I’m looking for TV shows that feature an intro sequence with narration, explaining the premise of the show. Things like the A-Team, Knight Rider, Renegade, Otherworld, Friday the 13th the Series, Quantum Leap, etc.
Star Trek sort of counts, but the narrator is a character on the show, so it’s not in quite the same category. So do Outer Limits and Twilight Zone, though neither really explain the plot of the show in the opening sequence.
Gilligan’s Island or Branded don’t count; the narration can’t be in song format. “Last time on” intros are also not in contention. No movies or anime, either.
Also… Law and Order: SVU, Law and Order: CI, Law and Order: Trial By Jury, 24 (sometimes), Firefly, Buffy (for the first season anyway) and I’ll bet a ton of others
Babylon 5 had an in character one, as did Highlander and (I think) The Pretender. They seem to be most common in Sci-Fi shows (which makes sense, since they’re pretty reliant on the audience getting the premise).
Firefly doesn’t have a narrated opening sequence as far as I am aware (I looked through 3 or 4 episodes. All of the Law and Orders count, as well as the others listed (How could I forget $6 mil man?).
Also not sure about Odd Couple, all I remember is the theme song. People’s court is only semi-fictional, but I like the way you’re thinking.
You know, The Pretender is my favourite show of all time and I can’t say for sure whether you’re wrong or not. I know for a fact that at least for the first few episodes (first season?) there was one that was NOT in-character, just a unknown male voice giving the whole “…Then one day, their pretender ran away…” thing, but it doesn’t seem like that was carried through the whole series, or maybe it changed to in-character-- I’ll have to remember to check it out on the DVDs when I have time.
NOTE: I understand this is unimportant to this discussion and trivial, but it DOES bug me quite a bit.
Ah, your semi-right. I just watched the first four seasons intros on youtube, the first season has a non-character give a long naration with text scrolling up the screen ending with the line you remember. For the other seasons, the intro is partly given by characters, but the first line is always “there are pretenders amongst us” spoken by a non-character.
Narrator: Hannibal Heyes and Kid Curry - the two most successful outlaws in the history of the West. And in all the trains and banks they robbed, they never shot anyone. This made our two latter-day Robin Hoods very popular - with everyone but the railroads and the banks.
[cut to scene of posse in hot pursuit of Heyes and Curry]
Jed ‘Kid’ Curry: There’s one we thing we gotta get, Heyes.
Hannibal Heyes: What’s that?
Jed ‘Kid’ Curry: Out of this business!
[cut to meeting between Heyes, Curry and Sheriff Trevors]
Sheriff Lom Trevors: The governor can’t come flat out and give you amnesty now. First you have to prove you deserve it.
Hannibal Heyes: Ah. So all we have to do is just stay out of trouble till the governor figures we deserve amnesty.
Jed ‘Kid’ Curry: In the mean time, we’ll still be wanted.
Sheriff Lom Trevors: Well, that’s true. Till then only you, me and the Governor will know about it. It’ll be our little secret.
[cut to scene where another posse is in hot pursuit of Heyes and Curry]
Hannibal Heyes: I sure wish the governor’d let a few more people in on our secret!
Narrator: “Alias Smith and Jones,” starring Pete Duel and Ben Murphy.
Andromeda, seasons one and two (before it became the Kevin Sorbo Power Hour), had an omniscient narrator:
You can tell it’s already morphing into the Kevin Sorbo show. The third season they just gave up all pretense and had Sorbo’s character (Dylan) narrate the damn thing himself.
I’m gonna reveal myself as quite the syndicated action fan, but. There’s also Xena: Warrior Princess:
And what is Xena without Hercules?
To prove I watch stuff other than syndicated shlock (not that there’s anything wrong with that…), how about Soap?
