Best Soap Opera Opening

[Wendy]

 

Aww, thank you. Too bad YouTube didn't agree.

[Soaplovers]

Knots Landing (Cote Ouest) version... it's catchy and seems a mismatch for the credits... but it works better during the scrolling credits era as opposed to the first two seasons..imho.

 

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[j swift]

I find the inverse relationship between SFT's ratings and the number of new openings amusing.  In the final years they changed openings with every new EP.  My vote for campiest image was the McClarey brother doing a soft shoe with a cigarette in his mouth; very disco/Fosse/soap.  It's the best example of the trope that a new opening theme will bring in new viewers which I don't think has ever actually worked.

[titan1978]

When all the ABC soaps got new Frons opens (of course GH’s JFP one debuted months later than the rest and looked more expensive), I thought the AMC one was the best of the bunch.  It really did seem like a modern take but you still got the photo theme that matched the album idea.

 

I especially loved Livia, Adam, Kendall and Babe’s shots (even if I didn’t love the character of Babe, she has a perfect soapy shot in the open).  Plus that theme music can do no wrong in my book.  Different versions, different images from early 1990’s to being brought back in the 2000’s, it was the best music.

 

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[MichaelGL]

Watching Twin Peaks last year, both the first two seasons and then season 3, I really came to love its opening/theme. 
 

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[Khan]

The first theme for "Another Life" has an EON-like feel to it...while the second one reminds me of the GL "disco opening," in sequence, if not in music.

 

Not only did the 1981-87 AW theme sound too much like a game show, but it also reminds me of the RH theme from the Charles Paul years.

 

 

[All My Shadows]

When was Charles Paul at RH?

I think a long time ago, I referred to the second Another Life theme as the "HBCU theme," and I still feel it's appropriate. I've never seen a single episode, so I have no clue if it even matched the tone of the show, but I feel as though it probably didn't.

I also call this GL theme the "Boyz II Men theme." I have no idea why.

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[Khan]

 

1981-83.  Here's the revamped opening from the same period -- from the original, with all the Ryans and Coleridges frolicking in Central Park, to this...

 

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And here's a closing:

 

 

Edited July 9, 2018 by Khan

[All My Shadows]

Oh, wow, thanks. I didn't know he was responsible for that arrangement. It's a real testament to his talent that he could produce something upbeat and very modern (for the time) while also being known as the master organist on soaps for decades. This had to have been one of his last assignments.

[Khan]

 

As Dwayne Schneider would say, "De nada."

 

Arthur Schmidt, whose name is featured upthread in one of the "Crossroads" clips, also wrote for AMC during the 1987-88 season.  I learned that when I saw his name appear at the end of several AMC episodes along with (I presume) the other scriptwriters.

Edited July 9, 2018 by Khan

[YRBB]

Not sure if I missed it being mentioned here but...

 

Cannot forget:

 

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EYE-CON-EEK!!

[SoapDope]

Beautiful theme song. 

 

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[ReddFoxx]

Knots Landing Season 9. The back drop of the painting and the smooth jazz arrangement was everything.

[All My Shadows]

Original titles of the Welsh soap Pobol y Cwm begin at about 5:35. I'll never have enough self-discipline to learn Welsh, but that music is beautiful, especially in this sparse arrangement.

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[Cat]

I consider The Good Fight a nighttime soap and its opening credits appropriately regal and dramatic. 

 

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