TV Show Openings Which Changed Over Time

[Braves2005]

Since we have a thread about TV show themes, I thought it would be a great idea of which TV show openings changed over time.

Lost In Space: Two of the same version (one in black and white and one in color) and a different version for the last season.

1965-1967: The opening started with pieces of tiles coming up on screen and then the spaceship comes along and "Lost In Space" comes up on screen and then cartoon characters of the cast come flying across the screen and then a spaceship featuring Will and Penny on board and then Dr. Smith flying along afterwards. (1965-1966 season in black and white and the 1966-1967 season in color)

1967-1968: The opening where in the climax of the opening scene, a countdown begins with 8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 and then the title "Lost In Space" comes up on screen and then the screen turns into a circle and then Guy Williams, June Lockhart, Mark Goddard, Marta Kristen, Billy Mumy, Angela Cartwright and Jonathan Harris all appear.

The Dick Van Dyke Show: Four different openings

1961-1962: The bongo drum opening where scenes from the show are seen and there are two different openings, one with a longer theme and one with a shorter theme.

1962-1966: Rob comes home and trips over the ottoman and then Laura, Buddy, Sally, and Richie help him up. In the other opening, Rob comes home and swings by the ottoman and everybody laughs thinking that Rob will trip over the ottoman.

The Flintstones: Several different openings

1960-1962: The Rise and Shine theme where Fred drives home and gets several things from the store, comes home and Wilma has a sandwich waiting for him and forgets to kiss Wilma and then comes back to kiss her and then sits down and turns on the TV.

1962-1963: The Meet The Flintstones theme is introduced with first Fred, Wilma, and Dino going to the drive-in movie and then later in the 1962-1963 season when Pebbles is born, Pebbles is now with them going to the movie and Pebbles is sitting on top of Dino's head.

1963-1966: Bamm-Bamm joins Fred, Wilma, Pebbles, and Dino with Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm sitting on top of Dino's head.

There are a lot more TV shows that would fit this. See how many more you can think of.

 

[classictvfan]

1963-1966: Bamm-Bamm joins Fred, Wilma, Pebbles, and Dino with Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm sitting on top of Dino's head.

You forgot Barney and Betty Rubble and the cat

 

[Braves2005]

How could I forget Barney and Betty and the cat?

 

[landtuna]

How about "Ozzie and Harriet"? Seems they had a new opening every year as the boys got older. Theme song changed at least once too.

 

[Braves2005]

That Girl: 2 different openings and 1 opening with the song lyrics.

1966-1967: Shots of New York are seen and Marlo Thomas's name is on a Stop sign and Marlo Thomas and Ted Bessell are sitting on a park bench feeding pigeons.

1967-1970: Scene of a train track while the opening credits for Marlo Thomas and Ted Bessell are seen, Marlo is seen looking at New York through a background and then you see Marlo with a small American flag and then you see her walking around New York and looking at herself wearing a crown and looking like a beauty queen through a show window and then her running around with a kite of herself and then walking around with an umbrella and then Marlo messing up her hair.

1970-1971: Same opening but this time with the new song lyrics for the show with the "Diamonds, Daisies, Snowflakes, That Girl" theme.

 

[Firebird]

The Drew Carey Show had 3 different opening themes:

1995-1996 Moon Over Parma - sung by Drew Carey
1996-1997 The Vogue's Five O'Clock World
1997-2003 Ian Hunter's Cleveland Rocks - performed by Presidents of the USA

 

[bpatrick]

"Leave It To Beaver" changed its opening every
year as well, going from the first-season credits
drawn in wet cement to the jazzed-up theme with
the Cleavers headed on a picnic in the last season.

"The Mary Tyler Moore Show" changed its opening
theme song. The first season started, "How will you
make it on your own? This world is awfully big, and girl,
this time you're all alone...." In the second season it
became "Who can turn the world on with her smile? Who
can take a nothing day and suddenly make it all seem
worthwhile?" That one lasted until the end (1977).

Bob Newhart's show jazzed up its opening theme in 1975
and also included inset shots of his getting off the train,
walking home, greeting Suzanne Pleshette, etc.

"The Cosby Show" changed its opening every year as well.

Toward the end "The Beverly Hillbillies" added a shot of
Raymond Bailey (Mr. Drysdale) and Nancy Kulp (Miss Hathaway);
she's driving a convertible and he's the passenger.

"The Odd Couple," IIRC, did not use the "On November 13, Felix
Unger was asked to remove himself from his place of residence"
narrative in the first or fifth (last) seasons.

And don't forget that "The Partridge Family" changed its theme
song from "Come On, Get Happy" to "When We're Singing."

 

[Ultimajock]

...The Monkees had the same opening theme music for both seasons on NBC but different film clips used for the openings of each season. The most interesting differences for the second season were the inclusion of concert footage and the gag misidentification of Micky, Davy and Michael as "Peter." When the show went into Saturday morning reruns on ABC and CBS, and subsequent syndication, the first-season episodes were changed to include the second-season opening...

...more recently, the same was done with SheSpies to reflect the shift in regular supporting cast members from Carlos Jacott in the first year to Cameron Daddo and Jamie Iglehart in the second; the same theme music was used, but different action clips were incorporated into the montage...

 

[Braves2005]

"The Odd Couple," IIRC, did not use the "On November 13, Felix
Unger was asked to remove himself from his place of residence"
narrative in the first or fifth (last) seasons.

And don't forget that "The Partridge Family" changed its theme
song from "Come On, Get Happy" to "When We're Singing."

The November 13th part on The Odd Couple did not happen until the middle of the 1st season and it lasted until the end of the 3rd season. After that, from 1973 to 1975, they showed scenes from past episodes of the show mixed in with several outside shots of Tony Randall and Jack Klugman doing various things (playing tennis, jogging, etc.)

And you have The Partridge Family theme songs mixed up. In the 1970-1971 season, the theme song was "When We're Singing" and then from 1971-1974, the theme song became "Come On, Get Happy." Years ago, when I watched reruns of the show, I always thought that Come On, Get Happy was actually the theme all the way through until years later when they showed the 1970-1971 season reruns on FOX Family, they brought back the song "When We're Singing" and it was the first time I had ever heard the song in my life.

 

[Braves2005]

Adam-12 had a number of openings during its run.

1968-1970: A shot of people at the police department checking cards and doing police reports and then the Adam-12 title comes up and then Martin Milner and Kent McCord are in their patrol car.

1970-1971: A shot of the policeman's creed "To Serve and Protect" and then Milner and McCord go out on patrol.

1971-1972: Milner and McCord run out to their patrol car at the station and hurry off through Los Angeles in the opening credits.

1972-1974: Milner and McCord are on night patrol and they turn the patrol car around after hearing a call.

1974-1975: A shot of the Watchtower of the Los Angeles Police Department is shown at the beginning and then Milner and McCord are shown going through Los Angeles out on another call.

 

[oldiesfan6479]

The Dick Van Dyke Show: Four different openings

Five, IIRC.

1962-1966: ...In the other opening, Rob comes home and swings by the ottoman
and everybody laughs thinking that Rob will trip over the ottoman.

I have all five DVD DVDs and I've noticed a second version of the
"no-trip" open.

It was shot at a slightly different angle and perhaps a bit tighter.

I also remember Laura having a newer hairdo in it, so this may
have been used in (the last) season five.

There are a couple of episodes in the DVD set that have the
"Dick Van Dyke Daytime Show" opening titles (not sure which
ottoman version is used), and some closing credits do not
have the original music--the long first two-notes spool-up
(dahhhhhh dahhhhhh da da da da da dah)--but rather a quick
start (da da da da da da da dah).

I suppose the end credits aren't really the "real original" ones
anyway, as they have the caricature of Dick in the lower left
corner instead of that first-run night sponsor's product.

 

[Markxxx]

Dick Van Dyke had five.

1) The first season that had the theme but with a drumroll and photos of the cast falling out of a folder were shown. Note technically speaking Larry Matthews not Mary Tyler Moore got end billing here

2) A rework of the photos falling out of the folder, this time the theme got rid of the "drumroll" in between

3) Dick enters and trips over the ottoman

4) Dick enters, looks like he'll trip but at the last minute darts around it

5) Dick enters looks like he'll trip but he darts around it, then trips over a toy on the floor. (This one isn't seen too much)

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Question to the OP, do you mean a complete redo of the opening theme or a change.

Cause like the Facts of Life changed every year obviously cause the girls kept growing but the theme, once Nancy McKeon joing the cast remained basically the same. (Yes I also know FOL had two or maybe even three theme songs, basically they were the same music but with slightly altered lyrics)

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I noticed a lot of shows change singers of themes if they go into syndicated reruns and the show is also running in prime time.

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What's Happening changed, the first year it featured Raj, Dwane and Rerun and the second year, it cut those scenes down so they could put Shirley, Dee and Momma in the opening credits. Then the third year they redid it all together, when Raj and Rerun got their own place

 

[radiorob2.0]

Dick Van Dyke had five.

1) The first season that had the theme but with a drumroll and photos of the cast falling out of a folder were shown. Note technically speaking Larry Matthews not Mary Tyler Moore got end billing here

2) A rework of the photos falling out of the folder, this time the theme got rid of the "drumroll" in between

3) Dick enters and trips over the ottoman

4) Dick enters, looks like he'll trip but at the last minute darts around it

5) Dick enters looks like he'll trip but he darts around it, then trips over a toy on the floor. (This one isn't seen too much)

Letterman did a bit in the early years involving a TV Museum. Among the items on display was the ottoman from The Dick Van (Expletive Deleted). It was full of holes from all the trips.

Let's not forget about Soap and the weekly photo.

 

[dustintv]

Knots Landing had several different openings, though I think the rolling clips one was most famous along with the updated on when KL moved into the 90s.

 

[Andy Coleman]

Falcon Crest changed every year because they always added the new star of the show into the opening credits. Trapper John MD changed openings the year that Gonzo wasn't on and Trapper's son joined the cast as well Bo the helicopter pilot. Remington Steele also changed openings. First season openend he was walking in room and Laura Holt was talking about hireing a man to get cases for her PI firm . then 2 season they had the antimated gun and lipstick lips on the screen.

 

[donnyg]

The Adventures of Superman had a couple of minor changes over its run. In the black and white seasons, the gun for "faster than a speeding bullet" had a longer barrel, and the locomotive on "more powerful than a locomotive" was old-style from like the 30's. Also, after Bill Kennedy finishes the schtick about 'TRUTH JUSTICE AND THE AMERICAN WAY" he says, "AND NOW, ANOTHER EXCITING EPISODE IN THE ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN" During the Color seasons the gun was smaller, the locomotive was more modern, and the part about another exciting episode was dropped.

Donny G ;D

 

[ShawnHill1]

Bpatrick already mentioned that The Cosby Show had different openings (and themes) in every season, the 1990-91 season (its second-to-last) used the theme from the previous year, albeit slightly edited at the end. Also in that '90-91 season (at least when you watch the recent syndicated reruns), most of the music used in the scene transitions aren't there...just no sound.

 

[kirkiefan]

The NBC Peacock intro in the 1960s was much different from the original peacock opening in the late 1950s.

Late 1950s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Taz0XSQ-rCI

1960s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juSq8exPbGk

 

[oldiesfan6479]

The NBC Peacock intro in the 1960s was much different from the original peacock
opening in the late 1950s.

The '50s peacock, with it's loud, crash/bang/boom music and
hard-edged "diamond" feathers (until the very end) could well
have frightened more than a few kids when it came on.

Kind of like a top of the show version of the "scary Revue tag"
...which we've discussed here in the past.

 

[azumanga]

Bpatrick already mentioned that The Cosby Show had different openings (and themes) in every season, the 1990-91 season (its second-to-last) used the theme from the previous year, albeit slightly edited at the end.

I read somewhere that they intended on a new intro for that season as well (which featured a mural on a wall), but switched to the previous intro after the creator of the mural filed a lawsuit with the producers.