This is a query based on something I’ve noticed that seems to be different about UK and US TV. In the UK, if a drama or sitcom has an episode title, it is usually broadcast as part of the episode, usually with the credits at the beginning. However, this doesn’t seem to be the case for american shows shown over here. For example, with Friends, the only way of knowing what an episode is called is to look in the TV listings, or something like that.
One exception seems to be Frasier, but then the titles might be for each scene, rather than the episode as a whole. There may be others, but I can’t think of any off-hand.
In the case of (VHS) videos this isn’t true, they usually seem to have a screen with the episode title on. In the case of DVDs the title usually seems to be in the episode menu, rather than at the start of the episode. I’ve am only judging on very small sample of US stuff I watch on video here, by the way.
So basically I want to know if this applies in the US, or whether this is an oddity of how US programmes are broadcast in the UK. That’s the question, do US shows have the title as part of the episode, before the episode, or whatever, when shown in the US?
This obviously only applies to shows with episode titles e.g Friends (The one with …), rather than 24 say, which doesn’t (only episode times).
It just depends on the show. Some shows do have titles appearing at the beginning of the show. For instance, in the Star Trek franchise, the episode titles appear at the beginning of those shows (or usually, at the start of whatever scene is after the opening credits).
Some shows don’t put them on the screen at all.
The things you see on Frasier are not episode titles – just little captions to segue into individual scenes.
Every episode has a title of some kind. It may only appear on the script itself for copyright purposes and for identification, but there is a title. Sometimes it’s just “Episode 13” or something like that.
Ahh, for the days of Quinn Martin shows where not only was the title of the episode shown, but the voice in the intros would read it aloud as well.
Most U.S. shows do not put the episode titles on screen. This corresponds with a difference between the U.K. and the U.S. in the way that television writers are valued. In the U.K., individual episodes of television shows are often listed as “by” the writer, who gets a prominent credit along with the episode title. In the U.S., the writer is lumped in with the rest of the crew in the credits, and generally not acknowledged at all except at awards ceremonies.
Some shows, like the above-mentioned “Star Trek” and “The West Wing” do list episode titles before each episode. Interest in episode titles has grown tremendously because of the internet. In the past, episode titles were pretty much unknown to anyone but the show’s staff, and were used mostly for technical purposes in identifying individual episodes. Many shows had either very dull pedestrian titles, or titles that were some kind of inside joke. Now that fans have access to episode titles online, and very sophisticated fandoms have grown up surrounding many T.V. shows, episode titles have become more important.
Not in the case of “Married… with Children” Remember the episode when all the women had their “time if the month” together? That was called “Period Piece”, the folks at Fox went nuts about it.
You’re technically accurate, but it’s worth noting that the writer usually gets the second-to-last credit at the beginning of the show; only the episode’s director is more prominent among the crew credits.
…with the nitpicky caveat that the show’s creator is named in the title sequence, as differentiated from the credits that play under the show’s opening minutes, which is where the writer goes. I know, you said “crew credits,” but it’s worth mentioning for folks who don’t know that TV differs substantially from film in that the TV director is usually just a traffic cop, whereas the executive producer, who is usually the creator (at least in early season), is the person with the real day-to-day power.
If you’re curious to know episode titles for U.S. TV series don’t place them on the screen, the copyright registration in the database at the U.S. Copyright Office’s web site has the titles. Look up the series title, and you will get a list of the episodes, with original air dates. The database began with 1978, so don’t expect too many pre-1978 series to be in there:
Thanks for all the responses, they seem to have confirmed what I thought, that US episodes don’t generally broadcast with titles. The exception I think are broadcast with titles over here. I am pretty sure we get titles for Star Trek (or rather Star Trek’s, as we get about all the different star trek series over here). As for the west wing, I never watched it, so I don’t know about that.
I found SpoilerVirgin’s comments particularly interest, in commenting on some of the reasons for this. Thanks for the link Waldoon, by the way. I wasn’t particularly interested in looking for particular episode titles, but will bare the link in mind if and when I am.
