This morning, our friends over at For Starters — a site devoted to TV’s credit sequences — posted a fan-made GOSSIP GIRL opening so good we were blown away. More importantly, we were inspired to shine the light on some openings made by fans that not only blow the real ones away, but prove that there are a whole lotta people out there who — like us — love a good intro.
GOSSIP GIRL
While there’s no denying that that the words “You know you love me, XOXO” have become this show’s signature, this fan-made opening does a far better job of welcoming you to the world of Manhattan’s elite. Plus, bonus points for the Blake Lively hair-flip. Every truly-classic opening needs at least one amazing hair-flip. (This is, in fact, a little known law, known in many circles as SSFC, as it was named after Susan Sullivan’s toss-your-hair-as-you-whip-around-to-face-the-camera moment in the FALCON CREST credits.)
GLEE
One thing many like to do when envisioning opening credits is to do them in the style of another show. In this case, the creator decided to pay tribute to another high school drama, ONE TREE HILL. The result is fantastic, if flawed on two levels: First, there is no hair flip. (While there is a great clip of Kurt adjusting his ’do, that hardly counts.) The other? How dare Jane Lynch not be more prominently featured! It is, however, still a pretty awesome offering.
LOST
I’ve long suspected that so much brain power went into the creation of the pilot that when someone said, probably the day before it was to air, “Hey, um, what should we do about a credit sequence?” the exhausted reply was, “Ugh, just, um, throw the word up on screen and make it look creepy.” Fans, however, had all kinds of ideas. What’s really interesting about this particular opening is that with only one or two exceptions, it uses images that represent the lives of the characters rather than pictures of the characters (or their portrayers) themselves. The tune is best known as the theme from another sci fi show, THE 4400.
SUPERNATURAL
A great opening sequence features both music and clips that work in conjunction to give even a new viewer a sense of the world they’re about to walk into. That ain’t an easy task with a show like SUPERNATURAL, which may explain why it’s always used extremely simple openings. But this one channels the thrills, chills and even the rockin’ heart of the scarefest.
THE VAMPIRE DIARIES
The best faux openings are so well done that they could fool someone into believing they are the real thing. This is a great example of that. It uses iconic imagry associated with the show, professionally-edited clips, a perfect font, a sellable tune. Oh, and there are at least three hair flips. 