History ExpositoryThemeTune / LiveActionTV

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

* ''Series/ItsAboutTime'' ('' It's about time, it's about flight . . .). Notably reversed when the astronauts returned to the present day with the cave family in tow.

Stop! Her crime! And solve this mystery!\\
Tell me where? In time? Is Carmen Sandiego?\\

** The 1981 SequelSeries ''The Brady Brides'' rewrote the lyrics to explain that the two oldest daughters, Marcia and Jan, grew up and found husbands, and now all four adults live together.
** In 2019's ''Series/AVeryBradyRenovation'', 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!"

-->''Meet Cathy, who's lived most everywhere\\

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

*** And then Episode 7 ends with one following TheReveal [[spoiler:that next-door neighbor Agnes was actually WickedWitch Agatha Harkness, who promptly starts a HostileShowTakeover with a theme in the style of ''Series/TheAddamsFamily'' or ''Series/TheMunsters''. Said theme tune also doubles as a VillainSong.]]
--->''Who's been messing up everything? It's been [[spoiler:Agatha]] all along!\\

-->All but one man died\\

-->Away, away, away rode the rebel Johnny Yuma\\

** ''Series/{{Rawhide}}''
-->Move 'em on, head 'em up,\\

(Memorably covered by ''Film/TheBluesBrothers'')
** ''Series/HaveGunWillTravel''
-->Have gun will travel, reads the card of a man\\

(Almost as memorably used in ''Film/StandByMe'')

-->''The end of the Civil War was near\\

* ''Series/WhereInTheWorldIsCarmenSandiego'' (Creator/{{PBS}} series)

*** and there was another theme tune in the later episodes that served the same purpose: "Now Sigmund the sea monster/And Johnny and Scott are friends..."

-->''They've got a power and a force that you've never seen before\\

* ''Series/PowerRangersZeo''

* Also parodied by Music/WeirdAlYankovic on his children's series, ''Series/TheWeirdAlShow'', which explains how Al got the show... while adding multiple irrelevant details that are "[[LampshadeHanging really not important to the story"]].

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

** After the death of Creator/DandyNichols, [[TheCharacterDiedWithHim and therefore of Elsa]], the second season theme changed to be Alf mourning her, and complaining that his pension's been cut, concluding "For richer or poorer, I'm bloody poorer, that's a fact. That's 'cos in sickness and in health I said 'I do'" with Creator/WarrenMitchell shouting the "bloody poorer" line over the Chas 'n' Dave rendition.

** And in the fourth season, the song gets changed halfway to describe the new set-up of Alf moving to Australia and courting a rich widow. "For richer, not poorer, 'cos I'm fed up being skint. That's why in sickness and in health, you bet I do."

* ''In Sickness and in Health'', the SequelSeries to ''Series/TilDeathUsDoPart'' had ''three'', due to two {{Retool}}s:

** After the death of Dandy Nichols, [[TheCharacterDiedWithHim and therefore of Elsa]], the second season theme changed to be Alf mourning her, and complaining that his pension's been cut, concluding "For richer or poorer, I'm bloody poorer, that's a fact. That's 'cos in sickness and in health I said 'I do'."

* Viciously parodied on ''Series/{{Ellen}}''. The setup: A season 3 running gag had Ellen apologizing at the start of the episode for not having the theme song ready yet or doing various bits as if filling time where the opening titles should be, then holding up a sign board with the shoe's logo. After a whole season of that, for episode 24 ("When the Vow Breaks (Part 1)") we get an excited Ellen announcing the theme was finally ready:

"[[ComicallyMissingThePoint It's a the definition of the holiday!]]"\\

"Hold on? This guy's just going on a holiday!"\\

** ''Series/LandOfTheLost'': "Marshall, Will and Holly / On a routine expedition..."

“Hold on, these guys are just going on a holiday?”\\
No, [[InsistentTerminology it’s a gap year]], enrich our minds, maybe catch a play\\
“It really does sound like it’s a holiday.”\\
No, cause we’re gonna see the USA in an educational way\\
“[[ComicallyMissingThePoint It’s the definition of the holiday!]]”\\
We’ll research American beers, so let’s have three cheers\\
That’s it’s perfectly clear that we’re definitely on a gap year\\
“Holiday!”\\

* Viciously parodied on ''Series/{{Ellen}}''. The setup: A season 3 running gag had Ellen apologizing at the start of the episode for not having the theme song ready yet. Finally, for episode 24 ("When the Vow Breaks, Part 1"), we get an excited Ellen announcing the theme was finally ready:

''Together we'll face the day''\\