New TV theme songs are not as memorable as old "Friends"

There was a time, I think, when theme songs were almost as important as the shows they introduced. They were fully formed tunes, many of them catchy and original and comforting. ““Friends”:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esJPVkJDgAU&feature=fvwrel” had one of the best, a sweet song with a chorus that begins, “I’ll be there for you.”

As I wrote in my “Pop Psychology” column this week, two of our old “Friends” have come back into our lives recently – Matt LeBlanc in Showtime’s “Episodes” and Matthew Perry in ABC’s “Mr. Sunshine.” Neither of them brought particularly good theme songs with them, though.

The title of “Mr. Sunshine” is hardly accompanied by a song at all, just a sad and sarcastic voice saying, “Mr. Sunshine, yay.” “Episodes” does slightly better: There’s a cute animated sequence with a book flying through the sky, backed by pleasant horns.

Still, it’s not something you can sing along to, and you won’t find it stuck in your head hours later. Fortunately, I imagine the “Friends” theme will always be there for you.