My all-time favorite opening sequence for a TV show is Hawaii Five-O. I’ll be willing to bet that just the mention of this show gets you humming its theme song in your head. It was infectious. And then you add the killer video sequence — the tidal wave, the fast-zoom into McGarrett, the girl on the beach — it was genius. I remember being mesmerized by it every week as I sat down with a bowl of popcorn and 16-ounce bottle of RC Cola and watched the show with my family (back in the days when families could sit down and watch TV shows together) on our old console TV.

It seems like every show had an elaborate opening sequence when I was a kid. Remember the ABC Sunday Night Movie? Even they had a huge animated sequence with a lavishly orchestrated theme song that introduced the movie of the week.

It got me wondering…. Why don’t we see elaborate opening sequences like this anymore? Because they’re too costly to produce? They take too much time out of the ever-shrinking run time for most TV shows? Lack of creativity? Whatever the reason is, it’s a shame. They were great fun.