I've gotten skipping them down to a fine art

Sopranos , Oz and Dexter all have opening titles over 1 minute 30 sections

Normal opening titles are 15-30 seconds

Why so long on this pay channels ?

^They don't have to worry about squeezing in commercials. For networks, every 30 seconds spent on an opening theme are 30 seconds for which they don't get paid.

I can't bring myself to skip the opening theme to Dexter.

Like Fist of Doom said, it's all about commercials.

Most networks want their programs a fixed length in order to fit in as much advertising as possible. So if they're going to give you 22 minutes and fifteen seconds to fill a time slot for a half-hour program, the producers don't want to waste one minute of that on an extended opening credit sequence.

This is also the reason why you don't have end-credit sequences anymore, where they just run the credits either compressed, or at the bottom of an ad.

I miss theme songs of the past. Most broadcast shows now barely even have one, or just run opening credits over the action.

/\ The Cleveland Show is a pretty good current one. Reminds me of older theme songs, where the entire premise and characters are laid out in less than a minute.

I love the opening to True Blood and watch it every time.

They get to have more time to set the tone of the show as well as give credit for longer time to the people who are involved. Good for all parties. Dexter's...would not work with half the length. Neither would that of Oz...that haunting music, the fact that all the episode scenes are cropped to not reveal character faces. Plus Tom Fontana actually got that tattoo. That's dedication (although nobody else would do it, which is why he stepped up). If you're willing to do that, you get a free pass I say.

In addition to long credits... what's up with HBO shows and midgets? Boardwalk Empire, Rome, Carnivale, Sopranos, Eastbound & Down, Entourage, Deadwood, Curb Your Enthusiasm... every single one of these shows (and probably more) have had episodes with midgets in them. Now Carnivale makes sense, but in many cases they're just there for no reason, or for a punchline.

I started noticing it when a friend mentioned it to me last year. He calls HBO the "Tits and Midgets Channel."

Maybe George Lucas is a major shareholder.

Weeds used to have the long "ticky-tacky" opening credits, but now it's just a clever shot of the title and then created by whatever her name is.

For my money, the Oz opening titles are the best ones I can think of. I think they even surpass the Newsradio opening titles.

Once upon a time, all TV shows had long credit sequences. And in some cases they came to define the shows. What's the first thing that pops in your head when you think of Gilligan's Island or The Brady Bunch?

That people in my parents' generation were fucking retards for liking that shit.

That i would rather bone Mary Ann than Marcia

While watching Star Trek:TNG on BBC America I'm reminded of the good old days. The title sequence is a bit more than 90 seconds long. The first commercial break is about 2.5 minutes long instead of 4-5 minutes.

So broadcast networks have shortened the title sequences. HBO and Showtime simply haven't changed.

sections?

favorite opening of any current show

Like Jersey Shore and Two and a Half Men are actual improvements. People like stupid in any generation.

I do a sexy dance for my wife during the "True Blood" credits. I find no reason to shorten the sequence, unless you carry a deep loathing of modern dance. In which case you can go pound sand.

They chopped it on BOTH ends. The closing credits vanished a while ago. They show promos for other shows instead. I remember Bill Lawrence saying something about how they had to trim down the opening for Scrubs because NBC wanted almost no credits. At one point the credits were whittled down to a single line of the theme song - "I'm no Superman." I couldn't believe it.

I absolutely loved Rome, but the opening credits looked cheap, were long and they annoyed the shit out of me.

Because they're fucking awesome!

A three-way between Marcia, MaryAnn, and Ginger.