BY DALLAS ATHENT
Some TV shows have opening credits that really gear you up and make you excited for the next 20-45 minutes of pure splendor. You don’t skip these intros, you don’t walk out of the room; you watch them as if they’re part of the show. Here are our favorites at Luna Luna.
1) The Sopranos
Alabama 3’s infamous song perfectly illustrates Tony’s attitude, frustration and ego as he drives from New York to New Jersey--his stomping ground.
2) PBS Mystery
This illustrated intro by Edward Gorey has become more iconic and popular than the show itself. Who doesn’t remember the howling woman in distress on the rock?
3) The Jeffersons
As the Jeffersons soar to status, we’re reminded of their exciting time before every episode.
4) Nurse Jackie
Edie Falco for the win! While she wasn’t in the Sopranos’ intro, we all know her as Carmella Soprano. In Nurse Jackie she takes on a different role in her own right, and owns it from the very beginning with the opening credits.
5) Bewitched
A fun, animated classic intro to a fun, classic show.
6) True Blood
This sexy theme song gives us everything blood-sucking: cowboys, vampires, hook ups, late nights at the bar. The imagery combined with the lyrics crooning "want to do bad things to you" though overt, is mesmerizing.
7) Dexter
As serial murderer/Doctor Dexter starts his day, we see the comparisons of mundane tasks to murder. It gives us a glimpse into how he perverts even the smallest things in his sick mind.
8) Six Feet Under
A single tree on a hill has become synonymous with 6 Feet Under for a reason: the intro is beautifully shot and chilling.
9) The Addams Family
Kitschy, catchy and dark--this is why people love the 60’s.
10) Hey Arnold!
When you’re a kid you round up the gang and go have fun on the block, no matter where you’re from. Hey Arnold brings us back to that moment, when everyone from school comes together while maintaining the vibe of city life.
11) Carnivale
Tarot cards and classic footage of marches, poverty, racism, dictatorship and more: Carnivale is a glimpse into a world of the past that had its darkness.
12) Are You Afraid of the Dark?
This intro is filled with horror-cliches, but that’s what makes it so good. A clown, a rickety boat, the voices of children laughing coming from an unknown place: these classics are what make horror stories universal, and the opening credits nail it.
13) House of Cards
Claire and Frank Underwood have the acclaimed roles of being horrible people in Washington. The House of Cards intro illustrates their need for power and corruption by spanning Washington from day to night to the background of an epic, orchestrated song.
14) The Walking Dead
Instead of showing us gratuitous zombies, the Walking Dead intro is about the current state of disarray of the living characters. Credits are shown with shattered pictures of their former lives, and landscapes of places once populated, now deserted.
15) The Simpsons
Bart on his skateboard, Lisa with her saxophone--in a few simple images The Simpsons gives us the characteristics of a family we’d follow for over 20 years.
16) American Horror Story
Whichever season you’re watching, American Horror Story is able to freak you out before the show has even begun. Doll faces, rising witches in a coven, virgin mary’s--they get it all.
17) The Twilight Zone
The Twilight Zone brings you to a strange story with each episode, sometimes in different eras or places around the world. It’s only right that its intro would be a special portal full of oddness and scientific symbols.
18) Twin Peaks
David Lynch, mountain town, the 90’s. These opening credits just give us THAT FEEL.
19) Weeds
Daily life in a developed, suburban community shows us the mundane, and the kind of mediocrity many of us hope to escape from. The repetition before each show further supports the intro by illustrating the exact kind of repetition the majority people feel as they go through these motions.
20) Fresh Prince of Bel Air
A classic--everyone’s favorite! Where would this list be without The Fresh Prince of Bel Air?
Dallas Athent is the editor of the short story collection Bushwick Nightz. She's also an artist whose work has been shown in The Hollows, Cara Gallery, The Storefront Ten Eyck and more. Her work has been profiled in Brooklyn Magazine, The L Magazine, DNAinfo and Bedford + Bowery. She lives in The Bronx with her adopted pets.