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TVTitles

Documentary · 1970s

The 1970s account for 15 of the 190 documentary shows here, and 17 opening sequences.

BBC Two carries the most, with four.

Two of them rebuilt their titles mid-run.

15 shows17 sequences

Still from the opening titles of Family Feud2 sequences

Family Feud

1976–ABC / SyndicationDocumentary

Survey says — two families, a buzzer, and a theme rearranged for every host since Richard Dawson.

  • Season 1
  • Season 35
Still from the opening titles of The Price Is Right2 sequences

The Price Is Right

1972–CBSDocumentary

"Come on down" — the longest-running game show in American television, opening the same way for fifty years.

  • Season 1
  • Season 36
Still from the opening titles of Monday Night Football1 sequence

Monday Night Football

1970–ABCDocumentary

The programme that moved American football into primetime, and gave it a fanfare to arrive on.

  • Season 2
Still from the opening titles of Soul Train1 sequence

Soul Train

1971–2006SyndicationDocumentary

An animated locomotive pulling into a city drawn in airbrush — the longest-running first-run syndicated show in American history opens like a record sleeve.

  • Season 1
Still from the opening titles of The World at War1 sequence

The World at War

1973–1974ITV (Thames)Documentary

Thames Television's twenty-six part history of the Second World War, still the benchmark for the form.

  • Season 1
Still from the opening titles of NBC Nightly News1 sequence

NBC Nightly News

1970–NBCDocumentary

Fourteen seconds of brass and a rotating globe, which is what a network evening bulletin has been reduced to.

  • Season 47
Still from the opening titles of The Old Grey Whistle Test1 sequence

The Old Grey Whistle Test

1971–1988BBC TwoDocumentary

The serious music programme to Top of the Pops' singles chart, with a harmonica riff and a star-kicker cartoon.

  • Season 1
Still from the opening titles of A Question of Sport1 sequence

A Question of Sport

1970–2023BBC OneDocumentary

The longest-running sports quiz on television, with a picture board and a what-happened-next round.

  • Season 20
Still from the opening titles of Life on Earth1 sequence

Life on Earth

1979BBC TwoDocumentary

The series that invented the modern natural history film, and the template for everything Attenborough made afterwards.

  • Season 1
Still from the opening titles of Connections1 sequence

Connections

1978BBC OneDocumentary

James Burke tracing one invention to another across centuries, in a structure the titles set up before he says a word.

  • Season 1
Still from the opening titles of Austin City Limits1 sequence

Austin City Limits

1974–PBSDocumentary

The longest-running music programme in American television, opening on a painted Austin skyline that is not quite the real one.

  • Season 20
Still from the opening titles of The Ascent of Man1 sequence

The Ascent of Man

1973BBC TwoDocumentary

Jacob Bronowski on science as a human activity, made as the BBC's answer to its own Civilisation.

  • Season 1
Still from the opening titles of The Krypton Factor1 sequence

The Krypton Factor

1977–1995ITVDocumentary

A general knowledge round, an assault course and a mental agility test, opening on a rotating wireframe grid that was expensive in 1977.

  • Season 1
Still from the opening titles of Ski Sunday1 sequence

Ski Sunday

1978–BBC TwoDocumentary

A downhill run cut to Pop Looks Bach, and a theme that in Britain means winter rather than skiing.

  • Season 43
Still from the opening titles of Blankety Blank1 sequence

Blankety Blank

1979–1990BBC OneDocumentary

A panel game with a deliberately worthless prize, and a microphone shaped like a fishing rod.

  • Season 1