I always thought the theme and opening montage for Caprica was astounding. It gave me shivers the first time I saw it and I had to rewind and watch it again. Too bad the series as a whole didn't match that quality.
Great opening credits: Dexter, The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, Carnivale, Caprica, DS9, VOY Bad opening credits: Boardwalk Empire, wtf is up with the music? And of course ENT Meh: Boss, Homeland
Any time the question is asked, I direct people to this: [yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_819911&feature=iv&src_vid=T6zDfxZ4NcE&v=R-tMbLYGbvY[/yt]
Agreed. It nearly made my top 10 list. I love the music (it's Bear McCreary, after all) and I like the way they transitioned through the different families/groupings of the characters. Really nicely done.
I think Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, and Dexter are my current favourites. BSG was great and Voyager was pretty impressive when it debuted.
There are a lot of great ones out there but I'd have to give it to either The Sopranos or Game of Thrones.
My all time favorite is The Bob Newhart Show's 'Comming Home to Emily'. It has a cool 70s Jazz vibe, and according to Bob Newhart, the trip that he took from his office to home in would have taken him a couple of hours, and took him well over 100 blocks out of his way. I also love those Mike Post and Pete Carpenter themes. I'm not sure if there's an album out with all their stuff on it, but that would certainly be worth getting.
Those of us who live in Jersey wondered where the hell Tony was going in those opening titles. Out of the Lincoln Tunnel, then South on the Turnpike past Newark to Carteret, then up thru Kearny, and northeast to his house in Caldwell... Yo, what da fock? That's, like, 2 or 3 hours of driving around. http://www.sopranosuessightings.com/openingcredits.htm
Hill Street Blues is my favorite: The station door rolls up and the squad cars emerge with lights and sirens, sliding a little in the rain as they speed into the grim city streets. The sound of police radio calls gives way to the slow, almost halting introductory piano notes of the wonderful, evocative Mike Post theme. My favorite on a current show is Archer, retro-stylish and sexy with a slightly bizarre edge. Mike Post made a record years back with HSB, The White Shadow, Greatest American Hero, Magnum P.I. and The Rockford Files. Not the original recordings but damn good, with the brilliant guitarist Larry Carlton. It's available in MP3. They replaced the harmonica on "Rockford" with synthesizer, though, which I'm not crazy about. Justin
The Addams Family, Dukes of Hazard, Gilligans Island, Classic songs with lyrics and visuals that give you the whole show setup in less than a minute.
The original Tomorrow People, this was my favorite show as a kid. We didn't get many British television imports, besides Benny Hill or the occasional Dr. Who. I couldn't wait for the Thames opening to come on and then the title sequence. Their titles had a very X-Files/Fringe feel to it, 30 years ago. [yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xez4o1ujOPI[/yt]
As a big fan of Space:1999 as a kid, the theme for both seasons has always stuck in my head. That also included the ITC spinning logo with it's music too, it was quite jarring to me to learn as I got older that it wasn't actually part of the opening theme, just the ITC logo theme.