Most teenagers can recollect holding the TV remote in their hands as a child and pressing the big DVR button to turn on their favorite show, with the opening sequence song filling the room as shows like “Jessie,” “Austin and Ally” and “Victorious” fill the screen.
The similarity between all of these shows is their unmistakable theme song, most of which are identifiable by just the first few lyrics. However, in recent years, shows have left behind this kind of introduction for viewers.
Notably, the most popular shows of 2025, such as “The Summer I Turned Pretty,” “Love Island,” “We Were Liars” and “Stranger Things,” all have theme songs that are made up of, although recognizable, quick and lyric-less tunes.
This is because modern-day producers and showrunners focus on the aspect of binge-watching, asking themselves if the watchers will actually sit through all of this before their show, or if they will implement the “skip intro” button. According to Netflix data, about 136 million viewers decided to skip the theme songs in only one day in 2023.
Senior Shawn Ribeiro of West Long Branch argues that the loss of introduction sequences is unjustified.
“I really miss the age of catchy theme songs,” Ribeiro said.
Junior Jillian Daino of Spring Lake Heights shares a similar perspective, recounting her positive associations with the nostalgic themes of the 2010s.
“It was a fun part of the show. Now, it’s just a quick five-second snippet of a song,” Daino said. “I say bring them back.”
Freshman Carolina DeNicola of Tinton Falls also feels the absence of these melodic intros in the latest TV shows, with her favorite theme song as a kid being “Jessie.”
“I feel like [a theme song] is such a big part of the show, and it adds to the environment and what the show is going to feel like when you’re watching it,” Denicola said.
Perhaps without these songs that were ingrained into the memories of Gen Z, from “Liv and Maddie” to “Full House,” many people’s favorite childhood memories wouldn’t feel so familiar anymore.
