The Top Ten Coolest American TV Themes - Part 2

And today we present my final five coolest TV themes in American TV.

5 - Taxi

Taxi was simply a great show. It was funny, it had tremendous heart and it was blessed with perhaps one of the greatest casts ever. Seriously, The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Taxi. Those are the three most absurdly talented sitcom casts of all time. And the theme played against comedy by going for pathos and a tender tone. Brilliant.

4 - Magnum, P.I.

The most over the top macho theme song ever. Look at the moustache to non-moustache ratio in that cast. You've got guns, a sweet sports car, a helicopter, a girl's ass and guys digging a hole. That's some sort of testosterone super-band.


3 - Mission: Impossible

Admit it; when you find yourself doing something a little sneaky, you find yourself humming this tune. It's one of the coolest songs ever put on the tube, and the design of the titles themselves, with the quick cuts of the night's episode, gets you ready for the ultra-cool adventures of the IMF.


2 - The Twilight Zone

That guitar riff is both simultaneously kind of cool and austere, and so creepy as to defy description. It, combined with the odd imagery and the distinctive monologue intoned by series genius Rod Serling, is truly one of the all time classic themes.


1 - Hawaii Five-O

The pounding drums, the surf rock and that hyper kinetic zoom into the balcony where tough guy Jack Lord whips around to deliver that classic McGarrett hard ass look, and all that follows combines into a pulse elevating sense of excitement at the night's case. Book 'em, Dano, indeed.