10 Bad TV Shows With Great Opening Title Sequences
2. Dexter
Perhaps we're being unfair here, so let me say first: Dexter seasons 1, 2, and 4 are incredible seasons of television. Not quite perfect, but gutsy, often darkly hilarious, and gripping. However, when 5/8ths of a show's content is mediocre to bad, it's still only 37% of a good show.
That said, the opening credits of Dexter are some of the best television has ever seen. An expertly shot and cut montage over the titular character's morning routine, these credits perfectly sum up the appeal of Dexter Morgan as a protagonist. He's whimsical, darkly comic, aloof, but deadly. Never has an opening sequence so perfectly captured a character before this show. Even the music - a strangely cheery "morning routine" jingle - fits the twisted tone the show started with, before it descended into self-serious mediocrity.
And this sequence accomplishes all of the above, without any visual effects, which is an incredible rarity in modern television. As the quality of the show plummeted steadily from season 5 on, the opening credits always reminded the audience how good some of the earlier seasons were. By the time the show ended in 2013, the credits feel like they're from a completely different show. One that actually understands its protagonist.