Great Mystery/Crime TV Themes

Mystery TV Themes

Each week, my blog Learning Curve celebrates the great opening themes from mystery/crime TV series over the years. Tune in for info about the classic shows, their iconic themes, and the composers and arrangers who made the music we remember so well.

Mystery TV Themes 1950s

PERRY MASON: This fictional defense attorney, created by best-selling pulp writer Erle Stanley Gardner in the 1930s, appeared in some 80 novels and short stories, several films, and a long-running radio drama before hitting the small screen in 1957 ...
DRAGNET: The "Dragnet March" ("Danger Ahead") by composer Walter Schumann (1913-1958) is one of the most recognizable themes in history. Dragnet started as a radio drama (1949-1957), which Jack Webb created ...
PETER GUNN: One of the most ubiquitous melodies of all time -- and most-requested since we began this series -- the cool jazz theme for Peter Gunn (1958-61) was written by the great Henry Mancini (1924-1994) ...

Mystery TV Themes 1960s

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE: In this influential spy series (1966-73, 1988-90) a super-secret government agency called the "Impossible Missions Force" is given secret anonymous covert missions ...
THE AVENGERS (with NEW AVENGERS): This quirky '60s spy show starred Patrick Macnee as gentleman government agent John Steed, working with a variety of partners to keep Great Britain safe from a variety of outlandish threats ...
IT TAKES A THIEF: Jazz artist Dave Grusin provided the theme for this 196/b>8-1970 adventure series starring a young Robert Wagner as a smooth, sophisticated playboy and burglar recruited by the government ...
BATMAN 1966 (w/ THE ODD COUPLE): The oft-copied, oft-parodied snazzy theme song was written by Neal Hefti, an important composer and arranger of the big band bebop era who went on to write for film and TV in the 1960s and '70s ...
JUDD FOR THE DEFENSE: This legal drama, which aired on ABC 1967-1969, starred Carl Betz as Clinton Judd, a flamboyant attorney based in Houston who took on controversial cases across the country ...
GET SMART: It is hard to find much information about arranger, songwriter and conductor Irving Szathmary, whose memorable theme adroitly captured the flavor of the spy parody ...
THE MOD SQUAD: This police drama (ABC, 1968-73) centered on three troubled young adults recruited to be undercover cops. Series creator Bud Ruskin based the show on his experiences in the 1950s on the LAPD. The series starred Tige Andrews (Captain Greer), Michael Cole (Pete Cochran), Peggy Lipton (Julie Barnes), and Clarence Williams III (Linc Hayes).
HAWAII FIVE-O: One of the longest-running crime dramas in TV history, Hawaii Five-O followed members of an elite state-police unit investigating an assortment of felonies in the 50th state, where it was shot on location.

Mystery TV Themes 1970s

HART TO HART: For five seasons (1979-84) and several TV movies in the 1990s, Robert Wagner and Stephanie Powers starred as millionaire husband-and-wife amateur sleuths Jonathan and Jennifer Hart, aided by their trusted employee Max and their faithful dog Freeway ...
THE MAGICIAN: For one season on NBC, 1973-74, Bill Bixby starred as an illusionist / escape artist who put his wealth and skills to the aid of other victims of injustice ...
S.W.A.T.: The rockin' theme song for this short-lived spinoff of The Rookies went to No. 1 on the pop charts for Rhythm Heritage in 1976. The group's Michael Omartian went on to an illustrious career as a Grammy-winning producer ...
BARNEY MILLER: A half-hour series that regularly mixed comedy with drama, the ABC series Barney Miller (1975-82) was set in a New York City police station. The iconic theme song was composed by Jack Elliott ...

Mystery TV Themes 1980s

SIMON & SIMON: The popular P.I. show (1981-88) followed the adventures of brothers who -- despite having almost nothing in common -- ran a small detective agency ...
THE EQUALIZER (with bonus CALLAN): "Got a problem? Odds against you? Call the Equalizer." This 1985-89 CBS series starred imposing British actor Edward Woodward as guilt-ridden ex-espionage agent Robert McCall ...
T.J. HOOKER: This cop series, which aired 1982-1986 on ABC and then CBS, starred William Shatner as a tough, no-nonsense uniformed police sergeant with a penchant for jumping on moving vehicles ...
MAGNUM, P.I.: This post-hardboiled detective series starred Tom Selleck as Thomas Magnum, a former Navy SEAL and Vietnam vet who lived in the guest house of a lush 200-acre beachfront estate owned by celebrated (but unseen) author Robin Masters.

Mystery TV Themes 1990s-2000s

MONK: Airing on the USA Network since 2002, Monk has the distinction of having two completely different Emmy-winning theme songs. Sleuth Adrian Monk battles his intense phobias to solve impossible crimes ...
BONES: Inspired by real-life forensic anthropologist (and thriller novelist) Kathy Reichs, forensic anthropologist Dr. Temperance "Bones" Brennan (Emily Deschanel) and FBI Agent Seeley Booth (David Boreanaz) investigate unsolved crimes ...
ALIAS: The minimalist but energizing theme to the "spy-fi" series Alias was written by creator J. J. Abrams. Counter-espionage agent Sydney Bristow wears colorful disguises while working undercover assignments all over the world ...

We're All In This Together

More place for you to find TV themes online

Mark Little's MyThemes.TV: Representing TV themes from all over the spectrum.
Main Title Heaven: A growing collection of videos of classic main title sequences.
TV Theme Songs: TV themes
TV Themes WAV Files: TV themes
Classic TV Links Page: TV themes
retroCRUSH: Counting down their picks for the 100 greatest TV themes of all time.
Comic Book Resources: TV Themes: A fun assortment of TV themes from superhero- and comics-related cartoons and llive action series.