Fight Back! With David Horowitz - Sets, Taping Locations, and Theme Songs

Sets, Taping Locations, and Theme Songs

Fight Back! was taped in front of a live studio audience at NBC Studios (studio 5-P), until the winter of 1987.

There were two sets used. From the premiere episode in 1980 until June 1983, the set was extremely basic: just a riser for Horowitz, a couple of podiums with the "Fight Back!" logo, and a wrap-around studio audience.

Starting with the 1983–84 season premiere episode until the winter of 1987, a more conventional "talk-show" style set was used. This set was wider, with fancier lighting, a nook towards the right-hand side of the set (designed to resemble David Horowitz's personal work office), and a riser with two white chairs and a circular table in between. A large "Fight Back!" logo was suspended on the back wall, between the two chairs. The studio audience was still there, but no longer wrapped around the set.

From December 1987 until its last telecast, Fight Back! was shot remotely, from various locations in and around Los Angeles.

"Fight Back!" also used three distinctive theme songs:

Theme 1: An upbeat instrumental theme song, primarily composed of trombones, drums, and string instruments. Possible flute, too. The first slew of episodes (February 1980 pilot, and all of Season 1 ) did not use an opening theme song. Rather, David Horowitz would show various clips of what was going to be featured on that day's episode, with a heavy drum beat playing in the background. Once this was complete, Horowitz would announce himself, and welcome the audience to the show, followed by a brief snippet of the theme song. Assumed to be stock music from the KPM music library.

Theme 2: Extremely similar to the first theme, but with slightly different arraignments and a slightly faster tempo. Starting with the first episode of the 1981–1982 season, clips from past episodes would be shown in the intro, along with the full theme playing. Premiered around the 1981–1982 season. Also assumed to be stock music from the KPM music library.

Theme 3: A brand new theme song premiered for the 1985–1986 season. This theme was written by David Horowitz himself, with LA musician Steve Donn performing vocals, and David Boruff performing the saxophone solos. The theme song proved to be extremely popular with the viewing audience; so much so, that Horowitz would send a 45 rpm album of the theme song to anyone whose letter or commercial challenge was aired. This theme song lasted until the series's end, and continues to be used to this day by Horowitz on his personal website, www.fightback.com.