Longer opening titles vs Shorter opening titles

[torcan]

We all know that in today's TV universe, clever opening title sequences are mostly a thing of the past. I really enjoyed some of the opening titles of classic sitcoms, but one thing I noticed is that there'd quite frequently be two versions per season - one standard length (varied depending on the show, but usually 30-45 seconds) and one around 10 seconds shorter.

You'd usually get the full opening titles near the beginning of the season, then around November usually the shorter version on some (but not all) episodes.

Cases in point:
--That Girl. In the last season they added lyrics to the theme. Some episodes featured an opening with one of the verses edited out (at least one of those is in the trading curcuit)

--Mary Tyler Moore. After the fourth season, sometimes the opening would start right in with "Love is all Around", rather than the instrumental beginning to the song, and feature edited visuals; other times you'd get a completely instrumental opening which was quite a bit shorter than the standard one with lyrics

--Three's Company. At the begininng of the second and third seasons, there was an additional 20 seconds or so of instrumental featuring highlights from the previous season. By around November, this was dropped and IIRC, never even re-appeared on summer reruns of those episodes

--Happy Days. Beginning with the third season, sometimes you'd see a shorter version of the regular opening titles on some episodes

--Sledge Hammer. One of my favorite sitcoms of the '80s, the second season DVD even features one of those openings which ran 10 seconds or so shorter than most of the others.


Those are just a few examples, but I'm sure there are more. It just seems odd to me that they'd edit an opening title sequence, then at certain points of the year run a slightly shorter version. What was the purpose? 10 seconds wouldn't be enough for a full commercial, but do you think the networks did it to run an extra promo? You'd think they'd know how much time they had when planning the first few weeks of the season.

Always wondered...

[DSfan]

Are you referring to shows during their original run?

I just know that the shorter versions are mostly used for the syndicated cuts.

[torcan]

Originally Posted by DSfan

Are you referring to shows during their original run?

I just know that the shorter versions are mostly used for the syndicated cuts.

The examples I gave above were from the primetime airings.

[Lorimar Television]

Its probably because the episode length ran too long, even for then, for the full song. I know Full House used a short version of its theme song originally in season three. It used the full version only in 6 episodes and the shorter version was used on the other 18. But seasons 1, 2, 4, and 5 always used the full theme. Then season 6 used that same short theme in every episode. Season 7 used that theme too, but it used an even shorter version for 2 of its episode, the same version shown in syndication. And season 8 had a shorter theme song for all its episodes. It was shorter than the 6th and 7th seasons, but longer than the one used in season 7. It is the same one shown in syndication.

[comedyfreak]

Laverne & Shirley had a shorter version of Making Our Dreams Come True in the later seasons.
Welcome Back Kotter had a shorter version during the later season as well.