Thursday, December 14, 2006

Closing Theme Songs

I'll have more on WKRP in Cincinnati as more information trickles out about the DVD release, but for now I wanted to add just one little thing. I was surprised, looking at a comment on a message board, to discover that people are still asking about the lyrics to the closing theme song. So I will link to this interview clip with the guy who wrote and sang the closing theme, Jimmy Ellis, who explains very clearly that the whole thing is gibberish.

And speaking of closing theme songs, what are some other shows that have a different theme in the closing credits than in the opening? All in the Family is one that comes to mind. Arrested Development, Remington Steele after the first season... others?

Here, by the way, is the WKRP closing theme, complete with the MTM kitten and those MTM picture credits for cast members:



15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Red Dwarf had a different opening and closing music in the earlier seasons. In later ones, they had a non-lyric-ed version of the closing song as the opening, I forget what they did at the back end.

Tony said...

The second season of "The Monkees" had a different closing theme.

Stephen said...

"Gilmore Girls" has always had different music over the opening and closing credits.

Anonymous said...

Deadwood, while it always has the same opening, actually has a completely different song for the end credits every EPISODE. One of the many reasons that show is so good.

Mike said...

Freaks and Geeks had a different ending theme song. Gilligan's Island and Beverly Hillbillies had different words, but the tune stayed the same. Also, I *think* the Scrubs one is different, but it also might be an instrumental version of "I'm no superman." (There is only such a short snippet of the song played during the opening, it's tough to be sure if the ending's an instrumental or not.)

Anonymous said...

Going a-ways back, the 1952-54 and the 1955-56 seasons of "The Burns and Allen Show" and all but the final season on TV of "The Jack Benny Show" utilized different opening and closing music, with the opening being the familiar music associated with the character(s). The other seasons for B&A used "Love Nest" in both the opening and closing. And the first two seasons (the good ones) of "Happy Days" used "Rock Around the Clock" as the opening and the show's more familiar theme song for the closing credits.

Alina Adams said...

Kate & Allie did, as well.

The last line was "Just when you think you're all by yourself, you're not..."

Some announcer was always talking over credits. I always wanted to hear the whole thing.

Rays profile said...

"Murphy Brown" always used a different Motown song over the opening, then had its own music for the closing credits. (Would've posted this yesterday but the scrabble word verification wasn't working.)

Rays profile said...

And as I sent that, I remembered another - the network version of "What's My Line" had various opening themes but always used the same closing music, a string piece called "Rollercoaster."

Anonymous said...

"Frasier" as well, which used various short jazz-riff openings, and the "Tossed Salad and Scrambled Eggs" song (sung by Kelsey Grammer) only at the episodes' end.

Anonymous said...

"Land of the Lost" had a different closing theme, with lyrics. I always liked the closer a little better, in fact...

Anonymous said...

Virtually every anime series has a different closing song from opening song, and those that run more than one season usually introduce new songs when they do.

Mike said...

The Wire has different themes.

Anonymous said...

Shark and Star Trek Enterprise have different theme songs, as does The Apprentice

Anonymous said...

Don't for Dragnet