Opening

These days the verdict of the once all-powerful professional reviewer hardly matters

This isn’t the most pressing of TV-related issues, but: isn’t it a little surprising that there are so few network shows that have the opening titles at the beginning? I always assumed that the habit of putting the opening titles at the end of an act (or sometimes, today, in the middle: a cold open followed by the main titles followed by a few more scenes) developed because networks were afraid we’d switch the channel if they started with the titles. But most pay-cable shows, plus basic cable shows like Mad Men, begin with the main title and don’t seem to lose many viewers because of it. It just seems like no matter how short the titles are for a network show, they’ll put them after the first scene; How I Met Your Mother and The Office both started out with the theme song at the beginning, only to move it to after the first scene. In the case of HIMYM, the theme song worked much, much better at the beginning; that’s the only respect in which the first season is superior to the second. Family Guy and The Simpsons and other animated shows still (usually) have the titles first, and that’s almost it.