My terms: the intro must include a song as well as credits list, so a show like "Lost" got disqualified immediately. The reverse is also true, so the intro must display its credits in a unique way, rather than just listing the cast. "Wonderfalls," "Psych," "Veronica Mars," and "Firefly" have excellent theme songs, but the credits are really no more than a cast list. The point of this Top 10 is to have the whole package. Here, we're talking about my favorite opening credits, not just my favorite theme songs. If it was just theme songs, rest assured, those previous four would definitely have been included.
I watched many intros from many shows I don't watch, and tried to include a wide variety. The problem is, though, that without watching a show, it's sometimes hard to grasp the opening theme's significance. However, upon further contemplation, I realized that a great opening theme tells you all you need to know and sets the mood for the show. I am only including modern opening credits, from about 2000 onward, because there are far too many classics to give due credit to. Unfortunately, that disqualifies "ER," which I hoped to include, but cannot. But there are plenty more excellent opening credit sequences from recent times that had to duke it out for a spot on my list.
10. "Desperate Housewives"
I've long since dropped the show and the show has long since dropped the opening credits sequence, but their intro was clever when it didn't really need to be for a primetime soap. Scorned housewives throughout art history along with the whimsical theme introduce a sense of humor and scandal right from the start of the show.
9. "Mad Men"
(Embedding was disabled on this one, so here's the link)
The silhouette of a man. The jazzy yet dramatic music. The dissolving office. The American Dream according to advertisements surrounding a man floating down, down, down until we pull back from the same silhouette lounging in a chair, cigarette in hand. This intro is the definition of suave, and wins bonus points for evoking classic James Bond opening credits.8. "Chuck"
Yes, call me crazy, but it wasn't until the end of season 1 of "Chuck" that I realized the theme song was actually a shortened version of a real song. I had heard a number of great Cake songs before, but had never heard Short Skirt/Long Jacket, which is used as the show's theme. The intro plays like a cartoon version of Bond movie credits, thereby perfectly setting up this spy comedy.
7. "True Blood"
I've never watched "True Blood," but I've always heard about its excellent opening credits. Down and dirty Southern sleaze has never looked so good. If I wasn't generally OD'd on vampires, I might pick this show up just because of its fabulous intro. The imagery is deliciously provocative, filled with sex, religion, and death. It's unsettling, in a good way.
6. "Justified"
It would have been the predictable thing to do a simple credit sequence with a standard country song, but "Justified" embraces a modern Southern tone right from the get-go in the show. It sets the rural scene without feeling painfully outdated or cliche, which is quite an impressive feat in my opinion. I love the down-to-earth realism of the setting, in the show as well as the intro, which can seem like something straight out of a novel while also seeming like a town you could easily drive through wandering through the South. Sometimes shows set in rural locations get a little too entrenched in the mythical tranquility of small-town life or the mysterious danger of unbridled nature, but "Justified" and its opening credits sit firmly in reality, albeit a very kickass reality.
5. "Batman Beyond"/"Justice League"
(Embedding was disabled on "Batman Beyond," but the link is here and very worth the view)
I normally wouldn't classify cartoons with regular, adult programming, but I make the exception in this case. (Hey, I counted two cartoons as one point on this list, I think that makes up for the inclusion.) While they are animated series, they are definitely not cartoons in the way that, say, "Spongebob Squarepants" is a cartoon. These two are dark series from the very beginning of the 2000s that are like what I imagine superhero stories would be if a director like Christopher Nolan made cartoons instead of movies. They were absolute staples of my late childhood and, upon revisiting them a few months ago, I have to say they hold up quite well. There's a lot of scripted programming on these days that wishes it could have opening credits as badass as these two.
4. "Southland"
"Southland"'s intro immediately steps into the authenticity it strives for, showing a series of old-school LA crime scene photos. The music is intense and serious to match the raw, visceral crime footage. It all introduces us to a show that is dark and gritty, but deep as well. "Southland" isn't just a standard procedural - it has something to say and it's not afraid to aim for the gut with every plot twist and character development. The intro tells you everything you need to know about the show in less than 30 seconds. Job well done.
3. "Six Feet Under"
The theme music and imagery evoke the surreal nature of this show. Life, death, imagination, dreams, love, time, fulfillment, loss, tradition, humanity...the opening credits quickly and neatly encompassed the big themes the show spent five seasons examining.
2. "The Wire"
Five seasons, five different versions of the opening credits. I'm not just talking about different clips - they re-recorded the same theme song with five different artists. The song is called "Way Down in the Hole" and is originally by Tom Waits, whose first version is used to open Season 2. But my heart will always belong to the first season's credits, sung by The Five Blind Boys of Alabama with raw gospel funk. Much like "Southland" and "Justified," "The Wire" above all strove for realism, and did a better job of scripting real life than 99.99% of reality shows. Watching the show, you forget you're seeing a fictional program. The same characters and dialogue could play out on a security camera on a streetcorner and not feel forced or unauthentic. Likewise, the opening credits look less like a TV show ready to start and more like a very artistic person filming random scenes of crime and justice around urban Baltimore.
1. "Dexter"
Rather than go with an on-the-nose sequence of standard serial killer imagery (bodies, blood, knives), "Dexter" finds the violence in everyday life as the titular character goes about his morning ritual. Creepy and catchy, morbid and mundane, horrifyingly familiar, you won't look at your morning routine the same way again. Right away we're greeted with the Dark Passenger in normal, rote life events. We must face the evil hiding behind the innocuous. Welcome to "Dexter," where not even breakfast is safe.
Honorable Mention: "House," "Lie to Me," "The 4400," and "The Walking Dead" (only the music is linked on the last one, the actual credits aren't posted on youtube)
I never watched the original "La Femme Nikita" or the movie so I'm not going to even try to compare the two. This modern update stands on its own so you really don't need to know the franchise's past. Maggie Q plays the titular Nikita who is forced into being an assassin by the mysterious Division and goes rogue after they kill her boyfriend. Another plotline involves young new "recruit" Alex who is being introduced to life at Division. She's more than just the audience surrogate, luckily, as lots of exposition comes from Nikita herself. The cast is pretty good so far, certainly better than you'd expect from the average CW show. I still love Maggie Q and she has the chops to back up her ass-kicking ways. Her acting is nothing brilliant, but it's not awful either. It was also nice to see Aaron Stanford, even if he is relegated to the obligatory computer nerd role as Birkhoff. I constantly need to remind myself lately that I'm one of, like, 12 people who actually saw (and loved) ABC's "Traveler" so I'll just say his best-known work is his role as Pyro in the "X-Men" movies. I'm glad he got to be a bit of a badass, although I hope his entire role on the show isn't to sit behind computers and track people. Melinda Clarke of "CSI" and "The OC" fame plays a leader in Division and seems like a good fit for the show. It took me forever to remember where I knew Xander Berkeley, who plays Division leader Percy, from - as George Mason on "24."
There's a LOT of hate for this character, even more than the hate for everyone else on this show. I think most of it stems from a general hatred out there towards Teri Hatcher for some reason. I'd like to clarify that I don't even like Susan Meyer - in fact, she irritates me quite a bit when her neurotic side takes over (which is, let's face it, often). But I also find her neurotic disposition and gossipy lifestyle to be painfully realistic sometimes. These qualities are exaggerated for comic effect, but I think there are plenty of people in the real world who are just as annoying. People get really nasty about this character because of lots of reasons that combine into one giant force of annoying. Lots of people hate Teri Hatcher. Lots of people love to hate "Desperate Housewives," since it's cool to bash it and try to make yourself look smart and superior. Lots of people hate Susan because she's silly, clumsy, and immature. Some complaints on this subject are warranted, but it shouldn't take the nasty form it often does.
I put this one low on the list because it's a rather dated reference by now. Luke is a good example of character assassination because the writers demanded it but didn't bother to make it realistic at all. After Luke and Lorelai finally got together, the writers decided they needed obstacles, so they threw in Luke's long-lost daughter April, a lispy precocious young teen who drove a wedge between the couple. As that season progressed, Luke became more and more distant as he kept Lorelai and April apart for no reason whatsoever leading Lorelai to eventually explode and run into her ex's arms. While I hated Luke during the season or two he became even more crotchety than normal, I think the hatred by a lot of fans was unfair. His change in personality was out-of-character and completely contrived. It was the kind of personality change where it takes you out of the show to the point where you can hear the writers pondering "hmmm....should we bother giving them an organic conflict that leads to a satisfying resolution and deepens their relationship? Nah, let's just make Luke act like an ass so we can have fun with Christopher again! We already know Luke and Lorelai will end up together at the end of the series, so let's not bother worrying about things like consistent characterization."
People really started to hate Mohinder. I might be a little biased in my opinion since I had a major crush on him and I stopped watching the show for a while when he finally got more storyline, but I still think he was unfairly reviled. To lots of people, he came off as preachy and ineffective. But he was one of the only people on the show with no powers, the cast of the show was huge and he wasn't given enough screen-time to flesh out his character, and the brief arc where he was pals with Sylar (when he didn't know it was Sylar) certainly didn't do him any favors. Now, I missed the storyline of him getting his own powers somehow, so maybe it was awful and he deserved the hatred for that, but a lot of the hate was spewed before that season and I just felt really bad for him.
Grace is the type of character you either like and enjoy or find grating and dislike. She's the standard neurotic, flustered female you get on a sitcom. This definitely falls under the category of "if you loathe the main character, why are you watching this show?" "Will & Grace" is a sitcom - you're pretty much ensured this kind of character. I feel like the kind of people who go around talking about how much they hate a character like Grace are the kind of people who feel like they have some sort of obligation to humanity to convince everyone that the show sucks as much as they think it does, even though every person is completely free to watch or not watch depending on how they feel on the subject.
Once again, you know what you're getting into with a sitcom - wacky characters. I'm in the camp of people who love Jack. But I can understand where some people are coming from in hating him. He's played as a stereotype and a lot of the humor on "Will & Grace" comes from stereotyping. But once again, it's a sitcom. Almost every sitcom has some sort of stereotypical character. I don't see people up in arms over "Glee" reinforcing stereotypes of drama queens and gay characters, yet I know "Will & Grace" received plenty of criticism for this. The way I see it, it was a groundbreaking sitcom still held back by a time period of considerable homophobia. And while the characters were often stereotypes, they were also endearing, funny, heartwarming, and compassionate friends. Jack may have been a stereotype, but he was not a negative character by any means.
This is just a character that lots of people don't like. But since she's the star of the show, complaints about Meredith often lead me to wonder once again, "then why are you watching the show?" Many people hate the voiceover device. I like it when used well but I don't mind it so much to the point of hatred even if it's vague and adds nothing to the show. Physically, Ellen Pompeo isn't a stunner and I do have a hard time imagining guys fighting over her. She's like primetime TV's version of Bella Swan (although that may be a bit too harsh. Okay, extremely harsh). And personality-wise, she isn't the most fun either. But I find her to be a realistic character in the way her dark and twisty-ness comes out. She complains about legitimate things most of the time - like her issues with her mother's affair, her father's abandonment, and all sorts of other family trauma. She's not the most immediately likeable character, but I think there's something human about her in that, once you get to know her, her eccentricities make sense and her dark attitude becomes justified. Also, I give "Grey's Anatomy" and Meredith major points for allowing the character to change and evolve over the years. Meredith isn't still doing the same dark and twisty routine she did in early seasons. She's married, she's matured, and dealt with many of her childhood traumas. She's got a good relationship with Lexie and her marriage to Derek is surprisingly - dare I say it? - healthy.
This one might be pretty controversial for "Chuck" fans. I was by no means a fan of Shaw, but I think this is another case of The Powers That Be influencing the narrative negatively. I could understand just not liking him - Brandon Routh is like handsome cardboard. And I could understand not liking him for coming between Sarah and Chuck. And maybe it's my own opinion, but I never felt like Shaw was that big a threat. Romantically with Sarah, he never had the same charm and magnetism that Bryce Larkin did. I knew that he was thrown in to give Chuck and Sarah another obstacle, I knew that Sarah was afraid of getting involved with Chuck and afraid of what Chuck was becoming so she might find solace in fellow spy Shaw, and I knew that Chuck and Sarah would end up together anyway. So yes, I understand he wasn't a likeable character, but I think people went way overboard with how much they despised him. I think this backlash was more from the Shipper fans, who couldn't stand to see anyone come between Chuck and Sarah. (Oh, and to note: this was my attitude before he became the finale villain and killed Chuck and Ellie's father. Then we were supposed to loathe him. I'm talking about the period before, when we were supposed to accept him as a team member. Later, I loved-to-hate him since he gave us some epic Chuck vs. Shaw action).
Poor Freema had a very tough position. She had to follow the beloved Rose Tyler played by Billie Piper. She was also saddled with a forced crush on the Doctor that was, of course, not going to end well. In retrospect, she gets an even worse rap since people adored Donna Noble as played by Brit comedian Catherine Tate. One of the biggest disadvantages Freema had was being an unknown. While unknown to us US viewers, both Billie Piper and Catherine Tate were already famous before being cast as companions and therefore already had solid fan bases. Freema didn't get this luxury and ended up with an uphill battle to win fan support. I personally think Donna is as overrated as it gets. People loved her habit of "knocking the Doctor off his high horse, calling him on his mistakes, and generally keeping him grounded." I hated her habit of being an annoying bitch most of the time. (She had her highlights though. I actually really loved her in "Partners in Crime" and "Turn Left.") Martha was smart, driven, and an asset to the Doctor. It was about time to have a companion who wasn't a doe-eyed worshipper of the Doctor, but Martha wasn't the fluttery preteen-like fangirl that many "Doctor Who" fans make her out to be. If nothing else, I think she should get major points for being gorgeous. Not to be entirely shallow, but she did have redeeming qualities on a purely physical level! (And now that I sound like a lesbian creeper....on to number one!)
The inspiration for this list. It's a little late coming since most of the hatred was released in the wake of her death as people everywhere declared "good riddance." Me, I could never understand why people hated or even just didn't like her. I loved her with Dexter and loved seeing how he became a better person when he was with her. Most, if not all, of the complaints came from Rita's purported "nagging" of Dexter. Apparently people think a wife should be perfectly fine with her husband being gone at all hours of the night or gone on secret trips, even if he's had a history of leaving you for another woman amidst a heroin addiction. What a pain in the ass, a woman wanting to know where the man she loves is! What a nagging bitch, asking you to commit to your family! I wasn't thrilled when she got killed off and hope her character gets a proper send-off on-screen, since many "Dexter" fans celebrated her off-ing. Rest in peace, Rita. 
But, onto the good news/bad news segment! 
This week's fun guest stars were Fred Willard and Swoosie Kurtz. As a big fan of "Pushing Daisies," I loved hearing Kurtz say things like "don't be a booze snob." Along with the fact that Willard was just on "Modern Family," all I could think is "in 30 years, Sarah and Chuck are going to turn into Aunt Lily and Phil Dunphy's Dad."
