Road to Avonlea
Montgomery's Prince Edward Island stories, made by the CBC with Disney paying half the bill.
Road to Avonlea rebuilt its titles: two distinct opening sequences are catalogued here across seasons 1 and 5, running between 76 and 79 seconds.
At 79 seconds at its longest, it opens well above the 50-second median for drama sequences in this catalogue.
It arrived on CBC in 1990, when Mr. Dressup, The Beachcombers and The Kids in the Hall were also on the network.
Only 139 of the 2,618 shows catalogued here changed their titles at all; Road to Avonlea did so once.
All 2 opening title sequences
Season 1
79sThe 1990 opening, name cards over a sleigh in snow.
Season 5
76sThe fifth season's, different footage and a different type treatment.
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
2 sequences
ER
James Newton Howard's theme over sliding doors, gurneys and light — the template every medical drama since has either copied or deliberately avoided.
- Season 1
- Season 10
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