This Is The Article About The Greatest TV Theme Song.

I know. You’re thinking, “OK. It’s getting late in the week. He’s probably tired. There will be no surprises, here. He’s obviously going to harvest some low hanging fruit.”

You’re expecting to read about a classic like, “I’ll Be There For You,” or an erudite outlier, such as, “Tossed Salads And Scrambled Eggs”. Or maybe you’re anticipating that I’ll get all sneaky on you, and pick an instrumental, like “Seinfeld,” or “The Twilight Zone.” Or maybe I’ll get all gloopy and sentimental, and talk about “Thank You For Being A Friend,” or that 1970’s 9:00 PM Saturday night staple, “Love Is All Around,“ complete with a GIF of Mary Tyler Moore doing the hat toss thing.

Maybe you think that I’ll “mail it in,” and just go with one of the dozens of TV tunes that deftly explain the wacky premise of the entire series in just 59 seconds. Something like, “Gilligan’s Island,” or, “The Brady Bunch.” While I appreciate Sherwood Schwartz as much as the next guy, I’m afraid that’s not exactly where we’re headed.

Perhaps some of you are minimalists. For the less-is-more amongst you, how about the dulcet tones and spartan libretto of a certain Neil Hefti masterpiece?”

All of the above represent great moments in TV themery. But from my quirky POV, there’s one that outshines them all.

I’m a fan of clever comedy. I like concepts that think outside the box, and are funny because they dare to be subtle yet obvious, simplistic yet brilliant, and self-referential, all at the same time. In this way, any joke that might be considered ‘meta’ will usually make me laugh.

Back in 1986, cable TV service was a bit of a luxury. When I was finally able to convince myself that it was perfectly rational to spend a monthly fee to watch television, I figured that I’d be like everyone else I knew, and I’d choose the quaintly named ‘Home Box Office’ as my bonus premium channel.

That is, until I read about a new show that was about to go on the air. It was going to be co-written by a favorite comedy writer, and would star one of the funniest stand-up performers of the day. And so, it was, “Sorry, HBO. I’m on Team Showtime.’

I remember planning to stay home so that I could watch every episode as it made it’s weekly debut. I knew that it would be repeated all week, but there was something about being there “first.” Every Wednesday at 10:00 PM I would click the cheap Cablevision rubber-keyed remote until the red LEDs on the little brown metal box said, “44.” And this is what I would see:

OK. Now we’re talking. This alone was going to be worth every penny of the $11.95 that I paid every 15th of the month.

It’s perfect. 41 seconds of the original nothing that is somehow something. A theme song for a TV series that exists only to call attention to the fact that there is a theme song for the TV series. And that’s it. That’s the joke. “We have a theme song. Here it is. It’s over now. Next, here’s some show for you.”

They’re not breaking the fourth wall. They’re plowing through it with a Humvee. It’s so stupid that it’s genius. The story goes that Garry Shandling came up with the premise, and writer/series co-creator Alan Zweibel had the lyrics wrapped up in 30 minutes. It’s that rare kind of joke that seems so anti-crafted; so simple that your Aunt Linda could have made it up. But somehow, nobody ever did. Zwiebel and Shandling got there first.

And just like the theme song, the show itself was a wildly inventive and funny tour-de-force that violated dozens of typical sitcom rules. But like all good comedy, it’s real strength was having was a tightly focused, perhaps “secret” mission. The playful looseness on the surface hid a complex structure.

The show was a huge success and ran for four years, until it was decided that it was better to go out on top, rather than run things into the ground. The series paved the way for future Shandling successes like “The Larry Sanders Show.” And sometimes when I watch an old “Seinfeld” clip, I swear that I can detect the faintest wisp of the “Shandling’s Show” slyness in the writing, and more so, in the general attitude.

The official Complete Season One is available from Shout Factory. It seems that at one time, there was an entire box of the entire four-season run, but it looks like that’s been out of print for quite a while. It’s fetching nearly $300 on eBay. Online clips had been very hard to find, but a YouTuber recently posted the entire first season. If you are a fan of witty writing, odd direction and true originality, start with S1E1.

We’ve all heard a thousand times that humor is subjective, and yes, of course it is. There are a thousand tropes and gags that I will never, ever get. And there are even more things that make me wheeze with laughter, but generate only blank stares and puzzlement in most other people. In fact, statistics say that many of you reading this are flummoxed by my choice. But that’s how it all works. Funny is as funny does, I suppose.

At the end of the day, I love it when I see someone have a good laugh over anything that flips their ‘I’m dying” switch. I say, go for it. Good on you.

I know. This took longer than 41 seconds. Thanks for reading.

This was the article about the greatest TV theme song.

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