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Syndication opening titles

Syndication accounts for 86 shows here, running from 1950 to the present, and 103 opening title sequences between them.

Animation leads with 26, then comedy with 14.

Ten of them rebuilt their titles at least once — most of all Babylon 5, with five distinct sequences.

86 shows · 103 sequences · oldest first

22 of these moved between networks during their run and appear under each one.

Still from the opening titles of The Cisco Kid1 sequence

The Cisco Kid

1950–1956SyndicationDrama

The first television series filmed in colour, three years before anyone in America could receive it.

  • Season 1
Still from the opening titles of Truth or Consequences1 sequence

Truth or Consequences

1950–1988CBS / NBC / SyndicationDocumentary

A radio stunt show that reached television in 1950 and persuaded a New Mexico town to rename itself after it.

  • Season 1
Still from the opening titles of The Lawrence Welk Show1 sequence

The Lawrence Welk Show

1951–1982ABC / SyndicationDocumentary

Champagne music, bubbles in the titles, and thirty-one years of the same band leader counting in.

  • Season 1
Still from the opening titles of The Adventures of Superman1 sequence

The Adventures of Superman

1952–1958SyndicationSci-Fi

"Faster than a speeding bullet" — the narration that defined the character for a generation before any film did.

  • Season 1
Still from the opening titles of Romper Room1 sequence

Romper Room

1953–1994SyndicationComedy

A franchised preschool programme licensed to local stations, each with its own hostess and the same magic mirror.

  • Season 1
Still from the opening titles of Highway Patrol1 sequence

Highway Patrol

1955–1959SyndicationCrime

Broderick Crawford saying "Ten-four" into a car radio, which entered the language from here.

  • Season 1
Still from the opening titles of Sea Hunt1 sequence

Sea Hunt

1958–1961SyndicationDrama

Lloyd Bridges as a freelance diver, and the most successful syndicated series of its decade.

  • Season 1
Still from the opening titles of The Huckleberry Hound Show1 sequence

The Huckleberry Hound Show

1958–1961SyndicationAnimation

The first animated series to win an Emmy, and the show Yogi Bear was a supporting segment in.

  • Season 1
Still from the opening titles of The Quick Draw McGraw Show1 sequence

The Quick Draw McGraw Show

1959–1962SyndicationAnimation

A horse sheriff who cannot shoot, with Snooper and Blabber and Augie Doggie filling out the half hour.

  • Season 1
Still from the opening titles of Davey and Goliath1 sequence

Davey and Goliath

1960–1975SyndicationAnimation

A boy and his talking dog, stop-motion, funded by the Lutheran church and animated by the Gumby studio.

  • Season 1
Still from the opening titles of The Yogi Bear Show1 sequence

The Yogi Bear Show

1961–1962SyndicationAnimation

The supporting character given his own half hour, and a pic-a-nic basket that outlasted the studio.

  • Season 1
Still from the opening titles of Roger Ramjet1 sequence

Roger Ramjet

1965–1969SyndicationAnimation

A five-minute cartoon about a pilot who takes a pill for twenty seconds of super strength, drawn as cheaply as that sounds.

  • Season 1
Still from the opening titles of Speed Racer1 sequence

Speed Racer

1967–1968SyndicationAnimation

Mach GoGoGo dubbed into English at speed, and the anime that got there before anyone called it that.

  • Season 1
Still from the opening titles of Hee Haw1 sequence

Hee Haw

1969–1993CBS / SyndicationComedy

Country music and cornfield jokes, cancelled by CBS in the rural purge and then outliving it in syndication by twenty years.

  • Season 1
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 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 Muppet Show1 sequence

The Muppet Show

1976–1981ITV / SyndicationComedy

An opening that changes every week by design: Statler and Waldorf get a new heckle, Gonzo gets a new way to fail the closing note, and the arch fills with whoever is in that episode.

  • Season 1
Still from the opening titles of Battle of the Planets1 sequence

Battle of the Planets

1978–1980SyndicationAnimation

Gatchaman recut for America with a robot added to explain away the footage that was cut.

  • Season 1
Still from the opening titles of It's a Living2 sequences

It's a Living

1980–1989ABC / SyndicationComedy

Waitresses at a restaurant on the thirteenth floor, cancelled by ABC and revived in syndication.

  • Season 1
  • Season 2
Still from the opening titles of Solid Gold1 sequence

Solid Gold

1980–1988SyndicationDocumentary

The weekly chart countdown as a dance routine, with its own troupe named after it.

  • Season 1
Still from the opening titles of Too Close for Comfort1 sequence

Too Close for Comfort

1980–1987ABC / SyndicationComedy

A cartoonist whose grown daughters move into the flat downstairs, which is the entire problem.

  • Season 1
Still from the opening titles of Elvira's Movie Macabre1 sequence

Elvira's Movie Macabre

1981–1986SyndicationHorror

A horror host wrapped around public-domain films, and the character that outlasted every film she introduced.

  • Season 4
Still from the opening titles of The $50,000 Pyramid1 sequence

The $50,000 Pyramid

1981SyndicationDocumentary

One year of the Pyramid format at its highest stake, between the $20,000 and $25,000 versions.

  • Season 1
Still from the opening titles of Fame1 sequence

Fame

1982–1987NBC / SyndicationDrama

The film continued at the High School of Performing Arts, with a cast who did their own dancing.

  • Season 1
Still from the opening titles of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe1 sequence

He-Man and the Masters of the Universe

1983–1985SyndicationAnimation

A man holding a sword above his head announcing that he has the power, at a volume that defined an entire decade of toy advertising.

  • Season 1
Still from the opening titles of Inspector Gadget1 sequence

Inspector Gadget

1983–1986SyndicationAnimation

A Peter Sellers impression with helicopter arms, and a theme that is In the Hall of the Mountain King with the serial numbers filed off.

  • Season 1
Still from the opening titles of Mama's Family1 sequence

Mama's Family

1983–1990NBC / SyndicationComedy

A Carol Burnett Show sketch given its own house, dropped by NBC and then run for four more years in syndication.

  • Season 1
Still from the opening titles of Star Search1 sequence

1983–1995SyndicationDocumentary

The syndicated talent contest that ran twelve years and handed the singing-competition format almost everything Idol later inherited.

  • Season 1
Still from the opening titles of Tales from the Darkside1 sequence

Tales from the Darkside

1983–1988SyndicationHorror

George Romero's anthology, opened by pastoral countryside that turns to negative while a narrator explains why.

  • Season 1
Still from the opening titles of Webster1 sequence

Webster

1983–1989ABC / SyndicationComedy

A boy adopted by his late father's team-mate, in the sitcom ABC ran in Diff'rent Strokes' shadow.

  • Season 1
Still from the opening titles of Charles in Charge1 sequence

Charles in Charge

1984–1990CBS / SyndicationComedy

A student paying his rent by minding somebody else's children, in a sitcom CBS cancelled and syndication brought back.

  • Season 1
Still from the opening titles of Kids Incorporated1 sequence

Kids Incorporated

1984–1994Syndication / Disney ChannelComedy

A band of children playing covers in a converted warehouse, and where Fergie and Jennifer Love Hewitt both started.

  • Season 1
Still from the opening titles of Rainbow Brite1 sequence

Rainbow Brite

1984–1986SyndicationAnimation

A Hallmark character licensed into a cartoon, in the era when the toy came first and the series followed.

  • Season 1
Still from the opening titles of Voltron: Defender of the Universe1 sequence

Voltron: Defender of the Universe

1984–1985SyndicationAnimation

Five lions forming a robot, explained by narration because the animation alone could not carry it — and the sequence is better for the commitment.

  • Season 1
Still from the opening titles of A Woman of Substance1 sequence

A Woman of Substance

1985Channel 4 / SyndicationDrama

Barbara Taylor Bradford's servant girl who builds a department store empire, across three nights.

  • Season 1
Still from the opening titles of G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero1 sequence

G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero

1985–1986SyndicationAnimation

A toy line turned into a war cartoon where nobody is ever hit, and a theme that spells the acronym out.

  • Season 1
Still from the opening titles of Jem and the Holograms1 sequence

Jem and the Holograms

1985–1988SyndicationAnimation

A record executive with a holographic alter ego, and a series that stopped for a music video every episode.

  • Season 1
Still from the opening titles of Robotech3 sequences

Robotech

1985SyndicationAnimation

Three unrelated Japanese series cut together into one American saga, and the opening is where the seam shows: the same theme and the same establishing pan every week, then a different logo card and a different war.

  • Season 1
  • Season 2
  • Season 3
Still from the opening titles of Small Wonder1 sequence

Small Wonder

1985–1989SyndicationComedy

A robot girl passed off as a daughter, in a syndicated sitcom that few people quite believe existed.

  • Seasons 1–2
Still from the opening titles of ThunderCats1 sequence

ThunderCats

1985–1989SyndicationAnimation

A sword extending, a cat's eye opening, and a shout — eighties syndication at its most confident.

  • Season 1
Still from the opening titles of What's Happening Now!!1 sequence

What's Happening Now!!

1985–1988SyndicationComedy

The seventies sitcom revived with the same cast grown up and running the diner.

  • Season 1
Still from the opening titles of Hollywood Squares1 sequence

Hollywood Squares

1986–1989SyndicationDocumentary

The noughts-and-crosses game revived for syndication, with nine celebrities stacked in a lit grid.

  • Season 1
Still from the opening titles of My Little Pony 'n Friends1 sequence

My Little Pony 'n Friends

1986–1987SyndicationAnimation

The Hasbro line's first series, thirty years before the franchise found an audience it had not been aimed at.

  • Season 1
Still from the opening titles of SilverHawks1 sequence

SilverHawks

1986SyndicationAnimation

ThunderCats moved into space by the same studio, with the same narrator shouting the same way.

  • Season 1
Still from the opening titles of BraveStarr1 sequence

BraveStarr

1987–1988SyndicationAnimation

Filmation's science-fiction western, and the last series the studio finished before it closed.

  • Season 1
Still from the opening titles of Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future1 sequence

Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future

1987–1988SyndicationSci-Fi

Live action against computer animation, built so that a toy could shoot at the screen.

  • Season 1
Still from the opening titles of DuckTales1 sequence

DuckTales

1987–1990SyndicationAnimation

One of the most durable theme songs ever written for television, over a minute of ducks solving problems with money.

  • Season 1
Still from the opening titles of Friday the 13th: The Series1 sequence

Friday the 13th: The Series

1987–1990SyndicationHorror

An antiques shop recovering cursed objects, sharing nothing with the films but a title.

  • Season 1
Still from the opening titles of Out of This World1 sequence

Out of This World

1987–1991SyndicationComedy

A girl with an alien father who can stop time by touching her fingertips together.

  • Season 1
Still from the opening titles of Star Trek: The Next Generation3 sequences

Star Trek: The Next Generation

1987–1994SyndicationSci-Fi

The Enterprise-D passing the camera at warp while Patrick Stewart reads the mission statement. Stately, slow and completely confident — it takes almost a minute and a half before anything happens, and it never once feels the need to hurry.

  • Season 1
  • Season 2
  • Seasons 3–7
Still from the opening titles of Freddy's Nightmares1 sequence

Freddy's Nightmares

1988–1990SyndicationHorror

An anthology hosted by Freddy Krueger, made while the films were still coming out and stranger than any of them.

  • Season 1
Still from the opening titles of Monsters1 sequence

Monsters

1988–1991SyndicationHorror

A half-hour anthology from the Tales from the Darkside producers, with a creature in every episode and a budget for none of them.

  • Season 1
Still from the opening titles of Superboy1 sequence

Superboy

1988–1992SyndicationSci-Fi

Clark Kent at university in Florida, made for syndication while the films were between instalments.

  • Season 1
Still from the opening titles of War of the Worlds1 sequence

War of the Worlds

1988–1990SyndicationSci-Fi

A sequel to the 1953 film in which the aliens were never defeated, only dormant.

  • Season 1
Still from the opening titles of American Gladiators1 sequence

American Gladiators

1989–1996SyndicationDocumentary

Members of the public running an assault course against professional athletes in lycra, in a format that outlived its own slot by decades.

  • Season 1
Still from the opening titles of Baywatch1 sequence

Baywatch

1989–2001NBC / SyndicationDrama

Los Angeles County lifeguards, and at its peak the most-watched television programme on Earth.

  • Season 1
Still from the opening titles of The New Adventures of He-Man1 sequence

The New Adventures of He-Man

1989–1990SyndicationAnimation

He-Man moved off Eternia into space, with a redesigned cast and almost none of the original's iconography.

  • Season 1
Still from the opening titles of Tiny Toon Adventures1 sequence

Tiny Toon Adventures

1990–1995Syndication / Fox KidsAnimation

A patter song naming the entire cast, which the series' successor Animaniacs would take further still.

  • Season 1
Still from the opening titles of Forever Knight1 sequence

Forever Knight

1992–1996CBS / SyndicationHorror

A vampire working homicide nights in Toronto, introduced with narration explaining the arrangement every week.

  • Season 1
Still from the opening titles of Highlander: The Series1 sequence

Highlander: The Series

1992–1998SyndicationSci-Fi

Queen's 'Princes of the Universe' over swordplay and lightning, and a narration explaining immortality every week for six years.

  • Season 1
Still from the opening titles of Renegade1 sequence

Renegade

1992–1997Syndication / USA NetworkCrime

A framed policeman on a motorcycle, made for syndication by the people who made The A-Team.

  • Season 1
Still from the opening titles of Babylon 55 sequences

Babylon 5

1993–1998Syndication / TNTSci-Fi

Five seasons, five openings, and each one changes who is allowed to speak. The monologue passes from the station's first commander to his successor to his second-in-command, then splinters across the whole cast, then stops being a monologue at all.

  • Season 1
  • Season 2
  • Season 3
  • and 2 more
Still from the opening titles of Bill Nye the Science Guy1 sequence

Bill Nye the Science Guy

1993–1998PBS / SyndicationDocumentary

Science for children at the speed of a music video, with a theme that shouts the presenter's name.

  • Season 1
Still from the opening titles of Mighty Max1 sequence

Mighty Max

1993–1994SyndicationAnimation

A toy line turned into a series with Tim Curry and Richard Moll in it, and a body count.

  • Season 1
Still from the opening titles of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine2 sequences

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

1993–1999SyndicationSci-Fi

A title sequence that starts still and learns to move. The station hangs motionless in the early years; by the war it is surrounded by traffic, which is the whole arc of the show in ninety seconds.

  • Seasons 1–3
  • Seasons 4–7
Still from the opening titles of VeggieTales1 sequence

VeggieTales

1993–2015SyndicationAnimation

Bible stories told by vegetables, made on desktop computers in Chicago before any studio would have paid for it.

  • Season 1
Still from the opening titles of Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad1 sequence

Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad

1994–1995SyndicationSci-Fi

A garage band's keyboard player digitised into a computer to fight what lives there, adapted from Denkou Choujin Gridman.

  • Season 1
Still from the opening titles of Sweet Valley High1 sequence

Sweet Valley High

1994–1997Syndication / UPNDrama

The paperback series about twin sisters, adapted for television with real twins.

  • Season 1
Still from the opening titles of Viper1 sequence

Viper

1994–1999NBC / SyndicationCrime

A car that converts into an armoured attack vehicle, cancelled by NBC and revived for syndication.

  • Season 1
Still from the opening titles of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys1 sequence

Hercules: The Legendary Journeys

1995–1999SyndicationDrama

A narrated mythological premise delivered with total conviction over New Zealand hillsides.

  • Season 1
Still from the opening titles of Skysurfer Strike Force1 sequence

Skysurfer Strike Force

1995–1996SyndicationAnimation

Five pilots on energy surfboards, from the syndication block that ran opposite the Saban shows.

  • Season 1
Still from the opening titles of Xena: Warrior Princess1 sequence

Xena: Warrior Princess

1995–2001SyndicationDrama

A narrated mythological premise and a war cry, from the spinoff that comprehensively outgrew Hercules.

  • Season 1
Still from the opening titles of Beast Wars: Transformers3 sequences

Beast Wars: Transformers

1996–1999Syndication / YTVAnimation

Transformers rebuilt in computer graphics on a fraction of the budget, which is why everybody is an animal.

  • Season 1
  • Season 2
  • Season 3
Still from the opening titles of Judge Judy1 sequence

Judge Judy

1996–2021SyndicationDocumentary

Small claims heard by a former family court judge who lets almost nobody finish a sentence.

  • Season 1
Still from the opening titles of Earth: Final Conflict3 sequences

Earth: Final Conflict

1997–2002SyndicationSci-Fi

Developed from Gene Roddenberry's notes after his death, and it shows in the titles: benign-looking aliens, civic architecture and a great deal of blue, all arranged to look like a press release rather than an invasion.

  • Season 1
  • Season 3
  • Season 5
Still from the opening titles of Mummies Alive!1 sequence

Mummies Alive!

1997SyndicationAnimation

Four Egyptian mummies revived in San Francisco to guard the reincarnation of a pharaoh's son.

  • Season 1
Still from the opening titles of Mortal Kombat: Conquest1 sequence

Mortal Kombat: Conquest

1998–1999SyndicationSci-Fi

The games' tournament set six hundred years earlier, made for syndication and cancelled on a cliffhanger.

  • Season 1
Still from the opening titles of V.I.P.1 sequence

V.I.P.

1998–2002SyndicationCrime

Pamela Anderson fronting a celebrity protection agency she is unqualified to run, played for the joke.

  • Season 1
Still from the opening titles of BeastMaster1 sequence

BeastMaster

1999–2002SyndicationDrama

The 1982 film continued as a series, made in Australia.

  • Season 1
Still from the opening titles of Relic Hunter1 sequence

Relic Hunter

1999–2002SyndicationDrama

Tia Carrere as a professor recovering antiquities, in the syndication boom that followed Xena.

  • Season 1
Still from the opening titles of Andromeda2 sequences

Andromeda

2000–2005SyndicationSci-Fi

Another posthumous Roddenberry premise, opened with a ship, a collapsed republic and a great deal of lens flare.

  • Season 1
  • Season 3
Still from the opening titles of Cleopatra 25251 sequence

Cleopatra 2525

2000–2001SyndicationSci-Fi

Half-hour science fiction from the Hercules and Xena producers, paired with Jack of All Trades in one hour.

  • Season 1
Still from the opening titles of Mutant X1 sequence

Mutant X

2001–2004SyndicationSci-Fi

A Marvel-adjacent series made in Canada that Fox sued over for resembling the X-Men.

  • Season 1
Still from the opening titles of The Ellen DeGeneres Show1 sequence

The Ellen DeGeneres Show

2003–2022SyndicationComedy

Nineteen years of daytime, opening on a host dancing her way in through the audience.

  • Seasons 1–3
Still from the opening titles of Tyler Perry's House of Payne2 sequences

Tyler Perry's House of Payne

2006–SyndicationComedy

A Georgia fire chief with the rest of his family in the house, and the series that proved syndication could still start a hit.

  • Season 1
  • Seasons 2–8
Still from the opening titles of Legend of the Seeker1 sequence

Legend of the Seeker

2008–2010SyndicationDrama

Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth novels, from the Hercules and Xena producers.

  • Season 1