Five Crucial TV Theme Songs Missing From Josh Groban’s Emmy Montage

noah | September 22, 2008 10:30 am
Last night’s Emmy telecast was punctuated by an interlude where the Oprah-approved crooner Josh Groban ran through a medley of classic television themes; during the four-minute performance, he managed to channel Les Claypool, Will Smith during his Fresh Prince phase, and the lead singer of the dancehall act Inner Circle. Also he used a lot (a lot!) of vibrato in weird places. (I guess moms like that sort of thing?) But even more importantly, there were some curious omissions from the medley, which I’ve taken the liberty to list below.

5. Punky Brewster

It was a minor show on the Emmy scale of things, but this song was actually the first one I thought of when I heard Groban would be giving TV themes the medley treatment. Doesn’t your heart just feel warmed by hearing the first note of this song?

4. The Monkees

Sure, I’m biased, but you have to admit that it’s better than the goddamn Friends theme by a long shot.

3. Alvin & The Chipmunks

I guess now that the Chipmunks are into coprophagia, this song was ruled out for not being family-friendly enough. Rock and roll, man. Rock and roll.

2. Hawaii Five-O

Hey, if the producers thought that the Law & Order “chunk-chunk” was an appropriate representation of the theme song (NB: it isn’t, and I’m sure Mike Post would agree), surely they could have had Groban mime a hula shake or two while the band wailed in the background.

1. Mr. Belvedere

At least this sounds like something Groban could sing. I mean, that Les Claypool impersonation should have been a fineable offense!

Josh Groban 60th Annual Emmy Awards [YouTube]