Opening Theme
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The music that runs over a television or streaming series' opening title sequence, establishing tone, world and prestige before each episode — either a purpose-composed instrumental main title or a licensed song adopted as the show's calling card. In the modern drama era the sound skews cinematic and atmospheric: brooding strings, pulsing synths, motif-driven builds and moody sound design that signal an hour of serious storytelling. It differs from the sung "TV theme" of earlier decades by favoring mood and world-building over a hummable pop hook, and its length has compressed as viewers can skip it. The best opens become inseparable from the series' identity.
History
Opening title music is as old as broadcast TV, but its prestige-drama form took shape in the 2000s as HBO and cable elevated the title sequence into a short film. The Sopranos' use of Alabama 3's "Woke Up This Morning" (2000) modeled the licensed-song open, while composers built purpose-made main titles that defined their shows: Ramin Djawadi's clockwork "Westworld," Nicholas Britell's fractured piano for "Succession," Jeff Beal's "House of Cards" and Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein's analog-synth "Stranger Things." Streaming both intensified the form — commissioning composer-driven opens as branding — and threatened it with the "skip intro" button, making the memorable opening theme a deliberate statement of ambition.
Defining artists
Essential listening
- Woke Up This Morning(2000) — Alabama 3SpotifyYouTube
- Westworld (Main Title Theme)(2016) — Ramin DjawadiSpotifyYouTube
- Main Title Theme (Stranger Things)(2016) — Kyle Dixon & Michael SteinSpotifyYouTube
- Succession (Main Title Theme)(2018) — Nicholas BritellSpotifyYouTube
- The Crown (Main Title)(2016) — Hans ZimmerSpotifyYouTube
- House of Cards (Main Title Theme)(2013) — Jeff BealSpotifyYouTube
Sources
- Jon Burlingame, TV's Biggest Hits (Schirmer, 1996)
- Ronald Rodman, Tuning In: American Narrative Television Music (Oxford, 2010)
- Emmy Award title-sequence and score coverage, Television Academy