# Massive changes in opening credits? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 1, 2018, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/massive-changes-in-opening-credits/811605 "2018-04-01T23:28:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2018, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/massive-changes-in-opening-credits/811605/21 "2018-04-02T11:13:25Z")
> [@Pantastic](#): > > Babylon 5 changed their opening credits each season, there was basically a recap of the story so far that updated as the show progressed. It was actually more of a recap of the key events of the \*current \*season, as viewed from the future. Not “this is what happened in previous seasons”, but rather “this is what’s going to happen this season”. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2018, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/massive-changes-in-opening-credits/811605/22 "2018-04-03T16:35:45Z")
Subtler than most, but **Game of Thrones** alters the opening slightly for every episode, apparently to reflect which of the locations in Westeros will be featured in that particular episode. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2018, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/massive-changes-in-opening-credits/811605/23 "2018-04-03T17:29:13Z")
_ER_ went from a full 2-3 minute opening credits with music to just a quick three second sting somewhere around Season 13 (out of 15). Guess they figured we knew who everyone was by then or they wanted a couple more slots to sell ads. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2018, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/massive-changes-in-opening-credits/811605/24 "2018-04-03T17:36:15Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > I haven’t watched season 3 yet, but apparently it uses the same graphics as season 2 but [goes up to 11 with its weird fixation on _Perfect Strangers_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vU6nKcxEJXY). Only for one episode. The rest of the season there is a different song over the S2 credits that pertains to something in the episode (and yes, Perfect Strangers was a big plot point in one of the episodes of Season 3). ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2018, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/massive-changes-in-opening-credits/811605/25 "2018-04-03T17:41:43Z")
> [@Nonsuch](#): > > Doctor Who (understandably) has overhauled its title sequence numerous times over 50-ish years. > > Mrs. Nonsuch and I have been catching Alice reruns on Antenna TV, and the opening for the first two seasons basically depict the start of the show: Alice’s car breaks down, she gets an apartment, she gets a job at Mel’s, etc. Once the third season came along, the titles changed to reflect that Alice is no longer quite the “new girl in town.” Isn’t there one wherein the son is giving her a foot massage? ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2018, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/massive-changes-in-opening-credits/811605/26 "2018-04-03T17:47:28Z")
> [@digs](#): > > The great thing watching Dick Van Dyke as a kid was waiting to see if he did a pratfall over the ottoman. They’d intersperse a version where he did a jazzy little sidestep and stayed vertical. [Family Guy’s longer DvD opening credits.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsSJnV7Ik9o) ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2018, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/massive-changes-in-opening-credits/811605/27 "2018-04-03T18:01:56Z")
Psych would often do a one-off custom opening reflecting the content of the individual episode. [Here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sn2cqCJAAdE) is a compilation with just the audio, not the video. (There are others that seem like they may have the video, but they are blocked from viewing in the US.) \*Scrubs \*[also tweaked the credits every year](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZjR8AiF60Q). ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2018, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/massive-changes-in-opening-credits/811605/28 "2018-04-03T18:06:14Z")
> [@](#): > > Quoth **Pantastic** : > > Babylon 5 changed their opening credits each season, there was basically a recap of the story so far that updated as the show progressed. And to great effect. For two seasons, we’d start watching every episode with a reminder that the Babylon Project was our last, best hope for peace. Only to start season 3, and to be told right off that \ It failed. ---
**Author:** ![beagledave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6de8d8/32.png) [@beagledave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beagledave)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2018, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/massive-changes-in-opening-credits/811605/29 "2018-04-03T18:10:37Z")
“[The Good Fight](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xWE5R6qEQQ)” has one of the best title sequences around. It was tweaked for season 2. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2018, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/massive-changes-in-opening-credits/811605/30 "2018-04-03T18:21:26Z")
Dammit. I just did a whole thing on Facts of Life with all the links, but hit the wrong key combo on my keyboard and quit Chrome by accident. Grrr. Anyhow, I’ll summarize, all the Facts of Life seasons had at least slightly different intros. The main one: [Original Season One opening](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDVpP7fWurA). The song is not quite the song we recognize as the Facts of Life theme. This one starts “there’s a place you gotta go for learnin’ all you oughta know about the Facts of Life.” There were actually two more openings that season that slightly differed from each other, so we have three different openings in season 1. [Season 2](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9_rv9mZ4hQ) has the “You take the good, you take the bad” opening theme song we’re familiar with. Seasons 3 and four have the same house backdrop as season 2, but slightly different video footage afterwards. Season 5 introduces [Edna’s Edibles](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMyLRVbkNNk) as the backdrop. Season 6 and the first couple episodes of 7 continue this, with some video variations. [Season 7](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAX7WGCvP7c) introduces a screaming electric guitar riff to the intro for who-knows-what-reason and in episode 3 the backdrop changes to the interior of Mrs. Garrett’s new shop, Over Our Heads. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2018, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/massive-changes-in-opening-credits/811605/31 "2018-04-03T18:26:20Z")
I also meant to write that I remember this being pretty commonplace. [Gilligan’s Island is another one.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVPIRTqd1g0) I mean, not only was Season 1 black and white and 2 and 3 in color, but the footage is different and the song is a different recording of the theme. Seasons 2 and 3 also slightly differ, but it’s not a “massive” change as requested by the OP (note the positions of “the Professor and Mary Anne” in the credits.) ETA: Oh, and there was also [the pilot’s intro](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qx7A4sxJi7c), which wasn’t aired, AFAIK, but with a _completely_ different, Caribbean-inspired theme song. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2018, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/massive-changes-in-opening-credits/811605/32 "2018-04-03T18:32:16Z")
Which change happened because Bob Denver didn’t think it fair that two out of seven actors should be listed as just “and the rest”. Apparently his contract gave him the right to say where in the credits his name would appear, since he was the star, and so he told the studio that they could either include the Professor and Mary Anne, or remove his name from the credits entirely. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2018, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/massive-changes-in-opening-credits/811605/33 "2018-04-03T18:35:55Z")
> [@Pantastic](#): > > Babylon 5 changed their opening credits each season, there was basically a recap of the story so far that updated as the show progressed. > [@Alessan](#): > > It was actually more of a recap of the key events of the \*current \*season, as viewed from the future. Not “this is what happened in previous seasons”, but rather “this is what’s going to happen this season”. The final season credits were quick snippets from the previous four seasons, though given how quickly each one went by it was more a reminder for people who already knew the story than a recap that would be any use to viewers coming in late. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2018, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/massive-changes-in-opening-credits/811605/34 "2018-04-03T19:40:22Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > _Frasier_ always had cute little changes to the cityscape on his opening title. And the pix of famous friends at the end. And his song sometimes changed. I never noticed that! I just enjoyed watching a compilation of them. Did it change with every season or did they rotate them? One I remember noticing as a kid is _That Girl_. I only saw it in reruns, of course, and I was always disappointed if there was no singing. Not only did I like signing along, but it was the later seasons that had lyrics and I like those episodes better. ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2018, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/massive-changes-in-opening-credits/811605/35 "2018-04-03T19:42:51Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > Isn’t there one wherein the son is giving her a foot massage? In the early seasons, she’s soaking her feet at the end of the opening credits, but that’s about it, IIRC. > [@digs](#): > > The great thing watching Dick Van Dyke as a kid was waiting to see if he did a pratfall over the ottoman. They’d intersperse a version where he did a jazzy little sidestep and stayed vertical. There’s a third version where he does a slow step around the ottoman, then trip on the carpet. The Christmas episode ends with the cast “singing” the theme song, complete with a sound effect of him tripping over the ottoman, but in the opening, he sidesteps it. > [@hogarth](#): > > Aqua Teen Hunger Force changed their credits and theme song annually in seasons 8, 9, 10 and 11. The show changed its title as well each time (Aqua Unit Patrol Squad One; Aqua Something You Know Whatever; Aqua TV Show Show; Aqua Teen Hunger Force Forever), much to the dismay of those of us with DVRs that would miss the season premieres because they were under the previous title. > [@RealityChuck](#): > > \*The Cosby Show \*had different credit sequences and theme songs every season. Well, except the last season, which used the “Mother Hale” opening that they started using during the previous season until Cosby pulled it (and brought back the previous season’s “Apollo Theater” opening) over a disagreement about what compensation should be paid to the creators of the original Mother Hale mural). Another one: _Eight is Enough_ changed its theme song from an instrumental with the family making a human pyramid to one with lyrics and having scenes from previous episodes. As for why shows would do this, one possibility is, opening credits are an Emmy category, but after a show’s first season, the show requires that the credits be “substantially changed.” ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2018, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/massive-changes-in-opening-credits/811605/36 "2018-04-06T03:05:21Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > _The Drew Carey Show_ started out with these simple cartoony credits, to the song of [Moon Over Parma](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ab0G6pApv4g). > > Then, after doing some [special funny credits](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3wMesI8aiw) as a one-off using the song Five O’Clock World, they then turned an edited version into the official credits. > > Then later still they changed again to a song called [Cleveland Rocks](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsSeULiElrc). I think these stayed to the end. Nope, the last two seasons (the last year and half of which almost no one saw because ABC tried cancelling it early, but drew was all, oh hell naw, contract, beeotches! and kept making them so ABC buried them in the summer doldrums and aired them massively out of order) used covers of all three themes over various different scenes. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2018, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/massive-changes-in-opening-credits/811605/37 "2018-04-06T03:15:52Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Dammit. I just did a whole thing on Facts of Life with all the links, but hit the wrong key combo on my keyboard and quit Chrome by accident. Grrr. Anyhow, I’ll summarize, all the Facts of Life seasons had at least slightly different intros. The main one: > > [Original Season One opening](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDVpP7fWurA). The song is not quite the song we recognize as the Facts of Life theme. This one starts “there’s a place you gotta go for learnin’ all you oughta know about the Facts of Life.” There were actually two more openings that season that slightly differed from each other, so we have three different openings in season 1. > > [Season 2](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9_rv9mZ4hQ) has the “You take the good, you take the bad” opening theme song we’re familiar with. > > Seasons 3 and four have the same house backdrop as season 2, but slightly different video footage afterwards. > > Season 5 introduces [Edna’s Edibles](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMyLRVbkNNk) as the backdrop. > > Season 6 and the first couple episodes of 7 continue this, with some video variations. > > [Season 7](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAX7WGCvP7c) introduces a screaming electric guitar riff to the intro for who-knows-what-reason and in episode 3 the backdrop changes to the interior of Mrs. Garrett’s new shop, Over Our Heads. They also had to change it for cast changes, like adding/removing George Clooney, replacing Charlotte Rae with Chloris Leachman, and adding Mckenzie Astin and that australian girl (the character was Pippa, dunno the actress’s name). And they removed the store entirely near the end to build bedrooms for the new kids. It’s original parent show, Diffrent Strokes also had massive intro changes in the last season, including a “diffrent” mix of the theme song and new shots of the appartment (apparently all changed on the set when it moved from NBC to ABC) ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2018, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/massive-changes-in-opening-credits/811605/38 "2018-04-06T03:17:06Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I also meant to write that I remember this being pretty commonplace. [Gilligan’s Island is another one.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVPIRTqd1g0) I mean, not only was Season 1 black and white and 2 and 3 in color, but the footage is different and the song is a different recording of the theme. Seasons 2 and 3 also slightly differ, but it’s not a “massive” change as requested by the OP (note the positions of “the Professor and Mary Anne” in the credits.) > > ETA: Oh, and there was also [the pilot’s intro](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qx7A4sxJi7c), which wasn’t aired, AFAIK, but with a _completely_ different, Caribbean-inspired theme song. It was aired, decades later, on Nick at Nite. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2018, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/massive-changes-in-opening-credits/811605/39 "2018-04-06T03:26:59Z")
**Blackadder** was radically different each season. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2018, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/massive-changes-in-opening-credits/811605/40 "2018-04-06T03:31:10Z")
The Wire had the same song (Way Down in the Hole), with different artists/styles each season. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/massive-changes-in-opening-credits/811605.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/massive-changes-in-opening-credits/811605.md?page=3)