Song

In my “theme songs that explain the premise” post a few days ago, I forgot to mention that the theme song of The Beverly Hillbillies not only explained the premise (and, as a commenter pointed out, still leaves enough room for a brilliant instrumental by Flatt & Scruggs) but plugged the sponsor’s product too. In the early seasons, the theme song was followed by an additional verse that served as a commercial for the main sponsor of the show, sometimes Kellogg’s cereal and sometimes this:

That Hulk theme wasn’t the only 20-second theme song written for cheaply-animated Marvel adaptations in the ’60s. The same company did an anthology show called The Marvel Superheroes, featuring some of the Marvel characters who weren’t as big as Hulk or Spider-Man, and each segment had its own theme song. An instrumental version of the “Iron Man” song can be heard briefly in the recent movie.

Quick question for connoisseurs of bad late-in-the-run television intros. Which Garry Marshall/Paramount/Miller-Boyett sitcom had the more depressing intro in the 1982-83 season?

Earle Hagen, who composed the theme songs for The Dick Van Dyke Show and The Andy Griffith Show (he also did the whistling) has died at the age of 88.