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

Ok, maybe this is just a trip down memory lane. I was 7 years old when this series came on TV. Hard to explain how big things like this were to people that grew up with cable TV. I actually remember seeing commercials for this during the summer leading up to the premiere and being very excited for it. I think maybe I had to get permission to stay up and watch it. Back then, kids still had bed times.

Several years ago, I found an episode on the sci fi channel. Awful, simply awful. But back then, you had 3 channels of television and some UHF channels showing old movies. Stuff like this excited kids. I just read a review on IMDB where the writer mentioned how this had millions of kids running in slow motion and making strange noises. So true!

I think it's worth looking at from a technical standpoint, the opening intro. The show may have mostly sucked, but this intro pushes the right buttons. You have the ominous drums, the face of the astronuat, the worried face of his boss on the ground; you have the emergency and the crash; and then, "Steve Austin, a man barely alive...we can rebuild him." And the music builds to a pitch. When this ends, you're ready to watch!

I thought this was a fun show at the time... emphasis on the words at the time.  Then they had to go and make The Bionic Woman which is considered to be one of the worst shows on television.  The scripts for this show were usually the ones rejected from SMDM.


Phil

Very 70s. And I mean that in a good way. I have a thing for 70s cinema and TV in the way that stories were allowed to build at a much slower pace than what we're seeing nowadays. I know times were different back then but still.

Haha -- Nice one.  The funniest part is the whopping 6 million dollars.  Dr. Evil would be proud.

Here is my favorite -- another show that (unfortunately) only holds up if you are looking for laughs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Xfl0m6U8IE

This intro really used to get my blood pumping though -- the way the music goes from breezy to creepy at (literally in this case) the drop of a hat.

Man, I loved this show at the time.

I remember being annoyed when the Bionic Woman pretty much replaced the Six Million Dollar Man. I didn't understand it. But I think the reason was because those shows were more character based, so they actually did better. I don't know, that's based on ancient memories that survived years of Jaeger and scotch!

Here's another one for you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhlUvVxbd24

This show was also huge. I can remember as a kid playing on a basketball team, and this was on after our games. We all hurried home to watch. The days of everyone hurrying home to watch a show are over. TV, for all its faults, did many good things. There was qa cultural bond as everyone would watch a big show like this.

This show did a great job of exploring issues, which the 70s were know for. Also, basketball will be forever linked to the 70s mindset, I think. Ironically, it was the decade that professional basketball almost died. But the 70s were urban and gritty, and that's basketball. I grew up playing basketball at the Boy's Club in a run down city, and I think basketball became for the 70s what baseball had been to earlier generations. I can still remember this old time coaches, guys would ancient cars and no money who lived for one thing: basketball. They spent there whole lives coaching and taking kids to tournaments.

I loved that show, Bert! They should bring that one back for sure. I watched a few reruns not so long ago. They really did an outstanding job with those. Yeah, def classic 70s.

These shows were a little before my time, but I remember seeing that Six Million Dollar Man intro on syfy years ago and it definitely pulled me in.  The music, the sounds and the guy's voice saying, "Better, faster, stronger."  The only thing missing is the noise Steve Austin makes whenever he does anything bionic -- "uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh!"  I mean, the guy reaches for a cup of coffee and it's like uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh!

But sticking to that era, there is one intro that stands above them all.  At least all the ones I've seen.  It's got everything, the exciting opening music, the scientific stuff, an all-time classic line of dialogue, and then ends with just about the saddest piano tune ever.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoILzi5thYg&feature=related

I remember watching the SMDM when I was a kid.
I like how they could afford to spend six mill to rebuild him, but all he could afford to wear were cheap leisure suits.
Intro - B

The Hulk was mucher better.  Sort of The Wolfman meets the Fugitive.
Bixby was an underrated actor IMO.  And no one could throw a styrofoam manhole cover farther than Ferrigno.
Intro - A

The Night Stalker was scary when I was a kid.  Now, it could be on Nick Jr.
I would watch it now just to see Darren McGavin act again.
Intro - B

Thanks for the awesome memories, guys.

A tv station here in Oz shows all the old classic shows from late 70's to mid eighties.

My nearly 5 year old son loves watching Knight Rider and The A Team!!

I watch Macgyver every now and then, its still good value.

Here ya go:



Clarence Williams III lived near my high school.  We'd see him, every now and then, walking around.  We'd wave; he'd wave back.


Phil

I loved Lee Majors and his powers..and can remember running in slow motion and trying to leap off of this huge manure pile at the stables! *did I admit that* yes :) I didn't think the bionic woman was as good....Great old shows!

I hate keep kicking ass here, but beat this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Iwp1d7eKbA

I remember watching the very first show for the Hulk. I think it might have been a 2 hr movie. And then I watched most of the shows, like everyone. Bixby was a great actor, a tv veteran by then anywway.

It's funny, though: if you asked me to remember the intro, I could not until seeing the post by Ryan. However, what I remember most about the Hulk is the ending. They always had those endings where Bixby, who has made a believable connection to someone new in the course of the story, is forced to take to the road, the lonely highwayman heading out to unknown places.

The link above, and the SMDM intro, to me are effective because they create adrenaline. The combination of sound and images imprints on your mind.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCXbvRrz7Uo

LOVED this when I grew up. But seriously, how many situations kept happening that needed a helicopter to resolve?

Funny when you look back and see what you thought was really great as a kid. I've done that a few times with Netflix.  Do you remember "Emergency"?  I loved that show.  Recently watched about 10 minutes with my 11 year old son and we laughed the whole time.  It was so stupid.  

I feel the same way about the original Star Trek.


Phil

More classics!

SWAT! Best TV theme by the TV theme king Mike Post.
I remember when they used to release TV themes on 45rpm singles for record players.
Notice the BROKEN GLASS sound effect seconds BEFORE Rod Perry brakes the window.  AWESOME.

Those are some damn good intros.  But here comes the one-two knockout punch.  Up until last year, they used to show these two back to back on a local station.  The first one is the show that pre-dates CSI, NCIS, Bones and all that other pretenders.  What other intro gives you cops puking and fainting?

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

And here it is.  The indisputable all-time champion.  The remake's intro sucks compared to this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AepyGm9Me6w

You know, Emergency was a damn good show. It really is the character chemistry that makes those shows. That's what really made Star Trek work.

Quoted from MacDuff http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCXbvRrz7Uo LOVED this when I grew up. But seriously, how many situations kept happening that needed a helicopter to resolve?

AIRWOLF! :D

A show so tough, even the female lead had three male names!
Jean Bruce Scott! ;D

Great theme music, but super expensive show for the network.

Quoted from Ryan1 Those are some damn good intros.  But here comes the one-two knockout punch.  Up until last year, they used to show these two back to back on a local station.  The first one is the show that pre-dates CSI, NCIS, Bones and all that other pretenders.  What other intro gives you cops puking and fainting? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObfyrbltSiM

Good call, Ryan!
Oh man! My mom was hot for Klugman after the divorce.
She was all about Quincy and...



Gotta love how the answering machine played a different message every week!
Watched a lot of Garner when I was a kid, thanks Mom!

E.D.

My dad was a huge Rockford Files fan. My grandmother had a thing for Telly S(I'm not mispelling that too!) on Kojak. Quincy was a decent show, kind of a forerunner to stuff that's huge now. Never really watched 5 O. Everyone knows the theme song though. Funny how 5 O became urban slang for cops. That's an achievement as a writer, to create slang that outlives your show!

Knight rider all the way! loved Kitt, I had a remote control toy of Kitt when I was a kid but it got crushed, should have used the turbo boost ;D ;D