One thing I was amazed with was the length of some of the credits. Compared with today's TV shows where the credits are usually very brief (presumably to give more time for the show itself), TV shows in the 70s and 80s had fairly long credits, sometimes nearly 2 minutes long. I don't have a set criteria for my choices. Basically, it comes down to music and cool factor.
10. Bonanza
Great theme music, and the burning map is especially cool. Who didn't want to ride on the Ponderosa alongside Hoss and Little Joe after watching this?
9. Star Trek
Is it me or does Shatner manage to overact even in his narration?
8. Knight Rider
This may be the only positive thing I every say about something David Hasselhoff is invovled in. This also may be the only time a Trans-Am was so cool.
7. Incredible Hulk
I think its funny that the producers of the show decided that the best example of what sends David Banner over the edge into a raging monster is trying to change his tire in bad weather.
6. A-Team
Its amazing how something so lame could be so cool. Those who loved this show as a kid and have seen it recently know exactly what I mean. It had a great intro however. Remember when anything with a Crack-commando unit was awesome?
5. Greatest American Hero
This one makes the list purely on the basis of its great theme song. And William Katt's hair.
4. Dukes of Hazzard
Its hard to believe that my brother and I used to love this show so much that we would pretend that we were the Duke boys. The great thing about the credits was the catchy Waylon Jennings theme song and the way it tricked you into believing that the show was much better than it actually was. What other TV series had characters named Cooter and Cletus?
3. Battlestar Galactica (original)
A show that was actually as cool (at least at the time) as its epic opening credits.
2. Six Million Dollar Man
These opening credits make nearly dying in a plane crash seem like a good idea. Remember the episode where he fights Bigfoot? Classic.
1. Buck Rogers
"In the year 1987..." That just cracks me up.
Honorable Mention
These are goods ones too, but just didn't fit into my top ten.
1. Kung-Fu
Can you imagine how much cooler this show would have been with Bruce Lee instead of David Carradine?
2. Tour of Duty
I really liked this show. Paint it Black by the Stones was a nice touch.
3. Airwolf
Jan Michael Vincent's one hit wonder. Cool intro and cool show.
And While We're At It, Remember These?
1. Manimal
To an 8-year old boy, this was the coolest show on TV. Scary.
2. The Fall Guy
Yes. That is Lee Majors singing.
3. Tales of the Gold Monkey
I can't even believe I remembered this one.
2 comments:
Seems to me you missed three key ones:
The Dungeons and Dragons Cartoon (remember the lame roller-coaster-through-the-portal trick?)
Thundar the Barbarian (with the moon being split in half)
And my personal favorite 8-year-old dream show: The Master. Lee Van Cleef? Sho Kosugi? Pure magic.
As far as the cartoons, that's a separate category(forthcoming).
I thought about The Rockford Files, but just couldn't fit it into the list. I will say James Garner's Trans Am is much Cooler than KIT.
I should have added Lorne Greene's New Wilderness to complete the trifecta.
Ted, I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that you just didn't want to write out his name, but writing "JMV" makes you sound like one of those wierd fanboys that abbreviate their favorite stuff.
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