Circle of Fear
An anthology that began as Ghost Story with a host and a hotel, then dropped both and renamed itself halfway through.
Circle of Fear opens with a main title sequence of 26 seconds.
At 26 seconds, it opens well under the 50-second median for horror sequences in this catalogue.
It arrived on NBC in 1972, when Truth or Consequences, Another World and Search for Tomorrow were also on the network.
The opening titles
Season 1
26sFan upload of the retitled version's opening, dated 1973.
More horror opening titles from the 1970s
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A reporter whistling in a car park, and a premise established in twenty-six seconds — the direct ancestor of The X-Files, as Chris Carter has said repeatedly.
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1 sequenceTales of the Unexpected
A dancing silhouette, a spinning roulette wheel and Ron Grainer's theme — an anthology opening far more unsettling than most of the stories that follow it.
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1 sequenceThriller (1973)
Brian Clemens' anthology of feature-length suspense plays, sold to America as a late-night staple.
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The Office
Scranton, a car park and a filing cabinet, shot like stock footage for a regional business — twenty-two seconds that promise nothing will happen.
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Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
The franchise's chung-chung and a narrated premise, held for a quarter of a century — the longest-running opening in this catalogue by some distance.
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Scrubs
Twelve seconds, an X-ray and a guitar — a medical comedy that spends less time on titles than most shows spend on a network ident.
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