[Note: Every Friday on First Thoughts we host a discussion about some aspect of pop culture. Today’s theme is opening credits to TV shows. Have a suggestion for a topic? Send them to me at jcarter@firstthings.com.]
One of the most undervalued formats in television is the opening credit sequences. Within just a few minutes that set the tone for a series that last for years—even decades. They can reveal a backstory in a song (Gilligan’s Island, Green Acres), create a aural hook (Peter Gunn’s theme for Mission Impossible, Quincy Jone’s music for Sanford and Son), or simply create a comfortable familiarity for the viewer (Friday Night Lights is currently one of the best examples).
But sometimes—on very rare occasions—they can become more; sometimes they can become their own miniature masterpieces. Even when a television show isn’t worth watching (see #2, 6, and 7 on this list), a creative intro can stand on its own as a minor work of art.
Here are eleven examples of opening credits that transcend their humble genre:
The theme song can’t compete with its contemporaries (The High Chaparral, Bonanza), but the clever line drawing in the visuals helped set the tone for a show which was conceived by its creator to be “James Bond on horseback.”
The home video montage sets just the right tone for the nostalgic look back at the late 1960s, early 1970s. The Joe Cocker cover of the Beatles shouldn’t work, but somehow fits perfectly.
#8 Tie: Chuck / Dead Like Me
#6 Carnivale
HBO could fill every entry on this list (Oz, Deadwood, True Blood, et al.). So why choose an example from one of their least watched series? Because it’s one of the most visually interesting that doesn’t contain offensive imagery.
#5 Lost
At 13 seconds, it’s one of the shortest and most mysterious intros in TV history.
Familiarity has dulled its effect, but this is one of the most creative backstory sequences in TV history.
#3 The Simpsons
The opening sequence has been through so many changes that it has it’s own Wikipedia page.
#2 Mad Men
The show itself is one of the most overrated and overhyped in history. But the opening credits is worthy of much praise.
If you’re not a fan of this series then it might be hard to understand why it deserves the top slot. The intro is actually broken up into two segments, a brief backstory clip that precedes the first scene and a more traditional opening credits within the first few minutes. The haunting music and visuals make it worthy of being on a list of “Best Intros Ever.” But its the way that each intro ends with foreshadowing scenes from the episode you’re watching that makes is a model of creativity. I watched all 75 episodes and not once did I fast forward through the credits—it hooked me every time.
What TV intros would you add to the list?
Reader Suggestions
Babylon 5
The Twilight Zone
The Prisoner
Space: 1999
Mission Impossible
The Equalizer
Cowboy Bebop
Arrested Development
The Rifleman
Chiller Theater
Hawaii Five-O
Monty Python’s Flying Circus
June 18th, 2010 | 9:12 am
How about Babylon 5, with it’s backstory/theme credits that changed each season? IIRC, while the voiceover gave a short orientation, the clips showed scenes from episodes of that season, some of which had not yet aired.
June 18th, 2010 | 9:20 am
Re: my comment above, I like the season 4 credits best, I think.
June 18th, 2010 | 9:31 am
The Twilight Zone.
The theme music alone is iconic enough to warrant being on the top of any creative opening credits list. But Rod Serlings voiceovers are amazing.
“There is a fifth dimension, beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man’s fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call The Twilight Zone.”
June 18th, 2010 | 9:34 am
The original Prisoner. It basically retold the beginning of the first episode each time, which worked since most of the episodes are independent, but occasionally had a small variant.
June 18th, 2010 | 9:52 am
I second the nomination of Babylon 5, but specifically the 3rd season, where they made it plain that it was out of the frying pan and into the fire.
I would also think that Space: 1999 should get a mention.. I mean, talk about a hook: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WZW4groJro&feature=related
June 18th, 2010 | 10:03 am
Bah. How about some non-science fiction suggestions. Mission: Impossible, with its lighted fuse, syncopated 5/4 music, and montage of “in this episode” action shots, is unbeatable.
The Equalizer, synth music (by Stewart Copeland!) and evocative montage of threats and the threatened, all leading up to the dramatically lit figure of Edward Woodward, around whom the camera moves.
And of course, The Rockford Files, with it’s theme music that was a number one pop hit, plus the opening answering-machine message that always shows us how impecunious Jim Rockford is, and the montage of stills which indelibly specifies him in place and time.
How are those for suggestions?
June 18th, 2010 | 10:35 am
Two Suggestions:
1). Dragnet
2). Hawaii 5-0
June 18th, 2010 | 10:40 am
Well, I agree on BSG as #1, for the same reasons, basically. The segment starting at about 24 seconds in, with the shot of Galactica angling intoward the viewer, for some reason I always, always found heartbreaking. I’m not sure: somehow the diagonals, the banking view, coupled with the music spoke of such isolation, coupled with such resolve, even in the face of such overwhelming odds, with the Future at stake. I’d weep.
Most of the others I can suggest I’m probably suggesting because I really liked the show, rather than because the opening is especially meritorious.
The ones that come to mind are
Farscape (delightfully wild over the top score in the Season 1 opener here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvbcGiG3bpA&feature=related; they added a voice-over explanation later and made it more coherent, but lost something I think)
The Man from U.N.C.L.E., which I have to admit is not a pinnacle of opening credits narrative power.
The Avengers (with McNee and [be still my beating heart] Diana Rigg)
g vs e Good vs Evil, by the Pate brothers from 1999. A hip retro throwback that puts all it in the opening credits. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtItx6DKABM&feature=related
Firefly; Wheedon has an interesting approach because he focuses creating a fairly rich impression-story for each of the characters, rather than emphasizing the special effects and the oddball but convincing blend of Wild West and Outer Space. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrAS20mNZUE
June 18th, 2010 | 11:02 am
What about Cowboy Bebop?
June 18th, 2010 | 11:04 am
One of my favorites was ‘The Rifleman’ — you just see the hands and the repeated shots of rifle, then the pullback to show Chuck Connors body, then finally his face.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IX2oZ6Kv_qo
One of the most intense I remember from my youth was the Intro to ‘Chiller Theater’ on channel 11 in New York. It probably went off the air when I was 5 or 6 years old, but I recall seeing this when at an Aunts house with my older brother and sister, well past my usual bedtime, and it really scaring me to the point of tears.
June 18th, 2010 | 11:04 am
Arrested Development.
True Blood. (The opening credits may be better than the show. I would also say that about Desperate Housewives. I have actually watched the credits and then turned the channel.)
June 18th, 2010 | 11:38 am
OK- Here is one that should be on the list:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrkrQXuDq24
Hawaii 5-0
And here is another:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tq37WSg9ESg
Monty Python’s Flying Circus. Terry Gilliam changed it all.
ANd:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tyex8KswZo&feature=PlayList&p=0B78602BBA7A8342&playnext_from=PL&playnext=1&index=5
The opening music for House of Cards, great show. Great Music.
June 18th, 2010 | 1:12 pm
The show was just eh, but I liked the opening to “Enterprise”. Fun if you’re interested in science and history.
June 18th, 2010 | 1:22 pm
List is void without The Sopranos.
June 18th, 2010 | 1:32 pm
I Dream of Jeanie. Who cannot?
June 18th, 2010 | 1:42 pm
Glad to see the calls for Babylon 5 but how about Firefly as well?
While I also agree with Dragnet and Hawaii 5-O I enjoyed of the opening for Magnum P.I. even more with all the elements of the show quickly and concisely shown to the viewer capping it with the mischevious expression of Magnum at the end.
June 18th, 2010 | 2:00 pm
Highlander.
The introduction to the fascinating, epic life of Duncan MacLeod, as narrated by his Watcher friend Joe, perfectly epitomized the pathos, excitement, and sweeping (fun!) grandeur of the ambitiously silly story.
Melodramatic urban mythology never looked more cool.
June 18th, 2010 | 2:22 pm
I’m not trying to get back to the “animation” thread, but my vote for the most attention-getting, pulse-pounding, ear-and-eye-catching opening credits ever, would be the original Jonny Quest.
June 18th, 2010 | 2:26 pm
+1 on Jonny Quest.
June 18th, 2010 | 2:43 pm
I raise a voice of dissent over Battlestar Galactica. I actually think it has one of the worst opening sequences: it includes scenes from the episode that one is about to watch! It’s a spoiler. In consequence I always fast-forward through the opening, being careful not to look. So irritating.
June 18th, 2010 | 3:02 pm
Two more classic opening credits for your consideration:
The Mickey Mouse Club (1950s)
The Nanny
June 18th, 2010 | 3:20 pm
I vote for Law & Order, TOS for the sake of its opening narration. It was (I understand the series has taken it’s last bow) a weekly chop against the egalitarian forces of the culture.
Seperate, yet equally important.
love it.
Kamilla
June 18th, 2010 | 3:37 pm
How about Mash, Hill Street Blues and Cheers.
June 18th, 2010 | 4:49 pm
“Six Feet Under.” Genius. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gz4uFpqTo_c
June 18th, 2010 | 8:52 pm
Re: Hawii 5-0.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tc4MSie-P0k at 1:42
June 18th, 2010 | 9:00 pm
Coronet Blue.
(Decades have passed – still remember the theme song.)
June 18th, 2010 | 9:10 pm
For you older folks out there: The “Perry Mason” theme. That dramatic, insistent music, perfect for that relentless, brooding truth-seeker. Also Hill Street Blues, Five-O.
June 19th, 2010 | 12:04 am
The original “Homicide: Life on the Street” opening credits were mesmerizing and set the mood perfectly:
It still gives me chills to watch that opening.
June 19th, 2010 | 12:27 am
I’m late to the party. I can’t believe no one mentioned Dexter.
June 19th, 2010 | 12:09 pm
May I suggest the original “Outer Limits” opening.
(I remember the “Chiller” opening – so simple, so spooky.)
June 21st, 2010 | 4:30 am
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
http://www.hulu.com/watch/1147/buffy-the-vampire-slayer-buffy-the-vampire-slayer-opening-credits
Star Trek (either the original or next gen.)
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