What TV series has the best intro song or sequence? What TV series have the worst intro song or sequence?

Take my love, take my land

Take me where I cannot stand

I don't care cause I'm still free

You can't take the sky from me

I don't think I've ever skipped it in my life.
For those curious it's from firefly
https://youtu.be/osPsUFrvrSQ
Our local Browncoats chapter rents out a theater once a year to watch Serenity, and everyone singing along with the song is so glorious
This was going to be my answer. I’m so glad it’s the top comment.

Absolutely top-tier opening theme, certainly in contention for best. Definitely all-time best soundtrack, taken as a whole, no contest.
I was afraid I was gonna have to say Tank!, but ya beat me to it, ya beautiful bastard.
Worst is MASH, imho. The intro music is on par with a dose of phenobarbital.
- Suicide is Painless
  It brings on many changes
  And I can take or leave it,
  If I please!

The Cheers theme song encapsulates a whole region of my childhood brain. I still get chills of nostalgia whenever I hear it.

Also, the theme to Trailer Park Boys builds a particular ball of sadness and nostalgia in my stomach.

I've never seen (or at least paid any attention to) a single second of Cheers.
But then, I was young when Dad watched it. At the time, if it wasn't a cartoon, I was completely uninterested by what passed as entertainment for adults.
But I definitely remember hearing the song and seeing the visuals of the old newspapers in that intro.
- Yeah the visuals of seeing those turn of the 19th century bar-goers was what got me most. I was just old enough to want to be interested in what the grown ups were into. I think I thought Ted Danson was a "cool guy" and I had a crush on Kirstie Alley. Other than being given studio audience ques, I'm not sure I followed any of the plot. In the same vein, I watched Moonlighting because I thought it would make me clever. Looking back I was probably the kind of kid that I would have found annoying.

Knight Rider was a theme I always loved

hands down and without a doubt; m.a.s.k.

runner up? ds9 specifically season 1 - especially the premiere pre wormhole reveal.

third runner up? adventures of little koala - especially the japanese version

fourth runner up is david the gnome

worst? TURBO TEEN

take my love, take my land -- Firefly

Seconding Firefly

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt' theme was groundbreaking comedy on TV for the time because it took an internet trend and did the thing

Gilligan's Island is cultural bedrock

So was Friends

Greatest American Hero, a song about a guy forced to have super powers that just wants to be boring. Best part of the show was the song.

The Muppet Show

Fresh Prince

Believe it or not, I'm walking on air -- I never thought I could feel so free
Flying away on a wing and a prayer -- Who could it be?
Believe it or not, it's just me
On the most sensational inspirational, celebrational, Muppetational This is what we call the Muppet Show!

Best: The Expanse Worst: Star Trek Enterprise

X-Men, Batman and Gargoyles all have fantastic openings.

I always loved the fact the Game of Thrones opening showed the specific places we would visit in each episode.

Babylon 5 has a different intro each season, and the season three opening in particular hits really hard the first time you get to it.

Brisco County Jr had a theme that was so inspiring, NBC bought the rights to use it for the Olympics.

The X-Files is iconic

🎶 It's been a long road.... 🎵

If we're going with Star Trek, I have to say TNG season 3 is the one that gets me the most. That little flute soothes my soul. Although I do also have soft spot for the incredibly chill DS9 opening.
- Every trek theme is great. My favorite is Voyager's.
You have to say whether it's for worst or best
- It's too controversial to state either way.
Definitely the worst intro song.
- Only surpassed as the worst theme song by the season 2 theme song which was then surpassed by the season 3 theme song. I couldn't believe I'd actually miss that original version.
🎵 Gettin' from here to there 🎶

Ducktales is the best. I scrolled for a while and some how didn't see it posted

141 comments and no one's said Futurama? That song slaps.

Babylon 5. I challenge anyone to listen to that intro and not get curious. Also, I think it was the first series to change the intro from season to season.

King of the Hill is a close second.

I don't know about best, but I will always watch the intro for the first season of Peacemaker. It is so absolutely ridiculous. The second season opening is good, too, but not quite as classic.

The second season doesn't have the same "new experience" feel, but I love it.
Peacemaker season 1 is my favorite intro of all time. Everyone should watch the first ten minutes of the first episode leading into the intro.

When HBO wasn’t run by absolute imbeciles, I honestly believe they greenlit shows based on their intro sequence.

The Sopranos, The Wire, True Blood, True Detective, Game of Thrones, Westworld, Succession, White Lotus. All top tier

Are ya ready kids?!

aye-aye, Captain!

I don't think I've ever skipped the Expanse intro. The singing always draws me in!

Do you really wanna do you really wanna taste it?

This is an absolute banger, but the most shocking thing to me is that not only is it an actual song by an actual band - it is from 2010 and not the ‘80s!
It just hits that era’s vibe so well that I initially thought that James Gunn pulled out some obscure track he listened to while growing up..
- Oh shit I had no idea! It's like Steel Panther in that it nails the vibe
Season 2 is dope as well. It's the deadpan faces that does it for me

House

As long as it’s the original Teardrop track by Massive Attack, and not whatever bastardisation it frequently gets replaced by (Angry Australian noises).
- Agreed that Teardrop was god tier. Unfortunately though, I read that Massive Attack was never asked permission nor received any royalties for its use.
- I didn't know that anyone was replacing the original massive attack intro. What a very silly thing to do.
Lol I'm rewatching House right now. The intro is alright I guess.
- If you're watching it on a modern streaming platform, you're getting the wrong soundtrack. The original is the incredible Teardrop by Massive Attack

FRIENDLY FACES EVERYWHERE

HUMBLE FOLKS WITHOUT TEMPTATION

Buck Roger’s & the original Battlestar Galactica had great orchestral theme songs. I have both as ringtones!

I still enjoy watching them.

Twin Peaks must be the best one for me. I never got to see it when it was new (too young), but happened to hear the intro music and opening shots before my parents switched the channel. That minute stayed with me till I was in my late teens and bought the show on DVD.

The worst? Maybe Sex and the City, but that's also because I find the main characters self-centred and morally repulsive, which the intro communicates quite efficiently.

Best: Psych, The Adventures of Pete and Pete

Best... The Peacemaker! It comes with a dance.

So many comments for best, I feel like we need some more tip-ins for worst (mainly because you all stole my best choices, dang it).

One of the absolute worst has to be the weird John Tesh style piano-only intro to ALF. I have no idea how this show stayed on the air as long as it did, though I was absolutely part of the problem by watching it all the time.

Honorary mention to pretty much every ABC family sitcom sitcom from the late 80’s/early 90’s having the same awful formulaic intro with a saxophone and every character facing the camera with their hands on their hips.

Best: Avatar the Last Airbender (anime). They got across all the world building you’d need to come in at any point without overstaying their welcome or being cheesy.

Worst: Star Trek Enterprise. Obviously.

Perfect and succinct work by Mae Whitman. And the music is AMAZING.
- It is a great song. It’s an awful choice for this context, though.

Haven’t seen anyone mention True Detective: S1 yet. Far From Any Road by The Handsome Family

Dexter also had a pretty cool opening sequence. Makes me hungry every time lol

There's a LOT of great ones, Firefly, Fresh Prince, Scrubs, GOT, Simpsons etc.

One that I cannot stand for some reason is Dexter. I don't know if it's that I saw it too much but god, I hate it with a passion.

The only good part is him walking away at the end.

I love the theme song used for MAS*H.

If you watch the 1970 MASH movie that the TV show is based on, they play the full song with vocals. It's actually a really dark song called "Suicide is Painless" and the lyrics are depressing and sad.
That song is both the best and the worst. Best because of the style goes well with the theme. The worst when you know the lyrics of the song that weren't played.
I knew it was bed time when that song started playing.

When they made Star Trek Enterprise, they kept the tradition of using award winning epic sci-fi orchestral music, then they played it over the closing credits. The intro music was that croaking, bland, boring pop song about faith of the heart or something. What a forgettable show.

Best intro? Too Many Cooks. No questions.

Not sure about worst, though. Some are just… uninteresting, I guess

Related: The Lost Art of TV Theme Songs

I can't not support Too Many Cooks
- 🎵 It takes a lot to make a stew 🎵

Darkwing Duck and Wonderfalls always get stuck in my head.

darkwing duck was good but everyone sleeps on bonkers
daring duck of mystery.

For the song alone, the nostalgic side of me cannot not say The Golden Girls doesn't have the absolute best theme song. It's definitely a tie between that and Swat Kats, which would be my pick for best intro sequence, period.

Do musicals count?

Damn, beaten by 6 hours

https://lemmy.ca/comment/18693780

Nanananananana Nananananananana BatMAN!!!!!!!!

Best: The Sopranos

Worst: The Sopranos

Since the obvious choice has already been mentioned (Firefly), I’ll add Top Gear to the list of best. I haven’t watched it since the Clarkson, Hammond, May days, so I’m not sure if it’s changed. But that intro was great.

Oh, it's cancelled. I don't think they ever recovered from the awful stint with Chris Evans as host.

The Leftovers
Dandadan (both S1 and S2 are bangers)

Dandadan S1 is great, but Creepy Nuts pièce de résistance of intro songs has to be Bling‐Bang‐Bang‐Born from Mashle: Magic and Muscles. That song slaps so hard.
- It's feels llegal that they're not a one hit wonder. It's so good that it's unfair the rest of their stuff is just as good.
I LOVE Dandadan S1 intro song. I came here to post it. S2 is such a letdown in comparison. I skip most Anime intros because they're usually way too long and usually boring. DDD S1 gets me hype every damn time.

I can't decide between Psych (especially the extended version), Knight Rider, and Airwolf.

Edit: Street Hawk is a banger too.

Edit 2: How could I forget Miami Vice?

I enjoyed all of the variations of the main theme (especially the SUPER extended version in Viagra Falls), and the other thematic ones such as the fantastic rendition by Boys 2 Men and the Bollywood variant.

I saw darkwing duck and duck tales, count duckula completes the duck trilogy intro songs of greatness

https://youtu.be/g9ZVWMPuZ2c

I have to agree.

The Goodies

I get the impression that it's super-obscure these days, but the Perfect Strangers theme is great!

If like me, you’re old enough to remember Cousin Balki - then it’s probably time to book in a prostate exam. 🥴

Taskmaster's is one of the few intros I watch every time. Gets me pumped for every episode.

Curb Your Enthusiasm also may be the perfect fit for the show. Every time I see the HBO static come up before any other HBO show, I hear the CYE theme in my head.

I don't know about the worse but the best for me Star Trek Voyager. The intro song really makes you feel that you're lost far from home, will live various adventures and will eventually return home.

Somehow Voyager does have the best "feeling" intro of the Trek series.
I'll counter that as much as I have learned to accept the reasonings for the theme for 'Enterprise', I still think it might be the worst theme of just about any show ever. And then they added the country twang around season 3...
- nothing beats the voiceover in my head to ds9!

Someone mentioned peacemaker and I totally agree. But also gangster grass intro to Justified

For me:

Babylon Berlin intro captures the art, the deco, the decadence and the fear of what the viewer knows is going to come of that time period.

Black Sails just perfect

Raised by Wolves I was hit and miss on this in many ways, but this intro is great - albeit I think slightly misleading as to its overall tone.

Pennyworth I thought S1 was a bit silly, but what an intro.

Warrior

Happiness This is just fun, and fits the show brilliantly

See also isn't bad

Romulus Very vikings-esque

Song of the Bandits The song on the YT video isn't great here imo, but they actually mix it up in the show proper and use different songs. And some really fit the theme.

Black Sails is so good

Kinda surprised no one here has mentioned the Barney Miller theme, even though it's pretty old. It's a banging jazz fusion tune.

that makes me think of the krp outro.

thank you for being a friend.

travelled down the road and back again

I loves the intro of "dead like me" also that show so perfectly captures the early 2000s soft/smooth aesthetic without even trying.

I hate openers. The shorter the better.

Breaking Bad and it's ~5 second intro is easily the best.
- Exactly. Just a still frame title card and some interesting sound is all that necessary.
  Will Trent is the best. They just insert an interesting CGI title into the moving shot, and keep going. No interruption at all.
  That 3 minute opener for Game of Thrones was abusive.

Many great classics already mentioned in this thread.

Some newer ones for me…

White Lotus Season 1 (2 & 3 are also good, but I just love the first theme tune): https://youtu.be/l2wj6lJtg_8

Severance: https://youtu.be/NmS3m0OG-Ug

The S1 intro of White Lotus is so good that I did not like the S3 intro because it was so different. But it really grew on me and now it's my favorite. I'm incredibly bummed that Cristobal won't be back for next season. Apparently Mike White is not a fan of the music and they fought a lot.
- Damn, didn’t know about the falling out. That’s a massive shame for S4!
  Know what you mean about the S3 theme tune, it really does grow on you.
  Also caught this ad (I think it was actually another version but for the same car) on tv recently & it threw me a bit: https://youtu.be/-N5Kn4-ml8Y

king of the hill is the best

i also like how fun the peacemaker intros are. protagonists, antagonists, and 1 line characters all dancing together. some you dont even meet until halfway through the season

I feel like this question is invalid with anime not being explicitly included or excluded.

Included, it's simply not fair to anything not anime. I could take the ten, hell, the 25 best anime openings, exclude them, and still be able to post examples that utterly destroy any TV series you could name. It's not hard.

Excluded, it's a lot more fair.

Say what you want about anime animation, but the animators put their best work into the opening. And the music? Anime is to Japanese pop and rock what MTV was to American pop and rock in the 1980s, the hit maker. These songs are reaching international audiences and getting people to check out the rest of their music. Some Japanese bands refuse to use anime for exposure, but a lot of them live and die from it. I think ONE OK ROCK finally relented just to shut people up (and they went with a children's programme, Beyblade X), but a lot of other bands are known because of the anime series people first heard them in.