Recently, I came across a Watch Mojo list of the the Top 30 Greatest TV Shows of All Time. While I agreed with some of them, many I did not. So I decided to make my own list. As hard as I tried, I just couldn’t go with the Top 30. There were too many great themes that fell in the 50-31 range. That being said, I decided to count down my Top 50 Greatest TV Themes of All Time.
When I get to #30, I will post my #30 along with the Watch Mojo #30, and so on. For now, sit back and enjoy 20 themes that “bubbled under” the Top 30.
We kick off the feature with a show that for some reason is panned today for content. I don’t understand it. I think it is creative, funny and as star Werner Klemperer requested, the Nazi character he played was not very bright. By now, you know I am talking about Hogan’s Heroes.
The show featured a German POW camp and starred Bob Crane, Werner Klemperer, Richard Dawson, Larry Hovis, Robert Clary and John Banner. Coincidentally, Klemperer, and Banner were from Jewish families who fled the Nazis in WWII. Clary was actually a POW during the war.
The theme music was composed by Jerry Fielding, who added lyrics to the theme for Hogan’s Heroes Sing The Best of World War II – an album featuring Dixon, Clary, Dawson, and Hovis singing World War II songs. The song also appeared on the album Bob Crane, His Drums and Orchestra, Play the Funny Side of TV. Bob Crane, who had started out as a drummer, played the drums when the theme was recorded for the show. The opening drum riff played by Crane in the main title sequence of the show is the same as the riff used in the film, The Longest Day in 1962.
#50 on my list – The Theme From Hogan’s Heroes.
Next week’s theme was a 1960’s hit song, and a song I loved to sing at karaoke. See you back here for #49.
Various Ramblings of a Nostalgic Italian 