I'm used to opening credits on TV shows being relatively short. HBO's Westworld series has an opening credit sequence that is 1 minute, 40 seconds long. Is that the longest opening credit sequence for a TV series, or is there a series with a longer credit sequence at the start of every episode?
Asked
Active
Viewed 8,212 times
9
-
2Don't let the silent downvoters get you down, I think this is a great question! – Thunderforge Dec 05 '16 at 22:36
-
2@Thunderforge Thanks! I was also waiting for someone to reference the YouTube video "Too Many Cooks", which is about a fictitious 80's sitcom and features an intro credit sequence that is about 15 minutes long. It's pretty funny. – BrettFromLA Dec 05 '16 at 23:03
-
2A mere 1:40? How quickly we forget Twin Peaks' 2:30+ goodness... ;) – Walt Dec 05 '16 at 23:50
-
1@Walt OMG that's amazing! I'd forgotten about that. – BrettFromLA Dec 06 '16 at 00:19
-
Sometimes I just sit and rewatch the Twin Peaks intro credits on repeat. – sanpaco Dec 06 '16 at 18:25
-
I vtc'd because this question does add any appreciation or understanding of the shows nor does it go into detail as to WHY these credit sequences are so long, but rather are merely just facts as the length. As such, imho this question is trivia. – DForck42 Dec 15 '16 at 17:51
-
@DForck42 Well, knowing which shows have the longest sure makes me appreciate the shows more. – Thunderforge Dec 15 '16 at 20:05
-
1Too Many Cooks has an 11:12 intro, but the series was never aired. ;) – jejorda2 Jun 19 '17 at 20:14
-
@jejorda2 Of course, Wikipedia classifies Too Many Cooks as a short film and it's done as a parody. – Thunderforge Aug 07 '17 at 21:41
-
I was thinking that Boardwalk Empire has around 1:35 into, Game of Thrones is about 1:40, and True Blood is about 1:30, but Walt and Thunderforge have me way beat with that Twin Peeks opener! – Darth Locke Feb 13 '19 at 21:30
1 Answers
13
The longest opening title sequence appears to be the Iranian TV show Zire Tigh at 3 minutes 21 seconds!
The longest English-language title sequence I can find is Twin Peaks at about 2 minutes 36 seconds (thanks to Walt for pointing it out in the comments).
Note that there are shorter versions of this opening as well (perhaps for syndication?) such as this 1 minute 36 second version on CBS' official YouTube channel.
Thunderforge
- 15,741
- 14
- 73
- 139
-
-
Well, +1 from me; however, Thunderforge, did you also follow the Iranian show? – Dec 06 '16 at 05:24
-
@MAFIA36790 Unfortunately I do not understand the language, so I have not seen Zire Tigh. – Thunderforge Dec 06 '16 at 14:47
-
Fun fact: The average intro to a TV show (of the ones I polled) seems to be 1:30 – Feb 14 '19 at 01:15
-
I believe the UK's (ITV) The Prisoner clocked in at three minutes (English language). It incorporated story background, and generally used a new voice over - but in short - it was three minutes of reused footage at the beginning of most episodes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmgbiMf99NQ – sonnik Feb 14 '19 at 20:02
-
@sonnik Can you confirm that the version you linked to is the version of the opening credits used in the majority of episodes? As it turns out, Wikipedia has an article on the opening & closing scenes of The Prisoner and it notes that "In "Arrival", the first episode of the series, the opening sequence is slightly longer and contains additional footage." If this 3-minute version is the "normal" one, and not the special one from the first episode, then I'm fine adding that to the answer. – Thunderforge Feb 14 '19 at 20:22
-
1I linked to one from "Chimes of Big Ben" (episode 2). I do recall the additional footage from Arrival, and it is not present in the version I linked to. Thus, Arrival's opening length would be a bit longer than three minutes. Only "Fallout" did away with the traditional opening altogether. I'm midway through re-watching the series - so I'll confirm they didn't become more abbreviated later into the run of the show. – sonnik Feb 14 '19 at 21:58