tv intros need to die

[Yopaz]

But but Psych has the best intros. They do unique melodies and filters for specials. Why would you skip them?


That second one wasn't an episode from India that airs the US whenever that episode comes on.

I love Psych's intro with passion! Just the original song is enough to put me in a good mood and I had that for my ringtone for a while. The specials are great, the clips they show are great, all in all I like intros.

What I don't like though is when a show spend too much time telling us what happened in the last episode. Yeah, Dexter, I'm looking at you. Since I'm watching all of that on Netflix it doesn't matter, I just skip past both the intro and the explanation to save time.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I think it's time to blow the scene, get everybody's stuff together... OK 3 2 1 let's jam!

 

[anthony87]

If there were no Tv Intros then there would be none of this:


Probably ninja'd by now but fuggit.

 

[Psychoninja7]

I think the intro to Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes is pretty good. I really love the song that plays.

 

[Kukakkau]

Two friends and I actually had a whole conversation at 2am christmas morning about openings, we linked a lot to each other for song quality, opening quality, memorable shows etc.

I like openings because as people have said it sets the scene and lets you know what you're watching, also if you hear that opening you'll know what it is and it will bring memories of it back. Which gives you a sense of nostalgia and even makes you want to watch that show again.

Honestly if it is there for the same reasons as having a establishing shot. It helps put you into the right mind set for the show. If you went from a random ass commercial straight to the middle of a drama it would be off putting and a little confusing, intros help ease the transition.

Also can show the setting of the show too, sometimes quite literally:

 

[Avaholic03]

I understand the need for intros, but it sure would be nice if on DVD/Netflix releases, you had the option to skip them. Because no matter how iconic the intro of The Wonder Years is (that's the show that I'm currently watching on Netflix), it still gets pretty old after I've seen it for the 30th time in a week.

(try watching that on repeat, and see how quickly you get tired of it....same goes for any intro no matter how good it is)

 

[Strazdas]

a good tv intro is not bad (for example Game of Thrones show the setting in a map view, and it shows only the cities that are shown in that episode, so that means that intro changes almost every episode).
a bad one would be Starge Atlantins (i think it was) i mean how much can we look at the same carving with boring music in the background?

 

[Bvenged]

I agree, I think they should be shown in full for the first episode of the series, but then in short/minimally for the rest. I think Voyager and BoB's intros are phenomenal:



But even after watching 2 recorded episodes every weekday of Voyager, I'm eager to fast forward it. As glorious as they both are, they are mightily and excessively long, as good as they are at getting you into the mood of the show.

 

[AlexWinter]

You'll have to take the Adventure Time opening from my cold, dead fingers.

 

[chadachada123]

short intro snip

I think you'd like the intro to New Girl, then.

Original intro:

New intro, because apparently the old one was clearly too annoying:


It actually only airs the last half of the intro, starting at "Who's that girl?", if I recall correctly, though it's been a little bit since I've watched it.

OT: This is why anime intros are way better for me. They change them up frequently and always have fantastic music too, and are a perfect time to switch to another tab real fast if you want to search something. And if you don't like it, meh, whatever, you only have to deal with it for a few episodes.

 

[tehroc]

Intros used to have good themes that would get you pumped. Buck Rogers and the 25th Century's theme still gets me pumped to this day (which Hollywood if you wanna remake something, it's been 30 years since Buck Rogers has filled a screen and its been a good while since we gotten ANY type of air/space fighter movies).

 

[Varrdy]

Can't believe nobody's mentioned the Firefly intro.

Hear-hear! It's an excellent intro and I will never get tired of that great song!

The Red Dwarf intros are also darn good! Season 1 & 2 had that wonderfully enigmatic flyby with the dramatic music and from 3 onwards they rocked it up a bit and played it over a montage of teasers from the series.

 

[Daveman]

You've all missed the best one you tards. I can listen to it on loop for hours and hours on end.

Spoiler: Am I right or am I right?

Is it wrong to watch a show only because you like the title song, because that is literally what I do.

 

[Quazimofo]

Honestly if it is there for the same reasons as having a establishing shot. It helps put you into the right mind set for the show. If you went from a random ass commercial straight to the middle of a drama it would be off putting and a little confusing, intros help ease the transition.

Not to mention some people would think that the show hadn't even started, and that the show was just some odd extended commercial, which would be a problem.

So basically, I agree completely, especially for the "put you into the right mind set" part. They do that intro sequence in some movies, they do it in every single bond film (even though the song and animation changes every film, it still works); its just an effective technique to introduce the show, transitioning from whatever the viewer was doing before to what they are dong now.

 

[Trek1701a]

The increase in the use of shorter openings/credits was largely due to the networks wanting to increase the amount of commercial time. Producers could either cut about an additional 2 minutes out of a show to show the opening or reduce the opening to almost nothing or in a few spots not even have one. The running times of shows from the 80's were around 45 minutes or so, I think it is down to about 42 now. I remember that when I used to record shows in the olden times, on tape, with fast forwarding through commercials it took about 50 minutes to watch an episode, now with doing the same thing, with the DVR, it takes about 45.

The cable networks aren't as reliant on advertising dollars as the networks (especially the pay channels), so they can get away with showing the longer opening credits.

Overall, for some shows it works with a shorter intro, but for some it doesn't.

 

[Scarim Coral]

What are you complaining about? These days most intro are short compared to what it was in the past.

Heh I bet you would hate One Piece current intros as they are 2.30 minutes but in saying so they have no credits at all and a 10 second preview of the next episode!

 

[Silver Patriot]

I think everyone is forgetting the best intro to any TV show ever.

Spoiler

Best intro to a TV show ever. Has all other intros beat.

I agree. Not only was it a good intro but if you (somehow) never heard of Batman, it set up everything you needed to know right there.

 

[Nautical Honors Society]

so after watching the louie intro for the 20th time and finally deciding it is the worst intro i have ever seen i have to wonder why the fuck do tv shows still insist on forcing this crap onto us?

apart from the simpsons and maybe the few original shows that decide to change the intro after 10 seasons so i can watch it 3 times and then be bored again i would honestly prefer shows to be 2 minuets shorter

Really? I think that Louie and Game of Thrones are probably the best TV intros ever.

 

[Erttheking]

What? Am I the only one that likes the Game of Thrones intro?
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[viranimus]

If we are talking things that need to die associated with TV shows... uhm... Commercials? Marketing? Product placement? Advertising as a business model? I would gladly suffer 10 hours of 10 sec intros actually not trying to sell me garbage I wont buy, dont need, and fully resent being pushed on me than one second of something that by its existence only serves to make this world a shittier place.