Who loves ya, baby?

I'm watching the first season of Kojak. I was too young when this was first broadcast to stay up and watch it, and I suspect my parents thought it was too violent. It's also riddled with gritty portrayals of drug use, prostitution, etc, but those things go over a child's head; violence, however, is digested early.

But that opening theme, it's like a lullaby, an immediate transport to a simpler time, when prime time was bedtime, and a musical capsule meant kisses goodnight and getting tucked in and falling asleep with moonbeams settling into dark corners.

They don't make opening themes like this too much anymore (eg Seinfeld, an extreme minimalist example). Know why? Cutting 60 seconds from a show's beginning and end makes more room for commercials. There are probably music royalty savings as well, but I don't know much about that world.

What they've lost is a Pavlovian[1] event that would serve them well in syndication. A theme song encapsulates memories in a way nothing else does, and it lasts a lifetime. Squandering the time for a few more ad dollars is a mistake.

 

[1]
I heard a buy on progressive radio say Pavlov was discredited over 50 years ago (and he was a noted speaker at an event, not an on-air personality). Not sure what he meant by that, he didn't elaborate. Just try to remember that next time you see a food commercial and get hungry, or smell food and salivate. We all do. No, it's not a universal standard model for human behavior, but it's a good chunk of it.