Port Charles
The General Hospital spin-off that later restructured itself into thirteen-week arcs with an ending each — the closest American daytime came to a limited series.
Port Charles opens with a main title sequence of 36 seconds.
At 36 seconds, it opens well under the 50-second median for drama sequences in this catalogue.
It arrived on ABC in 1997, when One Life to Live, All My Children and The Bugs Bunny Show were also on the network.
The opening titles
Season 1
36sFan upload of the 1997 opening, from the launch year.
More drama opening titles from the 1990s
1 sequence
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James Newton Howard's theme over sliding doors, gurneys and light — the template every medical drama since has either copied or deliberately avoided.
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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.
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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.
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1 sequenceBeverly 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.
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