Memorable TV opening themes

Ok, this is kind of random, but I was just thinking today about how much I love the opening sequences of television shows. On the one hand, if it’s a show you really love, it doesn’t even matter how good the opening is, you still react to it like Pavlov’s dog to a bell; the very first notes of the theme song cue that instant rush of excitement and anticipation as you await the imminent commencement of another episode. On the other hand, there’s a lot to be said for opening sequences that are creative and exciting in and of themselves, even if the show itself doesn’t really do much for you. Yet if one of your favorite shows has a killer opener, one that is dynamic and interesting and perfectly captures the unique tone of a unique show – the effect is amazing. It’s an art form, really.

And so here are some of my favorite television opening sequences, in descending chronological order (i.e. in reverse order of when the shows premiered with their openers).

True Blood (2008). It’s gritty, it’s grotesque, it’s bizarre, it’s strangely fascinating. Just like the show itself, in fact. None of the main actors appear in this opening, but the images used perfectly convey the show’s tone and its stylized northern Louisiana setting. And the song is just perfect! I usually cannot stand country music at all, but I actually had Jace Everett’s “Bad Things” as my cell phone ring for like six months. I can’t really describe the effect of the True Blood opening; it speaks for itself.


Conspiracy in the Court (2007). Ok, this comes from a kdrama, not an American show. But I had to include it because I really thought it did a wonderful job of introducing this fusion sageuk political thriller drama. Conspiracy in the Court stands apart from other dramas in a lot of ways – it really sets out to achieve something different (hence the fusion aspect), and does so extremely well – and this opening really reflects that. When you consider also that most kdramas have pretty lame, generic openings if they have them at all, this sequence becomes all the more remarkable. Observe:


Dexter (2006). Honestly, I never really got into this show. I admire it, I think it’s very cool, I just never got hooked on it enough to make the time to watch it. But the opening is just so amazing. It was expertly shot and edited so as to make an ordinary, tame morning routine appear violent and savage. Thanks to this sequence, I will never look at breakfast in quite the same way again.


Veronica Mars (2006). I say 2006 even though the show premiered in 2004 because they revamped the opening sequence for the third (and, unfortunately, final) season. For the first two seasons the VM opening was pretty average. I liked the song (“We Used to Be Friends” by the Dandy Warhols), but other than that the sequence was pretty unremarkable. For the third season they reworked the song, making it more subdued and stylized, and set it to a series of sepia-toned stills. All in all, I think the new version was much more interesting, and a much better representation of the series. Veronica Mars was, at its core, a noir-influenced detective show set in southern California and featuring a petite blonde heroine. The new opening reflected that.


Cowboy Bebop (1998). I think I’ll just let this one speak for itself. You don’t need to know anything about the show in order to watch this opening and think its just plain awesome. The brass music, the bright solid colors, the animation…


The X-Files (1993). My parents were both diehard fans of this show in the 90s, and they let me watch with them on Sunday nights even though I was probably too young. Even to this day the eerie whistling music gives me the shivers. I remember waiting anxiously each week to see what message would appear at the very end, whether the typical “The truth is out there” or that once in a blue moon substitution. Exciting times indeed. (Sorry about the quality.)


Cheers (1982). Oh, this makes me miss Boston so much! This is just another example of an opening in which all the elements work. The lyrics of the song, combined with the slideshow of images, evoke a powerful nostalgia in me – for Boston, my former home, for the show and all its incomparable characters, for the time when I used to watch it with my family. This was a great show. So simple, so fantastic, so hilarious. It really does make me think about going home, and the theme song hits a very special place in my heart. And now I think I might cry. But it’s a good, happy kind of feeling. That’s how powerful a good tv opening, with strong personal associations, can be.


So although I’m sure there are many more great television openings out there, these were just a few of my favorites. A good opening sequence can be a very powerful thing. May this special art form continue to flourish for many years to come!

True Blood 2.12 "Beyond Here Lies Nothin' "

The above picture shows the cameo appearance of Charlaine Harris, author of the Sookie Stackhouse novels, in the season two finale of "True Blood", the HBO show based on said novels. Since I've been watching this show pretty religiously all summer, I just wanted to put in my two cents about the season finale. I found this episode to be a rather lackluster conclusion to what was nevertheless a really great sophomore season. If the episode itself was a bit of a let down, it was probably due largely to the fact that my expectations were so high, and in any case there certainly were plenty of intriguing hints/cliffhangers to invest people (and me) in the wait for season three.

The first half of the episode focused on the conclusion of the Maryann conflict, and culminated in her final defeat at the hands of Bill, Sam, and Sookie. With Sam’s shapeshifting abilities, Sookie’s mysterious and unreliable supernatural powers, a deeper understanding of what a maenad really is, and a little bit of clever trickery, the three are able to finally defeat her and thereby save the good people of Bon Temps from themselves. I must say, I’m going to miss Maryann. Or rather, I’m going to miss Michelle Forbes, who always played her with wickedly irresistible charm and a brilliant touch of craziness. On the other hand, the time had come for her to die; her character was this season’s big “undefeatable” adversary, so at the end of the season she had to be defeated of course.

The second half of the episode shows the aftermath Maryann’s mayhem and also leads into several storylines for season three. Most of the residents of Bon Temps are in denial about what happened, while Jason and Andy congratulate themselves on being heroes (although they didn’t really do anything but get possessed themselves, but hey, A for effort boys!) The one person who really can’t handle the truth about what he did under the influence of Maryann is Eggs, who completely loses it and approaches Andy with the knife he used on Daphne and others. Jason witnesses the encounter, freaks out, and shoots Eggs in the back of the head before running off. I know, I didn’t see that one coming either. Meanwhile, Sam visits his adoptive parents, the queen warns Eric (quite forcefully) not to let Bill find out too much about the blood cartel, Hoyt seeks Jessica’s forgiveness while a hurt and angry Jessica seeks out victims, and Bill proposes to Sookie before being kidnapped by a mysterious attacker. Yup, this all happens in the second half of the episode.

I have to admit that this finale left me slightly underwhelmed. I definitely expected more to come of the Sophie-Anne storyline, especially since they decided to introduce the queen so much earlier in the story than she ever appears in the books. I also had a huge problem with Bill’s big, romantic proposal to Sookie, and with her readiness (after a moment of hesitation) to accept it. I’m really trying not to compare the show to the books too much, but this scene just felt very wrong to me. I have a hard time believing that Sookie would ever really entertain the idea of marriage to Bill, especially since their relationship has such a glaringly obvious expiration date (no matter how much they don’t want to admit it.) Still, I’m interested to see how this will play out next season, because I don’t think it will ever happen. As for Bill’s kidnapper, I have a pretty good idea of who it might be, especially because while the show strays quite far from the events and characterizations of the books each new season generally retains the main conflict of each successive novel.

Overall, I feel that season two was a huge improvement over season one. While I still think that the Bill/Sookie romance is pretty weak, the show has moved away from resting solely on that concept. It’s at its best, I feel, when exploring the politics of the different supernatural communities, and the extended universe of the different characters. And so, all things considered, I’m very excited for next season. I’m hoping, as always, for lots more Eric-Pam-Fangtasia action, and I also read somewhere that there will be Weres next time around, which is super exciting. It’s also a good thing I like Anna Paquin so much because she invariably makes the Bill/Sookie pairing interesting despite all the problems I have with it.

Summer Diversions

So, my summer has unfortunately turned out to be rather suckier than most, what with my recovery from surgery being much longer and more complicated than expected, not to mention my having had to move clean across the country and back again in the space of a single month. Still, I did manage to have a little fun here and there in spite of everything, especially in the celebration of my twentieth birthday (yay me!) Although I’ve been woefully negligent of this blog for the abysmally long period of two months, I decided to write a brief summary of all the entertainment I’ve consumed in the interim. That is to say, rather than writing full-length reviews of everything I’ve taken in over the past few weeks, I’ve compiled a list of concise mini-reviews here:

Books

Tess of the d'Urbervilles (Thomas Hardy). Ugh, I did not enjoy this book. My only previous experience with Hardy (reading The Mayor of Casterbridge for a high-school assignment) was likewise an unpleasant one, but I decided to read this on the recommendation of a person whose opinion I highly regard. Sadly, said person and I must agree to disagree on this one. I did appreciate Hardy's frank, non-didactic treatment of the subject of premarital sex, as well as his vivid portraits of the pastoral life of the farming class. Yet I disliked his characters too much to sympathize with their misfortunes, which they bring entirely on themselves. In this novel, as well as in The Mayor of Casterbridge, I found an unnatural and forced abundance of tragedy and melodrama.

Castle in the Air and House of Many Ways (Diana Wynne Jones). If I had to characterize these books with a single word, I would say "delightful." Not for nothing is Jones one of the most successful and respected writers of fantasy for adults and children on either side of the pond. I held off reading these two for quite a while because, although touted as sequels to Howl's Moving Castle (one of my favorite books EVER), this is only half true. Yet I should not have waited: these books may not be direct continuations of HMC, and they may feature Sophie, Howl, and Calcifer only peripherally, but they nevertheless retain all the originality, charm, and wit of that previous work. They are the sort of books that feature characters with whom one cannot help but fall in love, and about whom one cannot read without smiling continuously and laughing outright occasionally.

Teatime for the Traditionally Built (Alexander McCall Smith). The most recent installment in the very enjoyable "No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency" series does not disappoint. These books are rather like the literary equivalent of comfort food: simple, wholesome, and emotionally charged. Each novel in the series serves up the same basic dish, but it is invariably delicious. I love the reliable comfort of these familiar characters, with all their quirks and foibles. This tenth book features, among other things, another fabulous episode in the hilariously epic rivalry between Mma Makutsi (my favorite character, btw) and the elegant yet evil Violet Sephotho. Niether the series in general nor this book in particular are particularly strong in terms of tight plotting, but what they lack in that quarter they somehow make up for in general awesomeness. It's just hard to go too wrong with a story about the first and only female detective agency in the bright and beautiful country of Botswana.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (Jane Austin and Seth Grahame-Smith). Yeah, that’s right: I read it. I figured the bizarre-0-factor alone would be worth the price of admission, and as an oddity of popular fiction it was pretty entertaining. Just take one look at the cover, and you’ll learn all you need to know about this unholy marriage of a regency romance and a gruesome gore-fest. Not everybody’s cup of tea, to be sure, but I personally was kind of excited about the idea. Still, the actual execution of said idea leaves a little to be desired. If you’re going to go as far as to transport Austen’s beloved characters into a zombie-infested alternate universe, you may as well play around with the story a bit. Grahame-Smith leaves the original story completely in tact, and just sprinkls in the zombie action here and there. Also, the discrepancy between his capabilities as a writer and those of Austen herself are as decidedly pronounced as that which exists between their choices in subject matter. P&P&Z contains just a few too many glaring grammatical errors and typos for a book written in the style of the early nineteenth century. Somebody needs to inform the author that those who truly wish to emulate Austen’s prose do not end their sentences with prepositions, nor do they split their infinitives. They just don’t.

Manga

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, vol 3 (Nagaru Tanigawa). My feelings about this volume are pretty much consistent with my reactions to the previous two volumes: generally positive. I absolutely love the whole Haruhi franchise (here's why), but I must recommend the animated version over the manga adaptation as being the higher quality and generally better presentation of the story and characters. Still, volume three will continue to entertain those already hooked on Haruhi, especially since it features a really great sequence from the light novels that did not appear in the anime. Get your fix of ironic chaos and surreal mayhem in volume three of The Melencholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, in which Kyon and the gang deal with more wild ambitions and violent mood swings from their beautiful, fearless, and insane leader. Expect baseball, group shopping, and time travel.

Fushigi Yuugi, Volume 2 VIZBIG Edition (Yuu Watase). When I bought the previously released VIZBIG edition of this series, which contained volumes 1-3 of the series, I wrote a long-ish post about why I though Fushigi Yuugi withstands the test of time in spite of all its cliched storylines and dated artwork. This second VIZBIG installment, containing volumes 4-6, continues to entertain and to amuse. Additionally, volume four introduces my absolute favorite character in the series. I know Tamahome and Hotohori are considered the main heartthrobs of Fushigi Yuugi, but I'm a Tasuki girl all the way. Actually, now that I think about it, he may be tied with Nuriko for my no. 1 favorite FY character. They're both so side-splittingly hilarious, and yet endearing as well. Fushigi Yuugi has many flaws, but I still consider it to be a real gem of a series.

Bride of the Water God, volumes 2 & 3 (Yun Mi-Gyung). This manhwa is a stellar example of a series that doesn’t quite live up to all of its amazing potential. The artwork is strikingly gorgeous, the mythology is intriguing and complex, and the characters and premise are dramatic and interesting. Yet most of the time Bride of the Water God turns out to be more of a hot mess than anything else. All the elements of an incredible series are present; they just don’t all come together as nicely as they could. The plot is often confusing and unfocused. Still, at its heart BotWG is a very good folk/fairy-tale, something for which I am a total sucker. Also, the plot starts to pick up more in volume 3, what Mui’s strange bargain and Soah’s resulting return to Earth, so we’ll see what happens.

Ouran High School Host Club vol. 12 (Hatori Bisco). I’ve been reading this series online as it’s been released, so I already know that it’s around this point in the story (volume twelve) that things really start to pick up, plotwise. Readers who’ve been patient throughout volumes and volumes of filler arcs with no end in sight will start to be rewarded with some real romantic action from here on out. Not that those filler arcs aren’t great in and of themselves; quite the opposite, really. That’s what makes this series such a joy to read. Even when the plot is spiraling off into a seemingly random vortex of nonsense, it’s still character-driven and that’s what really counts. OHSHC is one of those series with which it is difficult to go wrong: consistently funny, endearing, and well-drawn even when the plot defies the boundaries of the plausible.

Dramas

Sons of Sol Pharmacy House (aka My Too Perfect Sons). This weekend drama, currently in the second half of its fifty-episode run on KBS, has got the market cornered on hilarious, heartwarming family drama, not to mention some of the best romantic comedy storylines I’ve seen in a very long time. The cast exhibits a wide variety of talent, the show is well written, and each episode is fun fun FUN to watch. I find myself truly caring about these characters, oftentimes laughing aloud at their antics, and once or twice I’ve even cried at some of the more touching moments. This show is such a wonderful breath of fresh air compared to some of the dud dramas I’ve watched recently.

Television

“True Blood”, season two. Holy canoli, has this show taken off in season two! I’m a fan of the novels on which the show is based, but after watching the first season I was kind of on the fence about whether or not to tune in for more this summer, but boy am I glad I did. This summer, True Blood has significantly improved in both quality and popularity when compared to season one. Not only are there some great new characters, including the newly-turned teen vamp Jessica and the mythically evil maenad Maryann, but some old characters also get more development and backstory, such as the now-short-haired Eric (yay!) I know that Eric in the show will never be what he is in the books, but I’m really starting to like what Skarsgard and the show’s creators are doing with this manifestation of him. Anna Paquin continues to bring fire and life to the character of Sookie, but male lead Stephen Moyer and his character, Bill, continue to irk me. Still, True Blood’s really an ensemble show, and one to which I look forward to watching each week with much anticipation.

“Dollhouse”, unaired episode 14, “Epitaph One.” The much-hyped fourteenth episode of Dollhouse’s first season turned out to be my favorite episode yet. Set in the not-so-distant post-apocalyptic future that results directly from Dollhouse imprinting technology, “Epitaph One” was fifty minutes of intensely riveting entertainment that would have made zero sense to anyone who missed the rest of the season. It actually made it seem as though season one was little more that an introduction to the main action of season two, perhaps of the whole series. That would be a good thing as far as I’m concerned. I am no officially looking forward to season two; I dare say we might expect great things from this show yet.

Theater

Disney presents “The Lion King” on Broadway. Gosh, what could I possibly say about this show that hasn’t already been said? It was amazing, of course, just as everybody said it would be. But what really got me wasn’t so much the costumes, perhaps because I was expecting that, but just the overall presentation of the story. They took a cartoon movie and, rather than creating a literal translation from screen to stage (as with other Disney musicals), they created a truly theatrical interpretation of the original film and used animal characters to tell a powerfully moving and very human story. I’ll admit that I cried, and I’m not ashamed. Plus, the music was great. I have three new favorite songs. Too bad the tickets cost about an arm and a leg. Each.

Looking ahead to True Blood season 2

HBO's begun to promote the sophomore season of True Blood, their television adaptation of Charlaine Harris' series of vampire/supernatural/mystery novels. In spite of the strongly mixed nature of my feelings towards this show, I must admit I felt a little shiver of excitement when I saw these stills. So I guess I'll be tuning in June 14th for the premiere of season 2. Let's take a look, shall we?

Let's see... We've got Bill and Sookie, the two luvy-dove birds, being all sweet together. Here's hoping for lots of wrenches to be thrown into that relationship in season two. Personally, I enjoyed the books a heck of a lot more after she ditched him and stood on her own for a while. Next up we've got Eric (yay, my favorite character), along with subbordinates Pam and Chow all putting their game faces on, so to speak. Below that is a picture of what I can only assume is a new waitress at Merlotte's. In the books, the bar's staff has a pretty quick turnover (with a few exceptions of course), but I guess this girl has a pretty significant role in season two judging from this photo. And then we come to my favorite still, featuring Eric's shorter hair! This is taken from the promotional video, not from an actual episode, but I heart it so there.

Starting from the top of the right column, we've got Jason finding (mis)guidance from the fanatical, cultish religious group known as the Fellowship of the Sun. I think he's still got a lot of lingering guilt from everything that went down in season one, but of course, being Jason Stackhouse, he's going to deal with it in the most boneheaded way possible. Below that we've got some kind of shindig happening at Merlotte's, and Michelle Forbes' character on the dance floor with none other than detective Andy Bellefleur. And finally, we have Sookie with Tara and Sam all gazing pretty intently offscreen at something that just went down. Because in Bon Temps, there's always something that's just gone down.

If a picture's worth a thousand words, how about a video? Here's the recently released promo for season two:

Let's see... Wierdness? check. Blood? check. Sex? check. Yup, looks like True Blood's back in business. This show walks a pretty fine line between kitsch and cool. Sometimes I find myself bemoaning the blatant proliferation of hackneyed genre stereotypes, while other times I find the show's innovative use of those same steryotypes to be very compelling. And then the rest of the time I'm just plain grossed out by the graphic imagery that constantly reminds me I'm watching an HBO production. In any case, the show is very different from the novels. They took a lot of the same characters and storylines, but they managed to give birth to en entirely new breed. Which is, I guess, what an adaptation should be. So, yeah, I'll give season two a shot.

The Southern Vampire Mysteries (a.k.a The Sookie Stackhouse Novels) by Charlaine Harris

Winter break is a nice time for college students. We get about a month off from school with nothing to do but hang out and work part time. But the greatest part about all this mid-scholastic-year mellowing out is that it provides the opportunity for lots of uninterrupted, guilt-free reading and TV watching. This is not to say we don’t pursue such recreational activities during the semester as well, only that we’re not putting off any homework in order to do so. So if I randomly decide I want to watch the entire first season of the recently debuted HBO series True Blood, for example, I can and a few weeks ago I did just that. Now True Blood itself is an interesting series (starring Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer, and created by Six Feet Under man Alan Ball), with which I have something of a love-hate relationship, but the point of this post is that it inspired me to hunt down and read the series of books it was based on. And that would be the Southern Vampire Mysteries by Charlaine Harris.

First, a word in praise of local library networks. This series currently has eight books in it, and is still going strong. (The ninth will be released in May, but I’m fairly certain it won’t be the last.) And while I was definitely interested in reading them all, I wasn’t too keen on making the kind of financial investment it would take to buy them. It had been a while since I’d actually used my local public library, and I’d almost forgotten how convenient (and free!) it was. After a bit of hunting, I was eventually able to track down all eight books and check them out en masse, and was even pretty proud of myself, as if utilizing public resources was some huge personal accomplishment. But, anyways, on to the books themselves.

The series features Sookie Stackhouse, a southern blonde bombshell of a barmaid who lives and works in northern Louisiana, and who just so happens to be telepathic. What’s interesting about these books, and different from many (all?) other vampire novels, is that the living dead have been integrated and (more or less) accepted into modern human society. That doesn’t mean the vampires don’t have their own complicated politics, power struggles and practices of which the humans know nothing, because they sure as heck do. Not to mention the other “supe” (supernatural) communities, such as the weres (werewolves), shifters (shape shifters), witches, and the fairies, all of whom have yet to come out to the humans and admit their existence like the vampires did. Sound complicated? Well, it is. And our telepathic human heroine gets inexorably caught up in all of it. But this complex and imaginative world is something that Charlaine Harris has developed gradually over the course of the series, slowly expanding it with each new installment. In an almost Harry Potter-esque way, she’s taken a clichéd concept and created from it a sprawling and engrossing world that feels very real in spite of its fantasticalness (is that a word?).

Sookie herself makes an okay heroine, but since the books are narrated in the first person her voice is fairly important. She’s pretty blunt and in-your-face, but considering what she’s been through and what she deals with on an average basis I can’t really fault her for it. Growing up as a telepath in a small town like Bon Temps is never easy, and one of the reasons she first gets involved with the vampire community (or at least with one vampire in particular) is because it represents an opportunity for her to deal with her otherness in some way. Another thing about Sookie is the fact that she tends to acquire a lot of admirers within the various supe communities. (Humans guys, on the other hand, tend to avoid her because of the whole telepathy/reputation for craziness thing.) Her seemingly universal appeal would seem a little contrived, except for the fact that she shares a different and interesting relationship with each of her would be lovers, who are also well-rounded characters in and of themselves.

And while we’re on the topic of Sookie’s beaux… Let me just say that I felt a sort of grim satisfaction when her first love interest (you know, the one that sweeps her off her feet in the first book) turns out to be somewhat of a jerk. I’d never really liked him anyways, and I do like how the whole series doesn’t rely on that particular romance as its foundation. I like that while Sookie suffers heartache over him, she learns and grows from the experience, and also starts to navigate the politics and intrigues of the supernatural community on her own. Plus, I gotta admit that one of my favorite things about this series is the character of Eric (local vampire sheriff, former Viking, budding business tycoon, and possessor in spades of joie-de-vivre.) He’s got a pretty complicated relationship with Sookie that nevertheless is always lots of fun, and does a lot more for me than the Bill/Sookie one ever did. They’ve never officially gotten together (except once briefly when he was suffering from magic-induced amnesia), but they’ve definitely got something going on. Pam, Eric’s second-in-command, is also great. Together the two run a vampire bar for tourists in Shreveport that’s called – wait for it – Fangtasia. Ha! Anyways, those two are probably my favorite characters, but there are heaps to choose from.

I do have some reservations about the series, however, and let me just say that it’s definitely not for younger teens. Explicit sex and violence are pretty standard components of many, if not all, of the Sookie books. Call me a prude, but there’s definitely some stuff in there that I could have done without. As for the, uh, caliber shall we say, of the prose, I read a review of these books that compared them to "literary water": no substance or nutrition whatsoever. But I'd argue that they're more like literary kool-aid: yummy and fun, if not as good for you as broccoli, for example. But the fact that I burned through all eight books in two and a half weeks (the first two and a half weeks of a new semester) just goes to show how addictive they are once you really get into them. Now I just have to wait until May 5th so I can read the ninth installment, Dead and Gone.

Just one more thing. I know this post was mainly about the books, but here for your listening pleasure, is the song featured in the opening credits of HBO's True Blood. Kinda sets the tone for the series anyways.

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