David Stagg

True Blood: Where the title sequence lives up to the show itself

Other than the actors, if there’s one thing you see every week from a television show, it’s the intro title sequence. They define the way the show is going to feel. You see them day in and day out, you memorize the song. In fact, you know the titles so well that when you hear the real song, you’re weirded out because it’s not the chopped up 30-second version.

These are my Top 5 favorite intros to televisions shows. A note, though: For these top television series intro titles I didn’t choose campy intros (think about “Step By Step”, “Family Matters”, “Cheers”, “Dinosaurs”, “Full House”) because, although iconic, not the best. It’d be like naming Vanilla Ice’s “Ice, Ice Baby” in your Top 5 favorite songs. News flash: Just because you know every word and sing it at karaoke does NOT make it your favorite song.

5. “Nip/Tuck”—F/X

While the show got a little bananas at the end of its run, I always liked the modern look of the intro. (In case you can’t tell by the look of this blog, I love modern.) Extremely clean, simple color palette, ambient tone. It’s such a perfect play on the theme of the show. I love how stark the red lines look on the already perfect bodies… because perfect wasn’t good enough.

My favorite part is when the hand twitches in sync with the beat at 0:08.

Paul Matthaeus (Title Designer), Vince Haycock (Title Designer), Eric Anderson (Title Designer), Matt Lavoy (Title Designer)

4. “The X-Files”—FOX

Little bit of trivia: Castle/Bryant/Johnsen, the peeps that did “The X-Files” opening titles, also did the title sequences for “Cheers,” “Family Ties,” and “Frasier.” Bonus trivia: Namesakes Carol Johnsen signed “Dana Scully’s” badge, while Jim Castle signed as “Fox Mulder.”

Castle/Bryant/Johnsen

3. “True Blood”—HBO

From an interview with Watch the Titles:

Editorially we collided the seething behind-the-curtains sexuality of the south into the fist pounding spirituality of Pentacostal healings to viscerally expose the conflicts we saw in the narrative of the show. … To house these juxtapositions we created an arc to the sequence. The piece extends from morning deep into the night, and as it does so it’s rhythms and content crescendo into increasingly darker and more aggressive territory. —Rama Allen, lead designer/concept co-creator

Read more over at Watch the Titles, or check it out from the source at Digital Kitchen Also, this is one of the top television series I’ve ever seen.

Matt Mulder (Creative Director), Rama Allen (Lead Designer), Camm Rowland (Type Designer)

2. “House, M.D.”—FOX

I’ve loved the House title sequence more than I’ve loved the show. I’ve always been in love with the old-timey drawings of the inner-workings of the human body and they looks stunning in this House intro. (Makes me wonder how they made the drawings.) House, combined with the Massive Attack track “Teardrop,” make this intro unforgettable, artistic, and effective. A little pensive, a little arrogant, very well done.

Dan Brown (Title Designer), Dave Molloy (Title Designer), Matt Mulder (Title Designer), Jake Sargeant (Title Designer)

Bonus Music

“Teardrop”—Massive Attack

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“Teardrop”—Jose Gonzalez

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1. “Dexter”—Showtime

I feel like I might as well just go work for Digital Kitchen since I love all their stuff. Dexter, another one by Digital Kitchen, is just so perfect at setting the stage for the show. The attention to detail, the uncomfortably close shots of shaving and cutting of meat—they manage to take the everyday breakfast routine and make you go through it as though YOU were the serial killer.

As the guys at DK put it:

The TV title sequence is a branding endeavor and a legitimate art form. It is the sole, consistent, and iconic moment that carries through a show’s lifespan and beyond. It’s what you remember most.

And that’s exactly what the title sequence to Dexter does.

Eric S. Anderson (Creative Director), Josh Bodnar (Editor), Lindsay Daniels (Designer), Colin Davis (Main Title Producer), original theme music by Rolfe Kent

Bonus Round

Did you know the short-lived animation series “Dilbert” won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Main Title Design in 1999?