Time to light the lights, get yourself a gun, and go where everybody knows your name: Musically, the most important part of any series is the TV theme song, so this week, Consequence will explore just why that is with TV Theme Song Week, celebrating this proud tradition with features, interviews, and lists. We’ve also launched our “I Never Skip Intro” merch collection, to honor those who know how to appreciate a classic theme; get yours at the Consequence Shop now.
To talk about TV theme songs without bringing up the delicate art of the opening credits sequence would be like reviewing a movie but only talking about the soundtrack. Okay, that’s an extreme comparison, but there’s no denying that while a TV theme song has an impact beyond its use in an actual episode of television, we more often than not connect them with the images that flash by, in the prelude to the action.
So below, Consequence has picked the ten best opening credits sequences to date. This isn’t just an opportunity to celebrate a few shows that we weren’t able to include in the top 50 TV theme songs of all time — though that is a bonus. It’s more importantly another opportunity to explore just why these sequences have such an impact on us as viewers, and why you should never skip intro.
— Liz Shannon Miller
Senior Entertainment Editor
10. Severance (2022-present)
Apple TV+ series have a universal loyalty to the concept of the opening credits sequence, with every episode featuring a lengthy one. Many of these have proven to be pretty intriguing, but the best of them to date is the 2022 Emmy winner for Outstanding Main Title Design. The Severance credits offer up a trippy rendering of its central question — is work/life balance really possible? — while also playing up the lingering loneliness and isolation of the series. Thanks to the digitally rendered likenesses of its characters, the whole sequence draws the viewer into this surreal world, one split in two until both sides come crashing back together. — L.S. Miller
09. The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (1990-1996)
Everything about The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air title credits sequence is quintessential ’90s: the graffiti graphics, the fisheye lens, the neon-colored styling. (Hey kids, this is what was hip and cool 30 years ago, and don’t act like you aren’t completely obsessed with the “vintage” look right now!) In context, it’s essentially a music video for the theme song, with its literal depiction of the equally literal lyrics as Will Smith raps directly to camera about the playground brawl that led to his move to Los Angeles. With the track as earworming as it is and the visuals so perfectly matched, there are particular movements that are instantly recognizable as belonging to this credit scene, like the hand-out-jump-start as Smith leaves the cab, or his head swivel when he knocks on his new home’s door. Bet someone who grew up in the ’90s that they can’t recite the entire theme song and recreate it shot for shot, and you’ll likely lose that bet. — Ben Kaye
08. The Brady Bunch (1969-1974)
The Brady Bunch played a modest part in the sexual revolution by suggesting that two consenting adults might have had sex before their current marriage. The opening credit sequence made that at-the-time daring premise seem safe with a jaunty theme song from Brady creator Sherwood Schwartz and composer Frank De Vol, which said “here’s the story” of a wholesome blended family with lots of smiles. It works because of the visual presentation — simple, iconic, and often parodied — which presents the matriarch and patriarch on one side of the screen opposite a neat stack of children. To parents, it promises a fantasy, not sexual but still extremely wild: that the chaos of six children can occasionally be corralled into something not only loving, but tidy. — Wren Graves
