“Call a SPADE, a SPADE; and a TRANNY, a TRANNY, or an IT!!!”.
"THAT'S SOME BAD
SHIT
,
HARRY
!".

It's one of my favorites and one of the reasons I decided to watch it. Hawaii 5-0 might be my favorite opening.
Does the show itself live up to that excellence? No. Like any series, it has its highs and low. As I finished season 3, the number of bad episodes started to mount.
Since I had been warned the Bigfoot episodes were bad, I expected the worst from them but I actually enjoyed the two-parter, one of the highlights of this season.
I hope to watch season 4 at some time.
IMDB has this series at 7.1/10. I'd say that's a fair score.

Agreed! Must also mention that the intro to Monday Night Football was very influential (behind the scenes) - and I liked to watch the Planet of the Apes, intro too was cool!!! Super killer that we now have flatscreens and blu-ray and hd - I am amazed every day!

We all have our favorites I guess

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I realize we are talking mostly live action series, but honestly, no opening title sequence had more kids singing along than Speed Racer!

I loved it too, when I was growing up! As I became a jazz fan when I got older, I especially came to love Oliver Nelson's work. He died too soon. His masterpiece album, The Blues and the Abstract Truth, and his finest composition, Stolen Moments, are truly magnificent.

I always loved the opening sequence. I think most boys aged 5-12 wanted to be Steve Austin when the series was active.
"Don't ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody."

Your right about the M2-F2(?) crashing, but you first see the HL-10 being air dropped. It has a center rudder whereas the M2-F2(?)does not. That use to drive me crazy watching it then, I had ten year old copy of Air Progress (Feb/Mar 1965)which shows both Northrop models.

From the trivia on the show's main page:
The aircraft seen crashing in the show's opening sequence was an M2-F2, a "flying body configuration" built by Northrop. The audio sound effects are from a crash that occurred on May 10, 1967, at Edwards Air Force base in California (although the dialog heard was recorded by Majors). The test pilot, Bruce Peterson, hit the ground at 250 mph, tumbling six times. He lost use of his right eye and had to stop flying, ending his career. Understandably, Peterson has said that he hated reliving his accident, week after week, courtesy of the show.
Apparently Peterson or members of his family were big enough fans of the show for him to continue tuning in to relive the accident even though he hated it.

The crash scene was from a test flight of a vehicle flown by NASA, I believe, called a lifting body. It had no wings but used the shape of the fuselage to generate some lift. They built at least 2 different ones I think the one in the footage was the HL 10. I believe the pilot in the footage was named Petersen and that he survived the crash. This research later helped with the design of the space shuttle.

What do you mean?

And they even used real footagethe lifting body crash from circa 1966

5.4.3.2.1.0. Rocket crashes.We can build him Stronger, Faster, .
Best opening sequence ever, send chills up my spine thinking of it!

The Incredible Hulk's opening scene was also cool. My other favorite openings are The Wild Wild West and Mission: Impossible.

This is the best opening title sequence of any tv series. Within the space of a minute or so any viewers new to the series were given all the information they needed to understand the premise.
You can't palm off a second-rater on me. You gotta remember I was in the pink!

Don't forget the opening sequence from "Get Smart".

you might add Laverne & Shirley, Happy Days, Alice, One Day at a Time, even Little House on the Prairie. Maybe Fantasy Island or Love boat? Mork& Mindy Barney Miller?
were lots of great opening themes and sort of music videos, to set the stage
My favorites of the day were Starsky & Hutch, Charlie's Angels and S.W.A.T - maybe more for the music. But ChiPs set the mood & 6m$M was maybe my first intro to tv addiction, as a kid.
Now, check out the Walking Dead intro. Just as intense, chilling and a great prep for what is to come mystery and suspense
http://us.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=10088562
(some need to go up 1 or down 1)

Hello 426HEMI and I agree with both of your points about this classic
sci-fi TV series having such an awesomely and cool visually
opening sequence for each episode. Now here is my personal list of
TV shows in prime time which also had memorable opening scenes and
in random order:

1. The Six Million Dollar Man
2. The Man From UNCLE
3. Mission Impossible
4. Gilligan's Island
5. Hogan's Heroes
6. Hawaii Five-0 (classic series)
7. Chips
8. Magnum P.I.
9. Airwolf
10. Miami Vice
    Lawrence Sunny California
    Call me a sailor or a swabby just don't call me a squid!

I love it when a "reply" is better than the original post- even if the OP is MINE !! Excellent points, one and all. Title sequences are largely unnecessary in an age of reality television. While the level of WRITING has drastically improved over the decades, most scripted television shows these days have rather simple premises.

Opening titles were a lot better in decades past. Today's producers want to maximize ad time so title sequences are often skipped. There were a lot of good ones way back when that told the backstory. Gilligan's Island. Brady Bunch. Night Stalker was one that was brilliantly moody without actually showing any of the monsters. The Odd Couple intro of the first few seasons, with the narration. Nanny and the Professor. Green Acres. Mission: Impossible had good, pulse-pounding titles. UFO also had a great theme and exciting visuals in the titles. Didn't really care for the more scattershot Bionic Woman titles, though.
Not to mention the theme songs were mostly better back then.

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