Bloodier Than The Original: The 300th Post

It's the 300th post! Like the 100th and 200th before it, I will ring in the excitement with an obnoxious list. This go-round we're talking about my favorite 1980's theme songs.

Theme songs were different back then. They were a minute long, catchy and inspiring. My first attraction to TV came in the form of the Punky Brewster theme song and its been a love-affair ever since.

#5 Empty Nest (1988-1995)
This show was only okay but nothing beats watching old man Richard Mulligan stroll on the beach with his dog.

Favorite lyric: Sometimes the answers can be hard to find/That's something I will never be.


#4 Gimme A Break (1981-1987)
This theme song sucked until season three when they picked up the tempo and let Nell Carter sing it. And nothing beats her trying to strangle a bathroom scale.
Favorite lyric: Playing with fate/And not a moment too late/I'm showing the whole world nothing can get me down



#3 Growing Pains (1985-1992)
Let me clear: The theme song was always great, but it reached its peak in season 6 or 7 when it went acapella. It gave the long-running show a reverence BJ Thomas and Dusty Springfield just couldn't provide.
Favorite Lyric: Baby you and me/We've gotta be/The luckiest dreamers who never quit dreaming



#2 Just The Ten Of Us (1988-1990)
Fittingly, this Growing Pains spin-off comes in at number two. The show only lasted three seasons but it provided some pretty amazing moments along the way. Why the Lubbock Babes never caught on is beyond me.
Favorite Lyric: I'm always bringing home second places/At the end of every one of my days/ Look out because all of that's changin'



#1 Perfect Strangers (1986-1993)
This is not only a great theme song, it's a great song period. It's almost impossible to watch or listen to it without feeling amazing...or at least ready to watch 22 minutes of amazing comedy. Think the other shows can compete? Don't be ridiculous!
Favorite Lyric: It's my life/And my dreams/And nothing's gonna stop me now

Twosomes For Two Hundred

It's the 200th post! Like the 100th, I've decided to ring it in with another unnecessary list. This time around, it's my top 3 1980s television twosomes.

• Larry Appleton & Balki Bartokomous of Perfect Strangers
• What can be said that hasn't already been written about by the top media scholars...I guess a lot. Why do I love them? Nothing says 1980s comedy like funny accents, hijinks, and cousins from far, far away. Plus Larry was from Wisconsin.
  

• Murphy Brown & Eldin Bernecky of Murphy Brown
• He never finished painting her house, he had shaggy hair, and eventually he took care of that little bastard baby of hers (too soon?). She confided in him, spit him some of the show's best one liners and we are all better for it.
  

And the winner of the first annual edubTV top 1980s TV Twosome is...

• Punky Brewster & Henry Warnimont of Punky Brewster
• Henry was super old when he found Punky. I always wondered why he didn't have a harder time securing that adoption. They kind of cleared it all up in the pilot episode. I think that custody battle would've raged on for years. The show may not have been as lighthearted, but much more true to life. I guess we can't all be The Wire.