"What's the best TV Cop/ PI show theme? " Topic

Well? "Mannix" gets my vote, with "The Rockford Files" a close second.

For entertainment purposes only…

Simon and Simon is my all-time favorite. I concur that Rockford Files is a close second. But I'm also partial to Johnny Staccato and Peter Gunn.

The Saint

The Saint is good too! Forgot about that one. But wasn't the Saint a spy of sorts?

Peter Gunn!

I've got to say Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer.

I liked the Rockford files, and Magnum PI. Weren't a lot of those themes written by the same guys? Mike Post and Pete Carpenter as I recall. I think they also wrote the theme for Simon and Simon as well. Could be wrong though.

Cheers.
GeorgeD.

'Hill Street Blues' … though haven't heard it for ages.

Dixon of Dock Green

Rockford Files.

Hawaii Five-O

SWAT. A show of "mindless violence," but a compelling theme song.

Magnum
Simon & Simon
Hawaii Five-0
Rockford Files
Hill Street Blues

In no particular order.

Hawaii 5-0
Harlem Nocturne (used for Mike Hammer)
Rockford Files
SWAT
Peter Gunn

5-0, Magnum, Rockford and Gunn are the only tunes that I can hum with certainty. No preference between 'em, though.

Cop Rock

YouTube link

Thomas Magnum, 'nuff said.

Magnum (the second version) written by mike post.

the first version was a bit more Jazzier written by Ian Freebairn Smythe and laden with piano riffs and trumpet trills.

Post's version put some guitar and percussion in to match the power of the red Ferrari.

Magnum P.I. (a classic that will pass the test of time)

"Peter Gunn" is great! I really like the R&R version by Duane Eddy too. It has one of the most famous hooks from a TV show theme.

I like "Harlem Nocturne" by The Viscounts and by Johnny Otis. The "Mike Hammer" theme version lost that moody quality and didn't do much for me.

Well … I'm a licensed PI … and we like – Rockford Files, Magnum and Peter Gunn …

Terrement said it.

The original (1950's) DRAGNET, case closed.

It is a musical icon that many people must recognize, but evidently not know what it is or where it came from.

DUMM DA DUM-DUM.
DUM DA DUM-DUM, DUHHHHH.

"This is the City…."

With Zen precision and economy, the mood and the mission are set in 9--count 'em!--9 notes. Then there's the march, relentless, righteous (if not "self righteous"), and rollilng over all opposition. How can you hear that and not know you're going to war against crime on the streets?!

"Just the facts, M'am."

TVAG

("How's your Mom, Ed?")

>>("How's your Mom, Ed?")<<

"Dragged Net"
Mad Comics

Cannon,Shaft,Mc cloud,Bannachek,Maini Vice, A Team

5-0, none of the others have a beautiful girl swinging her hair around!

5-0 also has the Lord!

Hawaii 5-0, Miami Vice are the best US cop show themes! The best British ones are The Professionals and The Sweeney!

Hey, The Shadow!

Dude, you MUST be about as old as I am--and that's the "when dirt was white" period.

Yeah, "Dragged Net," but used on the real show often enough.

TVAG

("Let's all sound off for Chesterfields!")

Don't forget 'Z-Cars' … a really stirring cop show theme.

"Yeah, "Dragged Net," but used on the real show often enough."

I remember it as a running gag in the "Dragged Net" MAD comics spoof. Art by Will Elder and layouts by Harvey Kurtzman. I didn't watch many episodes of "Dragnet". Not my thing thing at the time. Of course everyone will remember:

"Dom Da DOM dom"

…and yeah…I'm probably at least as old as you are. Maybe older. (-:

Remember?:

"L.S.M.F.T…Lucky Strike means fine tobacco". Or as we used to say it "Loose Straps Mean Floppy T*ts" (-:

Night club near me use to play a dance version of the Professionals theme: epic!

Mind you, I also have the Jo 90 disco mix somewhere at home: another dance floor filler!

VB

"Runaway" from Crime Story should certainly be in the running for the top ten, too.

Miami Vice, Magnum, and Hawaii 5-0.

Of course, The Saint, and The Avengers were pretty good as well, but not sure they fit in for the topic as well as the others.

The Mod Squad for you geezers out there, as well as The Untouchables (portraying Eliot Ness).

You are all Wrong

Life on Mars

and for giggles, Sledgehammer, a true classic

Phil

You've all missed the obvious: Streets of San Fransisco

YouTube link

It winds up like a techno or a good metal song. Listen to the drums trying to get out, everything builds until it all at once explodes in a straight ahead driving rhythm.

Mannix is great song but too optimistic and elegant at times to reflect the grit and danger of police work. Magnum PI, TJ Hooker, Hawaii 50 all good but not as good as SoSF …

In no particular order :

Rockford Files (popular choice this !)
Kojak
Quincy
Van Der Valk
Hawaii-5-O

Hawaii 5-O (The Ventures!), Hill Street Blues, Rockford Files, and Miami Vice! Always liked the old Adam-12 theme too, come to think of it.

Mulligan

>>Rockford Files (popular choice this !)<<

As well as "Hawaii 5-0", which doesn't surprise me at all considering the average age of this group. You would have to be at least in your mid 50's to have watched the "Peter Gunn" TV show during it's first run and to have heard the theme as a hit single on the radio in 1959.

Peter Gunn, Dragnet, Hawaii 5 O
The Saint, Baretta, S.W.A.T.
for current catchy themes: Monk & Psyche

Sabotage

YouTube link

(alright, it wasn't a real show, but still…)

Another vote for Magnum PI and Hawaii 5-0

Hawaii Five-O, hard to beat surf guitar sound. Brings me back to the time when strafing villages was a mark of passage and not a war crime.

Rockford Files, Americas' answer to the testosterone of Sean Connery all wrapped up in a cool car. I kind of miss Angel calling James Garner 'Rockfish' all the time.

Peter Gunn, wow, I thought I was old,,,. Awesome theme though.

Thats' a good reminder, 20th maine … 'Van der Valk'. The music of this British TV programme about a Dutch cop had the real feel of the Netherlands.

Monk is quirky like the dude himself.Have to Go for Miami vice with Magnum P.I. 2nd as the THEME tune for vice was a chart hit too.

Magnum PI
Baretta
Rockford Files
Starsky and Hutch
Simon and Simon

Oooh man…

Simon & Simon, both incarnations (Rock, and…umm.spanish style music? Don't know the genre). That has got to be one of the best themes in existance.

Sledgehammer. That was a catchy theme.

Dragnet is a good theme as well.

I dunno if the A-team counts as a PI show….If it doesn't, it still comes in #4. If it does count as a PI show, it's #3.

I've been gonna snag one of those "top 100 tv theme" CD's to get some off, but just haven't got around to it. The 70's and 80's had the best theme songs ever made. Nowadays, about the only theme that's any good is NCIS…..

Wot? No love for 'The Sweeney'?

The Persuaders had a good theme too.

Veronica Mars, "We Used To Be Friends" by the Dandy Warhols (version from first two seasons, not the third). Like Dragnet, a perfect match to what the show was about, and catchy as well.

Of the ones posted above, gotta go with SWAT or if allowed, The Saint.

Peter Gunn
The Avengers
And who could forget:

highwaypatroltv.com

Classic!

Magnum PI – Nothing beats a Bellisario production!

>>Simon & Simon, both incarnations (Rock, and…umm.spanish style music? Don't know the genre). That has got to be one of the best themes in existance.<<

I never watched "Simon & Simon", but you had me curious about the music, so I youtubed the opening theme and the closing song. The opening is classic R&R overproduced to sound exciting like most TV themes over the opening credits. The song during the end credits is plain old Country & Western with a "line dance" beat.

Further to the opening "Simon & Simon" theme. I really couldn't understand why you heard something that sounded like Spanish music, so I went back to youtube and found that there were at least three different opening themes. I guess they changed every year? The one that I first heard was R&R. The second one that I listened to sounded distinctly Country and Western. The last I believe is the one that you're talking about. There's a heavy inclusion of brass on this one, which gives it a kind of "Tijuana Brass" flavor, but even with the brass it still sounds like Country & Western to me.