At one time, a TV show’s theme song was an essential part of the program. Today, many shows don’t even have them because the network or producers don’t want to take a chance on viewers getting bored and changing the channel while the ditty plays.
If a show is lucky enough to have a theme song and the series continues for a couple years, the music is often shortened as time goes on. The thinking is that the audience is already familiar with the show and the musical opening isn’t as crucial. In syndication, the theme song is the first thing to be clipped down to allow for more commercial time.
A couple years ago, Family Guy did a nice little parody of long theme songs. In the episode No Meals on Wheels, Peter (Seth MacFarlane) and Lois (Alex Borstein) are sitting down to watch a classic episode of Bea Arthur’s Maude. It’s supposedly an early episode that ends up having an extra, extra long version of the theme.
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Family Guy,
Maude
