“So no one told you life was gonna be this way/Your job’s a joke, you re broke, you love life’s D.O.A...” I’ll Be There for You,” the Emmy-nominated theme from NBC’s hit sit com “Friends,” has turned into the most unlikely chart hit of the year.  It spent several weeks at No.  1 on the adult-contemporary and top-100 airplay charts despite an unusual number of handicaps.

First, it’s a TV tune.  No television theme has reached No.  1 on the Billboard charts since Jan Hammer’s “Miami Vice” instrumental in 1985.  (“How Do You Talk to an Angel” from Fox’s short-lived “The Heights” reached No.  1 in 1992 but that wasn’t the series theme.)

Second, there’s no single.  Record-buyers interested in obtaining The Rembrandts’ extended version of the 45-second original must shell out $13.95 for the group’s album “LP,” and most industry observers think that the surprising success of the “Friends” theme is driving sales of the record.  Third, according to composer Michael Skloff and lyricist Allee Willis, The Rembrandts had to be convinced to add the infectious ditty to their already-finished album (initial pressings don’t even include the song title; stickers were affixed to the packaging to alert consumers of its inclusion).

Skloff and Willis have been virtually forgot ten in all of the publicity surrounding the song.  Casual listeners may think The Rembrandts wrote it; in fact, they spent one day in the studio recording the main title last summer, then worked with Skloff to record an extended ver sion this spring after the show became a hit.

Skloff is married to “Friends” co-creator Marta Kauffman and was previously Emmy-nominated for his theme to HBO’s “Dream On,” also created by Kauffman and David Crane.  Skloff was initially inspired by the Beatles’ classic “Paperback Writer.” “It just felt so right for the show,” he says, “that sort of happy, guitar-riff feeling.  I knew all along that that was the way to go.”

Skloff came up with the hook and the title.  Co-executive producer Kevin Bright brought in lyricist Willis (a Grammy winner for her contribution to the “Beverly Hills Cop” soundtrack, the Pointer Sisters smash “Neutron Dance”), who had pretty much quit songwriting to concentrate on her work as a multimedia artist.  Lyricist Allee Willis (top right) and composer Michael Skloff received an Emmy nomination for the theme to “Friends,” the top-rated NBC comedy.

“The bulk of my hits have been very black, funky, pop stuff and this was as white as could be,” Willis laughs.  “However, for some bizarre reason I actually had a very good time writing it.”

Kauffman and Crane offered suggestions, and “it went back and forth on rewrites” through late summer 1994, Willis recalls.  “The first show was on the air within two weeks of the song being done.”

As the series rose to become the season’s top-rated new comedy, Skloff says, “we started to find out that D.J.s in different areas of the country were lifting the song off the air and playing it on the radio.” The song was extended (with additional lyrics by Kauffman, Crane and Rembrandts Danny Wilde and Phil Solem) and added to the disc.  A video featur ing “Friends” cast members romping around with the group, including Skloff playing organ, was shot in a single day in NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” studio in New York.

Why is it so big? Says Skloff: “It’s a perfectly likable song that’s reminiscent of the Beatles and the Monkees, which is from a time in our history that was idealistic and fun, that whole ‘our generation’ kind of thing, and just brings back good feelings.  And it’s connected with a wildly popular show...  People like the song on its own, but they also say, ‘Oh, God, I love that show.’”