Wow 18 postings before someone mentioned “Hawaii Five-O” ?
I definitely second that.
By the way, great choices everybody.
Candid Gamera - you remember Jack of All Trades? Great show !!!
“In Eighteen Hundred One
the Revolution had been won
and Uncle Sam’s favorite son
had a job that needed done,
which brought Jack to a lady both beautiful and smart…”
I liked the sappy Cheers theme.
Life Goes On Theme by the same name.
Can we pick a talk show? I love the opening music and first 2 minutes of Late Night with Conan.
I liked, but at the same time was frightened by the Ironside theme. Those swooping strings, those full stops at the beginning. That hard-hitting brass.
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
Sonic the Hedgehog (ABC version)
New Adventures of Johhny Quest (I think that was the name…)
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Cybersix
Bonanza
Escaflowne
Miami Vice
SWAT
The closing credits from Red Dwarf.
“Goldfish oh, nibbling on my toes,
Fun, Fun, Fun in the sun, sun, sun”
That opening actually spooked me as a kid; something about all those silhouettes scared me.
Oh, and nobody’s mentioned Monty Python’s Flying Circus.
RancidYakButterTeaParty
Life Goes On Theme by the same name.
The show was called “Life Goes On”. However the correct title of the song is:
Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da by the Beatles.
Quantum Leap.
Dual! Parallel Trouble Adventure (anime)
Neon Genesis Evangelion (anime)
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (radio show, for some of the throwaway gags they included)
Opening sequence has zillions of details.
Secret Agent Man
The Prisoner
Home Team Sports out of Baltimore had a lively ditty they played over the credits at the end of Orioles’ broadcasts.
If we can count live sports, the Phillies used to end their games with Goodnight, Sweetheart.
In addition to many already mentioned…
Mission: Impossible (amazing the sense of tension you can generate with a burning fuse and a 5/4 beat.)
Star Cops (an obscure, 80’s (?) BBC sci-fi/gumshoe shoe, with a nicely melancholy theme by Justin Hayward.)
**The Prisoner
That Girl
Mission Impossible
The Fugitive
Bonanza
The Munsters
Mystery!
The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin**
Millenium, the TV show that starred Lance Henrikson. Great mix of haunting and atmospheric music.
Battlestar Galactica, the new series, although I’ll admit to a certain fondness for the old series’ opening credits. Pity the opening credits in the 1970s version of series was usually far better than what followed.
Law & Order. I favor the slightly longer version from when Michael Moriarity was the Assistant D.A.
Farscape, especially the one from the third and fourth season. “Look upwards, and share in the wonders that I have seen.”
The Dukes of Hazzard. I loved this as a kid. Caught the opening credits again on CMT recently, and found to my surprise that I still like how the opening credits are done, including the song.
Miami Vice. For some bizarre reason, I’ve always appreciated that little quick shot of the jai alai player during the opening credits. This coming from a person who has never even seen jai alai in person.
I remember really, really liking the song heard over the opening credits of The Greatest American Hero.
Iron Chef. The whole bit, from the Chairman biting in to the pepper, to the voiceover describing the upcoming challenger, to the sweeping camera showing the kitchen stadium packed full o’ chefs. And great music, too.
**Space: 1999
X-Files
Avengers**
Actually, it was The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest.
Then you gotta also like Green Acres and Gilligan’s Island. I do. They fall into the category of openings that tell the entire background story to new viewers.
I really like Six Feet Under’s opening. And the Northern Exposure opening makes feel feel like all is right with the world.
Well, my one favorite opening would have to be: (the scifi show) Doctor Who, even though it doesn’t really count as “one”, and as for closings, Well, I love ending/title sequences from anime series where the cast does out of canon things, such as how the cast of Pretty Cure does an odd, herky-jerky dance, including the villians. That is the only one that springs to mind right now.
Cowboy Bebop – I kinda like the show, but so far I’ve never seen an episode that was better than it’s own opening credits.
And I second The Avengers – particularly from the color episodes with Diana Rigg. You know, the one where she shoots the cork out of the champagne bottle. Coolest opening ever.