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.
The Sopranos kept one opening title sequence, 90 seconds long, across seasons 1–6.
At 90 seconds, it opens well above the 50-second median for drama sequences in this catalogue.
It arrived on HBO in 1999, when Arli$$, Oz and Sex and the City were also on the network.
The opening titles
Seasons 1–6
90sUnchanged across the entire run, apart from the Twin Towers being removed from the wing mirror after season 4.
More drama opening titles from the 1990s
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
1 sequenceXena: Warrior Princess
A narrated mythological premise and a war cry, from the spinoff that comprehensively outgrew Hercules.
- Season 1