The Decline of the Opening Title Sequence

Some of you who regularly watch television, or even shows on Netflix and Hulu, may have noticed that fewer shows nowadays are using a full Opening Title Sequence.  Most just throw up the title in a few seconds, then make the Act I credits longer.  Title sequences have varied through television history and some have had a hand in shaping a show's identity.



Pros

• The Theme Song: There have been many strong theme songs seen on television.  Themes from Star Trek, The A Team, and The Office are very recognizable and often appear in pop culture.  Having a strong theme song builds promotional material for the show and creates a licensing profit for the network when it appears in other sources (this presumes the song is an original composition for the show and not an already licensed piece).  
• New Audiences: A show's success or failure is determined by how easily it can pick up new viewers.  A good title sequence will tell new viewers what the show is about, at least generally.  This can be done with voiceover ("These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise," "maybe you can hire The A Team," "he is Duncan MacLeod, the Highlander."), but more often it's done with a combination of the theme song and visuals.  It gives the new viewers an idea of what they're going to watch, so even if they are jumping in mid-season, they'll be slightly less confused and hopefully more interested.  
• The Cast: The cast of a show are what the audience relates to.  Knowing who they should pay attention to is helpful, but more than that, knowing who the cast is helps build up discussion of the show.  Being able to put a name to a face makes it easier for the audience to do this.  
• Previews: A title sequence will often use footage from the series, and sometimes, footage of the coming season that the audience hasn't seen yet.  The right visual seen early enough in a show's run can tease the audience on something to look forward to later.  This works better if the sequence is updated every season.  

Cons

• Extra Cost: It does cost money to pay an editor, and perhaps graphic artist, to create a sequence, and to change it for later seasons.  Routing this money to more critical areas of the production is a judgment call, but it may be a necessary one depending on the show's budget.  
• Old Audiences and Stagnation: For viewers that have been following a show regularly, a title sequence can be an annoyance since they see it every week.  If the sequence remains unchanged over the series' run, these viewers will see it again and again for years.  This could hurt the show's overall ratings if, as the show quality inevitably declines, the viewers have one more reason to check out early.   
• Less Story: Not having an opening sequence can give the writers of a show some extra time to tell more story.  A minute can be a long time and sometimes it can make the difference for good pacing.  Losing the sequence could be a small sacrifice for telling a complete story.   

The Decline

• More Commercials: With live TV ratings slipping due to the introduction of DVR and Internet channels, the average value of advertising space has dropped as well.   Having an extra 30-60 seconds of advertising space helps offset this loss, and can make the show appear to be worth more to the network when renewal time comes around.  
• Larger Casts: The average cast size has been steadily increasing in recent years.  With a larger cast, a sequence has to be longer to accommodate everyone, which means more effort, money, and time lost.  Sometimes it's easier to bypass the problem by skipping the title sequence, or splitting the cast into primary (those in the title sequence) and secondary (not in the title sequence) groups to make the sequence shorter.  (See Battlestar Galactica).  
• The Internet: The information highway available online acts as a substitute for the information that would be presented in a title sequence.  Cast and show information can now be easily looked up more accurately before watching the show.  As such, modern audiences are more impatient with a sequence.   Some even think of it as another commercial, only for something they're already watching.  
• Motion Picture Television: The advance of technology and production techniques, including HD, has heightened the quality of contemporary television programs.  Many resemble the quality and appearance of feature films released in theaters.  As part of this development, television credits are starting to resemble those in films.  Instead of a separate title sequence the text appears over the episode footage.   

 If you'll notice, I used a lot of conditional phrases in this commentary (usually, sometimes, often, average, etc.)  There's no official industry practice regarding the title sequence.  It's been a traditional staple of television since its early days of production.  The decline may be a passing trend or just the natural progression of television.  Some of the heavy hitters like House, Bones, Smallville, and The Office have kept their title sequences while fewer of the new shows have one.  I'm a little uncertain on the subject.  Like the shows themselves, title sequences can be a very hit and miss.  I never tire of watching some, like Firefly, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, South Park, and Psych, while others are just the worst like Dollhouse, Caprica, and Star Trek: Enterprise.  Some interesting examples are Babylon 5, which changed its sequence AND theme song every season, MacGyver had a sequence that was over a minute for one (later two) cast members, and Psych, which often plays with its sequence by using different variations of its song to fit some specific theme of a given episode.  Like I said, they are as varied as the show's themselves and I think I would be sad to see them disappear completely.