Quiz: Can You Match the Theme Song to the ’80s or ’90s Show?

One of the ways television offers comfort is in familiarity. Sitcom characters tend to behave in predictable ways, from Kramer on Seinfeld plotting bizarre schemes to Lucy Ricardo on I Love Lucy trying to break into show business (often by plotting bizarre schemes).

Part of that predictability is in the television theme song. See if you can match these corny-but-catchy tunes to the series they belong to in the quiz below.

Some songs are written exclusively for shows; others were recorded years or decades earlier. Carole King’s “Where You Lead,” the theme to Gilmore Girls, was originally released in 1971; King reworked the song for the show. The Rembrandts’ “I’ll Be There for You” was the reverse: tThe band recorded a 45-second song for Friends and later expanded it for an album to capitalize on the show’s success.

One show you’ll never remember the lyrics to is Star Trek. The opening theme by composer Alexander Courage is familiar to franchise fans, but it’s a wordless tune. Trek creator Gene Rodenberry wrote lyrics to accompany it (“Beyond the rim of the star-light, my love is wand'’ring in star-flight!”) to try and eke out some music royalties as a “co-writer” even though they weren’t used.

While not exactly an ethical move—his portion cut down Courage’s shares—Rodenberry had the right idea. TV song royalties can be very lucrative, particularly on broadcast television. Barenaked Ladies frontman Ed Robertson wrote the theme for The Big Bang Theory, the long-running CBS sitcom. He told Rolling Stone that his earnings from the music are somewhere between seven and 10 digits, or tens of millions of dollars.

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