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The British soap opera Coronation Street is one of the longest running television programmes in the world, and if its network promotions are to be believed its also “The Nation’s Street”, a sentiment I actually quite like.

Earlier this week Corrie began broadcasting in High Definition, and to mark the occasion they updated the opening sequence, bringing with it a depth, warmth and intimacy missing from the earlier incarnation.

Despite the fact I don’t watch any soaps I’m actually a huge fan of the format. The daily, long running nature of the programmes open up huge creative possibilities that can reflect the life of a nation, and really engage a wide audience.

And while these long running stalwarts of the genre have a place, I hope we see some new takes on the soap opera format appear on the scene as well.

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The Emmy and Peabody award winning performance art and cultural phenomenon that is Stephen Colbert recently took his show into the world of high definition, and you know what that means.. a new opening sequence.

Produced by the New York based gang at Mr Wonderful, the new look is as delightfully jingoistic as the old, and a perfect way to start an almost perfect show.

Or as Stephen puts it in the press release they’ve “created the Avatar of show opens”… topical and funny, you’ve done it done Colbert.

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The 2009 Primetime Emmy for Main Title Design has just been awarded, last year Mad Men won, and in the running for it this year was:

> Vampire drama True Blood from HBO
> Showtime’s multiple personality comedy United States of Tara.
> AMC’s industry chat fest Storymakers
> HBO telemovie Taking Chance
> And Fox’s body language drama Lie To Me.

And the winner is..

For all the details on who made what, check out this.

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Australia’s Funniest Home Videos now has one redeeming feature.. this swish new title sequence and its very cool spaghetti lettering.

- Thanks for the video Alex, and sorry again for.. well you know.

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Brazillian based agency Santa Motion have created this strange yet compelling opening sequence for a new MTV show called Acesso.

The broad concept behind the video is about how information changes people, an idea represented through the various transitions. MTV Latin America have always pumped out really interesting stuff, including this from a few years back.

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One of televisions most iconic opening sequences got its most dramatic and permanent update today.

The Simpson’s have taken the leap into high definition, and used it as an opportunity to completely recreate the famous race home.

Sticking to the basic premise that debuted back in 1989, the new sequence see’s the addition of countless secondary characters and a few in-jokes from the shows over 400 episode history.

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True Blood is the latest creation from Alan Ball, the creator of Six Feet Under and American Beauty screenwriter. Just like Six Feet Under, the main titles for True Blood have been designed by Digital Kitchen, who also did the opener for Dexter.

The high concept premise behind True Blood revolves around the co-existence of vampires and humans in the southern US state of Louisiana. And from the pilot episode at least, it appears Ball intends to draw on vampires and their recent “outing” into mainstream society as an allegory for the struggle to achieve homosexual rights, racial equality and acceptance.

The gritty and compelling opening sequence, accompanied by the track Bad Things by Jace Everett, even goes so far to feature a sign saying “God Hates Fangs”, an obvious play on the famous protest signs of the Westboro Baptist Church.

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Having covered the Sydney and Beijing games already, it seems only fair to fill in the blank that is Athens 2004. These two videos, produced for the Seven Network and the Athens Olympic Broadcasting organisation respectively, prove that the timeless formula of “athletes + cultural imagery = Olympic opener” will apparently never go out of fashion.

- Another big thanks to Christian for the videos.

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These two opening titles for the Sydney 2000 games (aka “the best Olympics games ever“) show just how little creative progress has been made in the field of Olympic television branding. And while they’re not bad, you have to wonder how many more Olympics broadcasts are going to open with video of a guy jumping up and kicking a soccer ball before somebody thinks up a new idea.

The first video is from the Seven network, the Australian broadcaster of the 2000 games, and the second video is the “official” opening sequence, produced by the Sydney Olympic Broadcasting Organisation for international telecasts.

- Huge thanks to Alex and Christian for the videos.

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Germany’s ZDF (aka Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen) combines the Chinese landscape with Olympic athleticism, along with the obligatory cultural reference in the form of a flying dragon for this slick branding of their Games coverage.

- Big thanks to Ulrich for the video.

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Olympics broadcast branding has been a bucket full of cliches so far. And while the BBC’s incredibly unique take on the Games has been a much needed dose of fresh air, Norway’s national broadcaster NRK have delivered a nice spin on the usual slow motion althetes imagery with this Heroes-meets-300 inspired spot.

- Thanks to Hans for the video.

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UPDATE: Added the “making of” video above.

Designed by BDA Singapore, this is the “official opening title sequence to the Beijing Olympic Games 2008″. Official because its the sequence used by Beijing Olympic Broadcasting, the host broadcaster of the games set up to provide television signals of the games to the rest of the world.

The video is a combination of live action and 3D animation, and is based around the “Chinese elements of nature – metal, wood, water, fire & earth”.

Read more about the spot here and here, and thanks to Nick for the video.

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The Opening Ceremony may still be a day away, but the first event is about to start in the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, which means coverage has begun, and the full Olympic look of Australia’s Seven Network is being rolled out.

The BBC have taken a very unique approach to their Olympics branding, as you’ll see above Seven have stuck with the traditional “gold-infused slow-motion footage of athletes” imagery that seems to be the norm, albeit executed in a very slick fashion.

More Olympics coverage to come throughout the Games.

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The nominees for the 2008 Primetime Emmy Award for Main Title Design have been announced, last year Dexter won, and in the running for it this year:

> Advertising drama Mad Men from AMC
> HBO telemovie Bernard and Doris
> Geek action hero Chuck on NBC
> CIA miniseries The Company
> And cancelled Fox series New Amsterdam

For all the details on who made what, check out this. And the winner will be announced at the Creative Arts ceremony on September 13th.

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Did you know there was an Emmy for best main title design? One company that knows all about it is Digital Kitchen, who in 2002 won for their stunning work on the Six Feet Under opener, and scored big again last year with the titles for Dexter.

Dexter made its free to air debut in Australia this week, but both seasons were already over with on subscription television, with Foxtel’s new Showcase channel launching itself on the back of everyone’s favourite serial killer.

I watched both seasons of Dexter over summer, and became enthralled with the adventures of the dysfunctional Dexter Morgan, which brings me to my question..

Why didn’t Ten just pick this up in the first place? Free to air television isn’t exactly proving its relevance by letting Dexter (and others) make their debuts on pay TV.

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More of the white space infused refresh of the BBC’s news output, including the new BBC News Channel, BBC News at 10, and regional BBC News service Points West.

The BBC have actually blogged about the changes themselves here and here, and have also compiled a video montage of the look of BBC News over the years here.

Among other things they explain the dropping of the 24 from their news channel:

BBC News 24 becomes simply “BBC News”… The channel is not just at the heart of BBC News. Now it is BBC News.

For videos from the newly renamed BBC World News channel click here.

- Thanks for the videos Craig.

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In a branding move where apparently “more is more” the BBC’s international news channel, BBC World will change its name tomorrow to BBC World News.

Proving its ability at being truly impartial however, the Beeb is giving BBC News 24 a facelift as well, this time taking the “less is more” approach by dropping the 24 from its name and relaunching as simple BBC News.

Along with the new names will come a new look designed by Lambie-Nairn.

For now though, a look back at the old branding, with videos from BBC News 24 and BBC World, on the eve of their rebrand. And for more from BBC News have a look at their earlier looks from 2006 and 2007.

- Thanks for the BBC News 24 videos Craig.

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Channel Nine rebooted its Wide World of Sports franchise last Sunday and opened its first episode back in a over a decade with a look back at the shows history and various opening sequences.

- Big thanks to Christian for the video, much appreciated.

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TV2 Nyhetskanalen is Norway’s first round the clock news network, its operated by commercial broadcaster TV2 and has been on the air just over one year.

The above is a selection of the stations on-air look, but compared to the outstanding branding of Norway’s national broadcaster NRK, aren’t really that great.

And while I know Australia does have its own news network in Sky News, surely its time a free-to-air alternative launched, and if the ABC doesn’t get the funding to launch one, perhaps its time Seven launched a news channel, the name itself is crying out for some word play.. Seven 24?

Even New Zealand is about to get a free to air news channel at the end of the month.

- Thanks for the videos Hans!

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When anyone asks me what my favourite television show is, the answer is unequivocally: Arrested Development. So you’ll have to indulge my excitement over news that it looks like a movie could finally be in the works!

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ITV’s flagship news program News at Ten was resurrected last week for the second time since its inception in 1967. The shows original run ended in 1999 before being brought back again from 2001 to 2004.

The latest incarnation is fronted by the newly unretired Trevor McDonald and Sky News’ Julie Etchingham, and takes place in the “Theatre of News“, which to an outsider is somewhat bizarrely meant to be behind the clockface of Big Ben, and seems more suited to the secret lair of a Bond villain then to a news broadcast.

These videos come from the first nights broadcast and show the opening and closing of the broadcast, along with an incredibly smooth live cross to Antarctica, which just looks stunning considering the distance and the fact its live.

- Kudos to Craig for the first night videos.

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The Australia Network (formerly ABC Asia Pacific) is a free to air satellite television station operated by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Its available to over 20 million homes across Asia, the Pacific, and India, and although technically not broadcast in Australia, some of its programming is available on ABC2.

The above video comparison shows the opening sequences of ABC News as broadcast locally, and ABC News Asia Pacific produced for the Australia Network.

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These are a series of openers from various news programs from the Norwegian national broadcaster NRK. The shows in order of appearance above are RedaksjonEN, Standpunkt, Urix and Østnytt.

The entirely CGI sequences keep away from the usual television news trap of using old footage to create drama and instead get an incredible amount of creative mileage from a small dot from the NRK logo that begins each show.

There’s a consistency here I love that makes each program distinctively NRK, which is something that lacks among the various news shows of say the ABC (7.30, Lateline, etc), however its probably debatable as to whether such cohesion between sepereate broadcasts is needed.

Check out more from the license fee funded Norwegian NRK in my earlier post here.

- And another huge thanks to Hans for the videos.

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I’ve learnt a lot more about Norway than I thought I would from writing this blog. I’ve learnt that Norway it isn’t (despite what I thought) part of the European Union, that it ranks number #1 in the UN Human Development Index, and now apparently its the most peaceful country on earth!

Back to TV though, check out Norwegian broadcaster TV2′s idents here in my earlier post, or watch their news and weather openers above, with music composed by David Lowe, whose work you may have heard in the theme music to BBC News.

- Thanks Hans for the videos.

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The Bill isn’t a show I’ve ever really watched, but at 3000 episodes theres obviously an audience for it. I believe the above video is the refreshed opening sequence, and while its no Six Feet Under, it certainly has a memorable tune I’ve been hearing most of my life.

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The iconic opening sequence of HBO’s Six Feet Under raised the bar for television everywhere, with music by Thomas Newman and creative by Digital Kitchen and winner of the 2002 Emmy for main title design, nothing comes close to Six Feet Under.

The shows creator Alan Ball describes them as “elegant, cinematic, and so unlike tv”. The video above is a fifteen minute behind the scenes look at the creation of this beautiful opening. Watch the sequence in full from the final episode after the jump.

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For more opening sequence fun check out another HBO show, Big Love here.

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Neighbours, the great Australian soap, got a revamp today. Ratings were dropping, and with the BBC not willing to pay £300m for an eight year contract I guess they decided it was time something was done.

The new look has a few new faces, loses a few old faces, will tone down the crazy storylines, and hopefully start to “look” a lot better now that its all being shot in HD.

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Enough Rope with Andrew Denton has been on the ABC since 2003, and with every new season comes a new opening sequence. Produced by Hackett Films the newspaper-cartoon-bobble-head titles distill down a year of pop culture, news and politics into 45 seconds. Check out the 2005 and 2006 openers here.

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I feel like I’ve been talking about morning television a lot lately, or maybe just even a little of it is too much for me. Either way, here is the open to this mornings Kerri Anne, and her less then ceremonious entrance to her 1000th episode.

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If you flick over to SBS right now, you’ll catch Big Love, a show that I’ve already gone on quite a bit about. The opening sequence however, deserves a mention. It’s classic HBO, a little surreal, a little very symbolic, accompnied by what Paul McCartney calls the best song ever written “God Only Knows” by The Beach Boys.

Update: Get some insight into the symbolism of the opener with this comment.