TV Poll: Your Favorite Credits Sequence

Also, the short-lived NBC sitcom "Grand" -- which was pretty weak as a show -- had a great credit sequence with the cast members singing a faux-sincere anthem around a grand piano. Would that the show had matched that tone.

I have the absolute best. Mystery Science Theater 3000!!!

The original Grey's Anatomy opening credits! The smooth transition from scrubs to an evening dress along with Cosy in the Rocket - absolutely perfect. I wish they had kept them.

I think the most recent incarnation of The Wire's opening credits, plastered with school kids, belongs in this conversation.

Many that have been mentioned - with Six Feet Under, Alias, Taxi, Cheers, Simpsons, and X-Files among my all-time faves.

One that hasn't been mentioned: It's Garry Shandling's Show. If you've never seen it (and it's a crime that it's never reached DVD), here are the lyrics, sung to a peppy melody that reeks of sitcom-dom:

This is the theme to Garry's Show,
The theme to Garry's show.
Garry called me up and asked if I would right his theme song.
I'm almost halfway finished,
How do you like it so far,
How do you like the theme to Garry's Show.

This is the theme to Garry's Show,
The opening theme to Garry's show.
This is the music that you hear as you watch the credits.
We're almost to the part of where I start to whistle.
Then we'll watch "It's Garry Shandling's Show".
(whistles)
This was the theme to Garry Shandling's show.

(Or watch an opening monologue & credits sequence on YouTube)

Also really liked the opening credits for HBO's ROME !

Another vote for SFU.

Also enjoyed the first version of The Wire.

30 Rock is pretty good, too

1. Six Feet Under (no contest)
2. House
3. Dexter (along with House, developed by the same studio, Digital Kitchen I believe they're called)
4. Da Ali G Show - I can't believe this hasn't been mentioned yet. A nude Sacha Baron Cohen being dressed like he's in some crazy futuristic spy movie, but instead of a tux it's the signature yellow track suit. I particularly love the chainsaw noise as he adjusts his crotch.
5. Freaks and Geeks - good call! I'd forgotten about this but the credits are wonderful.
6. Lost - say what you will, but I love the blurriness, how it becomes sharp for only a minute then goes back to blur. Just like the show. Just when you think you have a clear picture, you're Lost again (he he). Also, I like how sometimes the main actors names appear on screen alongside them, almost like extending the credit sequence into the episode
7. Deadwood - I always saw the horse representing Bullock coming into town to shake everything up
8. Psych - It's a fun, silly intro that fits the show perfectly
9. How I Met Your Mother - with an original theme song by the creators, this photo montage captures the show's soul perfectly, even if the new san-serif font is horrendous compared to the original use of Century, but I digress
10. John from Cincinnati - I'm not sure why, but these credits really do it for me. James, you were right.

I love the Law and Order opening if only for the sheer refusal to bow to time and changing traditions. I think they've had the same picture of S. Epatha Merkson and Sam Waterston for 10 years! ER too. It's the same formula and it's soothing and familiar like an old security blanket.

My favorite part is when they're walking down the hall and smiling like, "Hey, we're having a great time doling out justice and working for the man!"

The Office. I have the song on my iPod. The piano is amazing and the rough camera shots through scranton.....

Another vote for any season of the Wire, although especially season 2 with the Neville Brothers version of Way Down in the Hole. John's credits are pretty good, far better than the show itself sadly.

Betraying my age, here are some other memorable credit sequences:

Hawaii 5-0 - great song by The Ventures, captured the heartbeat of Hawaii

Gilligan's Island - didn't everyone of a certain age learn those lyrics?

Star Trek: Voyager - some fantastic shots of the ship going through planetary rings, at one point backlit - breathtaking.

Star Trek:Enterprise - the montage of exploration images is fantastic. They left out the two US Navy aircraft carriers of that name though,I wonder why? Nice little song though, especially the later version.

Kurt

Another vote for SFU... superb. I also like Big Love (although it's really the tune that seals the deal there), Farscape, Voyager, The Mary Tyler Moore and Bob Newhart Shows and The West Wing. One that hasn't been mentioned: The Dresden Files has an effective, cool credit sequence.

...and although it's not really a credit sequence so much as a title sequence, The Jetsons has always been a fave.

If I can be fogiven for tossng out some anime, I've always loved the opening sequence for Cowboy BeBop. The noir/newsprint graphics, the bold colors and that music.

Three, two, one.. let's jam!

Already mentioned, but my favorites:
Six Feet Under, West Wing, 30 Rock, The Sopranos, Hill Street Blues, MST 3000, The Simpsons, Cheers, The Wonder Years, It's Garry Shandling's Show, and Grand (I can't believe someone else loved these credits! I was too young to understand the show, but I LOVE the music)

Here are a few that no one's mentioned yet:
Get Smart:
The contrast between the urgent, important theme and the silliness of the show was perfect. I also love the way the doors close in around the credits text, and the way the music is timed so perfectly to the door closings (and phone booth sinking)

St. Elsewhere:
Similar in style to its contemporary, Hill Street Blues. I always found it to be the superior show, because we got to know the characters much better, and they all felt like real people. Much better theme music, too--HSB's got repetitive and monotonous pretty quickly. Plus, it clearly made the hospital itself one of the stars of the show. And who can forget William Daniels' Mark Craig striding purposefully down that hallway??

Loved just for the music:
Chicago Hope (FIRST SEASON): It was elegant, urgent, and moving. Replaced by Muzak in successive seasons, the theme was occasionally brought back, in a slow, elegaic speed, during major emotional sequences of the show.

Monk (FIRST SEASON): Perfectly captured the quirkiness of the character. Replaced in successive seasons by Randy Newman's umpteenth version of the only song he knows how to write.

Objections:
Enterprise. As good as the images are, that music is totally, utterly, wrong.
Lost. Great show, perfect way to open it, but way too short and lacking in audio or images to call it a credits sequence.

Agreed Lost's opening isn't really a credits sequence which is why its my favorite. In a time where they cram more and more commercials into an episode of tv the more actual content we can get the better. Personally i could do with opening credits all togther. that being said i think simpsons, esp old simpsons wins as each one had at least 2 new jokes in it.

I always thought that the "Incredible Hulk" TV series, as dated as it is, had quite the iconic opening credits sequence, particularly when they updated the music slightly in the second season.

Some of my favorites:

"Hawaii Five-O": with the big wave off the top from which the title appeared, the fast and shaky zoom-in to the penthouse of the Ilikai Hotel where Steve McGarrett (Jack Lord) stood, and the flashing police siren at the end when creator Leonard Freeman is shown (among other things).

"Hart to Hart": with the airplane taking off, Max introducing Jonathan and Jennifer and then himself, and the cars of the Harts going side-by-side and then coming forward with the red heart that would bring forth the title.

"Dynasty": with the "Y" type figures off the top (which, I believe, were made to represent gushing oil), the helicopter shot of Filoli with the white (later yellow) lines reaching up to the top and bringing down the "Dynasty" title, and the upwardly ascending shot of the First Bank of Denver that would bring forth John Forsythe, among other things.

"Hill Street Blues": "Dispatch, we have a 9-11, armed robbery in progress. Sea Surplus Store, corner of Peoples Drive and 124th St." (or was it "See" Surplus Store?)

My other favorites:
"St. Elsewhere"
"Hardcastle and McCormick"
"Moonlighting"
"MacGyver"
"Taxi"

I'd put in a nomination for "Malcolm in the Middle," with its great montage of images both from within the show and without, set to the TMBG theme song ("You're not the boss of me now..."). Perfect if you grew up in a family with brothers!

"Life is unfaaaairr...."