TV shows that had inconsistent opening credits in reruns - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

Vahan · 01-14-2009, 10:42 PM

Here's an interesting one (and please forgive me if this thread has been made before).

What are some TV shows you can think of that had inconsistent opening credits in reruns?

Here's what I can think of off the top of my head:

Clarissa Explains it All (The opening and closing credits from seasons 2 and onward replaced the original opening and closing from season 1. The original opening and closing can be seen on at least one episode on the season 1 DVD set).

The Flintstones (The more familiar "Meet The Flintstones" song and opening from seasons 3 and onward, replaced the original "Rise & Shine" song and opening from seasons 1 & 2, which has been reinstated on Cartoon Network/Boomerang reruns, and on DVD).

Mama's Family (Aside from the Harvey Korman intros being dropped, syndicated airings of the season 1 & 2 episodes, featured the exterior shots that were used in seasons 3-6, all of which aired in syndication. The exterior shots from seasons 1 & 2, during the shows' original network run, were completely different).

Mr. Belvedere (A truncated version of the opening from seasons 4 & 5 was used on every episode in syndication, with the exception of season 6. Season 1 & 2's opening was originally completely different, and other than the different photo of Tracy Wells, season 3's opening wasn't much different from season 4 & 5's opening).

DSfan · 01-14-2009, 11:15 PM

Boy Meets World has always been a bit screwed up. It seems that they tend to generally use the one with all the characters in the car even when in the actual episode, the characters are much younger.

Sometimes on Friends they just use the season 8 or 9 (not sure which) for all the episodes no matter what season. I've only been noticing this recently so I don't know how accurate that statement really is.

megamanj2004 · 01-15-2009, 03:36 PM

The Golden Girls was another example.

The local syndicated reruns in the early to mid '90s retained parts of the opening credits from the much later seasons. the Lifetime reruns almost always used the condensed opening credits from S2.

The 1st season opening credits used a different aerial shot of a building in Miami over the show's title logo, whereas the S2 and beyond intro used a different locale in Miami w/ the show's title logo.

Also, Rue and Estelle's shots in S5 were different than they were in S2-S4.

megamanj2004 · 01-15-2009, 03:45 PM

Alvin and the Chipmunks (1980s version) - the closing credits from the 1st 3 years (1983, 1984, 1985) had their original editions replaced with the one from 1986(?).

The one used from 1983 and maybe '84 originally ended with just The Bagdasarian Productions in association with Ruby-Spears Productions name as an in-credit logo.

The one used in 1985 had a different version of the Bagdasarian Productions logo on a still yellow background w/ much different shot of the Chipmunks' poses.

And on the 1988 episodes, the DiC logo was omitted and sometimes the Lorimar-Telepictures even appeared in some eps. after the Ruby-Spears logo.

Police Woman - the 1st season didn't feature Earl Holliman's barrel roll and Charles Dierkopf and Ed Bernard's shot in s1 was different than the one used in later seasons and yet syndicated reruns used the one from later seasons.

megamanj2004 · 01-17-2009, 02:41 PM

For a breakdown of the Golden Girls intro credits, watch these intros and you'll see a few jarring differences from the ones Lifetime aired:

The Golden Girls - Season 1 Intro

Seasons 2-4 Intro

Season 5-7 Intro

NOTE: For the 5-7 Intro in this video, TGG Intro comes along at the 5:47 mark and you'll have to pay close attention in all of these intros to see some differences in the intros.

megamanj2004 · 01-17-2009, 02:54 PM

"Magnum, P.I." was another show with this issue.

Syndicated and some cable reruns had this issue quite a lot.

The first 3 or 4 seasons and the final 3 seasons had their original opening credits replaced with the opening credits used from Season 4 (1983-84 season). Also, the original theme music used by Ian Freebairn-Smith in the 1st half of Season 1 was replaced with the theme tune by Mike Post/Pete Carpenter in the closing credits as well.

The 1st half of S1 (December 1980-81) didn't use the familiar Mike Post/Pete Carpenter theme song as that was done by Ian Freebairn-Smith. The 2nd half of S1 used the 1st variation of the Post-Carpenter theme tune in a slightly different way.

Also, the 1st 3 seasons or so lacked the comma(,) in the show's title name and the show's title used a different font in the first three seasons as well.

The first 3 seasons didn't use a double-font combo for the cast members' names until 1983.

The final season had some different scenes not used in the S4 intro as well.

Dusty's Fan · 01-17-2009, 03:02 PM

The Beverly Hillbillies: Sometimes for the late season episodes (usually for the final season), the story of Jed and the oil is omitted, beginning instead with the Clampetts in the truck.

Cheers: Either the full opening is used, starting with "Making your way..." -- or a short opening is used, beginning with the line from later in the theme, "Sometimes you want to go..."

megamanj2004 · 01-17-2009, 04:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dusty's Fan

Cheers: Either the full opening is used, starting with "Making your way..." -- or a short opening is used, beginning with the line from later in the theme, "Sometimes you want to go..."

That's because Paramount TV did that for basically mostly to almost all of their late '70s and '80s sitcoms when they sold them for local syndication.

Family Ties did the same practice "Cheers" did by omitting the first part of the theme song and going straight to the last half of the theme song.

Webster (with the exception of the 1st episode of the ABC-era eps. and some eps. of the 1st-run syndie-era eps.), they always began with "Set in my ways, losing track of the days, never getting caught up, love was never brought up, it's not the thing to do" (omitting the "only me to live for, had no need to give more than I wanted to" portion). And also with the new-style opening credits (which started in the fall of 1986), the also did away with the animated letters playing in the opneing credits, culminating the show's title as well.

Taxi - did away with the middle-to-second-to-last portions of their theme song as well.

Mork and Mindy - if you pay close attention to the opening credits on local syndicated reruns and DVD's, you'll know that the opening has actually been drastically shortened as well.

megamanj2004 · 01-17-2009, 04:56 PM

Bosom Buddies - local and most cable reruns replaced the original theme song "Shake Me Loose" with the "My Life" theme song, though the instrumental version of "Shake Me Loose" remained intact on the closing credits.

While the DVD's reinstated the "Shake Me Loose" theme song for the opening credits.

Also, even when "My Life" was used, some episodes had the theme credits shortened as well.

Family Matters - Local reruns had the original 1st episode theme song "It's a Wonderful Life" replaced with the "As Days Go By" theme song credits from the later S1 opening credits.

robyrob · 01-17-2009, 05:29 PM

"My Life" WAS the original theme song for Bosom Buddies, they only used "Shake Me Loose" in syndication and on the DVD's.

Lorimar Television · 01-18-2009, 12:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by megamanj2004

Family Matters - Local reruns had the original 1st episode theme song "It's a Wonderful Life" replaced with the "As Days Go By" theme song credits from the later S1 opening credits.

That's true. ABC Family left the "What A Wonderful World" version intact in the pilot. But it's replace on other networks. However atleast a few other episodes used the "What A Wonderful World" but is replaced with the "As Days Go By" version used later in season one.

Here are the differnt versions:
"What A Wonderful World" pilot version used on abc family
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfcPa...e=channel_page

"As Days Go By" pilot version used on other networks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3JLq...eature=related

"What A Wonderful World" version used in a couple of episodes not shown in reruns http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_DWb...eature=channel

Lorimar Television · 01-19-2009, 04:37 PM

Grace Under Fire also had an inconsistent theme song. In seasons 1-3 Lady Madonna was the theme song, and it was replaced in season 4 & 5 with a new song and new scenes. Now they show the season 4 & 5 song and scenes in season 1-3 in reruns, even though the older boy was played by a different actor in seasons 4 & 5.

megamanj2004 · 01-20-2009, 03:50 AM

Didn't Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie had some inconsistencies somewhere in their opening credits in reruns?

I do know for a fact that "The Banana Splits Adeventures Hour" definitely had some inconsistencies when they were repackaged as "The Banana Splits" for syndication reruns as well.

Not only did they shortened the opening theme song, but they even replaced the original Season 1 (1968-69) Opening Credits w/ the shortened Season 2 (1969-70) Opening Credits as well.

Vahan · 01-20-2009, 11:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by megamanj2004

Didn't Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie had some inconsistencies somewhere in their opening credits in reruns?

As far as the former is concerned, yes.

Originally, the opening had sponsors plugs (like for instance "Chevrolet presents..." and then the rest of the opening would play).

In syndication, these earlier openings were replaced with a shortened gray-scale version of the season 3 opening (season 3 being when the show switched to color, of course).

megamanj2004 · 01-20-2009, 05:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tvholic1987

As far as the former is concerned, yes.

Originally, the opening had sponsors plugs (like for instance "Chevrolet presents..." and then the rest of the opening would play).

In syndication, these earlier openings were replaced with a shortened gray-scale version of the season 3 opening (season 3 being when the show switched to color, of course).

No wonder why those copyright years were so off!

You'd watch an episode from S1 and the copyright year says "MCMLXVI A SCREEN GEM PRODUCTION" in the opening credits.

01-14-2009, 10:42 PM	#1
Vahan Member Senior Member Join Date: Jan 14, 2008 Posts: 2,712	TV shows that had inconsistent opening credits in reruns Here's an interesting one (and please forgive me if this thread has been made before). What are some TV shows you can think of that had inconsistent opening credits in reruns? Here's what I can think of off the top of my head: Clarissa Explains it All (The opening and closing credits from seasons 2 and onward replaced the original opening and closing from season 1. The original opening and closing can be seen on at least one episode on the season 1 DVD set). The Flintstones (The more familiar "Meet The Flintstones" song and opening from seasons 3 and onward, replaced the original "Rise & Shine" song and opening from seasons 1 & 2, which has been reinstated on Cartoon Network/Boomerang reruns, and on DVD). Mama's Family (Aside from the Harvey Korman intros being dropped, syndicated airings of the season 1 & 2 episodes, featured the exterior shots that were used in seasons 3-6, all of which aired in syndication. The exterior shots from seasons 1 & 2, during the shows' original network run, were completely different). Mr. Belvedere (A truncated version of the opening from seasons 4 & 5 was used on every episode in syndication, with the exception of season 6. Season 1 & 2's opening was originally completely different, and other than the different photo of Tracy Wells, season 3's opening wasn't much different from season 4 & 5's opening).

01-15-2009, 03:36 PM	#3
megamanj2004 Member Senior Member Join Date: Dec 21, 2004 Posts: 2,357	The Golden Girls was another example. The local syndicated reruns in the early to mid '90s retained parts of the opening credits from the much later seasons. the Lifetime reruns almost always used the condensed opening credits from S2. The 1st season opening credits used a different aerial shot of a building in Miami over the show's title logo, whereas the S2 and beyond intro used a different locale in Miami w/ the show's title logo. Also, Rue and Estelle's shots in S5 were different than they were in S2-S4.
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01-17-2009, 03:02 PM	#7
Dusty's Fan Member Senior Member Join Date: Mar 13, 2007 Location: Indiana Posts: 1,093	The Beverly Hillbillies: Sometimes for the late season episodes (usually for the final season), the story of Jed and the oil is omitted, beginning instead with the Clampetts in the truck. Cheers: Either the full opening is used, starting with "Making your way..." -- or a short opening is used, beginning with the line from later in the theme, "Sometimes you want to go..."
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01-17-2009, 05:29 PM	#10
robyrob certified wackball#3 Moderator Forum Icon Join Date: Aug 03, 2003 Location: hiding under the third booth at Arnold's Posts: 58,179	"My Life" WAS the original theme song for Bosom Buddies, they only used "Shake Me Loose" in syndication and on the DVD's.
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01-14-2009, 11:15 PM	#2
DSfan Member Senior Member Join Date: Sep 15, 2006 Location: Canada Posts: 1,204	Boy Meets World has always been a bit screwed up. It seems that they tend to generally use the one with all the characters in the car even when in the actual episode, the characters are much younger. Sometimes on Friends they just use the season 8 or 9 (not sure which) for all the episodes no matter what season. I've only been noticing this recently so I don't know how accurate that statement really is.

01-15-2009, 03:45 PM	#4
megamanj2004 Member Senior Member Join Date: Dec 21, 2004 Posts: 2,357	Alvin and the Chipmunks (1980s version) - the closing credits from the 1st 3 years (1983, 1984, 1985) had their original editions replaced with the one from 1986(?). The one used from 1983 and maybe '84 originally ended with just The Bagdasarian Productions in association with Ruby-Spears Productions name as an in-credit logo. The one used in 1985 had a different version of the Bagdasarian Productions logo on a still yellow background w/ much different shot of the Chipmunks' poses. And on the 1988 episodes, the DiC logo was omitted and sometimes the Lorimar-Telepictures even appeared in some eps. after the Ruby-Spears logo. Police Woman - the 1st season didn't feature Earl Holliman's barrel roll and Charles Dierkopf and Ed Bernard's shot in s1 was different than the one used in later seasons and yet syndicated reruns used the one from later seasons.

01-17-2009, 02:41 PM	#5
megamanj2004 Member Senior Member Join Date: Dec 21, 2004 Posts: 2,357	For a breakdown of the Golden Girls intro credits, watch these intros and you'll see a few jarring differences from the ones Lifetime aired: The Golden Girls - Season 1 Intro Seasons 2-4 Intro Season 5-7 Intro NOTE: For the 5-7 Intro in this video, TGG Intro comes along at the 5:47 mark and you'll have to pay close attention in all of these intros to see some differences in the intros.

01-17-2009, 02:54 PM	#6
megamanj2004 Member Senior Member Join Date: Dec 21, 2004 Posts: 2,357	"Magnum, P.I." was another show with this issue. Syndicated and some cable reruns had this issue quite a lot. The first 3 or 4 seasons and the final 3 seasons had their original opening credits replaced with the opening credits used from Season 4 (1983-84 season). Also, the original theme music used by Ian Freebairn-Smith in the 1st half of Season 1 was replaced with the theme tune by Mike Post/Pete Carpenter in the closing credits as well. The 1st half of S1 (December 1980-81) didn't use the familiar Mike Post/Pete Carpenter theme song as that was done by Ian Freebairn-Smith. The 2nd half of S1 used the 1st variation of the Post-Carpenter theme tune in a slightly different way. Also, the 1st 3 seasons or so lacked the comma(,) in the show's title name and the show's title used a different font in the first three seasons as well. The first 3 seasons didn't use a double-font combo for the cast members' names until 1983. The final season had some different scenes not used in the S4 intro as well.

01-17-2009, 04:56 PM	#9
megamanj2004 Member Senior Member Join Date: Dec 21, 2004 Posts: 2,357	Bosom Buddies - local and most cable reruns replaced the original theme song "Shake Me Loose" with the "My Life" theme song, though the instrumental version of "Shake Me Loose" remained intact on the closing credits. While the DVD's reinstated the "Shake Me Loose" theme song for the opening credits. Also, even when "My Life" was used, some episodes had the theme credits shortened as well. Family Matters - Local reruns had the original 1st episode theme song "It's a Wonderful Life" replaced with the "As Days Go By" theme song credits from the later S1 opening credits.

01-19-2009, 04:37 PM	#12
Lorimar Television Member Forum Veteran Join Date: Dec 06, 2007 Posts: 7,034	Grace Under Fire also had an inconsistent theme song. In seasons 1-3 Lady Madonna was the theme song, and it was replaced in season 4 & 5 with a new song and new scenes. Now they show the season 4 & 5 song and scenes in season 1-3 in reruns, even though the older boy was played by a different actor in seasons 4 & 5.

01-20-2009, 03:50 AM	#13
megamanj2004 Member Senior Member Join Date: Dec 21, 2004 Posts: 2,357	Didn't Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie had some inconsistencies somewhere in their opening credits in reruns? I do know for a fact that "The Banana Splits Adeventures Hour" definitely had some inconsistencies when they were repackaged as "The Banana Splits" for syndication reruns as well. Not only did they shortened the opening theme song, but they even replaced the original Season 1 (1968-69) Opening Credits w/ the shortened Season 2 (1969-70) Opening Credits as well.