It’s hard to think of anything more exciting than binge-watching your favorite TV shows. Every episode can be an escape, with cliffhangers that keep you returning for more. But an amazing intro sequence makes a great show even better! From the familiar ringtones of “Friends” to the timeless opening line of “The Simpsons,” iconic intros have been around since the dawn of popular television. In this post, we’re taking a look at some of our favorite title sequences in modern television, asking which ones stand out as the most unskippable intros in TV show history. So grab some snacks, dim the lights, and get ready for a trip down memory lane with the TV shows that Redditors shared online.
1. DuckTales
One user posted, “Duck Tales, it’s so catchy.”
Another replied, “WOO HOO!”
One commenter responded, “‘Life is like a hurricane here in Duck – burg.'”
“‘Race cars, lasers, aeroplanes, it’s a—duck blur!'” another replied.
One user stated, “’Might solve a mystery, or rewrite history… DuckTales!'”
Another added, “Been binging this (new seasons) the last few days and texted a buddy saying the Skip Intro button shouldn’t be there. She confirmed her son watches every time as well. He is ten. I will be forty in a month, and I watched the original when it was airing. Still makes me dance every time.”
One Redditor replied, “The change in art style for the new version was jarring for me. I did like that they made the triplets have different personalities than a combined one.”
2. Futurama
One user shared, “Futurama. You always need to see the new tagline.”
Another replied, “Yes, that was the first thing on my mind. I love how both Simpsons and Futurama keep their intros interesting episode after episode.”
One commenter added, “It made me very sad to hear that they sometimes shorten the episodes in syndication to make room for more commercials. This is often done by cutting short couch jokes in over the episodes with longer jokes. When they were in their golden years, my buddy and I made a trivia game where, from the couch gag, you had to name the plot, sub-plot, and at least one gag. We were good at it! You can’t play that anymore.”
Another Redditor replied, “Hulu has Futurama, so that’s how I watch it. It’s my late night before bed show.”
3. Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
One online user posted, “Space… the final frontier.”
One commenter replied, “‘These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise…'”
Another user added, “‘…its continuing mission, to seek out strange new worlds, new life, and new civilizations…'”
One responded, “‘To boldly go where no one has gone before.'”
“‘Duuunnn dun dun Dunn dun dun duuuuuun,'” concluded one user.
3 The Simpsons
One user commented, “The Simpsons. Gotta see the chalkboard and the couch gag.”
Another replied, “In addition, the theme song is usually pretty short after season 2. It almost feels silly to bother skipping it.”
One commented, “It’s used more to fill in time if the episodes run longer or shorter.”
4. Animaniacs
One user said, “Animaniacs!”
Another replied, “‘We’re zany to the max. There’s baloney in our slacks.'”
One commenter added, “‘We’re animanie, totally insanely, Pinky and the Brainy!'”
One user said, “I still vividly remember laughing so hard I cried the first time I saw the ‘baloney in our slacks’ version of the intro back in like 1993. formative stuff,”
Another responded, “My favorite part was toward the end when they were like, ‘Our writers quit, we have no script, why bother to rehearse!'”
5. The Muppets
One of the Redditors commented, “The Muppets.” One replied, “I was looking for this one. Thank you. Fantastic opening.” One added, “It’s time to play the music!” “It’s time to light the lights!” one user replied. Another user commented, “It’s time to light the lights!”
A user also commented, “It’s time to meet The Muppets.” One added, “On the Muppet Show tonight!” “It’s time to put on makeup.”, exclaimed one user. One added, “It’s time to dress up right.” One user concluded, “It’s time to raise the curtain on the Muppet Show tonight.”
6. Batman: The Animated Series
One user commented, “I nominate the opening credits to Batman: The Animated Series.”
Another replied, “This and X-Men are straight masterpieces.”
Another user added, “Terribly under-appreciated piece of music. Extremely rich and instrumentally technical. And yet, totally atmospheric. An extremely smart way to end an opening theme as well.”
One Redditor commented, “Interesting thing about this intro (as mentioned by the creators in the DVD commentary) nowhere does the word Batman or the name of the show appear in the text, but obviously, it’s so iconic and universal, you know exactly what it is from the first musical note, and the bat symbol, and the caped crusader himself.”
Another user added, “That brings back some ‘after school’ memories.”
7. X-Files
One user posted, “X-Files.”
Another user replied, “Had to scroll so far to find this, loved the 5-minute or so preface of the story and then into the intro theme, just great.”
One user commented, “I was legitimately TERRIFIED of this intro as a kid. I’d have to run out of the room if my parents watched the beginning.”
Another user added, “Me too, to whatever floor of the house it wasn’t being played on.”
“Me three! I always knew it was time for bed when that theremin fired up,” a user replied.
One user posted, “The Hungarian dubbed version is even better. While it’s always customary to tell the title and the actors’ and their Hungarian voice actors’ names in dubbed shows by a narrator, it even reads the sign “paranormal activitIES” (in plural), mispronounces both Duchovny and Anderson and tells ‘the truth is over there’ (thus distorting the original meaning)—everything in a very monotone voice. I watch almost every show in its original language, but it’s a must to watch X-files in Hungarian because of this and the fact that the voice actors actually are really good.”
8. The Addams Family
One Redditor shared, “The Addams Family with Lurch at the harpsichord and the cast snapping their fingers in time to the music with memorable lyrics.”
One user replied, “During warmups when we were working at SCarowinds (haunt at Carowinds), we had to hum the song and snap our fingers. This is in full costumes and makeup, etc. It definitely had its moments. We sold alcohol and necklaces. People started showing up at 5 p.m., and we didn’t fully open until 7pm. All I can say is some people don’t need to go to haunts, period.”
9. The Golden Girls
One of the Redditors commented, “Golden Girls.”
Another replied, “‘Thank you for being a friend.'”
One user added, “I am unclear why this is not ranked higher! I love singing that song!”
Another commented, “One GG marathon binge session I recently did, I thought after three seasons of not skipping the title sequence I was going to skip it, but then it felt wrong, and I went back to the beginning and sang my heart out. And that was the one time I tried to skip it.”
One added, “Someone told me it was a cover of a real song. So I looked for it. It was sung by a man. I could not finish the song. It just caused too much cognitive dissonance.”
10. Cowboy Bebop
“Cowboy Bebop,” one Redditor shared.
One user replied, “‘3-2-1, LET’S JAM.'”
Another user commented, “BA DA, BA DA, BA DA, BA DAAA, BAAAAA!”
One user said, “‘Alright, everyone, get all your stuff and things together.'”
Another user replied, “‘I think it’s time to blow this scene. Get everybody and the stuff together.'”
One commenter added, “That’s my ringtone.”
Another commented, “The intro to this show may be one of the best openings ever.”
11. Peacemaker
One user shared, “Peacemaker!!! I CANNOT bring myself to skip that song and dance!!”
One replied, “We had a band at our wedding and paid extra for them to learn this song. When it came on, half the crowd was losing their minds, and the other half thought the rest of us had legitimately lost our minds.”
One user asked, “Did people do the dance?”
One replied, “That is EPIC!!! I would have been losing my mind and cheering!!”
12. Scooby-Doo
One user said, “Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? That intro [hecking] slaps.”
Another responded, “Also, What’s New Scooby Doo?”
One Redditor added, “They finally released the song on streaming.”
“Saw Simple Plan played this song when they opened for The Offspring. It was pretty [great] aha I didn’t realize they are the original artists for it too!” one commenter shared.
Another added, “That tour line-up is happening again!”
Source: Reddit.
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