Week of December 4: How Do You Do: Television Show Introductions

By Sylvia Gurinsky

While viewing clips of Larry Hagman in preparation for last week's tribute, I went back and looked at the introduction to the original "Dallas." Here's the opening from the third season, which would end with the shooting of J.R. Ewing:

Dallas Intro

Jerrold Immel's theme song is perfectly mixed with an action-filled look at the main cast - a good way to introduce a prime-time soap opera.

A television theme song is the first introduction most viewers get to a television show. There are shows that succeed in spite of the introductions. (I was never a fan, for instance, of "The Cosby Show" introductions from Season 2 onward, though I love the show; I enjoyed the first season intros, with Huxtable family pictures.)

The Cosby Show

Then there are shows whose introductions seem to handicap them. Here are 18 shows that never got beyond Season 1. Many of the intros didn't help:

18 Intros

How does a show do it right? Like casting and scripts, it may be the luck of the draw.

Sometimes, animation helps; "Bewitched" is one example:

Bewitched

And "The Nanny," whose animation also told the story:

The Nanny

The MTM shows were a nice study in realism in introductions, starting with Mary Tyler Moore herself and Bob Newhart. Alas, those introductions are not available. But there is "Lou Grant." I think this intro made me want to work at a newspaper:

Lou Grant

Realism was a hallmark of the intros of many of the TV shows of the 1970s and 1980s. So was retro - used most effectively in the introduction to "Cheers":

Cheers

The 1990s were the last gasp (or note?) for most of the truly good introductions. "The West Wing" intro is majestic, fitting with its theme of the American presidency:

The West Wing

Sadly, full-scale introductions on television have become a mostly lost art form, with the exceptions of shows such as the "NCIS" family. But even "NCIS" gets its inspiration from an earlier show: The original "Hawaii Five-0." Nothing said Hawaii like Morton Stevens' music, Jack Lord at the top of the Ilikai hotel, Zulu as Kono and Kam Fong as Chin Ho:

Five-0

We end with a great way to introduce an episode in less than a minute: The theme from "Mission: Impossible" (Season 1, with Steven Hill heading the cast):

Mission: Impossible

See you next week. Until then, Happy Viewing!