3 minutes ago, BetterForgotten said:

For all his faults, Rauch's 2002 update was a worthy successor to the 'Hold On to Love' opening. 

And IIRC, in the lead-up to the Conboy opening's premiere, they teased that it would be a throwback to Hold On to Love. Just a hot ass mess. Even the music was just ugh/blah/meh. That 2002 theme was glorious and totally befitting your grandma's favorite soap.

Love THIS!

Longer/cleaner version of GL's 'Ritournelle' theme (closing version) - probably my favourite ever piece of music created for a soap.

 

 

 

Edited April 19, 20205 yr by BetterForgotten

Say what you will about Paul Rauch, but he understood the importance of opening sequences and theme songs.

 

"True Light," on the other hand, looked and sounded like a cheap talk show from the mid-'90's.  It only underscored how out-of-touch John Conboy was with GL and with soaps in general.

 

 ATWT's corn field opener music had a powerful dramatic emotional effect to it which I enjoyed. The visuals however were bad. Come to think of it, ATWT changed their theme and intros very rapidly in the later years. The 'toilet flush opener" (which I like) was probably the last of ATWT's openers to have decent visuals. 

 

I wish DAYS would have released new versions of thir hourglass opener over the years, keeping the Mac Donald Carey voice over of course. Their 2004 extended theme was perhaps the best they've ever used. 

 

Discovered this 70s (re-created) theme for the Secret Storm. It's very soothing and relaxing. It really captures the essence of how soaps were back then. The crashing waves just adds to that effect. I like how certain soaps had their trademark icon. DAYS was the hourglass, AMC's was the photo album, ATWT's was the globe and based on seeing other openers crashing waves it for TSS. 

 

Edited April 20, 20205 yr by ironlion

Two nice themes from other lesser known P&G shows:

 

The final Somerset theme (1973-76)

 

 

and the theme to The Catlins, a P&G soap that aired on TBS from 1983-85.  This theme is similar to the AW and Texas themes from the early 80s.  Wonder if The Catlins theme was considered for use on AW and Texas, but P&G decided to go with the themes that made it to air on both shows?

 

 

 

That Somerset theme  It just paints Somerset as a sleepy little town on a lake with a charming group of locals. So lovely.

2 hours ago, ironlion said:

 

 

 

In a way, I'm glad Ken Corday has kept the updates to DAYS' opening sequence to a minimum.  Another producer would have ditched the iconic hourglass and theme song ages ago, leaving us with some tacky, generic mess.  (Yes, JFP, I'm looking at you.)

Edited April 20, 20205 yr by Khan

On 4/18/2020 at 9:03 PM, ironlion said:

 

 also enjoyed mid 90s early 2000s OLTL intro. The shot of the newspaper stand with walking legs interrupting the shot gave the intro and the show an urban vibe. The closing titles and theme also made Llanview feel urban Philadelphia-ish.

Surprisingly a lot of people hate this but the satin red opener was a cool remix of Nadia's theme, and the red was a great 90s touch. The Y&R logo fade in and the ending portion which the show uses for it's bumpers now is the best part!

 

 

I loved that urban OLTL open, and say what you will about Y&R's 1999-2003 theme, but the actors sure knew how to SELL IT. 

22 hours ago, BetterForgotten said:

The 3 versions of the 80's closing theme. Mary Ellis-Bunim REALLY tried to bring this show into the 80's, didn't she? LOL, but I love this theme and it's the one I'll always associate with the show and when I started watching.

 

This will always remind me of being a young kid, and that grandma's show is on and do not bother her from 1-2pm. 

2 hours ago, Gray Bunny said:

This will always remind me of being a young kid, and that grandma's show is on and do not bother her from 1-2pm. 

I love that.  For my grandma it was her ABC block (OLTL, GH, and Edge, she never got into AMC).  I could watch.  I could ask questions during the commercials.  But not when the show was on!  I was very little, but I remember how upset she was when they cancelled Edge.  Love the last shot of Raven.

 

 

I am a big fan of retaining something from the classic opening when you revamp.  Y&R going from drawings to animated in color to live action then the red open still maintained the show’s identity.  Same with GH’s Faces of the Heart with the ambulance, hospital, opening notes and Steve and Audrey as the first cast images. Same with GL’s Hold on to Love with the opening notes and the return of the lighthouse.

 

One nobody has mentioned yet but I always loved the just over the top-ness of it was the original B&B opening.  The music and fashion images were very entertaining, and I didn’t even watch that soap.  I especially loved Susan Flannery’s shots! 
 

 

 

@Khan This is the theme you were speaking of... SOD disparaged the smooth jazz version of HOTL and praised this return to an upbeat version but imo it was way inferior to the original and the smooth jazz.

I like the first half of that, but they structured the ending all wrong. The music just sits there while all of this interesting stuff is happening on screen. The original arrangement was perfect and should’ve never been changed.

And effin Tangie Hill at the end. 🤬

4 hours ago, All My Shadows said:

I like the first half of that, but they structured the ending all wrong. The music just sits there while all of this interesting stuff is happening on screen. The original arrangement was perfect and should’ve never been changed.

 

I agree completely -- a change that wasn't needed and is infinitely worse. The ending sounds like it underwent an edit, for God's sake.

Hmm, to each his own. I actually preferred GL's 1995-1997 update. Also loved the jazz version, especially the ending moreso. 

 

Edited April 22, 20205 yr by Gray Bunny