McHale's Navy
A PT boat crew running a black market in the South Pacific.
McHale's Navy opens with a main title sequence of 21 seconds.
At 21 seconds, it opens well under the 38-second median for comedy sequences in this catalogue.
It arrived on ABC in 1962, when The Bugs Bunny Show, ABC's Wide World of Sports and American Bandstand were also on the network.
The opening titles
Season 1
21sFan upload.
More comedy opening titles from the 1960s
2 sequences
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Harpsichord, bass clarinet, and two finger snaps that half a century of television has never managed to shake off. The family assemble for a portrait while Lurch supplies the only three adjectives the song needs.
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1 sequenceThe Brady Bunch
A three-by-three grid of faces all looking at each other — a title sequence so structurally famous that the grid alone is the reference.
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Animated witches and a swing arrangement — a live-action sitcom that opens as a cartoon, which was the only way to show the magic on a 1964 budget.
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1 sequenceGilligan's Island
A theme song that narrates the entire premise, names every castaway, and was rewritten after the first season to stop leaving two of them out.
- Season 3
1 sequenceThe Andy Griffith Show
A father and son walking to a fishing hole while somebody whistles — twenty-three seconds, and one of the most quoted pieces of music in American television.
- Season 1