Like My Wife and Kids, it didn't have a theme song or opening whatsoever...it just started and had the stars' names appear...that was it. Anyone know why they do that?

Also, how many other shows do this? I know a few times George Lopez show has started without the theme song/opening...it just had the names appear at the bottom.

Is it because the network wants to fit the episode in without much editing or too many commercials? Not that there are too many anyways...(yeah right):rolleyes:

Yep it's so they can squeeze in more commercials ohno:

yea, and that's why they chop down openings too for syndication. though Roseanne had a great idea and prevented this by making the opening be just one long camera shot going around the table. therefore, if syndicators tried to cut it shorter, it wouldn't work because then the cuts would be too noticeable.

Supernatural doesn't have a theme song. I think for that purpose, they want it to appear darker so it's just the show and commercials.
I think for some shows it's good, but for others it drives me crazy.

I remember reading somewhere that it is also expensive to produce an opening theme. That's one way to cut down on the expense.

EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND didn't have a theme song for most of its run. A
few episodes had an opening theme, but most didn't. There are others that I
can't think of at the moment.

Theme songs have become a dying breed in sitcoms. It is a shame considering some of the classic theme songs that have come out of sitcoms like The Brady Bunch, Gilligan's Island, The Jeffersons, etc.

I remember reading somewhere that it is also expensive to produce an opening theme. That's one way to cut down on the expense.

I cant believe it could cost THAT much to simply edit tape together and put a title and people's names on it. ohno:

I cant believe it could cost THAT much to simply edit tape together and put a title and people's names on it. ohno:

You also have to pay royalties to the composer of the themesong and, if their are lyrics, to the artist. But the real reason themesongs and opening credits are cut has to do with commercials.

They could always do what Frasier & Just Shoot Me did, put the theme song in the credits...

ABC ended the Step By Step Opening song in the 6th Season (They eventually added them back when the show went to CBS).

Family Matters' opening was also cut around it's 6th Season.

Seinfeld might have had a "theme song" but that's not opening credits.

8 Simple Rules had no opening Credits after John Ritter passed away.

Two Guys and a Girl stopped showing their opening after season 2 I believe.

LOST has a 15 second thing going across the screen before the first break, but they don't actually list the actors' names until the episode actually begins.

Theme songs have become a dying breed in sitcoms. It is a shame considering some of the classic theme songs that have come out of sitcoms like The Brady Bunch, Gilligan's Island, The Jeffersons, etc.
I so agree with you. Back in the 70's I remember buying an album (yes, an album) and it had the greatest TV themes on it. It had the Baretta theme, SWAT theme, Love Boat theme, Laverne & Shirley theme, Happy Days theme, Welcome Back Kotter theme, and many others. Man, I bet if I held on to that album I could fetch some bucks!!


I am soooo glad Roseanne had the foresight and the intelligience to do that. Bravo for her.


I hated Everybody loves Raymond and that beginning thing they had going on with Ray talking and so forth. I didn't like that. I did like when they had the Steve Miller Band song theme for awhile. that was awesome.

I don't know about you all, but a theme song also got me 'into' the show before the show actually got started. It puts you in the right mood, I think.

I miss the TV theme song. I have a big collection of recorded TV theme songs,
incl. Tee Vee Toons' series TELEVISION'S GREATEST HITS, Vol. 1-7. Some
great stuff there--I even like some of the themes for shows that I never saw!

I miss the TV theme song. I have a big collection of recorded TV theme songs,
incl. Tee Vee Toons' series TELEVISION'S GREATEST HITS, Vol. 1-7. Some
great stuff there--I even like some of the themes for shows that I never saw!
I've taped a bunch of tv theme songs from the internet over the last few years. It saddens me what the state of them are today. It does put you in the mood for the show.

One trend I don't like - and this will show how old I am - is the fact that closing credits are squeezed to either one side of the screen or the bottom so that a promo for another show can air at the same time.

I am also extremely annoyed at pop up ads at the bottom of the screen...while the show is playing!!! It's bad enough that over the years that the actual onscreen time of a sitcom - opening and closing credits included - has been chopped down from 26 to 22 minutes, but showing those pop up ads is distracting and detracts from seeing everything that was meant to be in the shot.

One trend I don't like - and this will show how old I am - is the fact that closing credits are squeezed to either one side of the screen or the bottom so that a promo for another show can air at the same time.

I am also extremely annoyed at pop up ads at the bottom of the screen...while the show is playing!!! It's bad enough that over the years that the actual onscreen time of a sitcom - opening and closing credits included - has been chopped down from 26 to 22 minutes, but showing those pop up ads is distracting and detracts from seeing everything that was meant to be in the shot.
Yep. I hate that too. that is sooo irritating. On FX channel, they have this little thing going on in the corner and it seems like i have those tv's that have a smaller screen so u can watch another channel. That is so annoying. The credits not being seen is what I like to see. I like to see the names of the actors who appeared and other stuff. I am surprised that those people in production don't complain. I would want my name to be shown for the hard work I did on the show. Not squeezed down to the side like that.

One trend I don't like - and this will show how old I am - is the fact that closing credits are squeezed to either one side of the screen or the bottom so that a promo for another show can air at the same time.

I am also extremely annoyed at pop up ads at the bottom of the screen...while the show is playing!!! It's bad enough that over the years that the actual onscreen time of a sitcom - opening and closing credits included - has been chopped down from 26 to 22 minutes, but showing those pop up ads is distracting and detracts from seeing everything that was meant to be in the shot.

I agree with you and Ireneparalegal. I hate popup ads on the screen. I also hate that closing credits are almost an afterthought. They go by at the speed of light and several times they're illegible. No catchy theme music either. I cant stand the same tired promo over and over. I also hate it when they splitscreen stuff for an ID that we'll see two seconds later.

Spike TV has the Worst pop-ups on screen, so does FX....

Spike TV has the Worst pop-ups on screen, so does FX....
Don't forget the WB with their annoying ads.

Don't forget the WB with their annoying ads.

That really sucks. The WB does that, and the WB station here does the same thing.. they even have poor timing sometimes too.. putting their popup ads on top of the WB ones.

You know, it's bad enough to see WB in the right hand corner, or whatever channel you're watching, but then those stupid pop-ups come up and it takes the whole bottom screen.

Ok, not only that...whenever I need to read something that is being shown on the bottom...I CAN'T FRIGGIN READ IT...WHY???? Because some stupid crap is blocking the words~!!!!!!!:mad: I was watching a documentary and the person on the show was speaking another language and of course, I couldn't read what this particular person said because of the CRAP THAT WAS BLOCKING IT!!!!!!!!!!! DAMN IT!!!!!!!!:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

like on Game Show Network when they have popup ads on Password... or some other show where there are words or questions at the bottom of the screen that I care about more than the same damn Anything to Win popup ad over and over.

like on Game Show Network when they have popup ads on Password... or some other show where there are words or questions at the bottom of the screen that I care about more than the same damn Anything to Win popup ad over and over.
Exactly. See, that's a good example. Man, that crap ticks me off. WE MUST REVOLT I TELL YA!!!!

I think the worst was what PAX did on "BONANZA" when they were showing it (are they still? I don't know). They would shrink the credits down and fade them into the background and have them shoot by so fast, even if you squinted you couldn't read them!!!!:mad: :mad: :mad:

At least TV LAND doesn't do that, but they still split the screen!:mad:
At least, though, they go back to full screen for the last few seconds of the closing, most of the time.

I remember watching a "GET SMART" marathon on UPN a couple years ago, and when the show was over-yep you guessed it!just as Max came up in that phone booth in the closing, they would shrink the screen down (WAY, WAY, down:mad: :mad: and an announcer would shout "NEXT TIME ON 'THAT 70S SHOW' "!! or "COOOMING UP, ON 'THE KING OF QUEENS' "!!! or "next time on 'EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND' " or something.:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

I think the worst was what PAX did on "BONANZA" when they were showing it (are they still? I don't know). They would shrink the credits down and fade them into the background and have them shoot by so fast, even if you squinted you couldn't read them!!!!:mad: :mad: :mad:

At least TV LAND doesn't do that, but they still split the screen!:mad:
At least, though, they go back to full screen for the last few seconds of the closing, most of the time.

I remember watching a "GET SMART" marathon on UPN a couple years ago, and when the show was over-yep you guessed it!just as Max came up in that phone booth in the closing, they would shrink the screen down (WAY, WAY, down:mad: :mad: and an announcer would shout "NEXT TIME ON 'THAT 70S SHOW' "!! or "COOOMING UP, ON 'THE KING OF QUEENS' "!!! or "next time on 'EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND' " or something.:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:
As a matter of fact, TVLand has just started getting into that crap recently. When Good Times started airing in the summertime, we could see the credits and all that good stuff. We were even posting on this board abt the people in the closing credits...NOW!!! YOU CAN'T SEE THEM!!!!! YOU CAN'T SEE CACA!!! What if someone doesn't have the internet and they want to see the credits of who played who, etc???? They are screwed!!!!

As a matter of fact, TVLand has just started getting into that crap recently. When Good Times started airing in the summertime, we could see the credits and all that good stuff. We were even posting on this board abt the people in the closing credits...NOW!!! YOU CAN'T SEE THEM!!!!! YOU CAN'T SEE CACA!!! What if someone doesn't have the internet and they want to see the credits of who played who, etc???? They are screwed!!!!



I miss the old days when you just had an obnoxious announcer talking over the closing credits. :lol:

I think the worst was what PAX did on "BONANZA" when they were showing it (are they still? I don't know). They would shrink the credits down and fade them into the background and have them shoot by so fast, even if you squinted you couldn't read them!!!!:mad: :mad: :mad:

I remember when The Hogan Family was on Pax. They didnt even show the real credits of the episode, just a set of generic ones.

I'll never forget the Spike TV Tv pop-up ads during Star Trek...

alright first a rope would come down the top right of the screen, and then this guy would walk down the rope (batman style) down the right side of the screen, and they'd do this at least 2 times per episode.....and I taped those episodes so I have no choice but to live with it!!

So of course I watch the show that was being advertised because I could not forget it, so then I start to like the show and then after about 5 episodes it was cancelled!

Spike TV is dead to me.

I could understand that tv networks need to promted if they are doing During closeing credits he is best offer if you want to see a closeing credits of your favor Show bye the Shows DVD or go on the Internet if the Network want to promtes all they care about it ratings to make both the Fans and the Network happy cut down Four Mintues of commercial and end the shows Four Mintues Early so this way both could be happy but networks want to wait for the Show to ended at the last mintues is they are trying to make last these proms the good thing when they promte a show will you watch a show whats coming up what come up on Sunday or Monday that the only good thing

It is bad the theme song is left to drama's now, and even then some shows struggle to fit them in (Desperate Housewives S1 finale had a chopped intro).

When did this start happening? I know shows that started in early 90's kept their theme song for the whole show (Home Improvement had a shorter themetune, but right up until 1999 it had one. Friends had a shorter themetune from 2000 but it kept it until 2004). I guess popularity also matters, NBC would not have dreamt of taking the Friends theme tune off - it was a pop culture hit (the song aswelll!).

It is bad the theme song is left to drama's now, and even then some shows struggle to fit them in (Desperate Housewives S1 finale had a chopped intro).

Desperate Housewives has alternated between having a full opening credits sequence and a truncated one this season, depending on the week. I guess it depends on how long the episode runs.

...when NBC decided to initiate its "NBC 2000" plan of "seamless" programming
from one show to another. They decided, in the fall of 1994, that every situation comedy on their network must have a VERY short opening title (30 seconds or less; preferably 15), or begin the show with the titles running underneath the opening scene, in order to "hook" the viewers into staying with the show and NOT change channels---and eliminate the standard "closing credits" and theme music, replacing them with standardized "squeezed" credits on one side of the screen, and network promos flashed on the other, directly leading into the next program on the schedule. This proved to be SO successful, the other networks eventually followed NBC's lead within two years. Virtually EVERY network does this today. THIS is why the basic sitcom "theme" is almost extinct these days.
Of course, when these shows are syndicated, there are "full" credits and themes at the end (unless a show flashes its credits over a final scene!), but these, alas, are rare.

:(

...when NBC decided to initiate its "NBC 2000" plan of "seamless" programming
from one show to another. They decided, in the fall of 1994, that every situation comedy on their network must have a VERY short opening title (30 seconds or less; preferably 15), or begin the show with the titles running underneath the opening scene, in order to "hook" the viewers into staying with the show and NOT change channels---and eliminate the standard "closing credits" and theme music, replacing them with standardized "squeezed" credits on one side of the screen, and network promos flashed on the other, directly leading into the next program on the schedule. This proved to be SO successful, the other networks eventually followed NBC's lead within two years. Virtually EVERY network does this today. THIS is why the basic sitcom "theme" is almost extinct these days.
Of course, when these shows are syndicated, there are "full" credits and themes at the end (unless a show flashes its credits over a final scene!), but these, alas, are rare.

:(

Wow, this is really interesting. Maybe this thread should be STICKIED...this is alot of info. How do you know all this stuff? TV must be something you are obviously very knowledeable in.

....gathering bits and pieces of knowledge and knowing WHAT to do with it
is my specialty. Unfortunately, I don't see an end to the "NBC 2000" syndrome
any time soon!

:read: