Best Soap Opera Opening

[Soapsuds]

Gawd this was such a cheap opening. It was a rip off of AW that @DaytimeFan posted a while back.

Edited July 8, 2018 by Soapsuds

[titan1978]

Me too!  Also from that opening the scenes in between the character shots.  Steve, Bobbie and Amy with a patient, the explosion at the Triple L diner with Laura and Luke, Jason and Robin on the beach, the Puerto Rico action shots, Sonny and Brenda dancing, Lois and Ned.  Lois has a great shot with her nails visible in the update before she left the show.  I always like Luke and Laura in the middle of the opening, and that turtleneck on Mac is iconic for how long it lasted.

 

The 2002 AMC openings made me so happy to have that theme back.  Version 1 has a great shot of Anna, and version 2 I really love the two shot of Vanessa and Maggie.

 

Y&R I really love when Nikki turns with all her blond hair as the camera sweeps towards her at the end of the classic early 90’s era opening, and Rex placing the necklace on Ketherine.  The already mentioned Jill in the porn theme is a great moment too.

 

[DaytimeFan]

 

Yes to all of the above. I particularly love the Steve/Bobbie/Amy scene with a patient because it looks realistic. The turtleneck on Mac could have been a character all its own.

 

And yes, Rex placing the necklace on Katherine, the regal queen of Y&R, was a brilliant touch. And I can't ever praise Jill's epic hair toss enough.

[allmc2008]

?

[MichaelGL]

I loved when on DAYS a certain music cue would play over the credits. This is a brilliant example of one of the many times it did. 
 

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[Wendy]

Here is a bit of macabre trivia about the Days theme I discovered: In the late '60s, there was a song called "I Wonder What She's Doing Tonight" that was a hit by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart (both of whom apparently also had a guest stint on Bewitched, as they sang a couple songs). Anyway, come to find out, Boyce and Hart were also composed the Days theme with Charles Albertine!

 

IThe macabre part? Per the FindADeath.com site, in 1994, Tommy Boyce had a series of health issues and became depressed. He ended up committing suicide. In a sort of "bad advertising", I guess you could say, it was said that he was wearing a smoking jacket...and Days of Our Lives T-shirt at the time.)

 

All three are credited in this 1972 closing:

 

ETA: This says 1972, but no way. Bill Bell was HW. Leah Laiman came MUCH later. But the music credit is here, regardless. No idea of the real year of the video.

 

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Edited July 8, 2018 by Wendy

[titan1978]

Her GH opens were awful.  Luke walking away from a room full of people no longer on the show for years was ridiculous.  The one after it was even worse.

 

 

[Wendy]

Speaking of Days closing themes, this one from '65 (and this one seems right, looking at the cast and vintage logo) gives me second-hand embarrassment.

 

"Costames"

"Lighing"

"SCRNNE GEMS"

 

Really? Take some pride in your work, people!

 

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[DaytimeFan]

 

A room full of people she fired! It was the strangest part of that terrible opening sequence. 

 

The other issue I had with it was how she buried headshots of Stuart Damon, Jackie Zeman and Leslie Charleson in “blink and you miss them” visual effects while Maurice Benard and her other pets had long lingering shots. 

 

The Faces of the Heart opening treated the cast fairly so of course it had to go under JFP. 

[Paul Raven]

Re Boyce and Hart and Days.

 

They were contracted to Screen Gems or some associated record division. 

 

They also appeared on Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie, both Screen Gems shows.

 

Bill Hayes mentioned that when singing at Doug's Place, he could only sing songs from the Screen Gems catalogue.

 

Once he belted out Last Train to Clarkesville by The Monkees!

[Wendy]

 

Sorry I missed that...  (Okay, not really!)

[robbwolff]

I tend to doubt either video is legit. They look to be fan made.

[DRW50]

@Cat I agree with you about the Y&R themes. As much as I can enjoy the color versions of the late '80s and most of the '90s, I do think they date badly (especially the "Danny rocks out" shot...) whereas the charcoal drawings, complete with the gust of wind that starts the theme off, are more timeless. I also like the drawings from the '70s and early '80s. To me that is more unique.

 

I love the old photos for the B&B credits, especially Stephanie's shot (Macy's too) but that sax, which sounds like a scared dolphin, always got on my nerves. 

 

The Santa Barbara theme truly is epic. I always figure it was one of the reasons the show was popular in Europe.

[Cat]

 

 

It's such an awful, generic, budget opening -- basically like almost every opening JFP has ever done (aka a ripoff of the ER opening credits). The people she callously fired (but wants to pretend she didn't) are buried amid the flashing lights and jump cuts, because HISTORY! WE RESPECT HISTORY! HERE IS YOUR GODDAMN HISTORY, GH FANS. It is at this point that Faces of the Heart goes truly off the rails and turns into the theme for The Leeza Show.

 

The end is basically all of JFP's pets in a room in tuxes --- of yeah, and they all happen to be male! Then Tony Geary walks off in some 'hilarious' f*ck-you to the GH audience he always despised. Touché, asswipe.

 

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Edited July 8, 2018 by Cat

[FrenchFan]

Not sure the opening was part of Santa Barbara success. In France the music was changed with some French lyrics. This music is well known here.https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vj2Azxfq-aQ