ER
James Newton Howard's theme over sliding doors, gurneys and light — the template every medical drama since has either copied or deliberately avoided.
ER rebuilt its titles: two distinct opening sequences are catalogued here across seasons 1 and 10, running between 50 and 53 seconds.
It arrived on NBC in 1994, when Another World, Columbo and Mad About You were also on the network.
Only 139 of the 2,618 shows catalogued here changed their titles at all; ER did so once.
All 2 opening title sequences
Season 1
53sThe first season's titles.
Season 10
50sThe tenth season, by which point almost none of the original cast remained in the cards.
More drama opening titles from the 1990s
1 sequence
The Sopranos
Ninety seconds of a man driving home from the Lincoln Tunnel to North Caldwell. No cast montage, no highlights — just the commute, which turns out to be the whole show.
- Seasons 1–6
2 sequences
Twin Peaks
A bird, a sawmill blade and a waterfall, over Angelo Badalamenti at a tempo no network would approve today — ninety seconds of a town being described before anyone in it speaks.
- Seasons 1–2
- Season 3
1 sequence
Dawson's Creek
Paula Cole over a Massachusetts creek — a theme so tied to the show that its absence from the streaming release became a story in itself.
- Season 1
2 sequences
The West Wing
Oil portraits, flags and W.G. Snuffy Walden's brass — an opening that treats the executive branch as a cathedral, which is the show's entire register.
- Season 1
- Season 5
1 sequence
Beverly Hills, 90210
Freeze-frames of a cast grinning at the camera over a synth-brass hook — the template every teen drama of the decade copied.
- Season 1
1 sequenceXena: Warrior Princess
A narrated mythological premise and a war cry, from the spinoff that comprehensively outgrew Hercules.
- Season 1