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Angel

1999–2004The WBHorror

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The spinoff takes the parent show's structure and drops the jokes: Darling Violetta's 'Sanctuary' instead of surf-punk, city at night instead of monster movies. Like Buffy, the design holds for five years while the names in front of it keep moving.

Angel rebuilt its titles: five distinct opening sequences are catalogued here across seasons 1–5, running between 45 and 50 seconds.

It arrived on The WB in 1999, when 7th Heaven, Charmed and Sabrina the Teenage Witch were also on the network.

Only 139 of the 2,618 shows catalogued here changed their titles at all; Angel did so four times.

5 sequences64th most looked up of 409 in the 1990sIMDb ↗
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All 5 opening title sequences

Season 1

48s

The first year, with Glenn Quinn credited as Doyle — a billing that lasts nine episodes before the character is killed off, making this the shortest-lived name in either show's titles.

Season 2

50s

Re-cut, with J. August Richards added as Gunn.

Season 3

50s

Amy Acker joins as Fred.

Season 4

48s

Vincent Kartheiser is added as Connor for the season the show spends pulling itself apart.

Season 5

45s

The last and largest change: James Marsters brings Spike across from Buffy, and Charisma Carpenter — in the titles of one show or the other continuously since 1997 — is gone.

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Are You Afraid of the Dark?

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A campfire, a handful of powder thrown into it, and a children's anthology that frightened a generation on a Saturday teatime.

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The League of Gentlemen

1999–2017BBC TwoHorror

Royston Vasey, a local shop, and a radio series that arrived on television already knowing exactly what it looked like.

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Still from the opening titles of Charmed8 sequences

Charmed

1998–2006The WBHorror

Love Spit Love's cover of 'How Soon Is Now?' over the Book of Shadows and three sisters, re-cut every season. It goes further than that, though: the credits were rebuilt whenever the cast of an episode changed, so a season carries several versions rather than one — eight of them in the second year alone.

  • Season 1
  • Season 2
  • Season 3
  • and 5 more
Still from the opening titles of Millennium1 sequence

Millennium

1996–1999FoxHorror

Chris Carter's other series, opened with the same Mark Snow unease as The X-Files and none of its wit — thirty-four seconds that promise a much worse world.

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Still from the opening titles of Goosebumps1 sequence

Goosebumps

1995–1998Fox Kids / YTVHorror

A briefcase blowing open in a wind that follows a dog down a street — thirty seconds of genuine dread aimed at nine-year-olds.

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Still from the opening titles of American Gothic (1995)1 sequence

American Gothic (1995)

1995–1996CBSHorror

A South Carolina sheriff who is something worse than corrupt, created by Shaun Cassidy and produced by Sam Raimi.

  • Season 1