There were a lot of great game show themes and were, and there were some great shows with themes which blew chunks.

Any nominations for decent game shows with over-elaborate/over-exaggerated themes, or great themes that were wasted on bad shows?

Mindreaders, Shuffle, and All Star Secrets immediately came to my mind.

EDIT: And Yahtzee. Can't believe I forgot that one.

While I enjoyed the show to a point, the MGHS theme could fit both categories. It's a terrific, grandiose piece of music, but at the same time didn't quite fit the level of excitement I get when Gene Wood bellows, "from Another World - Linda DANO!!"

-Jason

Not to mention the fact that we were dealing with a combination of two comedy game shows, both of which had previously had whimsical themes. I love the song, but I agree that it didn't necessarily fit the show.

Biggest misfit: Henry Mancini's kiddie-show theme for TTD90. (Although no other theme would make the show any better.)

Some of the events on "The Weakest Link" for which they had music didn't really need it.

The lights coming back up after the voting was over, for example.

Or when one of the final 2 players decides who'll go first.

Somehow, it just made me angry.

I wonder if this could be the topic of the next Forum top 50 - the best game show themes ever.

Matt? :)

Angry?

Wow.

I'm sorry, did I say angry?

Not angry.

Like...

Ugh, it was just annoying.

I can't remember if they lifted it from somewhere else (Bullseye?) or what, but that "crossing the stage" music before Face the Devil on TJW (at least in later years) was hilariously bombastic. The contestant would arrive with ten seconds of music left, and Jack would be dying to start his Mach 4 description of the rules, but wouldn't want to step on the music.

I'm done after this one. If somebody else wants to assemble a "themes" poll, be my guest!

Aw, go ahead and say angry. The music bugged me, too, particularly that they felt they needed a sting after the player in the end game decided to go first or second. The music and Anne's all-too-frequent note of the program's name were petty but constant annoyances that tarnished a pretty good show.

That I can dig. It did seem a little overdone...kinda like the canned applause whenever someone cut a loud fart on Supermarket Sweep. "Angry" just seemed like a little much. :)

I have always hated the theme from TTTT with the lyrics. Go's theme sounded as if it belong with a show about the military.

As I mentioned in the Page O Clips thread, It Takes Two I thought had one of the better themes. Was the only thing I remembered from the show Other than Vin Scully hosting..

After hearing the complete $128,000 Question Theme and Music Cue composition, at http://gsthemes.tekcities.com, I would have to say that that was overkill....

...As was the use of a live freakin' on-camera orchestra for Maury's "Twenty-One".

I'm on the same wavelength with Alfonzo........"Go" definitely was not meant to be a GS theme period. TTTT's vocal theme did go well with the original psychedelic set, but by '74 [or whatever year they switched to the "blue" set], it was totally out of place.

My picks: Both versions of "Pay Cards".

As I've mentioned in the past, Go's theme is the theme to my high school students' morning newscasts.
Usually, about halfway through the year, I'll show the new kids an episode to totally freak them out.

The "Pay Cards" theme sounded a little too rinky tink.

And "Super Pay Cards" theme music was not much more than the "Spin-Off" theme with ridiculous horn overdubs.

I believe the theme on there is from the first season in 1976-77. They redid the theme for '77-78 with more of a disco sound, and it was much better.

I've mentioned here in the past that Go and the vocal To Tell the Truth version are two of my least favorite themes. With music being a big part of a game show, if the theme sucks, it can take away from the overall enjoyment of the show.

Having said that, I love the '90s instrumental To Tell the Truth theme!

On a sort of similar, yet not really, plane, I used the over-the-top theme to Battlestars in my Acting I class last fall at school. The theme's purpose? I was playing a guy who somehow wound up on his college football team, and I thought, "hey, why not go with the Battlestars theme to come onto the stage with? It kinda sounds like a college fight song." (A lot of people thought it was a good idea, namely the professor, so I guess it all worked out in the end, right?)

Actually, you know what was good?

The theme from "Lohman and Barkley's NameDroppers".

I'm a fan of that old-school horn sound.

I also picked Battlestars - I don't know if the version changed somewhat between the first and second time it was on, but I have the version with the annoying WHOOSH every three seconds or so. Cutting that by 50% or so would have been more tolerable. All Star Blitz's speaking in tongues nonsense and sax riff is a bit over the top for me. It's one of those themes where it exudes an excitement the show itself did not have. And I'm with you on GO.

That's just for the open - it accompanies each change of celebrity on the screen.

-Jason

And thanks to the various enterprises of Rupert Murdoch, has now become one of television's biggest cliches (and movie trailers--in this case even a bigger cliche than Don LaFontaine intoning "in a world...").

Although to be fair, the "Battlestars" sound was more imitative of a laser zap than the whoosh we hear ad nauseum all over TV now.

-Jason

Absolutely agreed.....wish I had that theme....

And I'll merge 2 topics together.....I was the one person who voted for them in the best hosts category.

I really enjoyed that show. Mad props to Jamie for discovering it.

The Magnificent Marble Machine's carnival music theme. Yecch!

When I got the Game Show Themes CDs, my wife immediately turned thumbs down on the M-Oh!-N-Oh! theme from Monopoly. "You know what they're suggesting!" she said.

Me, I like game show themes with lyrics.

All-Star Almost Anything Goes anybody? I usually don't like themes with lyrics, but I really liked that one. I've got a copy recorded from an off-air broadcast, but unfortunatly I held the mic a little too close to the set that day and it sounds a bit distorted. The odd thing is, I've always been very careful about that sort of thing but for some reason I wasn't that day :( Would be nice to have a better copy of it!

Monopoly's theme has grown to be one of my favorite themes. I love the rockabilly sound. It is unique among game show show themes.