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Soap Opera Openings


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Days opening needs to stay the same. The only thing that needs to change is the music. I think they've had it since 1993. It would be fantastic if they went back to the "Melaswen" theme. It was grand and majestic. Plus it was nice touch that they used the sound of a orchestra warming up during the mid bumpers. This theme would be such a nice touch to the show right now consdiering that it's so great right now. It would give a signal of sorts to some of the show's lapsed veiwers that it's changed from the campy and drawn out stories it once had, to serious storytelling. I wish they could have done it when Hogan first joined.

When GL changed it's opening in 2005 from WesCon's piece of crap I was excited. Wheeler didn't disappoint, despite the budget the show had, she was able to give the show a nice opening(One that is miles better than ATWT's). I'd love to find out what she thought of John Conboy's opening.

Guiding Light's opening from 1991-1997 was purely classic. I would enjoy it if it was to make a come back like AMC's opening from the early 90s.

GL's opening from 2002 wasn't great, but it was good, simple in a way. Anyways Rauch did the best he could to turn the show around during his final year on the show. Sucks that it had to replaced (and outlived) by such a bland and cheap opening.

I like AMC's opening a little, but nothing beats the gold one they had before it. I loved it, and I loved how it was like a updated version of AMC's open from the early 90s. Bringing back that theme was the best decision Jean Dario Burke ever made. GH and OLTL's suck, pure and simple.

I don't care what anyone says, I love ATWT's open from 2000. I just love opening themes that sound as if a band or orchestra composed it compared to the other cheap way soaps are doing it. These days I wonder if Goutman has lost interest in keeping up the look of the show through it's opening. The blue opening is so unflattering compared to the first time I watched it.

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You hit the nail on the head when you said Melaswen theme.

By the way, I've seen NO press, no articles, no quotes from Corday about that. Hell, I even asked people on this VERY BOARD if they knew why it was played on a few episodes and abandoned, seemingly, forever.

It's "Days" biggest mystery, in my opinion, and I'm DYING to know why it came about, why it left, why Corday never has commented on it, and why they don't change the theme to be more GRAND like that. You said it too, "grand and majestic." It made you feel that you weren't watching a soap -- but a freaking EVENT. A daytime EVENT.

Imagine if we felt that EVERY time the show came on.

daytime's biggest mistake, if not ever, was "Days" not KEEPING that theme.

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I thought Corday did comment on it, did he not? I seem to remember an article with him talking about the whole Melaswen/SSK storyline and saying that they were "even using a darker version of our theme music for a while."

Anyways, I'm a dork for the openings, always was, always will be. Grew up on the CBS soaps' early 90s openings: Y&R's classic formal/white open, B&B's legendary flashy headshot open, GL's Hold on to Love, and ATWT's four seasons. Just hearing the first few notes of the original version of "Hold on to Love" takes me back. I immediately think of the lighthouse with the beam spinning over and over and then the extremely colorful part at the end with the show's title.

Currently, I like GL's the best, meaning the real opening they used from November 2005 to January of this year. I really liked the visuals and how the cast member headshots weren't all done the exact same way. I especially loved Michelle's shot for some reason. The music is good too. ATWT is in DIRE need of a makeover. There have been cast members who have come and gone and did not get in the opening ever. Van Hansis and Elena Goode have both been on the show for over a year, yet neither one is in there. I believe the last contract cast member to be added to the opening was either Marie Wilson or Alexandra Chando (whoever joined the show first) back in late summer 2005. The fact that Nancy is only seen for a split second in the opening that gets the least amount of airplay is also pretty pissy too! I truly thought we were gonna get something for the 50th anniversary last April, but nope.

ABC's openings are a disgrace, especially when you consider how great theirs were back in the 70s, 80s, and 90s. As much as I love my own memories, I can only imagine the feeling someone would get from seeing OLTL's rising sun or AMC's opening photo album or GH's urgent ambulance and having that take them back to their childhood. AMC's current opening is the best out of the three, but that's really not saying much. If I had my way, OLTL and GH would get brand new visuals (and a brand new arrangement of "Faces of the Heart" for GH and a completely new song for OLTL) while AMC would go back to the 2002-2004 "gold" opening.

I agree with Matt that NBC's had some good openings throughout the years. AW always had some pretty ones, and I really like SFT's early 80s set. The DAYS opening is a classic, but it's due for an update. Not a cast member-filled, techno-music opening, but just another update, with another arrangement of the theme and another perspective of the hourglass.

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My favorite opening ever is AW's with all the cast in different tints walking around part of New York city for its final few years (but the closing theme music for AW in its final years was even better -- so sad, so soapy).

Right now none of the openings grab me. I agree that Days shouldn't change its classic opening.

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Don't get me wrong, the early '90s AW opening was REALLY cheesy, but it HOOKED me. "you are my way (you are my way!) to another world (to another world!) ..." It had powerful visuals too...like Rachel standing with the two other women, hands on each other's backs, that guy enjoying the rain with that woman (didn't remember 'em lol)...it was just SO great. I loved the fake animation effects it had too... just incredible.

I actually didn't like the theme you're talking about... the opening, I mean. It was VERY slickly produced, don't get me wrong...and it was SOOOOOOO in with the times. But it was too good, if that makes any sense.

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An interesting idea I had for the Days opening... what if, instead of the hourglass spinning, it stayed stationary while the 'camera' simply revolves around the hourglass?

I miss the old closing shots, too, because it was designed to go with the opening sequence. Did anyone ever notice that in the opening sequence, the sun is coming up as it gets brighter and brighter, and then in the closing sequence the sun was going down as the sky in the background turned shades of purple and orange? It was the whole 'day' in Days of Our Lives! Damn them for giving is sh!t credits now!

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