ABC announced today that two of their long-running soap operas, All My Children and One Life to Live, will be cancelled within the coming year.  As Marc mentioned on Tunesmate a couple days ago, television has provided us with some wonderful theme songs over the years, and from Days of Our Lives to General Hospital to so many others, including AMC and OLTL, soap operas are no exception.  Above is the All My Children opening theme music as it was arranged twenty years ago.

I am constantly amazed that now most TV Theme Show songs are about five seconds long. Back in the day, the theme song gave you time to get ready for the show. What is your favorite TV theme song? Happy Days always was a feel good. Released as a single in 1976 by Pratt & McClain, “Happy Days” cracked the Top 5.

Thity years ago today, one of the most famous cliffhangers in television history was answered, as viewers who tuned in to watch the first episode of Dallas for the 1980-1981 season found out “Who shot J.R.?”  While that storyline may be the most famous thing to come from the television series, it’s far from the only memorable part of the show.  Among other memorable aspects of Dallas is its theme song, which can be heard in the clip of the show’s opening that appears above.  The theme song, along with its opening montage of images from the show, has become so iconic that numerous individuals have made YouTube videos for other shows and films using the song and copying the series’ opening.  For instance, check out this one for the new Battlestar Galactica series, this one for Star Wars, and this one for the new Doctor Who series.

The above video needs some work, but at least it captures the feel of the theme montage of the critically acclaimed 1980s television medical drama St. Elsewhere while setting it to clips from the critically acclaimed contemporary television medical drama House, M.D.  One of the comments on this video’s YouTube site states that the theme song to St. Elsewhere is “one of the best pieces of theme music ever.”  Of course, the theme song for House, M.D. isn’t bad either.