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Colibri
General Questions Moderator
This. Credits are just crowding out commercial time; may as well zip 'em and, while we’re at it, squash 'em so we can squeeze in parallel ads.
Between this practice, the longstanding one of cutting program content to make more room for ads, and the ever-spreading bottom fungus, TV has become like one of those annoying AM radio DJs who feels empowered to talk whenever no one is actually, you know, singing.
Catholic High School Girls in Trouble…
But then you remember that there’s a thing called the Internet and you feel better.
On our cable network (Armstrong) they frequently show the end credits and the opening scene/credits for the next show at the same time.
Since most shows that we watch have a short scene right before the opening, that means we’re still not spared the title jingles that we’ve heard dozens of times before. I have every note of that stupid Big Bang Theory song memorized…
That’s one of the interesting quirks about Southern Californians; they’ll leave before the 9th inning of a ballgame, but damned if they don’t stay in their seats until the last credit rolls at a movie theater.
Some of the movie credits are so long, they’d have to have a commercial break during the credits. Riveting!
Eh, I can look up all of that stuff online when I get home (or from my phone if I really wanted). The only reason I stay through the credits in a theatre is if there’s a bonus scene at the end or bloopers are playing.
Hate when this happens on Bond films when the final credits include a reprise of the awesome theme songs. This practice discourages me from watching the film on the first place.
In Japan, it’s quite normal to watch the movie until the end credits are done and the house lights are turned on.
Movie theaters have no reason to try to keep you in your seat, and so don’t care if you get up during the credits. Home videos similarly don’t have any reason to keep you watching that disc (and, even if they did, you can skip anything boring). TV networks want you to keep watching the network, and so have a vested interest in keeping the credits short.
I note that Netflix also does the TV thing, because they have a vested interest in keeping you using their service.
That’s my imaginary wife to a T. It quite annoys me really, but I usually just use that time to turn the old phone back on and catch up on texts and what-not that I missed during the film.
You’re imaginary wife? You mean like Harvey the Rabbit? 
Me too. Always. It started back in the day at James Bond movies, and I always wanted to know what James Bond would return in. Now it’s a habit I refuse to break.
My GF won’t stick around, though. As soon as the credits roll, she heads to the restroom, and I meet her in the lobby. It’s one of those differences you just have to work out one way or another!
As for credits on TV, yeah, they’re pretty much useless. But if I’m watching a movie I’m interested in, I generally have IMDb open on my Android during the whole film.
By the time the credits of a movie the scale of a Bond production are over, the next one is opening.
It’s probably time for the rules to change and TV showings be allowed to run short-form credits with a link to full-length ones. But this would involve about 26 Hollywood guilds to give up some microfraction of egoboo, so… snowball, hell, etc.
We may have to catch a flick in Tokyo next month then.
For movies that have some sort of surprise come back at you after the credits roll such as with, say, some of the Harry Potter installments, sometimes a cinema staff member will stand up at the front saying stuff like: “No, wait, there’s more! Don’t go!” Sometimes a message will flash on the screen saying you might want to wait around a bit. But usually the wife and I are the only ones to see it.
I’ve worked in building television breaks for a number of years in the UK for major broadcasters. When you see credits squeezed, that’s me ordering it. I tell the announcers what to say, choose the idents and decide what programmes get promoted in the breaks.
The reason the credits get squeezed with another message or get played very quickly is because audiences leave in their droves during the credits. If you look at a graph of viewing numbers there’s usually a massive drop which picks back up again as the next programme is starting.
So firstly a longer break just exacerbates this. And credits are squeezed with other messages or spoken over to try to catch those viewers before they turn over. Mainly of course to encourage them not to switch over or to create excitement about some priority for the network. Another trick to use is the IPP (in programme pointer) - a bit of text that pops up towards the end of a programme that usually points to the next show. I personally dislike these and audiences will rightfully complain if one of these appears over a sensitive ending.
Most movies have shortened credits made for TV, but this week on one channel I oversee, we have an end credit sequence that’s over two minutes without action in them! It’s not much worse than playing dead air - unless the music is particularly good I suppose…
It would be good if they could bring back that 1970s trend where they got all the credits quickly out of the way at the beginning (as in Play Misty For Me) and the movie just fades to black upon ending. Seems more artistic that way somehow, maybe because the story makes its ending point without distractions.
They have a good excuse - they often get to see the names of their friends and relatives!
Good to hear from somebody in the business. Getting “The Straight Dope” so to speak. I understand the “why” it is done, and while I used to be someone who stayed in the theater for the credits, I finally gave it up when they got to be over ten minutes in length.
What I am really surprised about is that something that is so heavily regulated as movie credits are, that the entertainment industry allows them to be dropped in all but name. Apparently, like the side effects of drugs, they have to be aired, even if in an unreadable form.
I guess it’s just one of those things that piques my sense of the absurd.
What about some of those films that have the credits running at the BEGINNING of a film?
Usually this kind of film has some over-long intro song, some boring landscape and name after name after name showing up until the damned film starts.
My theory is the film is probably so bad, they run them at the beginning before people start leaving in droves during the film.