# What are the best TV opening sequences? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 10, 2010, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-best-tv-opening-sequences/560212 "2010-11-10T19:59:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-best-tv-opening-sequences/560212/21 "2010-11-10T21:32:13Z")
Amazing Stories The Incredible Hulk ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-best-tv-opening-sequences/560212/22 "2010-11-10T21:52:24Z")
The [Get Smart](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cscedJQ3PFU) opening title sequence is classic. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-best-tv-opening-sequences/560212/23 "2010-11-10T22:19:00Z")
[Medical Center](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9br1JjcXfo) – the opening that looked and sounded like it was from a cop show. [QUOTE=DCnDC] 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. [/QUOTE] On the other hand, that’s what Sherwood Schwartz was trying for with the openings for \*Gilligan’s Island \*and the _Brady Bunch_. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Q](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/898d66/32.png) [@Johnny\_Q](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Q)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-best-tv-opening-sequences/560212/24 "2010-11-10T22:22:30Z")
[The Prisoner](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRPDO63rI1E) ---
**Author:** ![cactus\_waltz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@cactus\_waltz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cactus_waltz)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-best-tv-opening-sequences/560212/25 "2010-11-10T22:26:36Z")
Dexter is one of the best, but when you’re tired of it, you’re really tired of it. ---
**Author:** ![mr.jp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@mr.jp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr.jp)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-best-tv-opening-sequences/560212/26 "2010-11-10T22:27:06Z")
> [@Timchik](#): > > [True Blood](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxINMuOgAu8) - great swamp-boogie song over images of death, decay, and Southern weirdness. > Too bad the series itself is so ludicrous. Seconded. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-best-tv-opening-sequences/560212/27 "2010-11-10T22:28:43Z")
The intro for Ghost Whisperer is amusingly trippy. “She’s tearing herself in half! And that girl has a dress made of _bees!_” Sorry, at work so no Youtube link. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-best-tv-opening-sequences/560212/28 "2010-11-10T22:34:12Z")
> [@cactus\_waltz](#): > > Dexter is one of the best, but when you’re tired of it, you’re really tired of it. I liked the dream sequence they did last season where Dex’s morning didn’t go quite so smoothly (he misses the mosquito, his shoelace breaks, etc). ---
**Author:** ![Silent\_Kal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c2a13f/32.png) [@Silent\_Kal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silent_Kal)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-best-tv-opening-sequences/560212/29 "2010-11-10T22:35:24Z")
[Tales from the Crypt.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ae5XwkSguNI) ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-best-tv-opening-sequences/560212/30 "2010-11-10T22:35:28Z")
The '70s version of _Match Game_ is a classic that has never been equaled. ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-best-tv-opening-sequences/560212/31 "2010-11-10T22:36:05Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > 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. You just reminded me that the _My Name is Earl_ creator’s new show _Raising Hope_ has a great title sequence, giving you the premise of the show in the style of the Dick and Jane books. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-best-tv-opening-sequences/560212/32 "2010-11-10T23:07:43Z")
Mad Men. ---
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-best-tv-opening-sequences/560212/33 "2010-11-10T23:24:19Z")
CHiPs WKRP Addams Family ---
**Author:** ![Intelligently\_Designed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intelligently_designed/32/20957_2.png) [@Intelligently\_Designed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intelligently_Designed)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-best-tv-opening-sequences/560212/34 "2010-11-10T23:37:46Z")
There are so many. [The Persuaders](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7MsrRKQW58&feature=related) [S.W.A.T.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Iwp1d7eKbA) [Jason King](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9l357Ia7UUk) [The Champions](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AccLo_yQgFg&feature=related) [Bonanza](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjdRgBAY278) ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2010, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-best-tv-opening-sequences/560212/35 "2010-11-11T00:05:52Z")
I don’t like Dexter’s opening. It squicks me out for some reason, I try to skip up to the part where he’s locking the door and walking away. I like the opening for Cougar Town this year, where they keep making fun of the way the name of the show doesn’t fit anymore and the rumors they were going to change it. Like one week it was “Still Cougar Town” another week it was “Modern Cougar Town” playing off being on after Modern Family. There’ve been others, but those are the ones I remember at the moment. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2010, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-best-tv-opening-sequences/560212/36 "2010-11-11T00:15:28Z")
Love it or hate it (and easy to hate it when you leave the TV on for latenight background noise during a marathon) but _The Nanny_ animation and retro-style themesong is one of the most memorable, which I think would make it one of the best. The show didn’t last long, but [Branded](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXlUS5-ag_g)’s themesong and opening sequence of a soldier being stripped of his rank/buttons/insignia/his sword broken/etc., lived long after it. I know it’s been parodied in _Married With Children_ and when I was a kid we used to sing various dirty schoolyard versions of it (“Stranded, stranded on the toilet bowl/what will you do when you’re stranded/and you don’t have a roll?”). I think other shows and movies have parodied it as well. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Mondegreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/91b2a8/32.png) [@Lord\_Mondegreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Mondegreen)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2010, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-best-tv-opening-sequences/560212/37 "2010-11-11T00:25:52Z")
So many good ones, so I’ll stick to choosing one which hasn’t been mentioned yet. [Father Ted](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lP-TOKmmYY). Great music with the aerial shot over the water, then over the picturesque Irish landscape, and finally with the helicopter crashing into the main characters. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2010, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-best-tv-opening-sequences/560212/38 "2010-11-11T00:35:33Z")
[Deadwood](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWjFvamJssw) ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2010, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-best-tv-opening-sequences/560212/39 "2010-11-11T01:03:55Z")
_Weeds_ has clever openings. Every episode begins with the name and logo of the show appearing followed by the name of the creator (Jenji Cohan, IIRC), usually on an inanimate object that will somehow be relevant in the plot later. On the latest episode for instance the title was on the front of a corpse’s toe tag and the creator on the reverse side, and a part of the show took place in a morgue. In the first two (or three?) seasons the show began with the song _Little Boxes_ sung by a different singer next week. That was a clever concept that got old really quick, not least for the fact it’s one of the most annoying songs on the planet. I much prefer the new style. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2010, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-best-tv-opening-sequences/560212/40 "2010-11-11T01:18:31Z")
In the early 90s there was a syndicated version of The Untouchables. The theme was so great that even though I probably haven’t seen the show in 18 years I still hum it from time to time. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-best-tv-opening-sequences/560212.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-best-tv-opening-sequences/560212.md?page=3)