To skip or not to skip? The great debate over TV show opening credits

It was 2017 when Netflix introduced the “skip intro” button on their programs, saving us all precious time while simultaneously breaking the hearts of the people whose job is to design the opening titles of TV shows.

The streaming giant estimates that the button is pressed roughly 136 million times per day, saving audiences 195 years in cumulative time. That’s a lot of cumulative time.

But not everyone is on the same page when it comes to skipping the intro.

For some, a complete viewing experience means start to finish: Succession is not Succession without Nicholas Britell’s tense piano theme music. But for others, the intro is merely an unnecessary interlude before the main event. We know that The Nanny had style, she had flair, and she was there, so let’s just watch the episode.

Here to cover the “to skip or not to skip” debate as part of a new series called Group Chat are The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age culture reporters, Meg Watson and Thomas Mitchell.

Thomas: To start us off, Meg, do you watch the opening credits and if so, why do you waste so much of your life?

Meg: My decision to skip or not skip is all about how good the intro is! And also the context that I’m viewing it in.

Because I watch a truly alarming amount of TV, I tend towards skipping – and I don’t think I’m alone in that. The novelty of a theme song, however great it is, wears off if you’re burning through seven episodes in a row.

But it can be such a joy in “event TV” or even week-to-week viewing! I don’t care how long the Game of Thrones opening is. When I’d get together with friends to watch it every Monday night, that time gave everyone a moment to get excited, trade theories and practice their dramatic humming and/or drumming.

At their best, the opening titles (and especially the music) are crucial in establishing the tone for a series. The intro for Game of Thrones gives the show gravitas; it announces itself as a grand epic, even if the first scene is just people hanging out and drinking red wine. The surreal opening for Mad Men is meant to unsettle you, in a way that’s genuinely important for understanding the headspace of the main character.

I think that sense of mood can be really important – especially when you’re talking about communal viewing.

Where do you stand? Are there any intros you’ll make a point to watch?

Thomas: For the most part, I am pro-skip because it just feels unnecessary after a certain point.

I think with the sheer volume of TV available these days, and the amount we’re collectively watching, intros need to offer something new if they want our attention, a bit of carrot dangling.

I will sit through the credits of The Simpsons just to see what Bart is scribbling on the blackboard because I know it’s not the same as the previous episode. The creators of Rick and Morty slightly tweak the intro with each new season, so I’m happy to persevere and see what they’ve come up with.

I’ve just wrapped Ozark season four and, although the show can really drag, I won’t skip the intro because each episode has a different title sequence, with the four images that are in the “O” changing each time. Each image represents part of the story of that episode, so it’s almost like a game.

Meg: The Simpsons couch gag is so powerful! Imagine how many hours we’ve spent watching that intro over the past 30 years (please don’t do the maths).

I think nostalgia is such a force when it comes to the intros of older shows too. I would never skip the iconically ’90s intros for The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air or The Nanny. Something deep in my brain (fortified over a good decade of compulsory repeat viewing on broadcast TV) compels me to sing every single word of those songs.

And I have the same impulse for shows that didn’t have their own specialty tracks too. Stomping around like an angry tween to Boss of Me by They Might Be Giants is an essential part of any Malcolm in the Middle re-watch. And so is screaming “Californiaaaa, here we come” while watching The O.C.

I wonder if we’ve lost some of that in the years since binge-watching and “skip intro” came about. Can you think of any recent intros or even just intro songs that have that same power?

Thomas: I think we can agree the era of the tailored intro theme song is well and truly over, there will never be another Fresh Prince of Bel-Air or The Nanny.

Meg: To be fair, that super infectious opening intro to Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt came close!

Thomas: Good point, “Females are strong as hell” is this generation’s “West Philadelphia born and raised.”

But these days it’s more about appreciating the title sequence as an art form. Shows like Succession and Severance have got these really detailed credits – Severance especially with its CGI deep dive into Adam Scott’s head. It’s almost like the creators are guilting you into not skipping because it’s obvious how much effort has gone into them.

It seems to be a part of highbrow TV branding now, if your show is going to be buzz-worthy, then it needs a really memorable intro. But you can still qualify as “event TV” without a self-indulgent intro.

Case in point: both Breaking Bad and Euphoria ditched the intro completely and just have title cards. Does that make it less of an experience?

Meg: That’s so true! I feel like certain shows really pride themselves on the artfulness of their title sequences. (And I’d argue Breaking Bad did that in a different way by embracing increasingly obscure and eerie cold opens instead).

I don’t think a show has to have elaborate intros to be good but, when they’re there for the taking, it seems a shame to hit skip. Even if it’s just a good song.

The White Lotus intro sequence, for example, isn’t all that special but I let the incredible theme music play every time. I do the same with Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, reciting the whole opening monologue. There’s a reason it’s so iconic!

Thomas: I can’t remember my own phone number, but I will never forget that in New York City, the dedicated detectives who investigate these vicious felonies are members of an elite squad known as the Special Victims Unit.

Ultimately, as viewers, we’ve all been conditioned to have incredibly short attention spans, and streaming has only made us more impatient (watching free-to-air commercials is a legit form of torture), I suspect the Skip Is Here to Stay™.

Meg: I feel like I’m way more pro-intros than I was when I started writing this story. I skipped over the Stranger Things intro like everyone else this weekend. (We get it. It’s spooky and also the ’80s. Enough).

But, as annoying or daggy as intros can be, I still think they’re important!

Thomas: If you love intros so much then I invite you to watch the opening title sequence to the Iranian TV show Zire Tigh, which at 3 minutes 21 seconds, is apparently the longest intro in the world.

Meg: Hard pass. We all have our limits.

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