Credits Anyone?

[jelgate]

That would be S2 not S3

[Jeff O'Connor]

http://josephmallozzi.wordpress.com/...ons-addressed/

According to Joe himself, it has everything to do with the network believing viewers have the attention spans of gnats. I wouldn't be surprised if it continues this way for the rest of the year.

[Stargate_atlantis-]

i was like :O wheres my opening credits i love watching them its like sex haha

[prion]

from malllozzi 9/13 blog:

Oh, for those of you asking - no, you didn’t imagine it. That was the abbreviated nine second main title sequence that accompanied last night’s airing and not the cool, VFX-laden full version containing the entirety of Joel Goldsmith’s incredible score. The decision to scrap the uber-cool main title sequence in favor of the truncated blink-and-you’ll-miss-it sequence was a network call. Apparently, prevailing wisdom holds that viewers possess the attention spans of coked-up squirrels who are likely to change the channel if faced with the prospect of investing up to a full minute of their time watching the main title of a show they’ve tuned into. By airing a shorter sequence, it is argued, viewers will be less likely to suddenly grow bored and wander off into the surrounding cornfields or seek out more enticing programming like, say, TVLand’s The Jeffersons/Good Times double-bill. Bottom line: Don’t give the viewer an excuse to change the channel. And, to be honest, it’s sound logic.

Provided the network rolls right into the show rather than heading into commercials which would, in effect, defeat the purpose of airing a shorter main title sequence.

[Fan-e-Gate]

I hope it is a one-off. I thought it was because this episode was special and they knew it wouldn't be a stinker. That and because they needed this episode to be that bit longer

[Jeff O'Connor]

The episode is not longer. It has absolutely nothing to do with that.

[Aurora24]

from malllozzi 9/13 blog:

Oh, for those of you asking - no, you didn’t imagine it. That was the abbreviated nine second main title sequence that accompanied last night’s airing and not the cool, VFX-laden full version containing the entirety of Joel Goldsmith’s incredible score. The decision to scrap the uber-cool main title sequence in favor of the truncated blink-and-you’ll-miss-it sequence was a network call. Apparently, prevailing wisdom holds that viewers possess the attention spans of coked-up squirrels who are likely to change the channel if faced with the prospect of investing up to a full minute of their time watching the main title of a show they’ve tuned into. By airing a shorter sequence, it is argued, viewers will be less likely to suddenly grow bored and wander off into the surrounding cornfields or seek out more enticing programming like, say, TVLand’s The Jeffersons/Good Times double-bill. Bottom line: Don’t give the viewer an excuse to change the channel. And, to be honest, it’s sound logic.

Provided the network rolls right into the show rather than heading into commercials which would, in effect, defeat the purpose of airing a shorter main title sequence.

Ok, I have two things to say to that. First: you have got to be kidding me. The network seriously thinks that viewers are gonna change the channel cause of a minute long intro? I mean granted I tend to tune it out now and then, but I doubt fans of the show are gonna start channel surfing cause the intro is longer than ten seconds.

The second thing I have to say is: why the heck are they worrying about this now? I mean this is going to be the last season right? So why are they concerned about losing viewers? Its not like they have ratings to worry about.

Sorry just a bit of a mini rant.

[Jeff O'Connor]

Just because it's the last season doesn't mean much of anything to Sci-Fi other than the knowledge that they are fronting far less toward the Atlantis brand starting next year.

They still seek maximum possible ratings because the advertisers are paying for things. The advertisers don't care if it's the last season, either, unless the series starts pulling in 3s and 4s out of nowhere, in which case they might privately inquire as to the logic in the decision-making process. At the moment, it's more about maintaining all those 1.2s and such; keeping things where they are instead of suddenly pulling in another 0.9.

If this is how they think they can do it, then whatever. Mallozzi seems to admit it's a fairly logical perspective; these things are taken into account (how many people change the channel during long opening credit sequences) by these folks on a much more critical scale than most fans will ever consider, so... consider that.

That said, I'm miffed, sure. I hope we get the sequence back at least a few more times this season, because as I've said in other threads, it's part of the experience for me. But oh well.

[BuggyMan]

Well, I like it.
That reasoning is not really far-fetched. I have seen those credits often enough so I always fast forward through them. Casual live viewers may actually switch channels for something of equal value to them that does not waste their time.


Lost has done that from the beginning and i have always applauded that decision because it brought you right back in the "action". I also gives more time to the actual episode so normally that's a gain

But I understand that some people like the opening to get into the mood but to me it is not really that essential to the experience.

[Fan-e-Gate]

The episode is not longer. It has absolutely nothing to do with that.

Of course it wasn't half an hour or an hour longer but it could have been a minute longer.

I didn't actually sit down and time it but was it the same length as a normal episode. Wouldn't that mean that they had 1min more footage to show on TV. Wasn't that one of the excuses they gave back when they did SG-1 season 9. So that they could have one more minute of acting rather than wwasting that one minute on a promo.

Same thing happens with the simpsons-the sometimes don't have a full promo because the couldn't edit down to their 20min episode without loosing plot cohesiveness. eg. where they cut Bart's writing on the blackboard and go straight to the house and Homer is parking. OR conversely to make the episode longer-the whole family dancing with the elephants and the house becomiing a stage OR the whole homer evolving from a fish.

[Jeff O'Connor]

Yeah, but no... that's simply not the case here. Someone in another thread has already documented the exact running time of the episode, and while I'm not privvy offhand to what was initially said concerning the 9.0/2.0 opening reduction, I do know that giving the advertisers more time was ultimately stated as the reason and it was scrapped after the ten-episode stints for the two series.

[melfan]

Isn't there a thread here that already has asked this question?

[Jeff O'Connor]

Isn't there a thread here that already has asked this question?

Yeah, but isn't that a common problem?

[Atrus]

If you got to cut the titles between the teaser and the episode because the user might switch channels, why not do something revolutionary like, say, show the main titles before the episode?

(There's an "ironic" tag in there, somewhere)

[Falcon 304]

from malllozzi 9/13 blog:

Oh, for those of you asking - no, you didn’t imagine it. That was the abbreviated nine second main title sequence that accompanied last night’s airing and not the cool, VFX-laden full version containing the entirety of Joel Goldsmith’s incredible score. The decision to scrap the uber-cool main title sequence in favor of the truncated blink-and-you’ll-miss-it sequence was a network call. Apparently, prevailing wisdom holds that viewers possess the attention spans of coked-up squirrels who are likely to change the channel if faced with the prospect of investing up to a full minute of their time watching the main title of a show they’ve tuned into. By airing a shorter sequence, it is argued, viewers will be less likely to suddenly grow bored and wander off into the surrounding cornfields or seek out more enticing programming like, say, TVLand’s The Jeffersons/Good Times double-bill. Bottom line: Don’t give the viewer an excuse to change the channel. And, to be honest, it’s sound logic.

Provided the network rolls right into the show rather than heading into commercials which would, in effect, defeat the purpose of airing a shorter main title sequence.

Yay for more of Sci-Fi's anit-logic!

Personally: I go absolutely MAD if I don't watch the title sequence. It's a part of the show imo. Also, considering the attention span of the average American, they change the channel when there is a commercial break (I don't though). Therefore, more commercials = bad.

Now, I don't know if changing the channel during commercials affects ratings, but if it does, well... TIME TO START A CONSPIRACY!!!