Our Favorite TV Themes, with Leigh Sales

October 17, 2025·1 hr 18 min·5 clips

Leigh Sales explains how her one line as Coco's mom on Bluey became more famous than her journalism career.

Kirk Hamilton interviews Australian TV personality and podcast host Leigh Sales about their favorite TV theme songs. Sales is a longtime supporter of the Strong Songs podcast and co-hosts the popular Australian podcast Chat 10 Looks 3. The conversation explores the musical and emotional impact of television themes across different decades. They analyze the contrasting themes from the UK and US versions of *The Office*, noting the UK theme's melancholy F minor key and dissonant piano chord. Sales describes the *Parks and Recreation* theme as having a "peppy, here we go energy" with a repetitive, adaptable motif. The pair discuss the *M*A*S*H* theme "Suicide is Painless," highlighting its shift from melancholy guitar to a brassy, cheerful ending. Sales shares her personal connection to the *Brady Bunch* theme, which aired after school in Australia, and they note its loose, slightly out-of-tune vocal performance. They examine the *Gilligan's Island* theme as a prime example of a song that explains a show's entire premise. Sales reveals she can still sing every word to *The Nanny* theme song from memory. A surprising insight is that Sales provides the voice for two minor characters on the global children's phenomenon *Bluey*, including Coco's Mom. She recounts a fan interaction where saying the character's iconic line "You're doing great" to a skeptical child confirmed her identity. The episode also delves into Sales's personal musical journey, which began with childhood organ lessons and recently resumed with cello lessons from a principal player in the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Sales reflects on the humbling experience of learning a new instrument as an adult, striving for "basic mediocrity" instead of the excellence she expects in her broadcasting career. They agree that practice can be meditative and that producing something beautiful is its own reward. The discussion touches on how theme songs can trigger visceral nostalgia, with the *M*A*S*H* theme's sound effects and 70s production sounding distinctly old-fashioned today. The tone is conversational, educational, and warmly nostalgic, with both hosts sharing personal anecdotes and musical analysis. Listeners who enjoy dissecting the craft of music composition or revel in pop culture nostalgia will love this episode. Those seeking a deep, single-song analysis or who have no interest in television history might want to skip it.

As heard by us

TV themes become a lesson in memory, mood, and arrangement.

A conversation about TV theme music becomes a close listen on why certain openings stay lodged in memory. The strongest stretch is the discussion of MASH, where the melody, the 70s studio sound, the brass build, and the sound effects are treated as part of the same emotional…

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Want a thoughtful listen about why the MASH theme sticks?

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