For many years, I’ve been trying to track down a recording of the theme song from the wonderful 1963-64 TV anthology “The Great Adventure.” A critically praised, largely forgotten dramatic series that portrayed stories from American history, “The Great Adventure” began with a spirited march written by composer Richard Rodgers, of Rodgers and Hart and Rodgers and Hammerstein fame.
Now I can play the show’s intro on my computer any time I feel like being inspired, thanks to a wonderful web resource, televisiontunes.com. The site has collected over 15,000 songs and instrumental pieces from the entire expanse of television history, and it is a magic doorway to instant nostalgia, not to mention some fun and excellent music, like the Rodgers composition, that is difficult to find anywhere else. Want to hear, for example, “Interjections!”, the cleverest and catchiest of all ABC’s “Schoolhouse Rock” creations? It’s there…or rather, here.
But if you want to listen to the “Twilight Zone” theme, or the iconic intro to “Perry Mason,” or, most tragically of all, the opening strains of “Hawaii Five-O,” perhaps the best TV theme ever, you are out of luck. You are out of luck because CBS, alone among the networks, has had its lawyers start pulling off the best-known themes from the CBS shows, as is CBS’s right as the owners of them.
All of the broadcast TV networks are despicable in their own, special ways, and my list of most reviled varies almost daily; still, my discovery of this churlish act places the Big Eye at the top of my disgust list, at least for now. Yes, these themes have value, but old farts like me being able to play them now and then from a website MP3 player hardly diminishes the value any. I know we assume corporations will behave like soulless, profit-obsessed robots, but they really don’t have to behave like that, and in fact, it is good for them, and good for everybody, when they show the capacity to do something—dare I say it?—nice. Presumably CBS (or its corporate parent, Viacom) wants televisiontunes,com, or someone, to pay it a few bucks for the privilege of hosting a static-y version of the “M*A*S*H” intro. How much money could that possibly be? Television is a business, but it is also a cultural force and social touchpoint, as well as the repository of memories, emotions and dreams. I can’t bring myself to declare that the networks have a duty to permit us access to those memories, rather than squeeze out every last penny for the stockholders (or to pay for obscene executive perks), but it would be, I think, the right thing to do.
I can finally listen to “The Great Adventure,” but maybe not for long: that was a CBS show too. As soon as the network remembers this (I told you the show was largely forgotten), the Rodgers composition may join the “Perry Mason” theme in the CBS vaults. Why does CBS have to be such a spoilsport?
Ethics Alarms 
Companies are not only money-grubbing, they are also incredibly stupid. When it comes to things like this, it boils down to an illogical formula.
(1) Don’t waste your time selling something that won’t bring in a lot of money. As you said, these things aren’t worth very much, so he company won’t waste their time with it.
(2) Don’t let anyone infringe upon your rights for any reason. They aren’t going to let anyone use anything they have for free, and they will gladly spend good money to stop you from not costing them a penny.
(3) Don’t ever let the fact that lots of people are infringing on your rights to materials to rethink position 1.
This is the big problem with copyright law today. When copyright law was first introduced, it was for 28(?) years. Then they extended it, allowed (but didn’t mandate) renewals, and now it appears that copyrights will be perpetual (will they really let Mickey Mouse fall into the public domain, or just extend the copyright again)? How many books are no longer published, but cannot be reproduced because the copyright is not expired and/or you can’t even find the copyright holder? How much knowledge will fall by the wayside because a corporate copyright holder will obey the three rules above? I have several books in my library with information that is available nowhere else, that are no longer in print, and won’t be in the public domain for at least 100 more years. Will that knowledge survive, or perish because of a shortsighted law?
All true. Especially troubling is the perverse result of important intellectual property and creative works being, for all intents and purposes, lost.
And most of this is Mickey’s fault, as you know.
What would you say about copyrights being passed down to heirs, as with Tolkien’s legacy?
Another lovely example where someone, like CBS, has a right to do something, but exercising that right isn’t necessarily right. Blind enforcement here directly harms CBS’s image, indirectly cuts into potential future profit, robs past creative talent of modern exposure, and leaves our culture a little poorer. It’s not even a radar blip compared to the ethical blunders usually associated with copyrights, but it’s still sad to see if you care the least about the culture you grew up with.