Has anyone else realized that a lot of new series nowadays don't have opening intro's anymore? From the teaser to the first act most of the time is just a 5 second place card instead of the tradition 45/60 second introduction...

'Men in Trees,' 'What About Brian,' 'Six Degrees,' 'Jericho,' etc...

Personally this bugs me because I really like the intro's... but i was wondering what other people thing about this?

I'm all for it because it leaves a bit more time for the story. Of course, it's nothing like a good intro to get you in just the right mood - X-Files,The Twilight Zone,The Greatest American Hero, plus any countless 80's sitcom.

Considering most shows are forced into the 40-42 minute range compared to 45 minutes just a few years ago, I would expect writers/producers want to use every possible second they have for story.

I tend to skip over them anyway.

I like Supernaturals...especially in HD

I was just thinking last night about what a waste of time most intros are and how I wished more shows would dump them. Like other posters have said, the more commercials that get crammed into an hour the less time there is to tell the story, I'm all for cutting anything that allows for more story.

Even though I miss making up lyrics with my wife (It's time for the X-Files! (Mulder and Scully work for the FBI) - try it, it totally works) I don't miss the openings. Let's just get to the show.

We used to dance during the Alias opening - now we've transitioned to dancing during the one for Bones.

People who saw the previous week's show might change the station to be entertained for that minute. Hey, they got rid of opening credits for that reason...

I thought they got rid of the cast intro's because of the revolving door of actors on shows nowadays, and it was a pain to edit out the old cast members and edit in the new ones.

Personally, I'd rather have 45-60 seconds of story, rather than 45-60 seconds of freeze-frames of the cast members mugging at the camera.

Best opening ever: Hawaii Five-O

The A-Team



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I've noticed the same thing this season.

Funny thing is, one of my favorite openings is also a super-short one, and that's The Shield. While the opening in and of itself isn't anything special, the way they use it to cap off the events of the opening scene always rocks.

Agreed - it's a kick-ass lick they always use to punch a good scene.

Everyone has pretty much already said what I was thinking. It wasn't too many years ago when shows would clock in, after commercials, at about 44 minutes. Before, it was even longer. Now we only get about 40 minutes of actual show. Why not dispense with the opening credits to get back some of that lost time? And speaking of which, I think the short opening for Lost perfectly captures the mood of the piece, maybe better than any opening sequence could ever do so. I've noticed the increase in shows doing that as well. It seems to be more of a trend after Lost, and I think more series should take advantage of it.

I watched one of the old 70s 'Battlestar Galactica' s recently. (an unnatural act which I usually avoid)

I had totally forgotten that shows used to show clips of THAT night's episode (i.e. not a "previously on" tag but a "tonight on" tag instead.) before the episode itself.

Wiggy.

While I do enjoy a good intro, I don't have a problem with shows skipping them in favor of more story. Of course, I would miss my favorite ones if they were gone, so I guess I want it both ways. Ones I like - good, but keep 'em short. Ones I don't care about, lose.

The new Battlestar does this with scenese from the new episode in it's Intro, very annoying.

Some intros get me into the mood of the show. The Office is one of these... the beginning is like a little appetizer and as soon as that theme kicks in I get happy.

Other intros are completely useless. The worst is American Idol... a generic dorky CGI thing that exists just to prop up the show's creators. At least the other reality shows put the contestants in there each year. Second worst is Apprentice, just because I hate that Ojays song.

Agreed, but I just fast-forward through the opening and those scenes anyway. I've gotten used to it.

The style of intros I really miss were those ones that summed up the entire premise of the show, a la Charlie's Angels, or Brady Bunch. Can you imagine if they still did those, for shows like Lost?

I used to always watch the intros for Buffy and Boston Public because I liked those songs. I also loved the opening for Deep Space 9, it would get me so excited for the show. Some other old favorites were Twin Peaks, Dynasty, and LA Law.

When you watch shows on dvd, the last thing you want is an extended intro !

Assuming the DVDs are properly authored, "Chapter 2" is usually immediately following the end of the opening credits. Therefore, a hit of the chapter skip button tends to take care of it nicely.

Quantum Leap was one of the better ones as well.

Sadly, this is not always the case. Can't think of any offhand, but I know I've got several TV box-sets that don't do this well.

The first season or two of Oz, if I'm not mistaken.