Best TV Show Openings

In a comment thread earlier this week, M-Dashes and I were waxing poetical about the lasting impact of the opening credits of the great Peter Scolari vehicle Bosom Buddies. It got me thinking about the lost art of great show openings and trying to put some order to the best, most memorable show openings of all time.

First, some guidelines. There is a difference between "best show themes" and "best show openings." A good show opening is the perfect marriage of music and image. Second, it's pretty clear that the Golden Age of show openings started with MASH in 1972 and ended when Miami Vice went off the air in 1989.

With that in mind, here are the 10 best show openings of all time:

10) Crime Story -- Despite earning a coveted spot immediately following Miami Vice and starring the incomparable Dennis Farina, Crime Story never really got the credit it deserved. But this is about openings and Crime Story had one of the best. Great 1950's imagery married with Del Shannon's classic "Runaway."

Crime Story Opening Theme

9) The Jeffersons - To be fair, this one really rides heavily on a perfect theme song. In fact, the opening images changed over the course of the show from a drive into Manhattan to a montage of clips. Still, driven by the powerful opening track and Sherman Helmsley's distinctive hamming, it never failed to deliver.

8) The Six Million Dollar Man - If the Jeffersons intro succeeds on the basis of its theme song, the Six Million Dollar Man intro succeeds in spite of its relatively uninspiring theme. Lines like "we can rebuild him" and "we have the technology" remain in our cultural lexicon decades later.

7) Cheers - Here's a perfect example of an intro that sets a perfect table for an excellent show. The melancholy theme played over the montage of old drawings and photos establishes a perfect mood. 

6) Dukes of Hazzard - This opening features a giant, orange Dodge Charger jumping a river. I think that's all that needs to be said.

5) Bosom Buddies - Billy Joel finally finds a perfect outlet for his talents (even if it is a cover). The sprinkler moment endures.

Bosom Buddies Opening

4) Hawaii 5-0 - Ok, so it falls a little bit outside the early 70s - early 80s sweet spot, but its still probably the most instantly recognizable non-lyrical theme that's ever been recorded.

3) CHIPS -  I STILL sing the CHIPS theme song when I'm driving. It as everything: motorcycles, guns, Eric Estrada's teeth. Enduring. Epic. A solid #3.

CHiPs Intro

  

2) Miami Vice - This is perhaps the perfect marriage of music and image. It doesn't hurt that Miami is so visually striking, or that the Jan Hammer theme is a perfect encapsulation of everything great and terrible about the 1980s. This actually makes a pretty convincing argument for the number one spot except...

1) M*A*S*H - Has there ever been a more iconic setup for a show? The view from he helicopter set to the maudlin strains of the theme. It only gets better when you watch the movie and hear the song with the actual lyrics "Suicide is Painless."

M*A*S*H opening credits

 

Comments

[CarrieNation]

The Greatest American Hero and True Blood.

[M-----l]

Nice try, but everybody knows that
The Fall Guy
had the greatest opening and theme of all-time.

[hotrod]

As much as I loved Seinfeld, I blame that show for the death of the opening credits sequence.  And you ranked Cheers too low.  It's a solid #2.

[Dabysan]

True Blood is quite good. The Sopranos has a nice opening too. The world just becomes too large when I start considering these newfangled shows though.

The Greatest American Hero, however, is a classic.

[hotrod]

I considered the theme for Greatest American Hero for KttD a long, long time ago.

[CarrieNation]

You should blame The Gary Shandling Show theme for that. Totally postmodern.

[hotrod]

Actually - I'm going to correct myself.  Dukes of Hazzard is #2 and Cheers is #3.

[Dabysan]

If you're gonna go country, I just can't see how you put Fall Guy above the Dukes, which has a more exciting opening and better song. 

[Dabysan]

Sorry meant to post a link to the Dukes. 

[M-----l]

It might have something to do with the fact that Heather Thomas walking through those swinging doors is still burned into my head thirty years later.  Daisy Duke, on the other hand, looked like a common hooker.

I just went back and listened to the theme from Dukes.  Waylon Jennings is obviously a better singer than Lee Majors, but from a lyrical standpoint, the Fall Guy theme kicks the Dukes on its hillbilly ass.

[mariser]

based on your definition of a good show opening as one that is the perfect marriage of music and image,  The Sopranos have to be in the top three of any list. 

[Dabysan]

I'll be honest. This was a tough list and a lot of deserving intros didn't make the cut. I think I might rank several, including:

Magnum P.I.
Johnny Quest, and
The Incredible Hulk

Above Fall Guy.

[hotrod]

You use the words "common hooker" like that's a bad thing.

[Dabysan]

It's very, very strong. I have to concede that. It suffers in my mind for falling outside of the great show opening era of the 70s and 80s, where themes actually got you excited for what you were about to see. 

[mariser]

where themes actually got you excited for what you were about to see.

I think that's what David Chase intended - to use the show opening to position you mentally in Jersey and the world of Tony Soprano.  it was neat to watch an episode and then later recognize it in the opening -"hey, that's Livia's house!"

[mariser]

The Simpsons has a great show opening.  it premiered in 1989, so it falls within your criteria.

[Dabysan]

You have a great point. Maybe I need to do these by era...

[M-----l]

Fuck the Incredible Hulk!  The intro to The Fall Guy features all of the following:

1. a gigantic explosion
2. not one, not two, but three truck jumps
3. a jetpack!!!
4. a horse carriage jumping
5. a plane jumping
6. a bar fight
7. a helicopter flying over a canyon with a man hanging on to it
8. a car vs. train wreck
9. a plane vs. barn wreck
10. two dudes dressed as nurses jumping off a bridge
11. a car flying over a cliff while a man jumps onto a rope ladder hanging from a chopper
12. Lee Majors coughing up cigar smoke after checking out a woman's rear
13. And the burned retinas Heather Thomas shot

Talk about getting a viewer excited for what they're about to see...it doesn't get any better than that.

[Dabysan]

Well it's also 19 minutes long, which seems a little excessive. 

[hotrod]

I never watched The Fall Guy, but M-dashes does make a pretty strong case.

[hotrod]

How long before Jodi comes on here and tries to make a case for something lame like Family Ties?  Should there be a pool?

[mariser]

thank you. 
I just want to speak for the forgotten ones.

[M-----l]

The version I linked to was some crazy extended version with an extra scene of Lee Majors beating up a hospital patient.  The version that normally showed on television cut out long before that (but still featured all the stuff I mentioned above).

[Dabysan]

She seems to be boycotting everything that's not about Apple products.

[Dabysan]

I just watched again, and it is a very, very good intro from a montage standpoint, but man I don't know if I can rate the song over any of the ones here. And as Lee Majors vehicles go, what about the 6 Million Dollar Man?