Where Have All The Theme Songs Gone?
Posted on | September 24, 2005 at 12:25 pm | 3 Comments
There’s a new television trend going on that I don’t like. A lot of the newer dramas are foregoing theme songs and opening title/credit sequences. Instead, there’s a brief splash after the teaser of the show name/logo with some atmospheric music behind it. The cast names are flashed on the screen either during the teaser or at the beginning of the first act. This sort of thing used to be done a lot with first/pilot episodes, but now it has spread to the regular episodes as well. 24 is the first show that I remember doing this, though I think Lost is better known for it. Since a lot of new shows this season are attempting to ape Lost (or at least it’s serial/mystery/pseudo-SF/supernatural nature), it’s not too surprising that they are also copying the lack of a theme/credits sequence.
I admit it, I’m a theme song/opening credits sequence junkie. A good musical/video opener can really spice up a show. The theme song has to be catchy and preferably instrumental. I always enjoyed watching how the credits change over the years, as cast members come and go. It was always exciting to see a semi-regular get elevated to regular status by being added to the opening credits. The openings for Buffy and Angel became the model for this sort of thing: fast, catchy tunes matched with quick visuals and interesting cast shots. But to me the ultimate opening credits belonged to Babylon 5. They would drastically change the sequence every season, including the music, to reflect the changes going on that year. (The show occurred in semi-real time, as one season of the show covered one year of the characters’ lives.) I couldn’t wait for the B5 season premieres in order to see what they do with that sequence.
So, bring back the theme songs! Bring back the opening credits, so we can actually match the actors’ names to their faces! This is not a good fad, Network America, especially if you are doing it only to be trendy or because you are too lazy to come up with something. I suppose there’s a chance they’re doing it so they can put in a few extra minutes of story/action time to make up for time that’s been taken away by extra commercials over the years, but I don’t think that’s it. And if it is the reason, how depressing is that? I find it sad that even some existing shows that used to have a theme/title, like Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis, have now ditched them. I hope others don’t follow suit.
Latre.
Comments
3 Responses to “Where Have All The Theme Songs Gone?”
September 26th, 2005 @ 2:11 pm
Certainly the theme songs of 70s/80s sitcoms are the closest thing this country has to a real folk canon, but I like this trend of no songs. Sitting through a theme song, no matter how good, is akin to sitting through a funny but long outgoing voicemail message. After a while, I’d just like to hear “Leave a message at the beep.”
September 26th, 2005 @ 2:18 pm
That’s why the marriage of music and visuals is so important, and why the visuals must change over time. I do admit the whole thing becomes less important as the show wears on, especially if nothing changes. But I think it’s vitally important for new shows to have a credits sequence, so you can learn who the players are. You certainly don’t want a sequence to be too long and overstay its welcome, but this whole “flashing the logo” thing is irksome to me, like they couldn’t even be bothered to come up with something to differentiate the show from everything else. They all blend together.
September 27th, 2005 @ 10:29 am
I think what you’re saying is that sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name. And they’re always glad you came.