Five Awesome TV Series Themes (You May Have Never Heard)

The classic television landscape is filled with great themes from TV shows such as Mission: Impossible, The Avengers, Route 66, and Hawaii Five-O. However, there are a plethora of awesome themes from lesser-known TV series as well. We wanted to highlight five of them today. Best of all, you can click on the videos and listen to these opening themes on the Cafe's YouTube channel without even leaving this page.

1. Coronet Blue - Larry Cohen's short-lived 1967 series was about an amnesiac (Frank Converse) whose only clue to his identity were the words "coronet blue." He spent 13 episodes trying to discover what those words meant. The catchy title song, which reminds me of "Secret Agent Man," was penned by Earl Shuman and two-time Oscar nominee Laurence Rosenthal. Lenny Welch, who provides the vocals, scored a top 5 hit in 1963 with a cover of "Since I Fell for You."



2. The Protectors - Robert Vaughn and Nyree Dawn Porter (The Forsyte Saga) starred in this 1972-73 British series about a trio of international troubleshooters. The title song "Avenues and Alleyways" was a UK hit for Lou Christie, who sings over the closing credits. I prefer the opening instrumental version.



3. UFO - Composer Barry Gray wrote some great themes for Gerry Anderson's marionette TV series (e.g., Thunderbirds, Stingray). So, it was only natural that Anderson would turn to Gray for his first live-action show in 1970. I love how the snazzy music is perfectly synchronized with the rapid editing.



4. The Loner - Jerry Goldsmith had already received one of his 18 Oscar nominations when he composed the theme to Rod Serling's 1965-66 TV Western. The show starred Lloyd Bridges as a former Union officer roaming the West and dealing with issues such as racial prejudice, redemption, and resignation.



5. Man In a Suitcase - This jazzy theme is probably the least-known on this list, but it was composed by Ron Grainer. He was responsible for memorable title tunes for TV series such as The Prisoner and Doctor Who as well the scores for movies like To Sir, With Love (though he didn't write the title song). Incidentally, the Man In a Suitcase theme was later used for the 1996-2000 British entertainment show TFI Friday.

The Five Best Episodes of "The Loner"

Lloyd Bridges as William Colton.

We originally wrote a post about Rod Serling's 1965-66 Western TV series The Loner back in 2009. At that time, it seemed destined to be one of those cult TV shows lost forever except for an episode or two on YouTube. Fortunately, that turned out not to be the case. In 2016, Shout Factory released all 26 episodes of The Loner.

The premise has Lloyd Bridges playing William Colton, a former Union officer wandering through the Old West following the end of the Civil War. Serling, who wrote many of the episodes, uses that backdrop to explore issues such as racial prejudice, redemption, and resignation. While it's not as consistently thought-provoking as Twilight Zone, The Loner is a different kind of Western and Bridges is excellent as its complex hero.

Here's are our picks for the five best episodes:

1.  The Oath - When Colton stops by an isolated inn on a rainy night, he discovers that its residents are being held at gunpoint by a critically-wounded outlaw. During the night, the outlaw's plight changes the lives of the innkeeper's daughter and an alcoholic former surgeon with one hand. Rod Serling once said: "Humanity is our business." That's the theme in this potent episode featuring fine performances from Barry Sullivan and Viviane Ventura. I love the unexpected conclusion, which is filled with both melancholy and hope.

Barry Sullivan and Lloyd Bridges in the background.

2.  The Lonely Calico Queen - Colton finds a letter on a dead man and delivers it. The recipient is a lonely saloon girl, who was waiting for the letter writer--a pen-pal she has never met--to "rescue" her from her mundane existence. She assumes that Colton is her knight in shining armor. Serling wrote this touching tale of dreams and disillusionment. Jeanne Cooper shines as the saloon girl's pragmatic boss, who has accepted her station in life.

3.  Westward the Shoemaker - Colton meets a naïve immigrant (David Opatoshu), who is traveling to a nearby town to open a shoe shop with his life's savings. Part character study and part celebration of the goodness in people, this one features a Twilight Zone-like twist at the climax. Writer Serling also fills it with natural little touches like the two men soaking their feet in a nearby stream as they talk.

Cindy Bridges (Lloyd's daughter) with Colton's horse Joshua.

4. Pick Me Another Time to Die - Veteran TV writer Ed Adamson penned this more conventional, but still compelling episode in which Colton is framed for the murder of a popular sheriff. Even worse, the man responsible is the deputy! The only flaw in this tight-paced, twisty tale is its hurried conclusion. Character actor Lewis Charles has some great scenes as the deputy's underling and there's a doozy of a fight in a jail cell between Bridges and Mike Mazurki.

5. The Flight of the Arctic Tern - En route to a friend's wedding, Colton encounters a beautiful blonde on horseback, who flirts openly with him. Later that day, when he meets the bride-to-be, she turns out to be the same woman! Producer Andy White wrote the teleplay for this offbeat outing about a manipulating woman (well played by Janine Gray) who doesn't know what she wants in life. Colton's look of disgust in the closing scene is not to be missed.

You can view clips from three of these episodes on the Cafe's YouTube Channel by clicking on the image below:

On the Road Again: The Great “Road” TV Shows of the 1960s

What’s a “road” TV show? Well, it’s a TV series where the protagonist travels from place to place—sometimes because he’s being chased, sometimes because he’s chasing someone (or something), and sometimes because he’s trying to find meaning in life. A TV series where the hero has a home base, such as Paladin’s San Francisco hotel in Have Gun Will Travel—doesn’t count. No, in a “road” show, the hero has to be constantly on the move. It also doesn’t count if traveling is a part of the protagonist’s job, as in Wanted: Dead or Alive, where Josh (Steve McQueen) goes to various places tracking down his quarry as a bounty hunter. Now that we’ve defined the genre, here are my picks for the most memorable “road” shows of the 1960s:

1. The Fugitive (1963-67). David Janssen spent four seasons on the road as Dr. Richard Kimble, a physician wrongly convicted of killing his wife. Kimble escapes during a train crash and tries to find the elusive one-armed man who may have killed his wife. Barry Morse is the only other regular, portraying Kimble’s “relentless pursuer” Lt. Philip Gerard. A clever updating of Les Miserablés, the series benefits from brilliant writing, Janssen’s low-key performance (his slight smile is understated acting at its finest), and consistently strong guest stars. This may be one of the first TV series to intersperse a continuing storyline with stand-alone stories: some episodes focus on Kimble trying to prove his innocence; others focus solely on the characters that Kimble meets along the way.

2. Route 66 (1960-64). Stirling Silliphant created this “road” show about two young men driving across America in search of “something”. The protagonists are college-educated Tod Stiles (Martin Milner) and street-smart Buz Murdock (George Maharis). They take to the road when Tod’s businessman father dies unexpectedly and leaves a pile of debts. Once Tod pays them off, all that remains of his inheritance is his father’s Corvette. Shot on location throughout the U.S., Route 66 is a portrait of the country in the early 1960s—the big cities, the rural towns, the motels, the factories, and the docks. Silliphant wrote the majority of the scripts, which often sounded like stage plays—but very good ones. Tod and Buz frequently took a back seat to the guest stars’ characters; in fact, in some episodes, the two stars were downright peripheral to the plot!

3. The Invaders (1967-68). Architect David Vincent (Roy Thinnes) accidentally sees a flying saucer land and learns that aliens are plotting to take over the world. Unfortunately, no one believes David. It doesn’t help that the aliens glow orange and disappear when they die! For its first half-season, this reverse variation of The Fugitive (both were exec produced by Quinn Martin) benefits from inventive stories (e.g., in the episode “The Mutant”, Suzanne Pleshette is an alien who feels emotions…unlike the majority of her race). In the second and final season, Vincent linked up with other believers to form an organization to fight the alien intruders and the show became less interesting (though there were still a few standout episodes).

4. Run for Your Life (1965-68). Ben Gazzara played Paul Bryan, a successful lawyer who learns that he has a terminal illness and only two years to live. He quits his job and goes on the road to live life to its fullest. This TV series was spun off from the episode “Rapture at Forty-Two” on the anthology series Kraft Suspense Theater. Gazzara received Emmy nominations for two of the series’ three seasons. Martin Milner from Route 66,guest starred on a couple of the episodes. Roy Huggins, who created The Fugitive (and many other shows), produced Run for Your Life.

5. The Loner (1965-66). Rod Serling created this "adult Western" that downplayed action in favor of human interest stories. Like The Twilight Zone, the series had a social conscience, this time in the form of hero William Colton (Lloyd Bridges), a former Union officer searching the West for a meaningful existence. This wasn’t the first Western about a drifter nor the last. Nick Adams played an ex-Confederate soldier roaming the West in The Rebel (1959-62), which featured a title tune sung by Johnny Cash. In the late 1960s, Walter Brennan and Dack Rambo looked for Dack’s father (who abandoned his son as an infant and became a gunfighter) in The Guns of Will Sonnett.

Honorable Mentions: Then Came Bronson with Michael Parks (in a role not unlike Buz on Route 66) riding his motorcycle throughout the country; The Immortal with Chris George as a race car driver being pursued by those who want his blood—literally, because it contains antibodies that prevent aging.

The Loner--Rod Serling's TV Western Cult Favorite

Bridges as former Union officer William Colton.

With The Twlight Zone a big hit for CBS, Rod Serling launched a Western TV series in the fall of 1965. Serling was no stranger to the Western genre, having written 1958's Saddle the Wind starring Robert Taylor and John Cassavetes.

The Loner, like Saddle the Wind, was an "adult Western" that downplayed action in favor of human interest stories. And like The Twilight Zone, the series had a social conscience, this time in the form of hero William Colton, played by Lloyd Bridges. A former Union officer, Colton--like television predecessors Tod and Buz in Route 66--was in search of "something." His travels into the West lead to encounters with various individuals whose stories form the basis of each episode.

The first "An Echo of Bugles," stars Whit Bissell (the hardest working actor in the late 1950 and 1960s) as a former Confederate being harassed by a young punk who throws the old man's Rebel flag on the floor. Colton interecedes and calmly (yet forcefully) states:

"I don't owe any allegiance to that flag either, but too many good men died for it to let me sit by and see it desecrated by a dirty little loudmouth that had no hand in bringing it down...a loudmouth who was still sucking milk and candy drops while this flag was the breeze."

The horrors of war haunt Colton.

In flashback, it's revealed that Colton killed a young Confederate soldier during a battle--only to learn that the Civil War had ended hours earlier with Lee's surrender at Appomattox. This incident drives Colton to resign his commission despite the pleadings of his senior officer.

Potent dialogue for an intriguing Western TV series. Unfortun-ately, The Loner lasted for only 26 episodes--not even a full season back in 1965. And even though Serling is considered one of the great television writers, The Loner has never made it to DVD and, sadly, probably never will. (Since I wrote this post in 2009, I'm thrilled to say that The Loner was released on DVD by Shout Factory in 2016.)

Click here to read our review of the five best episodes of The Loner.