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Automobile Opening: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
Among those TV shows that actually have an opening credits sequence, it's quite common for it to feature a car driving around whichever town the show is set in. This is probably because it's a visually dynamic way of introducing the setting, and isn't that expensive. [[Driving a Desk]] may be involved. There are variations with other vehicles such as skateboards and spaceships, but the common element is that the vehicle explores the setting of the show. An opening where the setting ''is'' the vehicle, as in many science fiction shows, is a different idea. [[Product Placement]] may or may not be involved.
{{examples
== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* ''[[Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia]]'' features a car driving around the eponymous city.
* ''[[Police Squad!]]'''s title sequence began with a shot of the flashing light on a police cruiser. In [[The Movie]], ''[[The Naked Gun (Film)|The Naked Gun]]'', this was expanded to show the police cruiser driving around downtown L.A., driving off the roads, driving through buildings, [[Rule of Funny|driving into jungles, driving down waterslides]], driving down the [[Star Wars|Death Star trench]]...
* For its first 13 years, the opening title sequence of ''[[The Bill]]'' featured the area car (updated to a new one every few years or so) driving down a busy street in London.
* ''[[The Sopranos]]'' features Tony driving from New York to his home in New Jersey. His route is deliberately inefficient to provide more interesting visuals.
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* ''[[That 70s Show]]'' features various cast members rotating into the car singing along with Cheap Trick's In the Street.
* A big chunk of ''[[The Prisoner]]'''s [[Expository Theme Tune|expository opening sequence]] has Patrick McGoohan driving around in [[Cool Car|the actor's own Lotus 7]].
* ''[[
* ''[[The Jeffersons]]'' has the main characters in a cab.
* The first season opening credits of ''The Mary Tyler Moore Show'' showed Mary driving herself into Minneapolis.
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* The ''[[Mr. Magoo (Animation)|Mr. Magoo]]'' made-for-tv cartoons opened with him blithely driving his jalopy on a railroad track, through a barn, mowing down a hydrant, into a construction site, a roller-coaster track, finally into an electric substation and a fire of sparks.
* ''[[The Pink Panther|The Pink Panther Show]]'' featured a live action sequence of (intercut with segments of the Pink Panther cartoons and random stock footage) known as the Panthermobile. At the end of the sequence the car drops off the Pink Panther and the Inspector at a cinema.
* ''[[Family Guy]]'' had a ''[[Police Squad!]]'' style opening for one of its episodes, in which Stewie is riding his tricycle, culminating in him crashing into [[The Simpsons|Homer]] in the garage.
{{quote| '''Peter''': Hey Stewie! ...who the hell is that?}}
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