Through the Years Credits
A series that has been on the air for a number of years will often include older clips in its Title Sequence. When child actors have grown up before us, the credits may include clips in chronological order to show the changes the cast members have undergone.
Examples of Through the Years Credits include:
- The Facts of Life, as seen in the page image (or watch it here).
- Growing Pains, which featured real photos at different stages of the actors' lives
- Roseanne, which used morphing faces (including going from Lecy Goranson to Sarah Chalke and back)
- Full House
- Still Standing, which features (badly) Photoshopped pictures on the family fridge
- The trailer for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (see here)
- The final episode of The Cosby Show, which edited together all previous versions of the credits
- Later seasons of Home Improvement would do this for the three sons as they grew from child to young adults over the show.
- The fifth and final season of Babylon 5
- Birds of a Feather, even though it started with the main characters as adults, had a title sequence showing the two sisters growing up together. Conveniently, the actresses had been friends since childhood, so suitable photos existed.
- Friends changed the title sequence a few times, usually adding in the previous season's best gags, but kept the early footage of the cast playing in a fountain.
- Invoked in the "1990s" episode of WandaVision.