# TV show with longest running, unchanged opening credits **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 11, 2019, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-show-with-longest-running-unchanged-opening-credits/830923 "2019-03-11T02:20:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2019, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-show-with-longest-running-unchanged-opening-credits/830923/41 "2019-03-12T20:59:19Z")
> [@Garak](#): > > when BJ joined the cast they added in a new video clip of him into the credits \ Twice; pre- and post-mustache. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2019, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-show-with-longest-running-unchanged-opening-credits/830923/42 "2019-03-12T21:51:10Z")
Hill Street Blues had 146 episodes over 7 years. The haunting theme tune (by Mike Post) stayed the same and I believe the credits did too. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2019, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-show-with-longest-running-unchanged-opening-credits/830923/43 "2019-03-12T21:53:00Z")
> [@glee](#): > > Hill Street Blues had 146 episodes over 7 years. > The haunting theme tune (by Mike Post) stayed the same and I believe the credits did too. Nope, there were numerous cast changes, especially after Esterhaus died. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2019, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-show-with-longest-running-unchanged-opening-credits/830923/44 "2019-03-12T22:44:01Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Except for a couple of cast changes, I think the opening of _ **ST: TNG** _ was the same from 1987 to 1994. Actually, the opening credits did change a little bit. There was [This](https://youtu.be/WFbuxleCu2k?t=42) and there was also [this version](https://youtu.be/HnDtvZXYHgE?t=49). It may be a bit nit picky but it is a difference. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2019, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-show-with-longest-running-unchanged-opening-credits/830923/45 "2019-03-13T01:22:39Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Bob Newhart’s shows ran six and eight years, respectively, and I don’t think the intro changed at all for either one. And the opening theme for _Newhart_ (the second series about the Vermont inn that ran for eight years) was rather lovely and relaxing. The theme brings back pleasant memories of late-night reruns many years ago. Another intro that never changed was _I Love Lucy_, but despite its fame that old classic only ran for six seasons. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2019, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-show-with-longest-running-unchanged-opening-credits/830923/46 "2019-03-13T01:55:23Z")
Wow, I just want to correct the _I Love Lucy_ reference I made above. I based my comment on all the reruns I’ve seen, but with reference to the original broadcasts, [I couldn’t have been more wrong](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Love_Lucy#Opening)! :eek: The shows used to open with animations depicting whoever the primary sponsor was. The familiar “heart on satin” opening was created for reruns and subsequently for syndication, where it indeed appeared to have been used consistently. ---
**Author:** ![jrbor76](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9e8a1a/32.png) [@jrbor76](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jrbor76)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2019, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-show-with-longest-running-unchanged-opening-credits/830923/47 "2019-03-16T14:39:59Z")
It wasn’t a show I watched often as a kid (or later on in reruns for that matter), but I don’t remember _Quincy’s_ intro changing significantly, if at all. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2019, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-show-with-longest-running-unchanged-opening-credits/830923/48 "2019-03-16T15:21:24Z")
Howsabout Cheers? Cast changes aside, wasn’t the opening unchanged through all 11 episodes? (I know this doesn’t strictly fit the OP question, but it’s fun to discuss). mmm ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2019, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-show-with-longest-running-unchanged-opening-credits/830923/49 "2019-03-16T15:29:03Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > Howsabout Cheers? Cast changes aside, wasn’t the opening unchanged through all 11 episodes? The music was the same, but the montage changed considerably as people came and went, especially when Shelley Long left and Kirstie Alley joined the cast. Coach died and was replaced with Woody; Cliff and Frasier were added after they proved to be popular with viewers. For the first five years, Long and Ted Danson were given more or less equal billing; when Alley came on board, she was definitely ranked below Danson. ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2019, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-show-with-longest-running-unchanged-opening-credits/830923/50 "2019-03-16T18:21:25Z")
How about “ER?” Fifteen seasons and the opening sequence was always the same, because the cast credits ran as type over the actual episode. Otherwise that approximately 8 second long intro was the same start to finish. ---
**Author:** ![filmstar-en](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/50afbb/32.png) [@filmstar-en](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmstar-en)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2019, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-show-with-longest-running-unchanged-opening-credits/830923/51 "2019-03-16T19:09:23Z")
The UK has some really, really long running shows. The show Coronation St, a ‘kitchen sink’ drama about working class characters in the industrial north of the England has been running for 59 years with the same opening scenes, a set of still images and a very sad trumpet based signature tune. It even has one cast member who still appears and he was in the very first episode when he was a young student. He is getting on a bit now, but for someone in the precarious career of acting, he has had the longest of runs. My elderly mother still watches the show and pretty much all the others such as ‘East Enders’. Another gritty ‘kitchen sink’ drama about working class characters in a working class East London since 1985. It hasn’t changed its signature tune or its opening scenes either. Consistency and longevity seems to be a hallmark of the British TV soaps and they are always about poor people living in strong communities full of vivid characters who argue a lot but become reconciled when they suffer misfortunes and calamities. Personally I quite liked Lost in Space, but they went a bit crazy with the spray paint when it was shot in color. I was not in the least impressed by Dr Who when they decided to jazz up the opening scenes and tamper with its signature tune.:dubious: I can understand when producers avoid changing intros and credits that is well liked and familiar. There is plenty of scope for new ideas in the plot lines. > **[Coronation Street](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coronation_Street)** > > Coronation Street is a British television soap opera created by Granada Television and shown on ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres around a cobbled, terraced street in the fictional Weatherfield, a town based on inner-city Salford, England. > Originally broadcast twice weekly, the series began airing six times a week in 2017. The programme was conceived by scriptwriter Tony Warren. Warren's initial proposal was rejected by the station's founder Sidney Bernstein, but he was persuad... ---
**Author:** ![TwoCarrotSnowman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/twocarrotsnowman/32/15879_2.png) [@TwoCarrotSnowman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwoCarrotSnowman)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2019, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-show-with-longest-running-unchanged-opening-credits/830923/52 "2019-03-16T22:55:11Z")
> [@filmstar-en](#): > > The UK has some really, really long running shows. > > The show Coronation St, a ‘kitchen sink’ drama about working class characters in the industrial north of the England has been running for 59 years with the same opening scenes, a set of still images and a very sad trumpet based signature tune. Corrie’s opening titles [have changed quite a bit over the years](https://youtu.be/wQDiaAmRA-o). > [@](#): > > My elderly mother still watches the show and pretty much all the others such as ‘East Enders’. Another gritty ‘kitchen sink’ drama about working class characters in a working class East London since 1985. It hasn’t changed its signature tune or its opening scenes either. I haven’t got a cite for this one, but I’m pretty sure they redid the aerial shots in the EastEnders titles to include the Millennium Dome (as was) when it was built. ---
**Author:** ![filmstar-en](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/50afbb/32.png) [@filmstar-en](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmstar-en)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2019, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-show-with-longest-running-unchanged-opening-credits/830923/53 "2019-03-17T00:16:55Z")
Same sombre tune, scenes of grim back to back terraced houses and chimneyscapes with domestic cats slinking about on roof tiles. But no smoking chimneys, given that coal fires were replaced by gas heating by the 1970s. Just a few tweaks, concessions to the passage of time, in what is supposed to be a contemporary drama. I suspect there were some rumblings of discontent with that brief experiment with a landscape scene, what were they thinking of…:dubious: Says here the US had a soap opera ‘As the World Turns’ run 56 years until it stopped turning in 2010. Surely a contender? [http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/longest-running-tv-soap-opera](http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/longest-running-tv-soap-opera) ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2019, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-show-with-longest-running-unchanged-opening-credits/830923/54 "2019-03-17T01:04:21Z")
I’m not an avid, rabid fan of the show, but all the episodes of “The Big Bang Theory” seem to have used the same opening montage. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2019, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-show-with-longest-running-unchanged-opening-credits/830923/55 "2019-03-17T01:33:07Z")
> [@Superdude](#): > > I’m not an avid, rabid fan of the show, but all the episodes of “The Big Bang Theory” seem to have used the same opening montage. Nope. It changed each time they added a female to the regular cast. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2019, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-show-with-longest-running-unchanged-opening-credits/830923/56 "2019-03-17T20:46:52Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > Maybe it shouldn’t count, but there was 1 episode where he was exhausted from taking care of his son and the opening credits had him going through his morning ablutions all bleary-eyed and bumbling. It was hysterically funny. That wasn’t the actual opening tho, it was an in episode scene referencing/parodying the opening. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2019, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-show-with-longest-running-unchanged-opening-credits/830923/57 "2019-03-17T20:53:53Z")
> [@SmartAleq](#): > > How about “ER?” Fifteen seasons and the opening sequence was always the same, because the cast credits ran as type over the actual episode. Otherwise that approximately 8 second long intro was the same start to finish. No, the last several seasons (after it became the fucking Neela show) the opening was completely changed in style to that “8 second” thing you mention. Older seasons had a full, completely different, opening. Maybe reruns omit this to shorten runtime (very common in syndication of old shows)? ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2019, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-show-with-longest-running-unchanged-opening-credits/830923/58 "2019-03-17T21:33:30Z")
I don’t know about reruns, I just have a downloaded set of the entire run of the show–I wanted to catch up because I missed the last few seasons because of the, as you say, Neela show among other missteps that made a formerly great show into a caricature of itself. Although I did laugh hysterically when they dropped the second helicopter on the one armed wonder, that was hilarious although I’m not sure I was supposed to find it so risible. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2019, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-show-with-longest-running-unchanged-opening-credits/830923/59 "2019-03-18T01:12:51Z")
^ Whenever someone in the main cast died (Dr. Greene - Anthony Edwards) or left the show (George Clooney), the opening credits were changed. ---
**Author:** ![JpnDude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/838e76/32.png) [@JpnDude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JpnDude)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2019, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-show-with-longest-running-unchanged-opening-credits/830923/60 "2019-03-18T07:58:46Z")
“Law & Order” perhaps? Only in the pre-murder opening: > [@](#): > > In the criminal justice system, the people are represented by two separate yet equally important groups. The police who investigate crime and the district attorneys who prosecute the offenders. These are their stories. I know the post-murder opening changes with each new cast lineup. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-show-with-longest-running-unchanged-opening-credits/830923.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-show-with-longest-running-unchanged-opening-credits/830923.md?page=4)