There’s nothing subtle about the CW’s new “TV To Talk About” promotional campaign.

The network has started seeding the YouTube with its fall promo teasers– and, predictably, there are a lot of shots of “Gossip Girl” characters vamping about in the minute-long clip I found. But there’s also a techno theme song behind the images: A Lady Gaga wannabee who wails “TV to t-t-talk, t-t-talk about” every few seconds.

While the spot looks very current, the practice of having someone sing your theme song is pretty retro– and one networks have largely abandoned in recent years.

In the 1970s and 80s, one of the highlights of summer for me was catching those three- and four-minute extended promos the networks would air during summer reruns. These were elaborate music videos, set to catchy ditties such as “We’ve Got the Touch, America” (CBS), “We Belong Together (And Together We Will Be)” (ABC) and “Be There” (NBC).

But when CBS began rolling out its new “Only CBS” campaign a few days ago, it used the very CW-friendly Black Eyed Peas as a soundtrack for its ads. And while ABC is pretty big on promoting its slogan “Start Here,” the network has yet to recruit Alan Thicke to pen the lyrics to the “Start Here” song.

All of this is a long way of saying to the CW: Whaaa? Anyway, judge for yourself– the video is below. Maybe the CW will be the network that back the network theme song.

And feel free to t-t-talk about the spot in the comments.