1. Dexter (Showtime)
The Dexter introduction is an admirable combination of eerie and interesting. From cutting himself shaving, to splattering hot sauce on eggs, they chose the right lighting, music and routine items the whole way through. It’s a perfect mood-setter for the certain tension and anxiety you’ll be feeling as the episode progresses.
2. Mad Men (AMC)
Composed to RJD2’s A Beautiful Mine, Mad Men’s intro is both creative and simple. There are a lot of things great about this introduction. The choice to use a silhouette, as opposed to say a full character was brilliant in that it could be any one of us in that daily grind. The clever color choices are also a standout in this intro in that they are used sparingly and really reflect well against the overall paleness of the scene.
3. Six Feet Under (HBO)
I’m not sure what it is about Michael C. Hall, but great introductions seem to follow him. Along with Dexter, Six Feet Under is the boasts a wonderful soundtrack another great sequence. Following several shots filled with dull lighting and muted colors, you are smacked in the face with a perfectly bright blue and green landscape, at the center of which sits a single tree that quickly fades into the Six Feet Under logo, which by the way is one of my favorites in the history of television.
4. Lord of War
Lord of War begins with one of the most compelling opening sequences I’ve ever seen in a movie. The scene, known as “Journey of the Bullet,” is played to the tune of For What It’s Worth by Buffalo Springfield and depicts a bullet’s lifespan from production, to shipping, to the inevitable shooting.
5. Weeds (Showtime)
Weeds is the perfect example of how to take an introduction that is good and destroy in your latest seasons. The Weeds opening sequence in season 1 was produced to the great, original rendition of Malvina Reynolds’ song Little Boxes and the shots were a witty and literal interpretation of the song. While seasons 2 through 4 used the same opening sequence, they cleverly switched out Little Boxes with a new cover each episode. Standouts for me include covers by Regina Spektor, Michael Franti, the Decemberists, Randy Newman and Rise Against. In season 5, Jenji Kohan and Weeds decided to ditch the original opening in favor of a different 10 second piece of garbage each episode, of which I don’t remember one scene.
6. The Royal Tenenbaums
Prologue to the Royal Tenebaums
Since I couldn’t find a good embed for this video, the link will have to do. The Royal Tenenbaums opens with original music by Mark Mothersbaugh (common in Wes Anderson flicks) followed by a take on Hey Jude by The Mutato Muzika Orchestra and the deep-voiced, raspy narration of Alec Baldwin. This opening sequence does a great job introducing each character in the movie and provides a great foundation for the rest of the flick. It is captioned by the unmistakeable Wes Anderson classic typeface, Futura Bold which I have always considered to work perfectly with his shooting style.
7. True Blood (HBO)
I have only had the pleasure of watching this show for a few episodes, but I have seen the intro well over a hundred times. The imagery, the soundtrack, the typography – all spot on. The sequence plays to Bad Things by Jace Everett and the way that the scenes hold the tempo and emotion of the song is truly compelling and a work of art. I also figured I’d include this one on the list while vampires were still in.