Favorite Daytime Soap Intros (2025)

There have been so many daytime soap operas over the years. We've all watched them and we've all had our favorites.

But what are your favorite daytime soap opera intros?

I’ve never watched the series (although I hope to soon) but I’ve always liked this 1980 intro for The Edge of Night. It has that 70’s cop show vibe to it and you can see where the Law and Order intros may have gotten inspiration from.

I think we talked about this somewhere else recently but my favourite of all US daytime intros is the original 1987 opening for The Bold and the Beautiful. There’s a great energy to it and everybody looks gorgeous in the stills.

I think you will love Edge of Night. You can find a lot (if not all) of the series from about 1980 until its end in 1984 and it rarely disappoints.

Around 1980-81 the Procter and Gamble soaps (EON, as well as As The World Turns, Guiding Light, Another World) all got revamped, more modernized themes and opening titles in an effort to change their staid, stuffy image. Guiding Light got the most extreme makeover, but it must have worked because they experienced something of a ratings jolt by going after younger viewers. They went from this......

to this.....

In 1987, Another World introduced CGI into the production of opening titles, taking clips from the show and stylizing them to give them a more romantic, luxurious look. They also got Crystal Gayle and Gary Morris to sing the theme tune (which the singers also released as a single). It might look dated now, but it was a visual feast in 1987.

....and yes, that's Anne Heche in the bubblebath, a re-imagining of her opening scene on the series.

Daniel Avery said:

I think you will love Edge of Night. You can find a lot (if not all) of the series from about 1980 until its end in 1984 and it rarely disappoints.

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Yes, there’s a good chunk online. I was going to start with the episodes that cover a storyline to do with the making of a horror film called Mansion of the Damned (from 1980 I think). These episodes also mark the debut of porn star turned disco star turned soap star Dennis Parker as Detective Thomas Mallory.

Daniel Avery said:

Guiding Light got the most extreme makeover

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That’s quite the switch up! I do like the older title though. It reminds me of the intros to some of the sleepy daytime soaps that ITV churned out in the 70’s & 80’s.

Daniel Avery said:

It might look dated now, but it was a visual feast in 1987.

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Am I right in thinking that they kept this intro into the mid-90’s? Because I recall thinking their intro was quite dated back then compared to the one (their final intro?) that followed.

Carrie Fairchild said:

the debut of porn star turned disco star turned soap star Dennis Parker as Detective Thomas Mallory.

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Derek Mallory, yes. I've always wanted to know if the producers knew about Dennis Parker's "Wade Nichols" years when he was hired. Monticello's Police Chief had been played for decades by a popular, veteran actor, so replacing him (and introducing a pivotal new character) would have been a worrisome proposition. Betting on a former porn actor does not sound like something a conservative company like P&G would have (knowingly) done. I mean, in these times it could not be kept secret even if they wanted to, but in 1979? Maybe they thought no one would know.

Mansion of the Damned is a pretty good starting point, and of course Nola Madison is a fabulously soapy villainess who sticks around to cause a lot of mischief.

Carrie Fairchild said:

Am I right in thinking that they kept this intro into the mid-90’s? Because I recall thinking their intro was quite dated back then compared to the one (their final intro?) that followed.

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Yeah, they kept the concept until 1996, just removing the characters who left and producing similar-looking images for new additions to the cast. By 1996 the images all looked subtly different due to different tech advances and the network wanting to cut corners. I disliked the replacement opening titles---a percussion-heavy rip-off of the opening titles of ER. A new producer was hired who wanted the show to be more like ER and NYPD Blue, which was a disaster the show never recovered from.

Daniel Avery said:

Derek Mallory

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I knew Thomas Mallory didn’t sound right when I typed it. There’s quite a lengthy article online about his life and career (that actually pointed me towards his starting episode on EON) which features contributions from family, friends and colleagues. I must read it all to see what the situation was regarding his previous career being known to the EON producers. He appeared in a couple of straight roles which are in films considered to be part of the “Golden Age of Porn” so I’m presuming someone at P&G must’ve known.

Daniel Avery said:

Mansion of the Damned is a pretty good starting point, and of course Nola Madison is a fabulously soapy villainess who sticks around to cause a lot of mischief.

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Thanks for the info. I’m looking forward to getting stuck in.

Daniel Avery said:

a percussion-heavy rip-off of the opening titles of ER. A new producer was hired who wanted the show to be more like ER and NYPD Blue, which was a disaster the show never recovered from.

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ER is the exact show that I thought of when I saw those titles. I’m not hugely familiar with Another World but based on the little that I’ve seen of it, trying to turn it into an ER/NYPD clone seems like a bit of a wild change in tone, which I’m presuming was in response to it’s low ratings and the network’s attempts to breathe life into it.

Carrie Fairchild said:

I think we talked about this somewhere else recently but my favourite of all US daytime intros is the original 1987 opening for The Bold and the Beautiful. There’s a great energy to it and everybody looks gorgeous in the stills.

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The best.

Also:

P.S. Sunset Beach too.

Yesterday from the Beatles said:

The best.

Also:

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Yes, yes and yes! The intro for The City was great. Probably the most innovative out of the soap opening sequences of the time. It’s a shame the show itself didn’t deliver on the edgy promise of that intro.

I loved the second version of the Sunset Beach intro too. The first one was so slow. It felt like it went on for so long. That music was much better suited when the moved it to the closing credits.

Yesterday from the Beatles said:

The best.

Also:

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Carrie Fairchild said:

Yes, yes and yes! The intro for The City was great. Probably the most innovative out of the soap opening sequences of the time. It’s a shame the show itself didn’t deliver on the edgy promise of that intro.

I loved the second version of the Sunset Beach intro too. The first one was so slow. It felt like it went on for so long. That music was much better suited when the moved it to the closing credits.

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The City: I agree.

Sunset Beach: the intro was nothing special, but I'm fond of that music.

Daniel Avery said:

I've always wanted to know if the producers knew about Dennis Parker's "Wade Nichols" years when he was hired.

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I’ve had a read of that article and apparently they didn’t know when he was hired. When Dennis later found out that it was going to be leaked to producers, he went to them himself and told them. They were that happy with his role on EON that they told him they didn’t care about his past. There was a rumour that P&G were not happy but apparently the producer at the time insisted he stay. One of his co-stars said they used to see him on posters down in Times Square anyway, as his films were still being run in theatres there while he was on EON.

Yesterday from the Beatles said:

Sunset Beach: the intro was nothing special, but I'm fond of that music.

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It is a pretty standard opening as soaps go. I think my love for it is probably more for nostalgic reasons.

The Young And The Restless original opening theme is probably my favourite, even though I haven't been able to watch the actual show. I desperately would like to see long stretches of the early episodes. I think the theme is gorgeous, and sweeping and melancholic and just the thing to drag you in to a soap opera.

I also really like it's sister show The Bold And The Beautiful and it's original intro. It really sets up the exciting California fashion business of it all in the beginning. Much faster paced and more urgent than Y&R and everyone looks like walked off the set of DYNASTY.

And I have a fondness for Sunset Beach's ridiculously long original opening theme. I love that sax and how it just meanders and flows on and on and on.. Much like the narrative of the show itself. I really need to dig my DVD's out and get back to this one. So much stuff still in storage with the builders being in! Imagine, Sunset Beach and Crossroads on the go at the same time! Bliss!

DallasFanForever said:

At one time they used that more jazzy version in the early 2000s but it just didn’t click. There’s only one version that works for Y&R.

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The jazzy theme may have worked better as closing credit music but the piano intro is just classic and shouldn’t be tampered with. Kind of like that awful jazzy revamp they briefly tried with the EastEnders theme in the 90’s.

Carrie Fairchild said:

I’ve had a read of that article and apparently they didn’t know when he was hired. When Dennis later found out that it was going to be leaked to producers, he went to them himself and told them. They were that happy with his role on EON that they told him they didn’t care about his past. There was a rumour that P&G were not happy but apparently the producer at the time insisted he stay.

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The Edge of Night benefitted from many of its top brass staying long-term. Erwin Nicholson was likely the one who stepped up for him; Nicholson had been the EP since 1966 (an incredible run in soap producing) and someone who stays in a job that long usually gets their way more often than not. Derek Mallory had really crisp chemistry with Sharon Gabet (Raven), though the characters' very different views of right and wrong did not really allow them to explore that chemistry.

Anyway....back to topic! I submit for your approval (or disapproval ) the closing credits of the final episode of Edge of Night, which opted to use the 1970s era theme tune to give the show a nostalgic close. It's so stylish and spooky.

Carrie Fairchild said:

The jazzy theme may have worked better as closing credit music but the piano intro is just classic and shouldn’t be tampered with. Kind of like that awful jazzy revamp they briefly tried with the EastEnders theme in the 90’s.

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I could’ve lived with that. The jazzy theme on the closing credits would’ve worked better perhaps. But that classic original theme just has to play at the beginning. It’s too iconic.

My grandmother was a big fan of ALL MY CHILDREN and I remember this intro.

I've liked all B&B's openings. But the current one that is almost like the original isn't as good as the original.

https://youtu.be/-LIhiX8e-LY

Sunset Beach, second opening.

The last year, they had 2 versions of it since there were so many characters. I prefered the one beginning with Olivia & Gregory.

Other openings I especially remember include these

OLTL around 2006:

General Hospital, 2006/2007:

Plus in the late 90s, all different versions of the Y&R opening when you never knew which version you'd get that day.