The Bob Newhart Show (the original) -- great music and great shots of Chicago

Maude -- kind of annoying, but so was the show--a perfect match

Good Times -- great song

And one from the 80's:

Married With Children -- terrible show, but opening with Sinatra was pretty funny

You are right on in one respect--the opening credits for Hawaii Five-O were the best ever. I didn't even really like the show, but I watched it many times after being sucked in by that incredible song.

If someone has already mentioned it, my apologies, but Hill Street Blues definitely should be on the list.

I agree completely.

Let's add to the list: Perry Mason, Space: 1999, Night Gallery, S.W.A.T., The Six Million Dollar Man, Good Times, and Twin Peaks.

And yes, The Twilight Zone is, without question, the coolest opening credit sequence of all time.

Doctor Who--Truly, you are a man after my own heart. However, for the "classic" series, I would personally only go with the credits from the Tom Baker era onwards. Even through Jon Pertwee the effects weren't quite up to the task. I would also nominate the "new" Who opening credits as well.

No "Twilight Zone"? Rod Serling's opening monologue is iconic. Oft-parodied, never equaled. And I would also nominate "The Addams Family."

And, frankly, "Friends." Catchy song, good sequence.

The familiar "handwriting in the heart" opener was actually created for the reruns when the show began syndication. The original network shows featured stick-figure cartoons of Lucy and Desi. This was repeated in the first season of "The Lucy Show" in which Lucy and Viv were represtented by cartoon characters.

The decision by network execs and producers to cut back on theme songs and opening credits is one of the biggest "shark jumps" in television history!

There are a ton of great ones missing, obviously Six Feet Under which is one of the finest ever. I'll also nominate NYPD Blue as well.

Actually I love Lost's opening. An actual credits sequence would spoil it.

the original TV Mission Impossible that prepared you for impossibly complex convoluted plots (at least my parents alway made me explain "what's going on?")

Perry Mason and Murder She Wrote are also instantly evocative.

Definitely the best one left off the article list.

The mix of visuals with the song perfectly set up the episodes that followed.

As another honorable mention, the rousing intro to "Rescue Me" is at the top of the current crop of title sequences. The Von Bondies music, the cinematography and editing, definitely get you pumped, "c'mon!....c'mon!

That terrific countdown, that hard, pounding score...

All served up by a legend who then went by the name of "Johnny Williams." That was, of course, before he started working for Spielberg.

...of ALL TIME (and I mean ever) is without a doubt Sanford and Son.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=0Si6YLWRS9A

Depicting a normal morning as some sort of violent bondage/murder scene just by exaggerating the details is brilliant. I can't think of an opener that fit its show better than this.

Aside from omitting The Honeymooners, The Dick Van Dyke Show, and Get Smart (and including lackluster intros like Dallas and Miami Vice), to not include the most riveting 30 seconds in the annals of television history, is unforgiveable!

Not only the "Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba" vocal group hook, but the colorful introduction of first Batman, then Robin, then the crooks, then the Gotham City skyline! NOTHING is even in the same league as THAT TV show intro! NOTHING!!

Shockwave Radio Theater regularly plays "Folk Songs for Yuppies". TV theme songs. Sometimes, covers of tv theme songs. I have loads of fun slipping in and out of eras and mental images . Many people have mentioned some of favorites, and I'll try not to repeat, but here are some more that stick in my mind:

Of the current shows, I really love Two-and-a-half Men, the occasionally used opening with the 2 1/2 of them in tuxes lip syncing the great (and short) theme.

The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson

Green Acres

The CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite (oh, those teletypes!)

The Bugs Bunny/Daffy Duck Show (Overture, curtain lights! This is it, we've hit the heights...)

It's About Time (It's about space, about two men in the strangest place...)

Did you know that Desi Arnaz wrote lyrics to the theme to I Love Lucy? Great stuff. Better than the Gene Roddenberry lyrics to Star Trek, or the Bonanza words...

"Where everybody knows your name..."

but to me they all pale in comparison to the bass line from the theme to Barney Miller:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAh5SJrIEwY

Bet you can't listen just once!

The Prisoner had both a classic opening sequence and a classic closing sequence.

The opening to Babylon-5 was a good one, I always thought.

The Simpsons opening is good, yes, but it's of course a takeoff on The Flintstones, which is itself a takeoff on The Honeymooners. (Not that I personally think that the opening of The Honeymooners is classic . . .)

I always like the opening of Baretta, myself. And S.W.A.T. may have been an execrable show, but it had a pretty kickin' theme song. For the 70s, anyway. And finally, the trumpet flourish of The . . . F . . . B . . . I . . . was always one I liked.

And yeah, I was born before 1980. 'Way before.

The Six Million Dollar Man: awesome opening credits.

Honorable mention, on top of all the others mentioned in the letters: Kolchak, the Night Stalker.

Great topic! Some of my favorites not shown or listed in the comments, SECRET AGENT, THE AVENGERS, VERONICA MARS, ROCKFORD FILES and THE DREW CAREY SHOW. Someone did just mention PETER GUNN, I've got to agree, I recently watched that via Netflix, just for the theme song.

Not that I am biased, but clearly one of the best opening sequences ever -- the answering machine messages, that montage of still photos, the fantastic music...

Get Smart

Addams Family

The Prisoner

Love Boat

Sesame Street

Dick Van Dyke

The Minor Accomplishments of Jackie Woodman (Season two)