Lost In Space

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As I sit here (I'm actually sitting and)waiting for my son to get on a plane back to the US -truth is, from Florida to home) after a long delay, broken part in plane, and chaos at this home, I need to take my brain somewhere else; what I was thinking about last night before dreamland. And that was, is, my favorite TV theme songs.
Theme songs are somewhat of a lost craft as advertisers/execs feel that people no longer have the :50 second attention span to sit through a well crafted theme song. Although they may be right, I lament this change and curse the 5 second soundbites that serve as today's themes.sound, but no craft; ebb and flow, call and response, dynamics.
Old westerns usually had grand orchestrations: large in scope and sweep of the land; The Big Valley might have been an Elmer Berstein score (too lazy to check), the Wild, Wild West (please don't mention that dead movie), Maverick(played at the end of the show), the High Chapparal, Laredo,Gunsmoke, recently, Deadwood...then you have the monster shows: the Addams Family especially, the Munsters was good too. Twilight Zone had a great theme but it still creeps me out. Detective shows; Rockford Files, NBC Mystery Theatre, the Fugitive,Peter Gunn theme, the Saint, the Untouchables, the Rookies,Baretta,the Night Stalker, Mission Impossible (of course),the great, great Avengers theme especially with Mr. Steed and Mrs. Peel (youtube: The Avengers intro )- speak of dynamics, and lushness.. Of recent years, the versions of the Wire are great themes and a cool idea to have a different version all six years.
Family shows: Donna Reed, My Three Sons, I Love Lucy, Barney Miller, the Cosby Show (all these have great lines for the reed section- go figure. Then there also the memorable themes which really are okay music wise (they don't swing) but memorable for nostalgia, or the words: the Brady Bunch, Gilligan's Island, etc. Some great cartoon themes which I will add when they occur to me-the Simpsons, Futurama, the Jetsons...

SciFi shows often have interesting themes. Of course, all the versions of Star Trek were very good except the last one which had a memorably dreary vocal. The "re imagined" Battlestar Galactica was appropriately eerie but my favorite tv theme is the last year (year 3) of Lost in Space. Dr. Smith, perhaps the first flaming/ brutally sarcastic/star of any mainstream TV series would find himself in dire trouble, the screen would freeze and a 10 to 1 countdown would ensue. Cue the theme. Both themes for Lost in Space were composed by John Williams (Jaws, Star Wars, etc.). You can hear most of his scores right there: the grandness, melody, brassy attack, heavy use of percussion. PS: Jaws was lifted from Stravinsky's Rite of Spring and Star Wars borrows from Holtz the Planets. No worries: i borrow from some of the great mail carriers of the past. Oh, let's include the Honeymooners theme, The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson (not Leno), and Late Night with Conan O'Brien.

I always wanted to be like Professor Robinson, heroic and touching - his father to son talks (sorry Judy and Penny)- but since the actor was frozen out by the preference for more antics by Dr.Smith, all he was left with was the occasional heart to heart with son Will. So in some ways, I did get to become like Daddy Robinson. As far as heroism goes, I certainly am more like Dr. Smith, you ninny.