Do you remember a time when television shows had really great intros?
Back in the 60s and up until about the 80s, programme makers loved to entice their audience with some very exciting opening credits which were almost like a mini movie in themselves.
It seems that those days are now gone and instead we have either no programme opening or a poor excuse for one. Broadcasters are more interested in condensing these down to allow for either commercials or to tell the audience what's coming up next. It seems that the good old intro has suffered at the hands of the advertisers.
Thanks to the internet, these intros can be found playing over a wide range of video sites and I have gathered together what I believe to be twelve of the greatest intros ever. Now, of course, this list is purely subjective and there are plenty more shows out there with great intros, but these are my personal favourites.
Also included at the end of the page, right after the Guestbook - which I know you'll sign ;) - is an all time favourite kid's programme, which I used to watch as a child in England back in the Sixties. The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe had a very short intro, but had one of the most magnificent theme tunes, which can be heard in this video. Play it a couple of times and you too will be hooked.
In fact, as well as having great intros, these TV shows had some of the greatest theme tunes too. So, travel back and enjoy these memories from yesteryear.
Star Trek is an American science fiction entertainment series and media franchise. The Star Trek fictional universe created by Gene Roddenberry is the setting of six television series including the original 1966 Category: Star Trek - : The Original Series|Star Trek, in addition to ten feature films (with an eleventh in post-production), dozens of computer and video games, hundreds of novels and fan stories, several fan-created video productions, as well as a Category: Star Trek - : The Experienc...
Mission: Impossible (often referred to as Mission: Impossible: The Original Series) is an American television series that chronicles the missions of a team of secret American government agents known as the Impossible Missions Force (IMF). For most of the show's run, Peter Graves played Jim Phelps, the IMF leader.
The series aired on the CBS network from September 1966 to March 1973. It returned to television, as Category: Mission - : Impossible (1988 TV series)|a revival, for two seasons on ABC, from 1988 to 1990 and later inspired a popular trio of theatrical motion pictures starring Tom Cruise in the 1990s and 2000s.
The theme music, composed by Lalo Schifrin, is widely considered to be one of the most iconic television themes.
CHiPs is a fictional American television drama series produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios (licensee by Turner Entertainment) that originally aired on NBC from September 15, 1977 to July 17, 1983. "CHiPs" follows the lives of two motorcycle police officers in the California Highway Patrol. The series ran for 139 episodes over six seasons.
Hawaii Five-O is an American television series that starred Jack Lord and James MacArthur as detectives for a fictional Hawaii state police department.
Hill Street Blues is a serial police drama that was first aired on NBC in 1981 and ran for 146 episodes on primetime into 1987."Hill Street Blues" (1981) Chronicling the lives of the staff of a police precinct in an unnamed American city, the show received high critical acclaim and its innovations proved highly influential on serious dramatic television series produced in North America. Its debut season was honored with eight Emmy awards, a debut season record surpassed only by The West Wing, and the show received a total of 98 Emmy Award nominations during its run.
Thunderbirds is a British mid-1960s television show devised by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and made by AP Films using a form of puppetry dubbed "Supermarionation". The series followed the adventures of International Rescue, an organisation created to help those in grave danger using technically advanced equipment and machinery. The series focused on the head of the organisation, ex-astronaut Jeff Tracy, and his five sons who piloted the "Thunderbird" machines. A popular show, the series is still shown today and has inspired a number of subsequent television programmes and films.
The Persuaders! is a 1971 crime series, produced by ITC Entertainment for initial broadcast on ITV and ABC. It has been called "the last major entry in the cycle of adventure series that had begun eleven years earlier with Danger Man in 1960", as well as "the most ambitious and most expensive of Sir Lew Grade's international action adventure series".
It starred Tony Curtis, as Danny Wilde, and Roger Moore, as Lord Brett Sinclair, two international playboys. Much of the humor of the show derive...
The Prisoner is an allegorical British 1960s science fiction television series starring and co-created by Patrick McGoohan. It follows a former British secret agent who, after abruptly resigning from his position, is held captive in a small village by the sea by an unidentified power which wishes to establish the reason for his resignation. Episodes typically feature the unnamed prisoner, labelled "Number Six" by his captors, unsuccessfully attempting to escape from "the Village", but successful...
The TV series The Avengers is a blend of espionage, fantasy and sometimes science fiction that has appealed to those who enjoy witty, off-beat television. While this British programme (produced by ABC-TV in the UK) acquired a huge...
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a mysterious alien time-traveller known as "the Doctor" who travels in his space and time-ship, the TARDIS, which appears from the exterior to be a blue police box. With his companions, he explores time and space, solving problems, facing monsters and righting wrongs.
The programme is listed in Guinness World Records as the longest-running science fiction television show in t...
Department S was a British espionage/science fiction adventure series produced by ITC Entertainment. The series lasted for 28 episodes, which aired in 1969-70. The series starred Peter Wyngarde as Jason King (who later went on to star in his own, eponymous, spin-off series), Joel Fabiani as Stewart Sullivan and Rosemary Nicols as Annabelle Hurst. The trio were agents for a fictional special department (the 'S' of the title) of Interpol. The head of Department S was Sir Curtis Seretse (played...
The Invaders: Alien beings from a dying planet.
Their destination : The Earth.
Their purpose : To make it their world.
David Vincent (Roy Thinnes) has seen them. For him it began one lost night on a lonely country road, looking for a short-cut that h...
This brings back memories! I voted for Hawaii Five-O. Great show, great opening. I always liked Batman too, with all the funny fighting words... Bam, Pow, Zowie, etc. Well done!
The adventures of Robinson Crusoe was a French children's television drama series. The show was first syndicated to the USA in 1964 and to the UK in 1965. It was based on the Robinson Crusoe books of Daniel Defoe but is perhaps best remembered for its haunting theme music - recreated since by bands such as The Art of Noise.