Though nearly all sitcoms of the ‘80s featured a theme song, how many of them still resonate with us? That’s the question for today’s post, and dang, it wasn’t easy to leave some of the theme songs off the list (ie The Cosby Show, though do we really feel that bad about not including it, considering?), but that’s always an issue when you have to narrow things down.
Back in the ’80s, networks gave shows a bit more wiggle room — a typical show ran about 25 minutes, which left 5 minutes to commercials. These days, sitcoms are around 22 minutes, so that’s just one of the reasons why the longer theme songs of the past are, well, of the past. But enough teasing…
Below are the top 10 most memorable sitcom theme songs from the 1980s!
If you mostly remember watching Charles in Charge on random afternoons and don’t recall when it was originally on, that’s because the show only aired for one season on CBS before being picked up for first-run syndication — at which point the show completely changed the whole cast apart from Charles and his best friend Buddy. But, the theme song prevailed, and honestly it would’ve been sad if it didn’t, as it was made just for the show. You know you remember singing along to: “Charles in charge, of our days, and our nights…” Wait. Wait wait wait. There seems to be a lot of subtext to this song. He lives downstairs and it’s “understood” that he’s there to “take good care of me” … sung by a girl. Allrighty then.
The Married…with Children theme song is Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen’s “Love and Marriage” as performed by Frank Sinatra in the 1955 television production of Our Town. It’s used to extreme ironic/sarcastic effect in the opening credits, with Peggy, the kids, and even the dog coming to Al Bundy for money and him looking increasingly exasperated. The show remains the longest-running live-action sitcom on Fox, and was the first show to be broadcast in the network’s primetime slot on Sundays at 8pm in April 1987.
Fun fact: the star of another show on this list helped co-write the theme song of The Facts of Life. What the what? Apparently Alan Thicke (yes, he of Growing Pains fame) was a co-writer of this theme song along with his then-wife Gloria Loring, and Al Burton. The three of them also wrote (and Thicke performed) the Diff’rent Strokes theme song, which The Facts of Life was actually a spin-off from. Anyhow, the show is all about growing up and learning about life, and the theme song is a nod to that.
Interestingly, the Doogie Howser theme song is the only one included on this list that doesn’t feature any lyrics. It’s deceptively simple, but somehow still extremely memorable! Did you know that the network did not want to cast Neil Patrick Harris in the role of Doogie? Can you imagine anyone else in the role? To be honest, it’s hard to remember many actual plots of any episodes, but everyone knows that when you say Doogie Howser, you mean a kid doctor, and that’s certainly something.
Ah yes, the show that launched Michael J. Fox into stardom. Family Ties‘ theme song, “Without Us,” is really kind of a love song representing the parents, even though the show itself is about the whole family and the differences between generations. You may not remember the song by just hearing its name, but once it starts playing in the opening credits, you’ll be singing right along.
“Brand New Life,” written for Who’s The Boss? with lyrics from the creators, is all about taking a new direction in life after a dream has been lost — which is fitting for both Tony and Angela’s stories. For some reason, three different people performed the theme song throughout the series’ run — Larry Weiss (1984–86), Steve Wariner (1986–89), and Jonathan Wolff (1989–92). Why? It’s a good question we don’t have an answer to! Nonetheless, the song is still a classic.
The theme song for The Golden Girls was actually a cover of the song “Thank You for Being a Friend” by Andrew Gold, which charted on Billboard’s “The Hot 100” chart in 1978. Though the show was a big hit at the time of its original airing, in some ways it feels like it’s an even bigger hit today, and thus the theme song has continued to be memorized and sung even as the show has aged. Thank YOU for being a friend, Golden Girls!
Did you know that there were nine different versions of this theme song that were used at one point or another throughout Growing Pains’ run, including an a cappella version and a Halloween-themed version? The most well-known one, however, was used for a large portion of the show’s run, and was sung by BJ Thomas and Jennifer Warnes. There is actually a full-length 4:20 version Thomas recorded with Dusty Springfield that was released as a single in 1988 as well (which was used to make the theme song for season 4 too — yes, it’s one of the nine!). Still, the one we’ve featured above with Thomas and Warnes will always be the version we think of when we reminisce about the Seaver family.
Sometimes we wonder if this list should really be the best opening title sequences for TV shows, because honestly those can make such a difference in addition to just the music. But we can all agree that the song chosen for The Wonder Years was great in its own right as well — Joe Cocker’s cover of The Beatles’ “With a Little Help from My Friends,” can you really go wrong? No, you cannot, and thus this theme has become a classic.
Others have called the Cheers theme song the best of all time, and honestly we may have to agree with them. It certainly at least wins for best of the ‘80s sitcoms here! The theme song took quite a few iterations to come to life before eventually finding its way to the version we know and love. The writers Gary Portnoy and Judy Hart Angelo tried to repurpose some songs they had written for an unmade musical, but in the end had to come up with something original. Their hard work paid off, that’s for sure — they even received an Emmy nomination for the song!
What was your favorite sitcom theme song of the ’80s? Let us know in the comments!
- In 1988, the Emmys created a new award for “Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music” – but in the early days sometimes there wouldn’t be a winner — one nominee had to get over 50% of the vote in order to win. No one won the award until 1993 when Star Trek: Deep Space Nine won.
- Both the Growing Pains and Cheers theme songs were nominated for the Emmy award for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics, though neither won.
- Alan Thicke, of Growing Pains, not only composed both The Facts of Life and Dif’rent Strokes theme songs, but also a number of different game show themes as well, including the original Wheel of Fortune theme, which was used until 1983.
- In 2009, Neil Patrick Harris revisited Doogie Howser by playing the theme song in an SNL Digital Short while hosting Saturday Night Live.
- The Wonder Years won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series in 1988, and at age 13, Fred Savage became the youngest actor ever nominated as Outstanding Lead Actor for a Comedy Series. In total, the series won 22 awards and was nominated for 54 more.
- In 1988, the Emmys created a new award for “Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music” – but in the early days sometimes there wouldn’t be a winner — one nominee had to get over 50% of the vote in order to win. No one won the award until 1993 when Star Trek: Deep Space Nine won.
- Both the Growing Pains and Cheers theme songs were nominated for the Emmy award for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics, though neither won.
- Alan Thicke, of Growing Pains, not only composed both The Facts of Life and Dif’rent Strokes theme songs, but also a number of different game show themes as well, including the original Wheel of Fortune theme, which was used until 1983.
- In 2009, Neil Patrick Harris revisited Doogie Howser by playing the theme song in an SNL Digital Short while hosting Saturday Night Live.
- The Wonder Years won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series in 1988, and at age 13, Fred Savage became the youngest actor ever nominated as Outstanding Lead Actor for a Comedy Series. In total, the series won 22 awards and was nominated for 54 more.
