I’m not aiming for a single winner; I’d prefer just to make a list of the good ones.
With networks giving more airtime to commercials, TV credit sequences are getting shorter and shorter. We may have seen the last of the great opening sequence for a while. But we can look back on almost 60 years of history and pinpoint some favorites.
I’ll nominate two, both from the science fiction genre:
Star Trek: Voyager
Between the gorgeous visuals of space and Jerry Goldsmith’s anthem that’s both triumphant and searching, I think this is one of the best title sequences in TV history. It’s a great, two-minute tour of the wonders of the galaxy (real and imagined).
The X-Files
A creepy score over strange visuals that don’t show ghosts and aliens as much as imply them. The fact that the two stars are shown only on their FBI badges, as if the viewer is finding them on a desk, adds to the sequence’s off-kilter quality.
Those are some of my favorites. How about yours? Drama, comedy, even news and sports programs are eligible.
Rockford Files
TJ Hooker
Three’s Company
Brady Bunch
Gilligan’s Island
Lost
Miami Vice
LA Law
Monday Night Football (Heavy Action)
Hawaii Five-O
Dallas
The best nowadays are mostly on the premium cable shows, presumably because they don’t have to worry about maximizing content to commercials ratio. My first thoughts were The Sopranos and Dexter.
Worthy of mention, Star Trek: Enterprise: +100 for the visuals, -1000000000 for the music. Shame.
I seem to be alone in absolutely loving that song. It was particularly appropriate for Enterprise; its sentiment had to be exactly what Archer & Company were thinking when they were first set out.
I always liked the Scrubs opening simply because it was really brief. Even really well done openings start to annoy me after the forth or fifth episode.
Ha, your thread is not aptly named. You meant opening titles, not opening sequence (that’s the pre titles sequence).
Well, IMHO, there’s one show that had really stunning opening titles (even though the show itself never had one sequence of this level in its entire run):
Apart from that, I could name a shitload of very memorable title sequences in series. Most of the time, it’s got to do with having a very good score.
West’s mysteries
Black sheep squadron
Mission Impossible
Knight Rider
The Batman
The reworked version for the Mirror Universe episodes was great fun - martial music playing while NX-class ships conquered and pillaged. Though I wish they’d used an except from Holst’s “Mars, Bringer of War” instead.
I thought the Battlestar Galactica opening sequence (the new series, obviously) was excellent - set the tone nicely, and had some of BSG’s standard excellent visuals.
I always appreciated the conciseness and utility of the opening for My Name Is Earl. It’s short, it gives you the entire premise of the show in case you’ve never seen it before, and leads right into the episode no matter what the episode is about.
