The TV Zone

Displaying one’s knowledge of song lyrics seem to be on folks’ minds a lot this summer, given the success of the karaoke shows, "The Singing Bee" and "Don't Forget the Lyrics."

We, too, have been thinking about song lyrics a lot this summer. But with a tube twist, of course.

So today, we're proud to present for your listening and viewing pleasure three songs that mention TV shows (or stars) in their lyrics:

* WHODUNIT (Tavares, 1977) — In this top-40 r&b hit, the singer implores a clutch of ‘70s TV gumshoes to find his AWOL girlfriend, including Baretta (“Hey Baretta won’t you please go get her), Kojak (“won’t you bring her back”), Ironside (“Don’t you let her slide”) and McCloud (“for cryin’ out loud... somebody call McCloud”).

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* WESTERN MOVIES (The Olympics, 1958) — Never could figure out this one: the singer of this L.A. r&b group proclaims “my baby loves the Western movies,” but what he’s really bitching about are how he can’t tear her away from watching TV shows. And they include: “Wyatt Earp,” “Cheyenne,” “Maverick,” “Sugarfoot,” “Wagon Train” “Adventures of Jim Bowie,” “Have Gun Will Travel,” “Bat Masterson,” “Broken Arrow” “Tales of Wells Fargo”

* PARENTS JUST DON'T UNDERSTAND (DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince, 1988) — Will Smith raps about a ton of teen complaints about his overbearing folks, including “Mom, please put back the bell-bottom ‘Brady Bunch’ trousers.”

If anybody can find me a copy of The Beach Boys singing "Johnny Carson" from their 1977 album "The Beach Boys Love You" -- send it to me asap.