sowny.net | The Southern Ontario/WNY Radio-TV Forum


You are not logged in. Would you like to login or register?

March 8, 2026 8:46 pm  #1


This Show Has Resurrected The Lost Art Of The TV Title

When TV was young, there used to be some concentration on grabbing your attention to a show with a fancy title sequence. Whether it was "The Brady Bunch" explaining the concept in song or "Get Smart" walking down the hall to the secret phone booth entrance while the theme music played, every intro told a story. 

But that fell out of fashion as attention spans contracted and now most shows barely bother with a title sequence, hoping to avoid audience tune-out. But at least one current drama has resurrected the opening in a clever and unpredictable way. 

It's ABC's "Will Trent," a detective series that airs Tuesday nights. There is no set title sequence, but the name of the show is usually worked into the crime of the week in the first few minutes. In one case, a death at a horror movie theatre showed the name on the big screen. The murder of a woman at a disco pictured her bathed in bright lights as the name of the program aired underneath her. And Will Trent was driving to a crime scene, when the main title was displayed on a wide shot of the road he was on. 

You never know exactly how they're going to do the opening, and I sometimes wonder if the writers or the director have a hard time coming up with new stuff every week. But they have, going on four seasons. It's the only show I've ever seen that does this every episode. And it's fun to guess what they're going to try next.