No More Theme Songs
This is not even close to being comics-related, but it's still interesting.
This article by the AP suggests that TV theme songs are going the way of Speakeasy.
Back in the day, even into the `90s, shows usually had a "main title," a 40-to-60 second opening montage that introduced the cast and was often set to music written by a composer, said Jon Burlingame, author of "TV's Biggest Hits," a history of themes. Songs summed up what a show was all about, whether spinning the tale of how a group of wacky castaways ended up on "Gilligan's Island," telling how a spunky single career woman was "going to make it after all," or describing why six touchy-feely Manhattan singles were there for each other.
But now many sitcoms and one-hour dramas are dropping that device. They dive straight into the action, sometimes flashing the show's title or logo at various points throughout an episode.
This article by the AP suggests that TV theme songs are going the way of Speakeasy.
Back in the day, even into the `90s, shows usually had a "main title," a 40-to-60 second opening montage that introduced the cast and was often set to music written by a composer, said Jon Burlingame, author of "TV's Biggest Hits," a history of themes. Songs summed up what a show was all about, whether spinning the tale of how a group of wacky castaways ended up on "Gilligan's Island," telling how a spunky single career woman was "going to make it after all," or describing why six touchy-feely Manhattan singles were there for each other.
But now many sitcoms and one-hour dramas are dropping that device. They dive straight into the action, sometimes flashing the show's title or logo at various points throughout an episode.
posted by Tim Leong at 10:04 AM
2 Comments:
This has been coming for some time. Originally, the theme song was reduced from a piece about 45-seconds long -- enough for a cast recap -- to somewhere around 20-seconds. That was enough for some credits.
But think of the recent successes that have no real theme. 24 just has the beep of the clock. Lost has the ominous sustain. Now we have Heroes with its own variation on the brief crescendo.
The jaded opinion says that this just makes more room for commercials. Maybe. But even with more ads, it might give us a few more minutes of actual story.
Now, if only the folks behind Heroes would ax the annoying "previously on" recaps ...
Joseph Pulitzer said it, and I'll say it too: Brevity is Beauty.
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