It was on TV for four seasons(!), but I've gotten the impression from what I've read about it and things my Dad (who watched it only because of the Corvette) has said that Route 66 was average at best. I've only caught glimpses of it when it was on Nickelodeon. But what a theme song! I love this tune. It can turn me into a finger snappin' fool. It's like one of the last, great gasps of the Big Band Era (The Beatles are coming very soon, America!). The production on it is so clear and pristine, melodically it's very cool, and it swings like a mother. No wonder, it's Nelson Riddle.
From the Wikipedia entry:
Nelson Riddle was commissioned to write the instrumental theme when CBS decided to have a new song, rather than pay royalties for the Bobby Troup song "(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66." Riddle's theme, however, offers an unmistakable homage to the latter's piano solo (as originally recorded by Nat King Cole) throughout the number. Riddle's Route 66 instrumental was the first television theme to make Billboard Magazine's Top 30, and earned two Grammy nominations in 1962 (yay! for Nelson).
Here's the song, with slideshow accompaniment of beautiful things along Historic Route 66:
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