When I heard the new theme song for Big Love this season, it was like a punch in the gut. In general, I’m not much of a fan of repurposing already-written songs as themes (with exceptions; it worked for The Wire). But I cannot possibly see what Earthly good one can expect it to do to change a show’s theme in its fourth season, especially when that theme was The Beach Boys’ “God Only Knows,” which is objectively the greatest pop song ever written. (I don’t have time to look up the research, but you’ll just have to trust me that it is simply scientific fact.) Maybe I’d have gotten used to the easy-listening-emo of the new theme, “Home,” if it had been there from the beginning, but no chance of that now.

Which made me wonder: Is it ever a good idea for a show to change its theme music?