Sisters
Four sisters in Illinois, in a network drama that let all four of them be difficult.
Sisters opens with a main title sequence of 47 seconds.
It arrived on NBC in 1991, when Another World, Columbo and The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson were also on the network.
The opening titles
Season 1
47sFan upload of the intro. The alternative has the bumpers and the closing attached.
More drama opening titles from the 1990s
1 sequenceThe 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 sequencesTwin 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 sequencesER
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 sequenceDawson'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 sequencesThe 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 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.
- Season 1