History ExpositoryThemeTune / LiveActionTV

Who...has a perfect smile?

* Done during the [[TrappedInTVLand sitcom segment]] of the ''Changing Channels'' 5th-season episode of ''Series/{{Supernatural}}''. The show typically followed the TitleOnlyOpening formula at the beginning, but this episode opened up with a 'Full House' style opening, complete with expository lyrics:

“It’s the definition of the holiday!”\\

** Even the 1991 ''Land of the Lost'' revival used an expository theme tune, but used an early 1990s pop sound to it.

How will this duo fit into their new home\\
While sharing a love like you've never seen?''

U.S. television's {{Sitcom}}s regularly employ this trope:

** ''Series/WandaVision'', [[AffectionateParody as a homage to classic sitcoms,]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WlmROcir8o uses one in the first episode.]]
-->''She's the magical gal in a small-town locale!\\

** And then, in a less-than-affectionate way, Episode 7 ends with one following TheReveal [[spoiler: that next-door neighbor Agnes was actually [[WickedWitch Agatha Harkness]]. Said theme tune also doubles as a VillainSong.]]
-->''Who's been messing up everything?\\
It was [[spoiler: Agatha]] all along!\\
Who's been pulling every evil string?\\
It was [[spoiler: Agatha]] all along!''

* ''Series/TheNoddyShop'''s theme song has the toys telling the viewers what they should expect to see when watching the show:
-->Welcome to our place, we've been waiting. Time for some fun and celebrating.\\
Something is always ready to "pop!", here at The Noddy Shop.\\
Music and magic. Hey, it's showtime!\\
Noddy and you will be friends in no time.\\
Silly 'ol Goblins are living there, too, the place where make believe comes true.\\
Believe it or not, here at The Noddy Shop!

* ''Series/TheBradyBunch'' ("Here's the story of a lovely lady...")

* ''Series/CharlesInCharge'' of our days, and our nights. Series/CharlesInCharge of our wrongs, and our rights. And I see I want, I want, Series/CharlesInCharge of me!
* ''Series/CrazyExGirlfriend'''s [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzY3EaJTuJk season one theme song]] is a direct send up of this trope, and sums up the show pretty perfectly. The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMHz6FiRzS8 second season's]] is not quite as expository but could be considered to fit the trope as well.
* ''Series/TheBeverlyHillbillies'' ("...So they loaded up the truck and moved to Beverly. Hills, that is. Swimmin' pools, movies stars...") Interestingly enough, though, the story recounted in the theme song is actually incorrect; it states that Jed found oil while shooting at food, while the first episode of the series shows us that Jed always knew there was oil on his land, he just didn't know it was worth any money. He was actually willing to pay the man from the oil company to take the oil away for him.
* Paul Henning, who created ''The Beverly Hillbillies'', also used expository theme songs for the other CBS rural comedies he produced in the mid-1960s. To wit:

* ''Series/ThePattyDukeShow''

* ''Series/TheFreshPrinceOfBelAir'' (Subject to somewhat of an [[MemeticMutation Internet fad]] -- "Now this is the story all about how / my life got flipped, turned upside-down..." )
* ''Series/GilligansIsland'' ("...Five passengers set sail that day / For a three-hour tour / A three-hour tour...") The theme actually helped to get the show on the air in the first place! Creator/SherwoodSchwartz had trouble selling it to Creator/{{CBS}} because the head of the network thought it would be a pain explaining to everyone every week why they were on the island, so he wrote [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIvslFMAaew an opening song to get the point across]]. It worked, but because it was a calypso and the show was set in the Pacific, it was drastically changed for the series...

* ''Series/TheNanny'', in a deliberate retro spoof of 1960s shows ("... That's how she became The Nanny...")
* ''Series/TheDukesOfHazzard'' -- in the same vein as ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}''. ("Someday the mountain might get 'em but the law never will.")

* ''Series/TheAddamsFamily'' ("They're creepy and they're kooky / Mysterious and spooky..." -- * snap* , * snap* )

* ''Series/FTroop''
-->''The end of the Civil War was near\\
when quite accidentally,\\
a hero who sneezed abruptly seized\\
retreat and reversed it to victory...''

* The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAYPNF4aIf0 theme]] to the [=McLean=] Stevenson sitcom ''Hello Larry'' is a hilariously clumsy attempt at this trope. It almost sounds like the producers just walked into the recording studio and handed the singer a copy of the pitch they gave the network, then told him to improvise a melody, change everything to second person and toss in some rhymes here and there. Not to mention the wonderfully {{narm}}ish line "Portland is a long way from LA."

* ''Series/MisterEd'' ("A horse is a horse, of course, of course...")

* ''Series/ThatsSoRaven'' ("It's the future I can see / It's so mysterious to me...")
* ''Series/RemoteControl'' ("Kenny wasn't like the other kids...")
* ''Series/HannahMontana'': "Who would have thought that a girl like me / would double as a superstar?"

* ''Series/TheManyLovesOfDobieGillis'': "Dobie wants a gal who's dreamy..." The lyrics to this were by Max Shulman, who wrote the original stories.

* The Westerns that dominated American airwaves from the middle of TheFifties through the first couple of years of TheSixties produced a slew of them. Some of the best:
** ''Series/{{Branded}}''
-->All but one man died\\
There at Bitter Creek\\
And they say he ran away!\\
Branded! Scorned as the one who ran.\\
What do you do when you're branded, and you know you're a man?\\
Wherever you go, for the rest of your life\\
You must prooooove you're a man.''
** ''The Rebel, Johnny Yuma''
-->Away, away, away rode the rebel Johnny Yuma\\
Johnny Yuma was a rebel\\
He roamed through the west\\
And Johnny Yuma, the rebel\\
He wandered alone.
** ''Series/{{Rawhide}}''
-->Move 'em on, head 'em up,\\
Head 'em up, move 'em out,\\
Move 'em on, head 'em out Rawhide!\\
Set 'em out, ride 'em in\\
Ride 'em in, let 'em out,\\
Cut 'em out, ride 'em in Rawhide.
(Memorably covered by ''Film/TheBluesBrothers'')
** ''Series/HaveGunWillTravel''
-->Have gun will travel, reads the card of a man\\
A knight without armor in a savage land\\
His fast gun hire, heeds the calling wind\\
A soldier of fortune, is a man called --- Pal-a- din\\
Paladin, Paladin, where do you roam\\
Paladin, Paladin, far, far from home
(Almost as memorably used in ''Film/StandByMe'')

* ''Series/ThePartridgeFamily'', during the first season: "Five of us, and Mom working all day. We knew we could help her if our music could pay. Danny got Reuben to sell our song, and it really came together when Mom sang along."

* ''Series/PhilOfTheFuture'': [[EarWorm "Meet a boy named Phil and his family, on vacation from the 22nd century..."]]

** In 2019, [=HGTV=] turned the house used for exterior shots into a close duplicate of the show's sets. The original "Brady Bunch" theme music got a new set of expository lyrics, "... That's the way that we remade the Brady House!"

* ''Series/{{Shameless}}'' may fit here, having one of the lead characters speak (as opposed to sing) over a basic tune, a la ''Series/MyNameIsEarl''.

* ''Series/{{Branded}}''

* The theme song to ''Series/TheWeirdAlShow'' tells the long and convoluted story of how a very strange man came to get his own TV series ("Oh-h-h-h / This is a story 'bout a guy named Al / Who lived in the sewers with his hamster pal...").

* Another PBS show ''Series/{{Zoboomafoo}}'' has a theme tune that also fits this trope to a T: "While walking in the woods one day Chris and Martin saw something strange: a little leaping lemur who liked to bounce and play..."

* Another PBS show ''Zoboomafoo'' has a theme tune that also fits this trope to a T: "While walking in the woods one day Chris and Martin saw something strange: a little leaping lemur who liked to bounce and play..."

* Another PBS show ''Series/Zoboomafoo'' has a theme tune that also fits this trope to a T: "While walking in the woods one day Chris and Martin saw something strange: a little leaping lemur who liked to bounce and play..."