Unskippable TV Intros

Pop Culture & Media Film & TV
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Thought it’d be interesting to see what show intros we consider to be unskippable. You know the kind I mean. The ones where even though you’ve just binged four episodes in a row you can’t help but listen to/sing along to the intro for that fifth episode.

I feel like two of the more popular examples of this are/were The Simpsons (which has of course been pretty iconic for decades at this point.)

And Scrubs

more recently though for my partner and I, we’ve been catching up on Wynonna Earp and inevitably every episode we end up singing along to it “I GAVE YOU ALL I GOT TO GIVE, I KNOW THAT AINT NO WAY TO LIVE” and it’s the best.

So what intros do you find it just impossible to skip over? Or better yet, which ones do you find yourself singing along to each and every episode?

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Personally I’d say all of them but Twin Peaks for sure.

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For western TV my number one is Golden Girls.

As for anime I honestly can’t think of anything I like where I would skip the OP? I used to watch tons of anime with my best friend, in the rare case where we didn’t like it we would watch it anyway so we’d be synced up, and some even grew on us that way. But to take this as a chance to share some favs:

Both Nichijou OPs are masterpieces and every night I kneel in front of my bed and pray that Hyadain will come back to me one day.

Inazuma Eleven is toilet garbage, but I watched all of the first series anyway, and the part I remember most fondly is the incredible shounen energy in the OPs that are all about being hot-blooded and crying and never giving up and how you’re truly thankful to have found your family through soccer. The dudes who perform them are massive fans of the series and it really shows.

I didn’t really get into Tsuritama when I tried to rewatch it lately but the OP is still a bop. I used to be able to do the dance from memory…

It’s been so long that I don’t remember any of the details of why Bokurano’s anime adaptation is bad, but Uninstall redeems them all.

I have used the death scream part of this as my alarm for over 5 years. It never stops working.

And I’ll end on Durarara!!, which beyond hitting both ends of its mood spectrum perfectly, makes the excellent choice of showing all the characters’ names at the beginning of every episode because they know you’re forgetful, there’s a lot of people, it’s ok. We got you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNt8zC9zjEk (this one won’t embed, I think I reached my limit? lol)

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Yeah I basically never skip intros, they have to be especially long and boring (Sense8) or inexplicably 7 times louder than the rest of the show (Voltron) for me to do that.

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B-b-b-b-bojack!

The fact that I, and many others, never skip Bojack Horseman’s intro is basically a meme at this point.

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If I’m skipping an intro, I’m skipping the entire show.

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I’m a pretty habitual intro-skipper, mostly because I also tend to binge watch shows and sometimes intros can grate on me.

HOWEVER: Heres a short list of some Ive never skipped and never will skip (both Nichijou openings are on this list but those have been posted above) Heads up, all of these are anime:

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Terrace House obvs

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For all Kimmy Schmidt’s problems, the intro is undeniably catchy and singable.

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I’ve watched the opening of every episode thus far of Mob Psyco.

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If I’m being honest I don’t skip a lot of the opening credit sequences when I’m watching tv (I usually have a snack in my hand and I’m too lazy to reach over to skip ahead 30s) but in terms of the intros I look forward to listening to, I think I actually ended up liking the theme for A Series of Unfortunate Events more than the show itself. It really nails the playfully macabre mood of that series, and I like a credits sequence that is creative in how it displays the crew/cast members:

This one has had a lot said about it already but I’m still a big fan:

If like me you are into the production of title/credit sequences, I can’t recommend Art of the Title enough. It offers a lot of insight into how they’re made, often with interviews with the creators.

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Some of my favourites have already been mentioned - Nichijou is just unbelievably good, always - but there’s plenty more!

This is pretty much the sound of my childhood. I couldn’t imagine watching an episode of The Next Generation without listening to Patrick Stewart’s, ‘Space, the final frontier…’ at the start–it’s genuinely like sinking into a warm, soft blanket for me. I’ll always have a lot to thank TNG for - for all its problems, it played a huge role in teaching me what it was to be a good person as a kid, and I think I’ll always look up to Captain Picard in a way that I just can’t imagine doing with any other fictional character - and, every time I watch this intro, all those feelings just come flooding back.

Anyway, to move away from nostalgia for a second, here’s a relatively recent entry! A Place Further Than The Universe was my favourite anime of last year, and this intro does an amazing job of getting you ready for the show! It’s a story of adventure, of overcoming stagnation and the pressure to just fit in, and of finding true friendship–and the intro manages to express all of that. At the start of the show, it prepares you to go on a journey with these characters–and, by the last episode, you’ll be tearing up watching at, at the thought of having to say goodbye.

(Also, just as an aside: if there were ever to be a Star Trek anime, I can think of far, far worse things for it to be patterned after than A Place Further Than The Universe. I think they’re supposed to be making a couple of animated series right now, so… Hint hint, CBS?)

Next up is actually an outro, rather than an intro - so, uh, feel free to disqualify! - but still: I absolutely adored Yuru Camp’s ED, and never skipped it. It captures the vibe of the show perfectly, and the music that accompanies it might well be my favourite song from any anime last year. It’s pretty much what would happen if you extracted the essence of peace, relaxation and spending time with good friends, and poured it all into a one minute thirty second piece of animation.

I’m probably gonna come back and add more later, but that’s all for now!

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Doctor Who. The show has been going for over 50 years and the theme tune remains the same but changes with every doctor. It’s part of my childhood. Theme tune for latest season with Jodie Whittaker is great has an EDM vibe to it with a drop and these real skittery metallic drums, which sound awesome. I’ll always like the one from the late David Tennant era, more orchestral but with more drums.

It’s Always Sunny. I just love the cheerful music and the shots of Phily taken from out of a car by the original cast back when they first started the show with no money.

Attack On Titan. Gets you going, man.

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Oh damn, you want to get into unskippable endings? I generally love the ending credits themes to things and they can be such a great cooldown for particularly tense shows, but can also just be good as hell and usually, hearing or watching some credits can really encourage me to step away from something if i’ve been binge watching.

Shout out to the Homecoming ending sequences, which don’t have music but the sustained shots are beautiful and watched all of them every time.

EDIT: I’ve just remembered that the Panty and Stocking ending sequence is… surprisingly chill? Stands in pretty stark contrast to the rest of that show, for sure. I also don’t remember like half of that show so I have no idea if it holds up but the song is a banger:

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Law and Order is my guilty pleasure I will binge and yes I must watch that intro every time

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I was just about to post this and lament the loss of ‘Slow Down’ in the new series.

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Cowboy Bebop is absolutely unskippable and may be my favorite intro ever. God I love that theme

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It’s wild how perfect it is, honestly.

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Another one of my all time favorites

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