Have you noticed that there is a lot of stuff on TV lately?
I don’t mean sitcoms and dramas. I mean things. Matter. Material. Substances. Especially in the opening sequences of the title of the TV series, where all kinds of effluvia flow, intertwine and transform, through the magic of CGI, into shapes and symbols that reflect the themes of the program.
in “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power,” a Tolkien prequel that concerns the forging of the titular enchanted jewelry, gold dust swirls into images of circles, tree branches, and other symbols that echo the saga:
in “The last of us”, these are the fungi responsible for turning humanity into zombies, which spread across the screen creating landscapes and images of the central characters:
in “The wheel of time”, these are the threads, the medium through which magic is “woven” in the fantastic series:
in “Foundation”, more dust, i.e. grains of colored sand used to create art in the culture of her sci-fi realm:
do you understand Hardly you can’t. Whether they work in sand or spores, a difficult metaphor is the right choice for all these opening titles. Series are different in genres and tone. But it seems they’ve all decided together that the best way to convey the feel of epic event television is with an overture of shape-shifting, literally mind-blowing screensaver art.
To understand how TV titles ended up in this pattern, it’s helpful to understand where they started. They functioned, in the early days of TV, to receive viewers and prevent them from changing the channel. They could set the mood, as well as the “Let’s-mosey-to-the-fishing-hole” whistleThe Andy Griffith Show“…
… or literally tell the story, establishing the show’s premise for newcomers, as did the mangy themes of “The Beverly Hillbillies” and “The Dukes of Hazzard“:
Over the decades, as commercial TV commercial breaks grew longer, network sitcom credits were often compressed into a few seconds of musical “jabs” and title cards, as with the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it intro from “Happy endings“:
But cable television, particularly ambitious channels like HBO, FX and AMC, have gone in the opposite direction. This was media that wanted to get attention because, in the slogan of HBO, they were “Not TV” – at least not TV as usual. Their top dramas aimed at literary momentum and cinematic scale, heralded by big opening titles that set the scene and evoke this, like the hard-hitting trip to North Jersey of the film “The Soprano family“:
Or a scene setter”Crazy people”, an elegant period-appropriate design that imagined the protagonist falling from the cool heights of midtown Manhattan skyscrapers:
This mode of opening sequence probably reached its peak with “Game of Thrones” in 2011, whose titles were an ingenious combination of form and function. The series is adapted from the complex, multi-volume saga of the novel by George RR Martin, with the action taking place among dozens of characters spread across countless countries on multiple fictional continents.
The expansion of the series was a lot for viewers to keep in their heads. So the opening titles, like the front of a fantasy book, gave them the map. Westeros, its surrounding lands and their various fortresses and citadels sprung up like the workings of a wondrous medieval machine:
The images suggested an impression of this world, but they also served a practical purpose, telling the viewer: Here is this location, and this, and here is how far these characters are from them. (Cleverly, the titles changed with each episode to describe the specific locations in which that installment was set.)
When HBO followed “Throne” with a prequel “The house of the dragon”, it basically took away the merits. Does it look familiar?
Here the form also has some meaning. The river of blood flows on, connecting the symbols of the various royal houses, reflecting the series’ focus on genealogies and bloodlines. But really — especially with the re-use of the “Thrones” theme music — the primary message is: Here’s another series from that world you love, and there’s going to be a lot more killing.
This approach may have reached its ultimate travesty in the headlines “Those who will die,” a gladiator series that promises some damn good times by throwing an absolute tsunami of the red stuff at a collection of Roman artifacts:
While you’re going to get your towel, I’ll note that creativity in modern TV titles, even for some who follow this popular “borrow a picture from the series” format, luckily still abounds.
The opening screen of the Netflix adaptation of the film “Decameron,” for example, draws on the visual metaphor of the bubonic plague — rats in particular, whose inked bodies swarm across the inscriptions to form a chalice, praying hands, a skull. Admittedly, it’s not for rodent-phobes, but it’s a stunningly beautiful animation that captures the series’ darkly comedic sensibilities:
In the recently completed “Evil”, created by Michelle and Robert King, the titles follow the pattern of the amazing sequence from Kings’ “The Good Fight”. for “Evil,” a drama about a team of Catholic Church investigators who balance conviction and skepticism as they investigate possessions and other phenomena, black and white objects (complete with delicious splashes of red) collide in a ballet of Heaven and Hell:
Why is all this important? (And why not just skip the credits?) Because the opening title sequence is more than a pretty picture. It is a means of distilling and concentrating the spirit and ideas of the series.
The best titles, like the best series, tell you to expect original concepts, interesting twists and a distinctive voice. They can draw you in with a sense of play, like unearthly images for “Severance pay” (I won’t spoil the new sequence for Season 2, which starts Friday on Apple TV+, but it’s terrifying.)
A good title sequence sets you up for fun, but it’s also a work of art in itself. Delights. It hypnotizes. Above all, it tells you not to sit around just to watch more of the same stuff.
Videos via Prime Video (“The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power”); HBO (“The Last of Us,” “The Sopranos,” “Game of Thrones” and “Dragon House”); Amazon Studios (“Wheel of Time”); Apple TV + (“Establishment” and Release”); CBS (“The Andy Griffith Show” and “The Dukes of Hazzard”); ABC (“Happy Endings”); AMC (“Mad Men”); Peacock (“Those About to Die”); Netflix (“The Decameron”); Paramount+ (“Evil”).
Produced Tala Safia and Jolie Ruben
