'The Golden Girls' vs. 'The Monkees': Vote for the Best TV Theme Songs

With March Madness in full swing, we decided to do a TV-themed bracket of our own: a no-holds-barred tournament to determine the best TV theme song of all time. After lots of heated debate, we've selected and ranked 32 of the most memorable TV theme songs ever, pitting them against each other in a winner-takes-all bracket. Over the next few weeks, we're asking you to vote for your favorite theme songs until we get a winner -- and a few songs stuck in your heads.

(3) "The Golden Girls" ("Thank You For Being a Friend")

Getting old has its advantages. Those "Dawson's Creek" whippersnappers were no match for the well-aged "Golden Girls" in Round 1, and it's easy to see why: "Thank You For Being a Friend" is one of the all-time classic theme songs, an endearingly corny anthem to friendship that'll still be playing on a loop in syndication when we're all Sophia's age. The images here are indelible -- Dorothy biting her fist, Blanche strutting down the hall in her nightie -- but the song holds up on its own, too. We're pulling for Dorothy, Rose, Blanche, and Sophia to split a victory cheesecake in Round 3.

(11) "The Monkees"

But first, they have some stiff competition here in another funny foursome: the Pre-Fab Four themselves, the Monkees, who ran right over "Taxi" in Round 1 with their sunny melodies and silly antics. We watched plenty of "The Monkees" on Nickelodeon as kids, so this song is seared onto our brains for life, and it wouldn't surprise us to see all you baby boomers out there push this one to an upset. But we wouldn't recommend it; you don't want Sophia laying one of her nasty Sicilian curses on you.

Which theme song deserves to move onto the next round? Vote in the poll above, click here to see the full bracket and vote on other pairings (Round 2 voting ends Saturday at 6 PM PT), tweet out your choices using the hashtag #TVThemeSong, and hit the comments to tell us about all the great theme songs we forgot to include.