Favourite TV show title sequences...

Television shows are often well known for their opening title sequences, indeed they clue you into the whole tone of the show in anywhere between 30 and 90 seconds. However, you don't always watch the intro sequence, oftentimes you might skip them entirely, but there are some that you find yourself watching every single time - and in this day-and-age when DVD boxsets are ever-so popular, that really shows true quality. Indeed, a really good title sequence makes you want to be a part of the world you're about to enter, whatever that world may be.

So without further ado, off the top of my head, some of the opening title sequences that I watch every single time without fail are:

The A-Team:
One of the greatest theme tunes for a television show ever, even people who have never watched a single episode know exactly how it goes and where it came from, but as someone who has poured over all five seasons on DVD (after watching the show as a child), you can't help but dig the fun-loving, boy's-own-adventure sense of fun this intro sequences inspires. Even the re-vamped season five intro grew on me.




The A-Team: Season 5 intro here.

Deadwood:
An excellent show that I came to very recently, but which sports an opening titles sequence that perfectly got me into the mood for a fresh episode. The choice of shots, almost all of which are in seductive slow motion, perfectly define the atmosphere of the setting of the show - a gold rush pioneer settlement where money, power, sex, corruption, gold, and booze run free and cross borders with each other routinely.




Continue reading after the jump...

Mad Men:
Another show I've only just got into (at the time of writing I've only seen the first season), but the graphical style - an advertising executive's world crumbling around him, sending him falling to his doom, only to return to a relaxed composure - combined with the music, matches the seductive and destructive world of Don Draper.

Mad Men intro sequence here.

The Sopranos:
Alabama 3's "Woke Up This Morning" has a poundingly cool vibe to it in the intro for the show that entirely re-defined television drama in 1999 and caused an explosion of superb televisual treats that provided far more emotional and dramatic investment than any movie could realistically manage. Similar to Deadwood, this really gets me into the mindset for another episode - and I always pay close attention for the shot of Pizzaland when the lyric "shotgun shine shame about it" comes up.




Twin Peaks:
One of the most atmospheric and fascinating TV shows ever made. Angelo Badalamenti's wonderfully melancholic and mesmerising score mixes effortlessly as we tour some of the sights of the eponymous town; images so disarming that they go hand-in-hand with the central idea of a beautiful town hiding inumerable dark secrets.




The Walking Dead:
Bear McReary's score, deserted locations, a twitching sense of dread and isolation, and cuts right to the point with efficiency.




Click here to see Daniel Kanemoto's vision for the opening credits here.

The X-Files:
I loved this show as a kid, and in 2008 (when the second movie was released), I headed back and spent nine weeks pouring over every single episode of all nine seasons (plus the movie), and not once did I skip the utterly iconic opening sequence. They changed the look in the final season, which never looked right, but Mark Snow's endlessly memorable theme still sends shivers up spines to this day.