What are your thoughts on TV intros?

[feurioo]

I found the article How those opening frames create imaginative worlds to draw viewers into a series pretty interesting, and simply wanted to ask: Regardless of show quality, what are your favorite TV show intros, and why? Do you find them generally important in representing a TV show, or do you actively skip them if you can?

Please feel free:

• to link us to intros that you love and/or love to hate,
• to elaborate on how or why the opening sequence(s) of your favorite show(s) fit it (them) so well or not at all,
• to discuss how opening sequences have drawn you in and built up expectations that the actual show did or didn't meet,
• to advertise your favorite underrated show(s) by telling us why its (their) intro(s) are just as awesome as the rest.

Thank you to wendelah1 for linking to the following article: The art and evolution of TV title sequences.

As a precaution, I'm adding a spoilers tag for discussions about how title sequences do or do not accurately reflect a particular show, its setting, premise, or characters. Therefore: General spoiler warning for the comments!

Mods, if there's anything to fix, please let me know!

Comments

[dine]

there are lots of shows which qualify, but for some reason the one which immediately sprang to mind was Get Smart (I'm dating myself, aren't I?)

it was weird and a great send-up of spy movies of the era - all the doors made kid!me happy (and amuses adult!me still)

[feurioo]

Very stylish intro with an unexpected ending, thanks for posting it! I thought to myself that they probably wouldn't use such a sequence today because nobody walks through a number of doors anymore without eyeball/fingerprint/what-have-you scanners and/or without having to type in a long string of secret access codes. However, in my mind, it's exactly this perceived simplicity that elegantly and effectively sets up the surprise at the end.