TvThemes

One man bands have always creeped me out. They never brought joy or happiness to my life. Even as a very, very small (in height, not width) child, they always looked like steampunk jukeboxes trapped inside some kind of twisted mechanical music machine that mocked their every step with annoying oompah-pah tunes.

One man, or rather two of him, have changed my perception on that phobia forever. Musician Fredrik Larsson has put together a beautiful rendition of TVs greatest tunes using nothing but a keyboard, an acoustic guitar and a DNA perfect clone of himself.

Trust me when I tell you this: the 'Charles in Charge' theme never sounded this, well, listenable.


[via Buzzfeed]

I never heard of Vic Mizzy, but he was a professional songwriter who specialized in TV themes. Vic Mizzy passed away on Saturday at the age of 93. I may not have recognized his name, but I know Vic Mizzy's music... and I've had his tunes in my head for decades. Mizzy was the man who wrote two classic TV themes, Green Acres and The Addams Family. And they really were classic. To this day, I remember every word and can sing them at the drop of a hat (if you were wearing one and decided to drop it).

Mizzy had written songs that the likes of Dean Martin and Doris Day recorded, even the great Billie Holiday. But those TV themes are his legacy. That's not a bad thing. Mizzy made music that people remember because they were catchy themes attached to quirky series. And his songs were perfect because in 90 seconds or so, he captured the gist of the sitcom. Think about it:

If you're like me, besides being totally hot, you probably also get television theme songs stuck in your head all the time. I think the theme to Facts of Life is the one that goes through my head at least twenty times a day. I don't know if it's because it's catchy or because it really does get to the core of what life is really all about. You pretty much just take the good, the bad, and that's it. At any rate, Luis from Bunch of Nerds hepped us to a cool Web site with a lousy interface where you can find MP3s of pretty much any theme song you can think of. If you've been longing to hear the theme to Alice after all these years, this is your chance. Now chase that dream, my fellow TV watchers.