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.
Coming in at #47 on my list, the Theme From The Untouchables.
The show fictionalized the experiences of Eliot Ness as a Prohibition agent fighting crime in Chicago in the 1930s. Ness does this with the help of a special team of agents. He handpicked them for their courage, moral character and incorruptibility. This team was nicknamed The Untouchables.
The show had one of my favorite theme songs. It was composed by the great Nelson Riddle. In a biography of Riddle (written by Peter Levinson) it says that the theme song “was one of the most fitting and identifiable weekly television themes ever written.”
When the show won four Emmy Awards, Capitol Records decided to put out an album of music from the show.
The liner notes from the album describe Riddle’s effort as: “tabloid-headline music that evokes and reports on a bygone era of irresistible appeal,” including several tracks devoted “to the vintage jazz that punctuated the gunfire.”
I always loved this tune!
Next week, number 46 will feature “nothing” but a thumping base, pops, and other sound effects …. See you then!
