Blog Posts by Sarah D. Bunting

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.

(5) "Laverne & Shirley" ("Making Our Dreams Come True")

It's a showdown between two of the all-time great "narration" theme songs: the upbeat, second-wave-feminism-inspired anthem of "Laverne & Shirley," and the "behold our great, if occasionally hilarious, hippie romance" love story of "Family Ties." It's the '70s versus the '80s; the Big Ragu versus little Alex P. Keaton.

And it's a legendary beginning versus a legendary ending. Do you favor the "Shlemiel, shlemazel, Hasenpfeffer Incorporated!" that kicks off the "L&S"

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.

(7) "The Simpsons"

Much of the fun of the "Simpsons" theme song is in the accompanying visuals -- Bart Simpson's myriad different "I will not" blackboard punishment exercises, Maggie going over the Scantron at the supermarket, and Homer's operatic "AIEEE" face as he's nearly run over in the driveway. At the same time, though, the show's been on so long that just hearing that distinctive choir-of-angels opening bar will prompt a flood of those visuals in the listener's mind.

(10) "Miami Vice"

"Miami Vice" has its own

We'll take "End of an Era" for $200, Alex -- Sony Pictures TV is entertaining all manner of names as potential successors to "Jeopardy!" host Alex Trebek.

Deadline.com's Nellie Andreeva has heard that Brian Williams, the anchor of "NBC Nightly News" (and father of Allison "Girls" Williams), is on the list, along with NBC Sports's Dan Patrick, formerly of ESPN's "SportsCenter"; Matt Lauer, who might understandably be looking for greener pastures after the Ann Curry contretemps on "Today"; and silver fox Anderson Cooper of CNN. Andreeva says these four have all had "exploratory conversations" with "Jeopardy!" parent company Sony Pictures TV.

That doesn't mean Trebek is retiring in the short term, mind you. The New York "Post" claimed today that Lauer and Cooper both had inside tracks on the gig -- and it's a covetable one. "Jeopardy!" is the top show on any network in New York households with a 10.0 average

Star Al Pacino's crazy wigs alone make "Phil Spector," the upcoming flick from HBO, look like a must-watch -- but key figures in Spector's life and murder trial strenuously disagree, from Spector's wife Rachelle to friends and family of Lana Clarkson, the woman Spector is convicted of murdering.

Spector is presently serving a sentence of 19 years to life for his role in Clarkson's death, which took place at Spector's Alhambra, California home in 2003. Written and directed by David Mamet ("Glengarry Glen Ross"), "Phil Spector" centers on Spector's relationship with his attorney, Linda Kenney Baden (Helen Mirren), during the 2009 trial. His third wife, Rachelle, is appalled at the portrayal of her husband. Rachelle told Brooke Anderson of "Entertainment Tonight" that the film's version of her husband "brought tears to [her] eyes." HBO's Spector, Rachelle said, is "a foul-mouthed megalomaniac" and "a Minotaur, like he draws people into his labyrinth and he locks them in and won't let

When Alan Thicke and Gilbert Gottfried swapped wives, it looked like a classic case of city mouse and country (estate) mouse. Gilbert, the comedian with the one-of-a-kind voice, lives in a Manhattan apartment with his wife Dara, his two kids, and his microscopic entertainment budget. Fancy country mice Alan (the Seaver patriarch on '80s sitcom "Growing Pains"), his wife Tanya, and stepson Carter live on a ranch in Santa Barbara, California and throw formal dinner parties.

Sure enough, much consternation ensued over the differing lifestyles: Tanya objected to the smell of the subway, Dara faced off against the lobster she had to prepare for Alan and Carter's supper, and both families learned that money doesn't always buy happiness… but it can, if you do it right.

What bought our happiness in the episode was all the punchlines. The episode felt kind of rushed, as though it were making room for Gilbert to set up and pay

Former tween heartthrob Jonathan Taylor Thomas will reunite with his one-time TV dad, Tim Allen, on March 22 when Thomas guests on Allen's sitcom "Last Man Standing."

Thomas, who played middle child Randy Taylor to Tim Allen and Patricia Richardson's Tim and Jill Taylor on "Home Improvement," was a regular "Tiger Beat" cover boy in the mid- to late '90s thanks to the sitcom's popularity -- but after the show ended in 1999, Thomas adopted a surprisingly low profile, heading for college (starting out at Harvard in 2000, he finally got his degree from Columbia a few years ago) and traveling. Thomas told Entertainment Weekly back in 2011 that his co-stars Zachery Ty Bryan and Taran Noah Smith -- who played his brothers Brad and Mark, respectively -- used to tease him about his pin-up status, but he understood: "There are too many things you could make fun of." But Thomas didn't seem in any rush to return to the headlines, telling EW he'd like to focus on working behind the camera down the

Monday's episode of "The View" addressed the rumors right up front: Yes, longtime host Joy Behar is leaving the show -- but Elisabeth Hasselbeck isn't going anywhere.

Whoopi Goldberg wasted no time bringing up the "crazy weekend" the "View"-related news cycle had created for all five ladies, then kicked it right over to Barbara Walters, "since this is Barbara Walters's show, and she is here." (Walters, confined to quarters for a month with chicken pox and a concussion, just returned to the show last week.)

Walters spent a few minutes reminiscing about how she and Joy Behar "started this show together," and her feeling that she "discovered" Behar, in a way. "I want what's best for you," Walters said, but Behar's departure is of course "bittersweet."

Behar joked that she was married for 16 years, and "I don't like my jobs to last longer than my marriage," then did a humorous top-ten list on why she's leaving the show (for our money, #10 -- "ABC won't let me drink on the air like Hoda

Confronted with a "psych, the Race is still on" pit stop, father/son team Dave and Connor choose to keep racing, although Dave's leg is getting more painful -- but the Race leg isn't so bad (the next task is to fly to Bali, so at least he can sit for a while).

After the teams scramble around at travel agencies rather boringly (except for Katie, who's running as though a No. 2-finish is imminent), the teams give coconuts to monkeys in Bali; the monkeys open the coconuts and find the teams' next clue. YouTube Joey's narration of the monkey's inner thoughts needs to be eliminated, but soon enough we're on to the…

DETOUR