All Time Great TV Openers

[Neon Ignition]

TV shows generally these days represent a standard which is much greater than that of past decades. The growth in serial story telling and shows not considering their audience to be too simple to grasp week to week plotting has led to many acclaimed series over the last ten or so years in particular.

There is a rising interest however in the revival of beloved shows too, some like the X-Files being much more literal additional series rather than reboots. One thing that remains and ever decreasing art however is that of the truly memorable or, if they're lucky, classic opening sequence or theme tune.

What TV opening sequences or themes do you adore or consider to be all time greats?

Though the merits of the show can be discussed at length, I'll always associate this one with BBC2's old 6pm weekday slots. Special mention has to go to the Pilot/Movie version as well with its full lyrics and cheese:

Buck Rogers in the 25th Century

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And one show that I'd love to see revived:

Quantum Leap

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[eastyy]

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[Neon Ignition]

And right there is ITV on a Saturday afternoon Ernest Borgnine always reminded me of my Grandad as well.

Mork and Mindy

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Animaniacs

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special mention going to the shows various surprisingly education songs

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Tiny Toon Adventures

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[prinnysquad]

The Outer Limits.

[Darwock]

It seems like shows are doing away with opening themes etc, often you get like ten-fifteen minutes of actual show before a two second splash screen of the title pops up.

A good theme/intro for me should be that moment when I settle into my chair, crack open the beer and think 'yay it's starting!'.

Some of the greatest examples I can think of:

The Simpsons
Northern Exposure
Game of Thrones (nostalgia not required, this is pure awesome)

[Mayhem]

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[QualityChimp]

Nice thread!

There are three types of themes, IMHO:
1. Ones that bring back memories
2. Modern ones that are memorable
3. Ones that are just plain awesome no matter when they were made

My son started watching Iron Giant last night and it reminded me of the time Tom Baker did a really haunting reading of it on Jackanory. I thought it was The Book Tower, but he was just the host on that. I listened to the Book Tower theme and it brought memories flooding back!
I could list loads of kids cartoons and shows that bring a warming sense of nostalgia, but you probably know the kind of thing.

Modern shows with memorable themes seem fewer, but they don't have the sense of nostalgia like the older themes. You probably don't realise they're going in, but I doubt in 20 years time people will be singing The One Show theme with much gusto.

As for kick ass themes, there are LOADS! There are plenty with bombast like Mike Post's work (The A-Team, NYPD Blue, The Rockford Files, L.A. Law, Quantum Leap, Magnum, P.I., and Hill Street Blues) or Barry Gray (Thunderbirds, Stingray, Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons and Joe 90).

However, I've got a real passion for funk and chase themes from telly and films. Some of my TV favourites include:
The Sweeney
The Detectives (Two Ronnies)
Six Million Dollar Man
Streets of San Francisco
Space: 1999
Dave Allen At Large
Mission: Impossible
The Professionals

[MartyG]

TJ Hooker. Shatner and Heather Locklear - no more needs to be said. (Oh and Adrian Zmed).

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[Asura]

I'm surprised at you all for missing what I think is the greatest TV opening theme of all time:

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First off, it did the whole "intro is a trailer for the show" decades before stuff like Battlestar Galactica thought it came up with the idea. Secondly, the music is beyond amazing, incredibly catchy. It captures the mood of the show absolutely perfectly and as a kid, it was incredibly exciting.

It's so good that even when they came to do the modern remake, they essentially just updated the above intro but kept the same overall approach:

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I don't think any TV intro sequence comes even close.

[Darwock]

'An error has occurred'.. I don't think I recall that show, or its opening theme.

[Asura]

'An error has occurred'.. I don't think I recall that show, or its opening theme.

Fixed.

[QualityChimp]

I'm surprised at you all for missing what I think is the greatest TV opening theme of all time:

*Ahem*

Barry Gray (Thunderbirds, Stingray, Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons and Joe 90).

[Atticus]

Favourite of all time has to be this one

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[Asura]

*Ahem*

WELL I DIDN'T SEE THAT OKAY

[charlesr]

The voiceover towards the end of this always got my pulse racing

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