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    Query about opening credits

    Why do TV shows, prominently those that are sci-fi/fantasy, have opening credits sequences where we see the name of each actor but when they reveal the name of the last "main" actor in the sequence they also give us the as clause? For example: In the first season of Stargate Atlantis the opening sequence says:

    And
    David Hewlett
    as Dr McKay


    Is this character more important? Why didn't they say:

    Joe Flanigan
    as Major Sheppard

    and so on and so forth?

    #2
    It's called 'bottom billing,' and it's negotiated as part of an actor's contract so that their name is the last one you see (and therefore remember).
    "A society grows great when old men plant trees, the shade of which they know they will never sit in. Good people do things for other people. That's it, the end." -- Penelope Wilton in Ricky Gervais's After Life

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      #3
      Originally posted by Vanysh View Post
      Why do TV shows, prominently those that are sci-fi/fantasy, have opening credits sequences where we see the name of each actor but when they reveal the name of the last "main" actor in the sequence they also give us the as clause? For example: In the first season of Stargate Atlantis the opening sequence says:

      And
      David Hewlett
      as Dr McKay


      Is this character more important? Why didn't they say:

      Joe Flanigan
      as Major Sheppard

      and so on and so forth?
      It's just a trend. It's my observation that the last actor creditted with a "as (character name)" suggests that this is the second most important character, or the character is simply played by a well known actor. It just depends on the show. When Shanks returned to SG-1, he went from 2nd credit to end-of-credits with "and Michael Shanks as Daniel Jackson." In the final seasons, Shanks would be preceeded by "with Beau Bridges." Shanks is an example of an important character, and Bridges is an example of a prominant actor. Reasons will vary from series to series. In the case of SGA, Hewlett's credit was to mirror Shanks's credit on SG-1.

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        #4
        Still, nothing new under the sun. This was very common in the 1980s as well. Miami Vice for example credited Edward James Olmos as Castillo. Dallas credited Barbara Bel Geddes as Miss Ellie (and probably whoever it was that played Jock as well), although I seem to remember them giving character names for all actors in Dynasty, but I'm pretty certain at least of Joan Collins as Alexis and John Forsythe as Blake Carrington. This was obviously before the current trend where the actors' names are not shown, or at the most shown for a few frames at the start of the show, and scroll by too fast to read at the end (and I bet I'm a faster reader than most people who watch those shows, not that I watch the current soaps more than very occasionally if I have nothing better to do).
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          #5
          Its usually a contract thing that goes to 2nd main actor lead. Using the SGA example since Hewlett was the most prominent actor after Flanigain. Same thing with Shanks. He is after RDA in importance
          Originally posted by aretood2
          Jelgate is right

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            #6
            Babylon 5 rotated it's bottom billing between the actors for G'Kar and Londo, which I liked, as each character importance sort of rotated. One character could be more important in a season than the other, so their actors (who were both fantastic to watch) end up on as bottom billed depending on season.

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