Sung by The Presidents of The United States of America, occasionally you can hear the cast singing along. It doesn’t quite have the same home-made feel of the Five O’Clock World one, but how can you not love this? Seriously. As Ken Levine said:
A good theme and opening title sequence ATTRACTS viewers. Some people tune in specifically because they LIKE the title sequence. That was me with the Drew Carey “Cleveland Rocks” opening. If only the show was that good.
And while I did enjoy The Drew Carey Show, I must agree. This theme song was a large part of what led me to return to the show, week after week. I would watch almost any show that used this theme song, which explains its longevity as the show’s theme, after its early shuffling.
Welcome back to Drew Carey Week! In today’s edition, we’re moving on to the second credits sequence for the show, set to Five O’Clock World, sung by The Vogues. And honestly, this is what I’m talking about when I talk about great theme songs. (Do I talk about that? If I did, this would be it.)
The song discusses the theme of the show: working until five o’clock every day when your real life starts. But a choreographed dance sequence? Who could ask for more?
What’s also really great about this is that it’s also a dream sequence (in my interpretation). It’s a kind of 2 pm fantasy from an office day - what if my job were more exciting?
Also, weirdly, you’ll notice that in the carpool scene, Drew Carey is flanked by Ian Gomez and (I’m pretty sure - she was definitely on the show, and I believe it is her in the car) Christa Miller. Those two would end up playing a married couple on Cougar Town! How about that, you know?
This dance sequence also does a good job of establishing character relationships, but not as good a job as a later musical number from the show:
Welcome to Drew Carey Week here at I Love TV Themes Dot Tumblr Dot Com! This week we’ll be discussing the various theme songs used by The Drew Carey Show over its run, and maybe even learn a little bit about ourselves in the process.
This first theme, used in the show’s first season (before smash sensation talk show host Craig Ferguson even joined the cast!) was Drew Carey singing “Moon Over Parma.” There’s a long version on the show’s soundtrack that I could SWEAR I saw on the show sometimes, but cannot find on youtube. So whatever. What I really like about this is that Drew Carey is not a particularly strong singer. A show about occasional moments of excitement and fancy in a mundane office life deserves a fun love song sung by a regular-sounding guy. And the song is about Cleveland, a fairly unspectacular place. See also.