How the ‘Friends’ Theme Song Helped Save TV’s Main-Title Tunes From Going Extinct
variety.comJon Burlingame editor Variety writer Jon Burlingame’s new book, “Music for Prime Time: A History of American Television Themes and Scoring,” is published today.
The product of 35 years of research and more than 450 interviews, it tells the backstory of every great TV theme dating back to 1949.
What follows is an excerpt from the sitcom chapter. In the summer of 1994, ABC Entertainment president Ted Harbert (in response to a question from this writer at a network press conference) admitted that he was asking his producers to eliminate the traditional main-title sequence – and with it, the musical theme – from all new shows. “I think it’s an antiquated practice,” he said. “It gives the audience an opportunity to take the little remote and zap around.
We really have to find ways to stop them from doing that. The 60-second, or in some cases 90-second, main title that they see week after week, given all the choices they have, just doesn’t make sense to me anymore.” The growing trend of channel-switching by anxious viewers instilled fear in network executives.
Read more on variety.com