They hand-tinted the images and paired them with typography inspired by a turn-of-the-century aesthetic.

Instead, they collected archival illustrations and photographs of bar life, culled from books, private collections, and historical societies. I can’t read the name Les Charles without thinking of a smug guy in a bowler hat.įontsinUse did an interesting breakdown of how this was all created some years back:įor the Emmy award-winning title sequence, Castle/Bryant/Johnsen departed from the standard sitcom formula of introducing the cast by showing them in corny poses or scenes from the series. The actors’ names juxtaposed with historical photographs is a unique touch that as far as I know has never been replicated, especially the way they found historical analogues for all the characters. It kind of just sweeps you away, doesn’t it? The root of every story is people and place, and the Cheers theme (written by Gary Portnoy and Julie Hart Angelo) is somehow hyperspecific without ever showing a real image of an actual cast member. Harpo Strangelove: harmonica, percussion, vocals The Spirit: keyboards, keyboard bass, vocals The most interesting thing about the Alabama 3 is reading the descriptions of the band members on Wikipedia: It comes from that thankfully brief, strange era where quasi-techno, hipster whisper songs were all the rage (some of the Dust Brothers songs from the Private Parts soundtrack come to mind). However, and I’m sorry if I start offending people right out the gate here, but separated from the show this is an objectively terrible song. The theme song definitely has that Pavlovian quality of setting the tone and putting you in the mood for a great show. I get it! It’s one of the best shows of all time. I tend to favor the major key, openly cheesy bangers that make you want to run through a wall.Īlmost every person who helped me brainstorm this list mentioned The Sopranos. Sometimes the show is so good that it creates a Pavlovian response to the music, even if the music itself is kind of bad.

Sometimes the music itself is so good that it gets you pumped for the show. Some of the golden ages for opening theme songs have been 70s-80s detective shows, late 80s family comedies, and a brief period in the early aughts where the punky indie bands I loved got to write theme songs for mainstream television songs for some reason (weird, but weird-cool). Which raises the obvious question: what were the best opening themes in television? It’s a fun thing to think about, because as soon as you start naming favorites, you realize just how many incredible opening themes there have been. Suddenly, you think of the show, you think of the song and that’s something that is in your head. As he told us a few years back, “ adds a lot. When Phil Rosenthal, creator of Everybody Loves Raymond and current host of Somebody Feed Phil, took his food show to Netflix, a memorable theme song was one of his first requirements. Most shows on HBO or FX have solid intros. But for every show with absent or irrelevant opening titles, there are an equal number of notably great contemporary opening title sequences - Succession, Game Of Thrones, The Americans.

It doesn’t help that you can just click “skip intro” during a Netflix binge and get straight to the money shot. There was period, thankfully brief, when it seemed like the opening credits sequence was becoming a dying art in television.

Main title sequence