listing for the sitcom, The Bing Crosby Show (1964), he states that Bing Crosby performed the theme - one year before Green Acres.

Now, I understand that researching this topic can lead to frustration because records were poorly kept or just don't exist anymore but some of the information is not that hard to find and, in some cases, available on the net from multiple sources.

-Good Morning, America had more than one theme. The first one that was used for 12 years was composed by the late Marvin Hamlisch.
-Love American Style's first season theme was performed by the Cowsills and the second season was performed by the Charles Fox Singers.
-Starsky and Hutch had 3 different themes! First season by Lalo Schifrin, second season by Tom Scott ("Gotcha" - the one most associated with the show), third season by Mark Snow and fourth season back to Tom Scott's "Gotcha"

People may think I'm nitpicking but if you're going to write a book on a subject, you should be thorough, right?

Not all TV series are represented here. As he states in his introduction, "For the sake of the book's length and content, that was impossible,...". That is an understandable concession. still, being a reference book on TV themes, it curious that the author spends more ink on the series descriptions than on the music. In some cases, relegating the music to side note status with phrases like "this jaunty little ditty was written by...". Maybe more shows could have been added had he reduced, or completely done away with, these descriptions. After all, that info is widely available in books such as "The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network TV Shows".

In some descriptions, the author states who wrote the theme but completely ignores the performer(s):
-The Bob Newhart Show theme was written by Henrietta and Lorenzo Music but was performed by uncredited co-composer Patrick Williams.
-Alfred Hitchcock Presents/Hour was written by Charles Gounod but was performed by such notables as Bernard Herrmann, Lyn Murray & Stanley Wilson.
-Archie Bunker's Place, performed by Ray Conniff (who recorded the version on one of his albums).
-Bewitched, performed by Warren Barker for the entire run of the show.
-Car 54, where are you?, performed by John Strauss who, incidentally, wrote the music (Nat Hiken, who the author credits as writing the theme, penned the lyrics only).
Speaking of lyrics, in the listing for That Girl, the theme is said to be composed by Hagen and Denoff. This is true, but it would have been interesting to note that Earle Hagen wrote the theme initially and Sam Denoff added the lyrics when the show entered it's fifth season.

*Also, speaking of performers, two obscure facts that are worth mentioning:
-The Andy Griffith Show, composer Earle Hagen was the whistler on the theme.
-The Addams Family, was not performed by studio musicians but by the composer Vic Mizzy (vocals were doubled up) due to budget concerns. Ted Cassidy's vocals were added after.

In a lot of the listings the author lists the different versions of the shows theme (as in The Brady Bunch, Gilligan's Island, etc.) but sometimes the author only refers to one of the themes that were written for a show which is very inconsistent. Here are some omissions that should have been included:

-Julia, 3rd season theme by Jeff Alexander (lyrics were written but only an instrumental was used)
-Land Of The Giants, 2 different themes by John Williams
-The Little People, vocal theme ("A Little Love"(?) by Jerry Fielding. The Brian Keith Show, instrumental theme by Artie Butler.
-The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo's 2nd season (renamed Lobo) used the song "Georgia on my Mind" performed by Robert Jason.
-The Partridge Family, one song but 1st season "When We're Singin' had lyrics by Diane Hildebrand and the 2nd to 4th seasons "Come on get Happy" had lyrics by Danny Janssen. (oh, and "sung by the cast"? Only David Cassidy sang on the theme. The same goes for the Monkees theme - only Micky Dolenz sang on that opening).
-Seinfeld, 1st theme by Jep Epstein.
-That's My Mama had a 2nd season theme that was different and was a vocal theme.
-Wonder Woman's 2nd and 3rd season theme was mostly instrumental, only including the words "Wonder Woman" and none of the other lyrics.
-The Phil Donahue Show, had at least 3 themes, the original from the 70's, Mike Post's "Silver Fox" in the 80's and Don Grady's "The Human Voice" in the 90's
-Baretta, 1st season was an instrumental version of the theme.

Some statements are just wrong.
-The Green Hornet TV theme is not "Flight of the Bumblebee" (that was used for the radio program). The theme for the show was an original composition by Billy May and was merely inspired by that tune.
-The Harlem Globetrotters Saturday morning cartoon show theme was written by Jeff Barry not Ted Nichols.

No reference book is perfect and my goal is not to suck all the fun out of the subject but I just felt that some of these problems should be brought up if this book is claiming to be an encyclopedia. I'm giving it 3 stars because this book is still valid as a source of information but may need to be taken with a grain of salt.

For more information on this subject, I recommend some of these other books as well (if you can find them):
TV's Biggest Hits by Jon Burlingame
Television Theme Recordings by Steve Gelfand
TV Theme Soundtrack Directory by Craig W. Pattillo

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