bluetoast

The main time I ever see an episode title is either here, or DVR, or when I get the episode online. But how many shows these days actually include it in the show itself? It's odd as well, because sometimes the title is (for comedies) a good joke about the content, or something like that.

Eddie W

The only one I can think of is It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

windom

Heroes used to show them, from what I remember...

sb5

Off the top of my head:

Spartacus: Blood and Sand/Gods of the Arena
Dexter
Supernatural

DJariya

"Damages" episode titles were normally part of a piece of dialogue in the show.

"CSI" had an episode title last season called "The Panty Sniffer" which got a few laughs here, but was actually about the freaks who like to smell panties.

"Hawaii Five O" episode titles are various Hawaiian words and most of the time the translation doesn't make any sense with what the episode is about.

DJariya

I would say more than half the time an episode title has some significance to the storyline of the episode.

chase3001

I remember TNG would show them, but not always.

MrSmearkase

Conan titles his episodes

steak-too

Miami Vice always did show them

Nick Martin

Look again, as all the Star Trek shows have and showed their episode titles.

Josh-da-man

Showing episode titles is more common on science fiction series than other series. I think Farscape did, too.

All of the Star Trek series showed the episode titles, as did Babylon 5.

X-Files and Buffy/Angel didn't.

Groucho

Doctor Who has been doing this for 48 years.

FatTony

Venture Bros shows them at the end from what I've seen.

I always thought Friends handled the whole "not seeing episode titles" thing in a pretty clever way.

Nick Martin

Both The O.C. and Seinfeld titled every episode with "The", like "The Contest" or "The Model Home", but neither show ever revealed them on screen.

nintendospy

La Femme Nikita always showed the episode title after the intro.

writer106

I sort of remember ER showing the episode titles on screen.

Arthur Dent

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Male_Unbonding

davidh777

That's what I was going to say.

Really before the DVR/Internet era, I never remember seeing them. Frasier used to show a few pithy statements per episode but those weren't the episode titles.

Eric D.

I was going to mention ER as well.

Cardsfan111

It was short lived, but I always loved the opening title sequence of Police Squad!

Quatermass

I'm pretty sure Monk showed the episode titles. Also, Naked City from the early 60's.

rw2516

Tons of shows have on screen episode titles

Hawaii Five-0
Lost In Space
Voyage To Bottom of Sea
Batman
Green Hornet
Wild Wild West
Munsters (first season)
Bonanza
Virginian
Babylon 5
Lawman
Dick Van Dyke Show
Wagon Train
Rawhide
Cheyene
Maverick
Ironside
Mannix

bluetoast

What I'm saying is you don't really see much of them today, on current shows. They are listed by name on the DVD, stuff like that, but much of the time they are unlisted when the show airs.

Good usage of on The Wire though.

Red Dog

Hell, you're lucky if you see opening credits anymore. There are so many characters on television that I have no idea what their real name is. Granted, that's also because I'm DVRing.

Jay G.

I don't think it was ever incredibly common. Some shows list them, while many others don't. Twin Peaks didn't even have episode titles at all; the episodes were initially just numbered:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...Episode_titles

It's sometimes odd to think that shows could have episode titles that the audience is completely unaware of, especially before home video, but before home video there really wasn't a need for the audience to be aware of an episode title. People tuned in to watch the show, not a particular episode, and didn't have a way to save or review an episode unless it re-aired. If you discussed a show with someone, you either discussed the latest one that aired, or just used a vague description, i.e. "the one with....", to specify an episode.

I think episode titles were mainly a way for the writers and production crew to keep a handle on what episodes they were currently working on, and possibly just due to writers having a tendency to create titles. If they're clever, they were probably originally intended just to make the rest of the crew laugh.

Now that DVD home video and on-demand has made older episodes more immediately accessible, and the internet has allowed people to discuss episodes over a longer period of time, audiences are becoming more aware of these episode titles. But that doesn't mean they need to be shown in the episode itself.