Title Sequence – TV Shows

As someone who’s worked in the TV industry for a few years at a few different networks with an interest in graphic design I’ve always been fascinated by title sequences be it tv or film related that can draw in a viewer before the show ever starts.  James Bond movies have long been known for truly stunning artwork and interesting typography elements that present almost an entire movie in itself before the film, but what about television?  Can this mini narrative effect be as easily translated into a much shorter amount of time?  Upon viewing the list of suggested TV sequences to include: Carnivale, True Blood, The Starter Wife, Community, and The United States of Tara, I think the answer is yes but not without compromise.  I was disappointed to find that for many designers the choices seem to be to focus on EITHER the type or the production for the opening sequence not both.  Despite being called a TITLE sequence Carnivale had zero titles except for the name of the show during its intro.  The United States of Tara had a very interesting popup book style opening with what seemed to be text just absentmindedly tossed over it at the end, in boring white format that was clearly an after thought.  While True Blood and the Starter Wife at least tried to format their text to match the color and typeface of their show name, but still remained focus entirely on building a cool narrative piece to set up the feeling of the show rather than truly focusing on the textual elements.  Only Community seemed to take the concept of titles to heart focusing entirely on making the text elements the stars of the piece so that the viewer walks away knowing exactly who is in the show, but as such there is no narrative story but rather just type laid out in a cool way.  Given that title sequences are meant to be about the titles and not a mini trailer for the show I’d like to see the TV industry steer itself towards the Community concept and put as much effort into their typography as they do their production value.