TV has had its ups and downs, trends and fads over the decades since syndicated television became the mainstream. One trend that has endured is the supremely catchy theme song for situational comedies. While dramas and kids cartoons have their own catalog of earworms, something about the lighthearted zaniness of a classic sitcom puts them in a league of their own as a staple of American television.
These are the finger-snapping, toe-tapping, head-bobbing tracks that explain everything audiences need to know about the tone of the show and the cast of characters ready to entertain that defined generations.
“Happy Days” – Happy Days
Sunday, Monday, happy days! Recorded in 1974 by Norman Gimbel and Charles Fox, "Happy Days” ended each episode of the first two seasons, and opened every episode for the remainder of the show’s eleven seasons set during the 50s. Happy Days won an Emmy and accumulated sixteen other nominations throughout its run.
Happy Days is one of the most successful sitcoms in American television, responsible for timeless cultural icons like the opening theme and the Fonz, played by Henry Winkler. A song as peppy and idyllic as the setting of the show, “Happy Days” is the gold standard for enduring theme songs.
“I Found a Way” – Drake & Josh
One of the best of early 2000s Nickelodeon, “I Found a Way” was recorded in 2003 by Drake Bell, one of the show’s stars. Befitting of the era, the song is poppy, alternative rock, and details the strength of the relationship of the show’s protagonists.
Drake & Josh follows two stepbrothers that bicker with each other as often as they join forces against Drake’s younger sister, Megan (Miranda Cosgrove), who’s usually up to one scheme or another beneath the noses of their oblivious parents. The show ran for four seasons and was a frequent winner of Nickelodeon’s Kids' Choice Awards.
“Meet The Flintstones” – The Flintstones
Yabba dabba doo! A page right out of history, this 37-second theme opened Hanna-Barbera’s famous animated sitcom. The series originally opened with the instrumental “Rise and Shine.” “Meet the Flintstones” debuted in season three and lasted through the end of the sitcom’s six-season run.
The song establishes the premise of the show and its principal cast in the town of Bedrock and was re-recorded by the B-52s for the franchise’s feature film release to much praise. Regarded as one of the best animated series of all time (after The Simpsons) The Flintstones has a legacy almost seven decades long, and it isn’t going anywhere.
“The Big Bang Theory” – The Big Bang Theory
It all started with a big bang. The Barenaked Ladies’ fast-paced theme song for CBS’ sitcom about nerds, for nerds aired in 2007 with quite the big bang indeed. The song speeds through the history of the universe, citing figures and events that all lead up to modern-day society.
The Big Bang Theory ran for twelve seasons with this theme, evocative of a cast made up of doctors, scientists, and engineers, while also glossing over the briefest of summaries of four billion years of cascading events like a last-minute history report.
“Everywhere You Look” – Full House
Full House aired for eight seasons in the 90s and the bittersweet lyrics to “Everywhere you look” was part of many Millennial childhoods, especially when it aired on Nick at Nite. Written by Jesse Frederick and Bennett Salvay, the song was revived for Fuller House, and re-recorded by Carly Rae Jepsen.
Whatever happened to predictability? One of the last sitcoms of the 20th century, Full House was the story of widower Danny Tanner, played by recently passed Bob Saget, who raised his three daughters with the help of his brother-in-law and best friend in the heart of San Francisco. Forever better than the critics gave it credit for, Full House and its theme live on in the memories of all who grew up on it.
“I’ll Be There for You” – Friends
Where would a sitcom list be without Friends? The Rembrandts’ iconic theme opened the series for its entire ten-season run, hitting the small screen in 1994. “I’ll be there for you” has topped the Billboard charts with its upbeat melody and incredibly catchy chorus.
With that instantly recognizable guitar riff, the song reflects the ups and downs of the relationships between Friends’ six protagonists that, through it all, remain steadfast. Whether the show’s lived up to its hype and enduring legacy, “I’ll be there for you,” is bound to make fans smile.
“The Facts of Life” – The Facts of Life
The Facts of Life, a spinoff of Diff’rent Strokes, ran for eight seasons. Following Edna Garret (Charlotte Rae), a housemother of the all-girls Eastland School and a wide cast of the school’s students. The sitcom addressed the everyday questions and complications of being a teenager, teaching the characters, and thus the audience, “the facts of life.”
The show’s theme, though changed several times throughout the show’s run, always kept its upbeat tone, confident and empowering to young girls everywhere who grew up with it and walked away with several wins and nominees for the show’s dedication to detailing the realities of the struggles of adolescence.
“The Brady Bunch” – The Brady Bunch
The story of a lovely lady and a man named Brady, The Brady Bunch theme is short but sweet, with a title card design responsible for many parodies. The theme saw several changes since its debut, eventually being sung by the six Brady kids about the unique makeup of their family.
One of the shorter sitcoms of the 70s, The Brady Bunch ran for five seasons, following a family united by the marriage of a widow and widower and their three daughters and sons. Unceremoniously canceled before its time, The Brady Bunch did receive several film comebacks and spin-offs.
“The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” – The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
Now, this is a story! Fresh Prince’s opening theme, recorded by Will Smith about his titular character, had everyone singing along for the show’s entire six seasons. The hip-hop track was a rarity in the sitcom genre and Fresh Prince both broke records and made a statement about the popularity and staying power of Black television.
Regarded as one of the best sitcoms of all time, the show’s opening track catches audiences fresh and old up to speed about the story of a teenager from West Philadelphia sent to live with his aunt and uncle in Bel-Air, California. Smith is the prince of Bel-Air,“Where Everybody Knows Your Name” – Cheers
Gary Portnoy’s opening theme for Cheers won an Emmy and is regarded as one of the best television themes of all time, sitcom and beyond. At first, the song sounds rather upbeat, Cheers is a bar “where everybody knows your name.” The melancholy lyrics instead reflect a singular place where one can forget about bills, work, and the stress of life, to find community with people they might spend too much time around.
Cheers is a timeless classic and the 1982 song still hits home to today’s struggling generations. The series ran for eleven seasons and had a successful spinoff, Frasier, that ran for an additional eleven seasons, a testament to the popularity of the show and what it means to everyone who sat down to watch it each week.