''Television's Greatest Hits'' is a series of albums containing recordings of TV theme songs through the years. The series was first introduced in 1985 by the newly created Tee-Vee Toons (TVT) record label and ran until 1996. Each of the original seven numbered volumes contains 65 theme songs, with each volume focusing on particular decades. A spin-off volume containing commercial

jingle A jingle is a short song or tune used in advertising and for other commercial uses. Jingles are a form of sound branding. A jingle contains one or more hooks and meanings that explicitly promote the product or service being advertised, usually ...

s was released in 1989. A compilation of popular tracks from the series was issued by TVT in 2005 as '' All-Time Top 100 TV Themes''. TVT's catalog was later acquired by

Bicycle Music Company The Bicycle Music Company was a music publishing company founded independently, and after growing for a number of years was merged with Concord Music Group in 2015. As of 2010, it owned or administered over 12,000 works from songwriters. Early h ...

and tracks from the series have been rereleased by

Oglio Records Oglio Records is an American record company started in 1993 by Carl Caprioglio. The label issues compilations of rare 1980s modern rock and new wave songs, many previously unreleased on CD. In addition to releasing new material by artists such ...

in genre-themed compilations since 2011.

History

TVT Records

TVT Records was launched in 1985 with the release of ''Television's Greatest Hits first volume, the double LP compilation '' 65 TV Themes! From the '50s and '60s''. The album featured theme songs from classic TV shows, and it became a respectable seller. The ''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. ...

'' called the album "the most fun you can have with your pants on", and the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' highlighted it as one of 1985's most notable business ideas. It featured 65 themes from television shows ranging from the mid-1950s until the late 1960s, including tracks from ''

The Bugs Bunny Show ''The Bugs Bunny Show'' is a long-running American animated anthology television series hosted by Bugs Bunny that is mainly composed of theatrical ''Looney Tunes'' and '' Merrie Melodies'' cartoons released by Warner Bros. between 1948 and 196 ...

'', ''

Popeye Popeye the Sailor Man is a fictional cartoon character created by E. C. Segar, Elzie Crisler Segar.The Dick Van Dyke Show ''The Dick Van Dyke Show'' is an American sitcom created by Carl Reiner that initially aired on CBS from October 3, 1961, to June 1, 1966, with a total of 158 half-hour episodes spanning five seasons. It was produced by Calvada Productions"Calv ...

'', ''

I Love Lucy ''I Love Lucy'' is an American sitcom that originally aired on CBS from October 15, 1951, to May 6, 1957, with a total of 180 half-hour episodes spanning six seasons. The series starred Lucille Ball and her husband Desi Arnaz, along with Vivian ...

'', ''

The Twilight Zone ''The Twilight Zone'' is an American media franchise based on the anthology series, anthology television series created by Rod Serling in which characters find themselves dealing with often disturbing or unusual events, an experience described ...

'', and many others. The second volume, '' 65 More TV Themes from the '50s & '60s'', was released in 1986, and included themes from ''

Mister Rogers' Neighborhood ''Mister Rogers' Neighborhood'' (sometimes shortened to ''Mister Rogers'') is an American half-hour educational children's television series that ran from 1968 to 2001. It was created and hosted by Fred Rogers. Its original incarnation, the se ...

'', '' Mighty Mouse Playhouse'', ''

Merrie Melodies ''Merrie Melodies'' is an American animated comedy short film series distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. It was part of the ''Looney Tunes'' franchise and featured many of the same characters. Originally running from August 2, 1931, to Septem ...

'', ''

I Spy I spy is a guessing game where one player (the ''spy'' or ''it'') chooses an object within sight and announces to the other players that "I spy with my little eye something beginning with...", naming the first letter of the object. Other players a ...

'', ''

Monty Python's Flying Circus ''Monty Python's Flying Circus'' (also known as simply ''Monty Python'') is a British surreal humour, surreal sketch comedy series created by and starring Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin, and Terry Gilliam, w ...

''. '' 70's and 80's'', the third volume, was released in 1987. A spinoff volume in 1989, '' The Commercials'', included a number of

jingles A jingle is a short song or tune used in advertising and for other commercial uses. Jingles are a form of sound branding. A jingle contains one or more hooks and meanings that explicitly promote the product or service being advertised, usually ...

and

commercials A television advertisement (also called a commercial, spot, break, advert, or ad) is a span of television programming produced and paid for by an organization. It conveys a message promoting, and aiming to market, a product, service or idea. ...

from different eras. According to a review in

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

, "Upon first hearing these jingles, listeners will be amazed to find themselves singing along spontaneously, and surprised at how they come back to full consciousness in spite of not having been heard ost of themfor decades. That said, it's great fun to hear most of these commercials dealing with food, cigarettes, household cleaners, beer, cars, and soft drinks, among other products." The series then went on hiatus, with TVT returning in 1996 with the fourth volume, '' Black & White Classics'', and releasing three more volumes in prompt succession that year. The format of the original eight-volume series became widely imitated by other record labels. The catalog was later acquired by The Bicycle Music Company, an independent publisher and rights holder that has acquired catalog rights to musicians such as

Nine Inch Nails Nine Inch Nails, commonly abbreviated as NIN (stylized as NIИ), is an American industrial rock band formed in Cleveland, Ohio in 1988. Its members are the singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer Trent Reznor and his frequent col ...

Cyndi Lauper Cynthia Ann Stephanie Lauper ( ; born June 22, 1953) is an American singer, songwriter and actress. Known for her distinctive image, featuring a variety of hair colors and eccentric clothing, and for her powerful four-octave vocal range;Jerome, ...

Pete Seeger Peter Seeger (May 3, 1919 – January 27, 2014) was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and social activist. He was a fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s and had a string of hit records in the early 1950s as a member of The Weav ...

Third Eye Blind Third Eye Blind is an American rock band formed in San Francisco, California, in 1993. After years of lineup changes in the early and mid-1990s, the songwriting duo of Stephan Jenkins and Kevin Cadogan signed the band's first major-label reco ...

Arlo Guthrie Arlo Davy Guthrie (born July 10, 1947) is an American folk music, folk singer-songwriter. He is known for singing protest song, songs of protest against social injustice, and storytelling while performing songs, following the tradition of his fa ...

, and Sublime.

Oglio Records Reissues

In September 2011,

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

-based

announced they were releasing the ''Television's Greatest Hits'' song catalog after entering into an arrangement with The Bicycle Music Company. Starting in September 2011, Oglio began releasing television themes bundled into "6-packs", starting with ''Classic Sitcoms'' and with announced 2011 releases for eight more volumes such as ''Cop Shows,'' ''Adventure,'' ''Detective Shows,'' and ''Classic Comedy.'' Oglio has distribution agreements with INgrooves,

Fontana Fontana may refer to: Places Italy *Fontana Liri, comune in the Province of Frosinone *Fontanafredda, comune in the Province of Pordenone * Fontanarosa, comune in the Province of Avellino *Francavilla Fontana, comune in the Province of Brindisi ...

, and

Universal Universal is the adjective for universe. Universal may also refer to: Companies * NBCUniversal, a media and entertainment company that is a subsidiary of Comcast ** Universal Animation Studios, an American Animation studio, and a subsidiary of N ...

History

TVT Records

Oglio Records Reissues

Discography

TVT series

Oglio series

References

External links