Top Ten Animated Openings for Live Action Shows

This was a fun list to create because it took a lot of thinking... I struggled to come up with anything in the past decade that fit this category, though it seemed to be pretty prevalent in the 80s and 90s. I included youtube clips so that you could see the intros, in the event you haven't seen a few of the more obscure ones, like Even Stevens. In brainstorming and researching, I was surprised at how many of these I was already aware of... perhaps more shows should consider doing these types of openings - they're pretty memorable, apparently!

10. Batman (1966). Here we have a live-action drama based on a comic book, and they kept the original incarnation's feel in the opening titles, even incorporating the written sound effects like "WHAP!" and "POW!" The cape lives up to expectations, the relationship between Batman and Robin is clear, and the batmobile makes an appearance as Catwoman is mentioned but not seen. What more could you ask for?

9. The Partridge Family. How could I not include such a classic? The opening starts with a rumbling egg that hatches a partridge, which grows a family as you hear the song about the family. In between we have monochromatic portraits of the actors in a simple but fashionably photographed way. I like to watch the Mama partridge walk.

8. Desperate Housewives. Admittedly, this is one that I didn't know about before I started brainstorming for this post. Having never seen the show, I didn't know what to expect and was rather taken by the opening. I particularly liked the portraits of women through time, with stops in The Garden of Eden, Ancient Greece, Ancient Egypt, the Rennaissance, and the twentieth century to today. Still not enough to make me tune in, but cute nonetheless.

7. Cheers. An iconic theme song with an old-time feel. Sure, we see a couple of modern cars in the opening two seconds, but then we're swept away to the world of horse-drawn carriages, the men at a bar all wearing suits, and the intermingling of black-and-white, sepia, and color. The still pictures cut into one another, zooming in and out on those before us who have had good times with those who know their names. The images changed throughout the series' eleven-year run, but the classic look did not.

6. The Mickey Mouse Club. Digging way back, this black-and-white opener even has the sponsored product depicted in animation! It's a longer intro but features the classic characters performing adorable marching band antics. This one holds a special place in my heart because it was a bedtime song what I was young, 

5. Bewitched. This one stands out in my memory because it was likely the first animated opening I ever saw for a series that wasn't actually a cartoon. I always found it funny that Sam would dress like a "traditional witch" and fly around on a broomstick in the opening when she didn't do that on the series. I particularly like the sparkly stars

4. Even Stevens. This one is technically stop-motion animation (or "claymation," if you will), but I think that's what makes it special. That, and the fact that it depicts how competitive Ren and Louis are from the time they get up until they're relaxing at home that night. The other family members only get tiny moments but they still encapsulate those personalities - Donnie is athletic, Steve is bewildered by his children's antics, and Eileen is constantly working.

3. I Dream of Jeannie. Some local station always had Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie back-to-back in syndication when I was a kid, and so I often caught the opening of Jeannie but didn't stick around to watch. I think the fact that her head came out of the bottle separately from her body freaked me out. The first season didn't have the very first part, with Major Nelson in the space capsule, but otherwise the sequence remained the same to my knowledge. This is the colorized version, rather than the original, because I found the quality better than any originals on YouTube.

2. The Nanny. Growing up, the only thing about this show's opener that I didn't like was the "joie de vivre" line - I hated that there was French in an English theme song! However, I was stunned at how much Niles, Mr. Sheffield, and Fran looked like their animated counterparts, so that made up for it. I think the funniest part of the sequence is that "she was there" and hence was hired in one of those "right-place-right-times" situations.

1. Home Improvement. The best of so many worlds... blueprints, collages, drawings, video games, sticks & stones spelling things, flashy graphics, and fade-ins all appear throughout the five different intros this series used over the course of its eight seasons. I always loved the gaming moments as a kid, but I think the quickly flashing collage for the look of the house most intrigues me now! The video for this one has the first 1:15 for the first season, then 2 & 3 until 2:30, then 4-6 until 3:23, then 7 until 4:15, then season 8 until the end. Also, be aware that the quality on this one isn't the greatest.

Comment below and let us know which animated titles are your favorites, especially if we left some out!

Magic in Television

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

Okay, so I've been sitting on the idea for this one for six months or so. I really enjoy a bit of magic here and there, and there are a bunch of shows with magic in them, to varying degrees. Of course, there are several out there that I've never seen that I understand contain some magic (like Heroes), but today I focus on some of my favorites. And, that's why I only have six in today's list, instead of my typical ten. While I could include things like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Charmed, Powerpuff Girls, and The Wizards of Waverly Place, I've never enjoyed those shows at all, so I can't say I've admired their use of magic... only that i know of it. So I am especially interested to hear what your favorite shows that have magic are, since they may very well be some that I'm not covering!

6. I Dream of Jeannie. I actually find this show to be pretty boring, every time I try to give it another chance. I'm not the biggest fan of Jeannie calling Major Nelson "master" and the ongoing romantic tension bothered me. However, Jeannie crossing her arms, nodding head, and blinking her eyes to make things happen was cool, and I enjoyed her genie costume as well.

5. Jonny Quest. Only one magical character on the show, but I enjoyed watching him when I was a kid! Hadji was an eleven-year-old orphan from India who could levitate things, hypnotize people, and charm snakes, among other abilities. His powers come from being the seventh son of a seventh son (I know, The Dark is Rising much?), and he's normally wearing a jeweled turban... which is what I thought gave him powers when I was little, LoL!

4. The Addams Family. The magical powers in this one are a little different. Gomez can do quick complicated math and some acrobatics, Morticia can light candles with her finger, Uncle Fester is electric, Lurch and Wednesday are super-strong, Pugsley is acrobatic, and Thing can teleport. It's a random assortment of powers, but they're certainly magic... or at least supernatural!

3. Gummi Bears. Zummi was the main "wizard" in this show, but the gummiberry juice itself was rather magical, which was a secret recipe that Sonni and Grammi know. It gives the bears bouncing abilities, but gives humans super strength. Zummi's spells help out as often as they backfire, but he works on gaining a greater understanding of the species' collected knowledge. Sometimes other magical beings showed up, too.

2. Sabrina, the Teenage Witch.  I enjoyed this show as a teenager. It kinda lost me in the later years (I wasn't ready to watch shows about college kids for the most part, though it was uber-mature material or anything), but it definitely added to my Friday nights. I love Melissa Joan Hart, and her work as a witch-in-training was great. Her powers sometimes had amusing consequences, but she definitely honed her skill as time went on. There were some great magical moments from other characters as well.

1. Bewitched. I think that an important part of this show is that we see both "good" and "evil" magic. Samantha primarily uses her powers for the greater good, whether it be helping her husband in his career or cleaning the house. Her mother, Endora, however, usually uses her abilities to make an idiot out of Darrin or sabotage mortals in some way.

So, your picks?

10 Strange Ideas for Animated Shows

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

Last Christmas I received a Punky Brewster DVD set. I haven't opened it, which is atypical of me. I generally spend a good chunk of January (and sometimes part of February) watching TV-on-DVD sets that I acquire of the holidays. And, while I did watch Punky Brewster a lot when I was in middle school, I'm not a giant fan of the live show. However, I always adored the animated show! It was a Saturday morning fixture when I was very young, and I had Punky Brewster sneakers when I was in kindergarten. In fact, I wasn't aware that the cartoon was a spin-off of the sitcom for a good decade. And, that's what sparked today's post... what other live-action shows have tried animated spin-offs... but more particularly, what strange ideas have there been?

In looking into this, I discovered that there have been a lot of primetime shows that tried to go the cartoon route. I found a lot that made some sense to me (The Addams Family or the Sabrina the Teenage Witch incarnations, for instance), but others seem so unlikely that I thought I'd share. I'm especially interested to find out if anyone has ever seen any of these wacky incarnations (which I haven't really ordered, though I do believe that I might have saved the best for last!)!


- I knew that ALF had ALF Tales. And I had a coloring book to reflect the latter. However, apparently that was the second animation attempt... the first was Alf: The Animated Series. Who knew? It looks kinda like your typical late 80s/early 90s cartoon, though.

- When you think of family shows, none really come to my mind as screaming for an animated trial. However, The Brady Kids is out there. Looks like they sang. and had sidekicks... two panda bears and a bird! here's a clip. 

- I didn't know Gilligan's Island had any animated spin-offs, but apparently they had TWO! One in the 1970s (The New Adventures of Gilligan) and one in the 1980s (Gilligan's Planet). (Links give you the theme songs to each.)

- Bewitched had Tabitha & Adam and the Clown Family. really. Apparently, Darren's sister is a clown, and her whole family is in the circus. This cartoon has Tabitha & Adam hanging out with their cousins and stuff. I could only find a single clip, in which Tabitha and Adam do not seem to appear.

- Apparently The Dukes of Hazzard had The Dukes, not only is that really old, I also don't really care for that show. It amuses me particularly because I didn't feel that the original was aimed at children... so is the cartoon supposed to?

- Who here has heard of The Fonz and the Happy Days Gang? Not me, that's for sure. This one actually sounds particularly interesting because of the focus it places on the Fonz. But, as the theme song states, the premise is that they're in a spaceship traveling through time. o.O

- Speaking of the Fonz, apparently there was also a Laverne & Shirley with the Fonz. Um, what??!?!? Similarly, there's also a Laverne & Shirley in the Army, which was before the other cartoon. (Okay, upon a tiny bit of research, it appears that Laverne & Shirley was a spin-off from Happy Days to begin with, so now the Fonzie thing makes sense, LoL.) This proves it was real. LoL.

- Apparently, Lassie made a go of the animation world as well. No offense to the dog, but I think that Chip and Dale made better "Rescue Rangers" than Lassie.

- I Dream of Jeannie had Jeannie, which, although I didn't know about, completely makes sense, given the opening to the original. However, after I saw the opening, I'm not convinced that this was anything other than completely ridiculous!

- Um. This one makes me laugh. Partridge Family 2200 AD. hmmm... odd. that's the best word I have for that. And, it seems awfulllllllllly close to The Jetsons, LoL.

And, theoretically, Muppet Babies may have seemed like a strange direction for The Muppet Show to head toward, but I thought it was fabulous and not peculiar at all... so while it might deserve to be placed under the heading of "strange idea for an animated show," I am going to refrain from doing so. But what are your thoughts? Where would you place that cartoon spin-off, or others for that matter? And have you seen any episodes of the shows I mentioned above? Or are you just as shocked as I am to find out that they're out there?!?