i’m a complete sucker for a good intro and have multiple times watched a show on the
strength of the opening alone.
so from my perspective: or, what’s not in an intro?
i’ve compiled some of my favorite intro’s here.
for the average reader, i’d recommend just the S and A tiers. for the opening title
fiend, you may want to peruse the rest.
the “shivers” tier
opening titles that perfectly blend music, cinematography, editing, etc. with the story
of the show. it is coexistence at its purest - the title cannot exist without the show,
but the show also cannot exist without its intro (the famous bagworm paradox). to lose
either would be an equally great tragedy.
almost all these shows have at least 1 excellent season, if not more (although that was
not a basis for selection into the tier).
if you’re not convinced to watch these shows after watching their intros, i’m not sure
what will convince you.
they tried, but somehow totally failed. these are titles where someone really tried.
they took a risk. they explored the unknown. i think these shows deserve a shoutout
because we need to celebrate risk-takers.
sometimes, they almost made it. but in the game of intros, you win or you fail.2
a note to the disappointed game of thrones opening title fan
the game of thrones theme song and i have a complicated relationship, to say the least. i
made this PSA during high school for my environmental club before i watched the show. i
then started watching, but shortly thereafter had the misfortune of subletting a room in a
house that was also sublet by a rather rude, reclusive man who lived in the basement,
worked for the defense department, and, in his spare time, was learning (painstakingly) to
play the game of thrones theme song on his ukulele for several months. rather than try to
place it in my tier system, out of fairness to the creators i have excluded it entirely.
but here’s a little icon that you can put wherever you feel it belongs:
logo goes here
drag me somewhere better
Footnotes
i was in the top 0.1% of imagine dragons listeners on spotify circa 2024/2025, at
least 25% because of enemy. i wish i could find the photographic evi ↩