Opening credits

[Marek]

Hey, have you noticed how some recent TV shows have had amazing opening credits?

I'm thinking of stuff like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjUzSUA-f1Q

I wish DVDs had the option to Play All without the intros though. Hearing some intros over and over again drives me nuts.

[Roderick]

Yes, before noticing you linked to the Dexter opening, I was gonna post the Dexter opening. Very nice one. The Mad Men intro was indubitably inspired by the excellent animation that starts Casino Royale, with its gangster suited rotoscoping. Nothing against it of course, but it's still pretty obvious.

I usually don't mind seeing openings if they're of exceptional quality. I've never in four seasons skipped the House intro, that's for sure. I get a little kick every time I see it. By contrast, I always skip the Babylon 5 one, just because it's so generic and cumbersome with its speech.

[brkl]

I was also going to post the Dexter opening, but noticed you already had. It's probably the best I've ever seen.

[eljay]

Most TV Show DVDs have chapter markers at the end of the intro sequence so you can skip them with ease.....

(Also yes Dexter's intro is awesome, is Mad Men a good show? I know nothing of it)

[Marek]

I haven't seen Mad Men yet, just heard good things about it.

[DanJW]

Dexter probably has the best opening credits ever. I'm really hoping the show makes it onto a major TV channel over here soon (as opposed to the third-rate backwater that is FX), so I can make everyone I know watch it.

Hmm, there's gotta be some more good title sequences. Let me have a think.

[Marek]

Arrested Development has a pretty good one I guess. Nothing high-concept, just well done.

OOH! Weeds! Holy crap, Weeds has such a good intro. And I love the fact they got different artists to perform the title song each time starting in season 2.

Here's the intro with the original version of the title song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fa6fSkTwMPA

[DanJW]

Interesting that it's a nother Showtime production.

Oooh, I quite like the Dead Like Me opening:

[DanJW]

While doing a random search to jog my memory, I found this little gem:

:tup:

[Wrestlevania]

  DanJW said:

Dexter probably has the best opening credits ever. I'm really hoping the show makes it onto a major TV channel over here soon (as opposed to the third-rate backwater that is FX), so I can make everyone I know watch it.

So, in the meantime, I should steal it like every other worthwhile TV serial of the last 4 years?

[DanJW]

Yes you should.

[n0wak]

I like how The Wire has handled its opening credits. It's just a montage so it isn't the most interesting thing from an art direction perspective, but they have a different version of the same song every year and, in the montage, they have little bits and pieces from the whole season. When you're just starting a season it's fun to speculate what's going to happen because of it (especially since everything is shot and done by the time episode one airs.)

Also, not as good as other suggestions, but thoroughly epic.

[Marek]

  DanJW said:

Interesting that it's a nother Showtime production.

Heh yes, they do a good job. It recently occured that about 95% of the TV stuff I download or buy on DVD was commissioned as original cable programming, almost all of it from Showtime or HBO, with also a little bit of FX (The Riches) and USA Network (Burn Notice).

The only shows not originating from a subscription channel that I'm watching are NBC's The Office and 30 Rock.

[Wrestlevania]

  n0wak said:

I like how The Wire has handled its opening credits. It's just a montage so it isn't the most interesting thing from an art direction perspective, but they have a different version of the same song every year and, in the montage, they have little bits and pieces from the whole season. When you're just starting a season it's fun to speculate what's going to happen because of it (especially since everything is shot and done by the time episode one airs.)

I started season 1 at the beginning of the year but never got further than episode 3. Now that the 360 can stream good quality video from my laptop, this should be significantly more enjoyable.

  n0wak said:

Also, not as good as other suggestions, but thoroughly epic.

Yet another series I've only watched in part, but still really want to dedicate time to.

[Nachimir]

  eljay said:

Dexter's intro is awesome

I thought it was just me I've never been so impressed with the opening credits of something.

Piss poor visuals on this one, but the opening tune for

has always stuck with me. The optimism of it coupled with the fountain at Geneva is kind of sweet.

[n0wak]

Oh, also

(You have to skip ahead to get to the titles)

http://youtube.com/watch?v=owfeSoW-DmY

[Marek]

Just remembered another one. Say what you will (YES, IT'S VERY CHEESY!!) but it really fits the series:

I'm sorry for liking it but I can't help it. The West Wing gives you this sort of fantasy world where there's a Great President who Does The Right Thing and has people working for him who want to Change The World etc. etc. and that intro totally suits that.

[Duncan]

  n0wak said:

I like how The Wire has handled its opening credits. It's just a montage so it isn't the most interesting thing from an art direction perspective, but they have a different version of the same song every year and, in the montage, they have little bits and pieces from the whole season. When you're just starting a season it's fun to speculate what's going to happen because of it (especially since everything is shot and done by the time episode one airs.)

Yes yes yes. I love the Wire's opening credits. Note how it's a) different from everything else HBO does in that it's a montage (and also that there's a teaser) and different from everything network TV does in that the montage isn't of the characters or of money shots from previous seasons. Instead you have all these shots which seem sort of mundane but are assembled so well and create such a sense of place and atmosphere.

I think season 3 has my favourite credits. There's a great energy to that one.

January 2008!!!

[Moosferatu]

This is probably not the appropriate place to post this, but it just came to mind. Every fan of The Wire should read this New Yorker piece from a few weeks back.

[LOPcagney]

  Marek said:

Just remembered another one. Say what you will (YES, IT'S VERY CHEESY!!) but it really fits the series:

I'm sorry for liking it but I can't help it. The West Wing gives you this sort of fantasy world where there's a Great President who Does The Right Thing and has people working for him who want to Change The World etc. etc. and that intro totally suits that.

Haha, absolutely. I love the West Wing, but over the past 3 years it's become about as far removed from the actual White House as Lord of the Rings.

I immediately thought of the opening sequence to

, which I've grown to love.

[Wrestlevania]

I've always liked

. It implies sickly sweet utopian perfection, yet there's a rather sinister and fragile undercurrent.

[Marek]

  Duncan said:

I think season 3 has my favourite credits. There's a great energy to that one.

Whoa that's some good shit. 'Just a montage', sure, but it works brilliantly.

I saw a few episodes of The Wire season 1 and never really got into it. I know I should try again.

[Spaff]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUfRcrcbLIM

[Wrestlevania]

Splendid, and no less ridiculous than The Day Today's opener -- does the main theme ever actually end?!

[n0wak]

  Moosferatu said:

This is probably not the appropriate place to post this, but it just came to mind. Every fan of The Wire should read this New Yorker piece from a few weeks back.

It contains spoilers so I haven't read it for weeks.

And Marek, you really should give it another go. It starts a little slow because it has to set everything up, but once you get through that the momentum just sucks you right in and punches you in the gut and then kicks you when you're down, aching.