Mike Post and TV Mysteries

by Julia Buckley

Today is the birthday of the prolific Mike Post, who wrote theme songs for many of our favorite TV mystery shows. Post, who was born in Berkeley in 1944, got his big break with one of my all-time favorites: The Rockford Files. Remember that wonderful beginning?



Jim Rockford, you're still my boyfriend. :)

The Post theme that probably became the most famous, though, was this wonderful Hill Street Blues composition.



Some other mystery themes composed by Post were: Murder One, NYPD Blue, LA Law, Hunter, Law and Order, The Commish, Magnum PI, Tenspeed and Brown Shoe, CHiPs, Hardcastle & McCormick, Baa Baa Black Sheep, Remington Steele, Renegade, Silk Stalkings, Stingray, and Wise Guy.



There's a little something for you Tom Selleck fans. My, but these songs do bring back memories.

And here's something that happened a long time before Pierce Brosnan became James Bond and Doris Roberts became Raymond's mother (but read Jeff's comment below--Post didn't score this one, Henry Mancini did).



What a terrific contribution Mike Post has made to the mystery community. I can't think of my favorite 70s and 80s mysteries without humming their theme songs. Maybe you'll be humming one of these for the rest of the day.

What's your Post favorite?