Tag TV Theme Songs

Toons & Tunes: Dueling Wabbit Themes

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Warner Brothers’ latest animated outing, Wabbit – A Looney Tunes Production, which currently airs simultaneously on both Boomerang and Cartoon Network, isn’t perfect, but it’s pretty decent overall, especially since the show is much welcome return to form for it’s star, the wascally wabbit Bugs Bunny himself. Ol’ Bugsy is back to being an energetic, wise-ass trickster and troublemaker again, rather than his much more restrained self from The Looney Tunes Show. In Wabbit, Bugs takes on every manner of foe from tiny peg-shaped ninjas to giant irascible painters to a feisty King of the Jungle to the Tooth Fairy. The art and drawing style takes some getting used to (Yosemite Sam in particular looks like he jumped off the Spumco drawing board) and some of the stories work better than others (the shorts in which Bugs interacts with Bigfoot tend to irritate more than amuse) but overall the hyper-kinetic pace and the non-stop barrage of gags keep things entertaining, and with the promise of more Looney Tunes stars to appear on the show, including Porky Pig and a “totally nuts” Daffy Duck, Wabbit looks to be a winner.

However, the series has already performed a bizarre oddity: it suddenly and without warning switched its’ opening and closing theme music from this jazzy score:

To this more Bluegrass-ey number:

 

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“I’m a -pickin!” “And I’m a-grinnin’!”

This is not a complaint, mind you; both themes are OK (I admit to liking the first one a little more, but that’s probably because by this time I’ve grown more accustomed to it). I don’t mind the change necessarily, it’s just that there was nothing wrong with first theme and the switch just seemed to come from out of nowhere, like the sudden shift from Power Rangers Zeo to Power Rangers Turbo. Weird, right?

Fry_Looking_Squint

“That seemed unnecessary.”

 

Our Favorite TV Show Openings At the Moment

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After sending a chill down everyone’s collective spines last month with a selection of creepy, scary and just plain disturbing production logos last month, we’ve decided to make things a little more mellow and talk about something that we like. We give you some of our favorite TV show intros of the moment:

Let’s start with an oldie, but a goodie. The opening for Cartoon Network’s 1st original series: Space Ghost Coast to Coast.


Man, the late Sonny Sharrock could certainly rock!

Next, here’s another smooth jazz tune that I’ve always enjoyed. The opening theme from The WB’s Mission Hill, courtesy of alternative ska band Cake.

I like Mission Hill‘s closing theme also, but unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find that one anywhere.

On the subject of Adult Swim shows, here are a couple more of our favorites. Here’s the into Sealab 2021, courtesy of Calamine. Some of Williams Street’s funhouse mirror version of old Hanna-Barbera shows have rubbed some people the wrong way, but Sealab 2021 was good, at least it was up until the unfortunate passing of Harry Goz, the voice of Captain Murphy. The show was never the same since.

And here’s one of my personal picks, the intro for Metalocalypse. Doesn’t this kick a little ass? But should we expect anything less from the most brutal band in the world?

This next one is tad out of date now, since the series has been renamed twice since then, but I think this theme is best of the revamps. Here’s the intro for the 1st re-branding of Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Aqua Unit Patrol Squad 1, performed by Queens of the Stone Age.

Next, here’s a great intro from a show starring one of the coolest bands of the moment, the opening of The Hub’s The Aquabats Super Show!

We realize that this next series opening isn’t from a cartoon, but we like it anyway. This is from the IFC  channel’s original series, Comedy Bang! Bang! We think the show is great, but we’re also a little ticked at creator Scott Aukerman for taking that title. Comedy Bang! Bang! could’ve easily been the name of this blog!


Next, again this isn’t from a cartoon, it’s from an internet series, 2 Best Friends Play, in which 2 two foul-mouthed but hilarious dudes play through video games while cracking wise and ripping on each other throughout. Hardcore gamers will know that the music is actually from Green Greens, which is the 1st level on several of the Kirby games.

Finally, here’s one from the most recent series. The intro for the Disney Channel’s newest animated series Wander Over Yonder, the brain child of Craig McKraken. Theme song courtesy of The Two Man Gentleman Band. Say what you will about the show, the opening theme is downright infectious.

Honorable mention goes to the opening theme for Comedy Central’s Key & Peele, which like the Comedy Bang! Bang! theme, was written and performed by Reggie Watts. We would have included it here, but the intro doesn’t seem to be anywhere on the internet. Bottom line: don’t screw with Viacom!