If youre a couch potato that needs your sitcom fix every day, then why not download a TV-themed ringtone?

There are thousands of ringtone sites that take their cue from the most popular shows on television. Do a google search on OC ringtone and youll get hundredsnot just the theme songs, mind you, but callbacksand in all the possible ringtone formats as well. Polyphonics, MP3s, you name it. Try Greys Anatomy and youll get similar results, as well as old favorites like Golden Girls, X Files, and even The Brady Bunch.

What does this say? That ringtones have become as deeply-ingrained in our pop culture as the television medium itself. You dont get that many websites without a market thats eager to download that kind of service, even when its not free (although many do give some tones away, relying on ads to generate website income). If youve got the term Coach Potato, in a few years theyll have to think of a monicker for a Ringtone Collectorpeople who not only download several ringtones, but regularly change them. In fact, some of them take advantage of their cell phones ability to customize ringtones per caller. Yes, you can assign the X-Files theme to your crazy boss (youve always thought there was something decidedly surreal about him), and be singing Friends chorus Ill be there for you whenever your pal makes a call.

In fact, ringtones have become some measure of a shows fan appeal. Take the show American Idol, one of the biggest shows on the air today. Hicks Do I Make You Proud was one of the highest-downloaded ringtones for a while, proving that yes, this mans got the fans tapping their feet to his music (even when theyre just answering a call). Put your phone and vibrate function and youve got his whole dance moves as well. Too bad Project Runway doesnt have any songs you can translate into a ringtonealas, some shows just werent meant to be cellphone-friendly.

In terms of pop culture, X-files remains to be one of the most popular, years after it aired its last episode. Thats got to be a sign of the shows effect on pop culture, and how years from now, our generation will be talking wistfully about Mulder and Scully the way our parents reminisced over I Love Lucy.

Not that the old shows have been left out. Granted, The Brady Bunch took their last bow years before the cell phone was invented, but you can still download the ringtones of the shows theme. Youll also find Cheers, Friends, Mash, talkbacks from Seinfeld and Frasier, and even Love Boat and Hawaii Five-O. Daytime soaps also make the cut: General Hospital, anyone?

This points to one thing: ringtones are no longer just ways to add personality to our phone. In a way, theyve become a way of documenting (pun intended) the sounds of our timeswhat we watch, what we love, and the TV characters weve most identified with.