Main titles are important.
The fact that one got me so damn moved enough to write about them in general just speaks for itself.
Doesn’t matter if you love the show and watch every episode religiously, doesn’t matter if its something you watch because you’re bored, a good main title sequence can really get you in the mood, regardless of the quality of the following episode.
In fact, the main title sequence for ‘The Chicago Code’, in my opinion, takes it from a just above average procedral to something that has my fingers dancing and a grin on my face in anticipation as the title music begins.
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And then there’s ‘Friday Night Lights’ a show I would admittedly love regardless of the title sequence. But that music, the memory of Connie ‘Tami Taylor’ Britton swaying her hips to the music, arms in the air, then the empty football field at the end of a game. Well, as they say, “Texas forever” and I’m not even from Texas, I’m not even from America, I don’t know the first thing about football.
(to be honest, this isn’t the sequence I was referring to. They kept it pretty much the same(ish) for s1-4 then changed it for this, s5, which was the only one I could find on the mighty ‘tube)
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Of course, for the purpose of this blog entry and my own personal preference in general, when I say titles I, more often than not, mean a main title theme, music, lyrics and all.
Title ‘cards’, which I classify as primarily text driven/computer generated sequences, are fine in a ‘fine’ kind of way. Short but sweet, getting it over with so they can devote more time to story (or lack thereof in some cases). Fringe’s is a particular delight, changing text and/or hue in correlation to where that particular episode takes place, often with clues within as to what is ahead in the season. Supernatural’s changes every season to match the current plot (although the original card always wins for me, purely on a nostalgia basis).
But I do believe very strongly that a well chosen, well written theme song beats a title card sequence any day. It can set the tone of a show, give a feel for the environment of what is to follow.
Here are a few of my other favourites, each really bringing forth the essence of the show in its opening moments. The quality of these shows is debatable in some cases (and feel free to debate) but the PTB for these shows really understand that it isn’t about getting the titles out of the way so they can get their content out there faster but about spending the time to give their show an identity.
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These next two are legendary and brilliant but honestly are a tad too long. No matter how brilliant they are I always fast forward through them if poss.
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fin.
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