The Top TV Theme Songs Of All Time: 2000-2009 Edition

TVLine's ongoing review of TV's all-time greatest theme songs is nearing its end, this week serving up Carole King, a little Reba McEntire, some Tom Waits, a manly "Tommy Pickles" and other tunes from the first decade of this millennium.

Based on U.S. series' premiere dates, we're continuing our series with a look at the years 2000 through 2009, which offers some genuine crowd-pleasers that are only enhanced by increasing recency bias. TVLine's remaining live-action theme song review will tackle the decade that has just gone by, including Things both Stranger and Better... Pretty Little Liars as well as Big Little Lies... an unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, one crazy ex-girlfriend, and more.

Meanwhile, for you fans of animated fare, there will be a special "best of" list that is bound to please your brain (brain, brain, brain).

Top TV Theme Songs of All Time: 1990s EditionTop TV Theme Songs of All Time: 1980s EditionTop TV Theme Songs of All Time: 1970s EditionTop TV Theme Songs of All Time: 1950s/'60s EditionReview our selection of U.S. TV theme songs from the years 2000 to 2009 (once again, that's "2000 to 2009") and vote for the very best/most effective ones in the Comments. (Or, click this link and vote!)

L.D.'s main theme, "Frolic," was written by Italian composer Luciano Michelini. Creator and star Larry David heard the track in a bank commercial years before the show's creation, and had his assistant track it down. He kept it in his back pocket until it was time to do the original Curb Your Enthusiasm special for HBO. "It just sort of introduces the idea that you're in for something pretty idiotic," David joked at a Paley Center panel.

"Where You Lead" was written decades prior, but for the WB drama's theme song, Carole King made a new recording — with, fittingly, her daughter Louise Goffin. And it truly was a homemade affair. "The vocal mics were set up in the room that used to be my laundry room," Goffin shared in 2016. King also welcomed the opportunity to reframe the tune, which in its original form conjured images of a dutiful girlfriend. "It took a positive turn, with my mother and I singing to one another," said Goffin. "It had a deeper meaning of love between a mother and her child." King cameo'd in several Gilmore Girls episodes as Sophie, owner of the town's music shop.

Alternative rockers They Might Be Giants provided this Grammy Award-winning theme titled "Boss of Me." In addition, the band performed almost all of the incidental music for the show's first two seasons, and was included on the official soundtrack release alongside acts like Barenaked Ladies, Eagle Eye Cherry and Stroke 9. Their track "Older" also appears on the Malcolm in the Middle album, which was released in November of 2000.

Survivor's tribal opening theme music was composed by Russ Landau, who was nominated for an Emmy for his work in 2001. Various soundtracks were released featuring more of Landau's work, including albums for Seasons 9-27. The composer worked on other shows like Fear Factor, Seaquest DSV and Pirate Master, the last of which finally secured him an Emmy win for Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music.

Following the show's first season, a soundtrack containing 26 tracks was released, including the theme song heard above. While composer Michael Giacchino wrote almost all of the tracks, the opening theme song was actually written by creator J.J. Abrams. The rest of the show's music mirrors the opener's electronic/dance vibes. Along with his lengthy resume of film scores, Giacchino also worked on shows like Fringe, Alcatraz and Lost, having won an Emmy for his Lost contributions in 2004. As for Abrams, he's also credited as a theme composer for Felicity, Fringe, Person of Interest, 11.22.63 and more.

"I'm a Survivor," written by Shelby Kennedy and Phillip White and performed by the series' star, can be found on Reba McEntire's Greatest Hits Vol. 3: I'm a Survivor. Although for the first few seasons it was performed slower and softer (in keeping with the version on the album), the song was re-recorded at a faster, livelier pace (jump to the 3:30 mark above) for Season 5 and beyond.

For its first eight seasons, "Superman" was performed by Lazlo Bane, an alt-rock band from Santa Monica, Calif. In addition to the show's soundtrack, the song can be found on the band's second album, All the Time in the World. When the show went forward with a ninth season full of new characters and cast members, it re-launched with a fresh "Superman" take, this time performed by songwriter WAZ, who also produced music for creator Bill Lawrence's subsequent series, Cougar Town.

The Superman prequel's original closing credits music, composed by Mark Snow, had been conceived as its theme song, but was ultimately replaced with the livelier "Save Me" by Remy Zero. The alt rock band appeared in Smallville's Season 1 finale, to perform the song at a school dance; "Save Me" was also sampled during the Arrowverse's 2018 "Elseworlds" crossover, during a scene set on the Kent farm.

"The Ballad of Serenity," performed by Sonny Rhodes, was written by creator Joss Whedon before the series was even greenlit. The show's official DVD release includes footage of Whedon performing an early demo of the track. As for Rhodes, an American blues singer and steel guitar player, the self-proclaimed "Disciple of the Blues" has recorded hundreds of songs and played blues festivals all over the world.

The gospel/blues track "Way Down in the Hole" was written by Tom Waits for his 1987 album Frank's Wild Years. In the first season, the song was performed by The Blind Boys of Alabama, though each season saw a new artist covering the track. Tom Waits reclaimed it for Season 2, while The Neville Brothers took over for Season 3; DoMaJe (Baltimore teenagers Ivan Ashford, Markel Steele, Cameron Brown, Tariq Al-Sabir and Avery Bargasse) covered the Season 4 version, and lastly, Steve Earle handled the fifth and final season. (Earle was also a cast member in the series, portraying recovering drug addict Walon.)

LA rockers Phantom Planet are the band responsible for The O.C.'s wowing opening crescendo. The track appears on the band's 2002 album, The Guest, which features actor Jason Schwartzman on drums. Schwartzman left the band in 2003 to focus on his film career, but after going on significant hiatus, the group still releases music. Their fifth album, Devastator, dropped June 18, 2020.

The opening credits, featuring "I Don't Want to Be" by Gavin DeGraw, got dropped for Season 5 in part because series boss Mark Schwahn felt the characters had outgrown its message, following a four-year time jump. "I felt like 'I Don't Wanna Be' was very much an anthem for their adolescent lives. It was very much about... who am I going to be someday," he explained to Buddy TV. "Not to mention that it was 42 seconds of screen time that I knew I could use for story." For Season 8, though, the tune was restored, sung by different artists each week.

The Disney Channel series' theme song was written by John Coda and performed in large part by star Raven-Symoné, with Orlando Brown (who played Eddie) lending some rapping and Anneliese van der Pol (who played Chelsie) belting the show's title in the chorus. A full-length version of this theme was turned into a music video and can also be heard on the show's 2004 soundtrack.

Fun fact: theme song composer Grant Geissman co-wrote all of the jingles created by the Charlie Harper character! Fun fact: this theme song, which earned an Emmy nomination in 2004, consists of only two sung words ("manly" and "men")! Fun fact: None of the series stars featured in the opening credits ever did their own singing! (What's more, Elizabeth Daily (aka Rugrats' Tommy Pickles) handled vocals for Angus T. Jones!) Fun fact not relevant to the theme song, yet still fun and a fact: Two and a Half Men co-creator Chuck Lorre composed the music for 1987's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!

Written by star Drake Bell and Backhouse Mike (né Michael Thomas Corcoran), "I Found a Way" was performed by Bell, himself. Corcoran, a musician, songwriter and record producer, has produced many hits for Bell and Drake & Josh co-star Miranda Cosgrove, in addition to co-writing a song by Victoria Justice and Ariana Grande. Bell has four solo albums to his name including The Lost Album, which was released February 21, 2020.

"I Wonder Why the Wonderfalls" was performed by Andy Partridge, songwriter and frontman for the British band XTC. One of two music videos for the song can be found on the show's 2005 DVD release. Sometimes coined the "Godfather of Britpop," Partridge's work also includes writing and producing for other artists, in addition to collaborative albums released with Peter Blegvad and Robyn Hitchcock.

Though series creator Rob Thomas briefly considered commissioning a noir version of an '80s song from show composer Josh Kramon, The Dandy Warhols' recently released "We Used to Be Friends" got the nod instead. (A darker version of said song was swapped in for Season 3, but not well received.) Interestingly, "We Used to Be Friends" also served as the theme for... My Restaurant Rules, an Australian reality-TV series.

How I Met Your Mother's theme is a 12-second clip from The Solids' song "Hey, Beautiful." Two of the band's members are the series' creators, Craig Thomas and Carter Bays. The group formed in 1996 on the campus of Wesleyan University, where they all studied. They first received attention when their track "The Future Is Now" was chosen as the theme song for Fox's Oliver Beene.

"Temptation Sensation," the opening theme song to It's Always Sunny, was written and performed by Heinz Kiessling, a German musician, conductor and producer. Many of his other pieces can be heard throughout the series, including "On Your Bike," "Blue Blood," "Take the Plunge" and more. The rest of the soundtrack is comprised of composers like Karl Grell ("Honey Bunch"), Joe Brook ("Moonbeam Kiss") and Werner Tautz, whose "Off Broadway" was almost chosen as the show's theme.

The Kinks' "Better Things," Modest Mouse's "Float On" and Electric Light Orchestra's "Mr. Blue Sky" were among the frontrunners for the U.S. Office's theme, with the latter emerging as the cast's favorite via a democratic vote. The ELO tune alas had already been used as the theme for Heather Locklear's LAX, so producers conducted "probably the biggest cattle call I've been on in Hollywood," Jay Ferguson told BMI, before his instrumental eventually got the nod. "It's a main title that goes against type," the composer observed. "It has this vulnerability, this yearning to it that soon explodes into this overdone optimism which then gets crushed — which is pretty much what the show is about." (The video above plays a composite of every variation on the opening credits.)

Tina Fey's quirky series was soundtracked by her husband, composer Jeff Richmond, who was also one of the show's producers. The theme song, in addition to its incidental melodies, is an upbeat, jazz-adjacent score, featuring loads of snazzy saxophone, bass clarinet and strings. It was nominated for the Outstanding Main Title Theme Music Emmy, which it ultimately lost to The Tudors. Aside from 30 Rock, Richmond also provided music for another of Fey's series, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, in addition to snagging a Tony nomination for Best Original Score for the Broadway musical Mean Girls.

The high school football drama's theme was written by W. G. Snuffy Walden, who's perhaps best known for his Emmy-winning music on The West Wing. Walden also scored such shows as thirtysomething and The Wonder Years, as well as penned the theme for My So-Called Life. 

"I Know You Know" was penned by The Friendly Indians — aka series creator Steve Franks' band — and specialized versions were used throughout the series run, including a Bollywood-style take, sung in Hindi; a moody, Twin Peaks-ian spoof crooned by Julie Cruise herself; Boys II Men's a cappella approach; and, for the episode "100 Clues," an opening with graphics akin to the murder-solving board game.

When series creators Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady reached out to the alt rock band Barenaked Ladies after attending a concert, singer/songwriter Ed Robertson veritably geeked out because of the timing alone. "I had literally just finished reading a book by this British particle physicist named Simon Singh, called Big Bang, that walks you through cosmological theory from the moment of the big bang up to present," he told the Oklahoman in 2010. "It was amazing." Lorre and Prady so loved "Big Bang Theory Theme" (also known as "History of Everything") that they commissioned an extended version which was included on the band's greatest hits album and became a part of their live shows.

The opening theme "A Beautiful Mine" was created by RJD2, an Ohio-based DJ and producer. Since his start in 1993, he produced 12 studio albums, in addition to a plethora of EPs, mixtapes and compilation albums. The animation itself was created by a production house called Imaginary Forces, and paid homage to a couple of Alfred Hitchcock classics: North by Northwest and Vertigo.

That catchy bop you hear above is called "At Least It Was Here," by Los Angeles power pop band The 88. With an eight-album discography under their belt, the band has performed with acts like Ray Davies, Elliot Smith, the Smashing Pumpkins, the B-52's and more, and was also prominently featured on How I Met Your Mother's first season in the episode "Best Prom Ever."

With less than three weeks til its premiere, Parks and Rec producers hired consultants to help them find the perfect theme song to soundtrack the world of Pawnee. A mass email was sent out to composers which gave them a deadline of only five days. The winning entry was written by Gaby Moreno, a Guatemalan singer-songwriter and guitarist, who performs blues, jazz and soul in multiple languages. Her co-writer on the theme was Vincent Jones, a Canadian keyboardist and producer, formerly of the bands Ginger and The Grapes of Wrath.