I'm quite partial to this

He's missed a bit under his bottom lip.

Season 2. Especially the bit where Michael Weatherley is jumping between the trees. Probably my favourite US programme on TV.

It has David McCallum for chrissakes!

Because if we're allowed films, I'd be tempted by Bonnie And Clyde, anything involving Saul Bass or some Peckinpah stuff - especially the 1991 cut of Pat Garrett and Billy The Kid. But I can't find that on YouTube, so here's this instead:

Enjoy your lie-in this morning, David?

EDIT: I see now that it's TV only. Sorry. I'm still thinking.

Like one of the old Lloyds bank adverts gone to seed. A horse sans rider seen galloping through backwoods Dakota, cut with furtive glimpses of the multiple currencies that fuel the growth of Deadwood – blood, gold, gambling, women and whiskey. Everything projects a grubby, finger-marked veneer and the air of having already been passed through many hands.

it's either this

or this

The master of the opening credits sequence especially 'The Getaway' and 'Junior Bonner'.
They are like short films in themselves.

For a start you're going to see it scores of times, for another it has to do what it can to bring new viewers up to speed. It has to tell the beginning of a story, which is a discipline in itself.

Must have taken up half of the programme. Did they show that every time?

The Sopranos of course.

This is from one of the later seasons when the Twin Towers were removed. As I recall they appeared in the wing mirror as Tony went through the toll gate.

this is just really exciting:

but the best has got to be The Simpsons hasn't it?

a few of my favourite blackboard quotes from Bart:

I will not get very far with this attitude

I WILL NOT CUT CORNERS
" " " " " "
" " " " " "

I will finish what I sta

Early and late versions of the Soap intro.

http://www.wordmagazine.co.uk/content/true-blood-something-new-to-look-f...
and to my favourite current title piece and actually one of my favourite programmes at the moment. It manages to tell you everything and nothing about what you are to watch. Tremendous. Hasn't started over here yet but watch out for it.

That and the best comedy coming in from The States at the moment,
Californication, and although it might not seem possible to actually makes David Duchovny a likeable and sympathetic character, Californication actually pulls this off and believe it or not he is excellent. It's very funny and does for sex what Weeds does for a slightly illegal smoke. Hilarious. I'm in the middle of series 2 at the moment, which is not actually out this side of The Atlantic yet, and it actually tops series 1.

The lyrics are a model of economy and tell you all you need to know. (The visuals do the rest).

SIX FEET UNDER, of course.

Death, Re-Birth and the way the turn of the trolley wheel cranks up the (excellent) theme music a notch. Of course, the fact that it was a great series helps too:

that's a great sequence - and no theme tune to boot.

Surely the best theme music of all time:

how about

OR these

surely you set yourself up for a fall if you choose this as the theme music. Not a bad a show but never really lived up to the promise of it's opening.

Millennium - genuinely creepy, particularly the girl who slumps in the first few seconds.

Tour of Duty - couldn't find a good YouTube clip of it, but it featured Paint It Black married to great action shots.

And, moving away from TV, what about the credits to Seven? A great mood-setter with a nice remix of NIN's Closer. It's been ripped off endlessly.

And the suspiciously similar:

...It's Saturday afternoon. Nearly tea time. Bloody Grandstand's finally finished, you've had a good couple of Tom and Jerry cartoons and now you've turned over to the delights of Bo and Luke Duke. And Daisy. Are my spaghetti hoops nearly ready, Granny?

And...two, three, you're back in the room.

God, I used to love this:

Hated the show, great opening titles....

No Sue Ellen in those credits! Was she not in it at the beginning?

... grab a snack, then:

an hour of weird shit n strange stirrings whenever comely Lumley was onscreen, both that I found disturbing and unintelligable.

'Transuranic, heavy elements' - what the bluddy 'ell.....

Obviously a nod to your ITC persuadersprotectorsprisoners classic 60/70s run but this tells the story almost in a one line pitch and then rather traditionally for credits; splits the screen.

Interestingly the American version fleshes out the story a bit more and dispenses with the credits (which get lost in most US drama about now cos they have a lot of pre first ad first scene stuff ).

And how come now Wire yet !

Not the best title sequence in the world, but a great show nevertheless:

BBC show Gangsters - Birmingham in all its grubby 70's glory.

And the second series has vocals from Chris Farlowe.

This always did it for me as a kid. And it does explain the show.

Don't forget that "In 1972 a crack commando unit was sent to prison by a military court for a crime they didn't commit. These men promptly escaped from a maximum security stockade to the Los Angeles underground. Today, still wanted by the government, they survive as soldiers of fortune. If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire the A-Team."

If I can find a decent enough clip, I'll post it. But you can't hear those words and not get a frisson of youthfulness again.

And Captain Scarlet was pretty creepy with those eyes moving slowly over everything - simple but effective

I loved this programme so much. The tune is way funky...

This was a great show that never caught on. Hank Azaria (many voices in the Simpsons) played an LA psychotherapist. At least some of it was shot in Vancouver. Stunning titles. Mindblowing on an HD TV.

....CALLAN......
dung dung dung dungdungdungdungdung..
The exploding lightbulb.....

One from the depths of the 70's....

Both of these are very good (and very different from each other)

http://www.artofthetitle.com/

This trumps everything; there is an entire Bond movie in the first 30 seconds alone, and where else would you get to see Noel Gallagher's dad doing a Daniel Craig act on top of a cablecar?

It has to be 'The Professionals'...

In the first few seconds, you've got a car through a plate glass window, a guy with a perm running about, and Gordon Jackson. That's all you need to know.

This is from 1982, but the titles appear unchanged from 1972. A familiar face appears at the end of the clip, visibly shaken by Annie Nightingale's outfit.

good thread this!

an evocative one

also

not the intro but a clasic nontheless. they got away btw.