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Umm, why play credits like this?

It's beyond ridiculous trying to read the credits sometimes....

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Caught a bit of Downton Abbey on Sunday night, but it was beyond ridiculous trying to read the credits.

They were completely swamped by a promo for the next episode taking up more than half the screen. So why bother running them, Seven?

Viewers are regularly frustrated by networks skipping credits, when trying to find out the name of an actor from scene 13. TEN drives viewers to their website to read them, which I suppose is some kind of awkward middle ground (although you try reviewing an advance episode when they haven’t posted the credits yet, ugh!).

Anybody have any better suggestions how networks can handle these?

40 Responses

  1. I hate watching a drama that has a sad or dramatic ending and then hurtling straight into a loud promo or the next show. You only need 20 seconds – enough time to pause and reflect. If they just played music and quick credits for 20 secs without loud promo’s it would be perfect for me. I actually enjoy theme music at the end of a show.

  2. @Kenny – they’re too busy lobbying foreign governments to get them to enact legislation making it someone else’s responsibility to protect the studio’s copyright.

  3. A standard clause in a program licence contract reads “Licensee shall telecast each program as delivered, in its entirety and Licensee agrees not to cut, change, alter, modify or add to the prints of the programs, or any of them, without XXXXX’s prior written consent. Under no circumstances shall Licensee delete or reposition the copyright notice or the credits and billings incorporated in the programs as delivered by XXXXX.”
    So, when is someone going to enforce that? Fox, Sony, WB, etc. Looking at you.

  4. They may have edited the credits out to stop people from flicking over. Ironically it does the opposite to me by either skipping or skimping on the credits it makes me flick over quicker as there’s often no reason to stick around i.e. credits and music. The only exception is if I know I want to watch the next show. It’s rare on the main channels except Downton and Castle.

    I’d only flick over before any credits end if they are ridiculously late and I might miss something on another channel that I know is on. But usually I don’t care that much. Rarely the case with the ABC and SBS. I like promos but not if they ruin the credits. I like how Eleven plays the promo for next week before the credits show up if they have one.

    P.S. Sorry David.

  5. Maybe more shows should adopt the Modern Family (or Kath & Kim as noted already) approach and just run the credits over the final scene/s so everyone’s happy except the network exec that wants to cram more Being Lara Bingle promos beside them! (No loss, really)

    @Russell: MKR and TAR:A would often play credits squeezed under the promo for the next episode. They go so quickly though you’d never be able to read them.

  6. For anybody who wants credit rolls left ‘as is’: The next time you are in a cinema, watch how many people leave the moment that the credit roll begins. That is what ‘squeezed’ credits are trying to prevent.

    As always, if you don’t like it, don’t watch.

  7. I don’t really care for credits, I could do without them on screen … but I think it is fair they should be posted at the very least online or something.

    None of the commerical news/breakfast shows, etc have any credits at all, apart from maybe a copyright statement if that, so I think it’s only fair to put them online for those interested.

  8. I would be happy if they show the credits in a static grid format like Neighbours does. Also enables a promo to play on half of the screen if the network wishes. I think that’s the best way.

  9. Looks like they’re the same as UK’s version. ITV simply move them over to the left and shrink the sides, allowing the top right hand side for the promo and the bottom half for name/time. No need to shrink the font. Shame the channels can’t have a couple of templates on standby for the different types.

  10. My suggestion is they play the credits as they are supposed to, that is full screen. Many, many people are interested and some of us who watch TV can also read. Something the networks haven’t really caught onto yet.

  11. Ironically you’ve kind of posted the best way to do them as ITV (who broadcast Downton in the UK) centralise all their credits as shown and they simply move to the left side of the screen to allow a promo to air on the RHS.

  12. ITV does this with Downton Abbey in the UK too. As they do with most of their shows, and BBC as well. Likewise all US networks do this with their shows – and all US cable networks to. So it’s common practice.

    US Screen Actors Guild and unions require credits be displayed, but squeezed and reformatted credits are completely legal.

    You’ll notice on many Australian productions like Amazing Race and MKR Seven plays almost no credits, just sponsor logos and “with thanks to” messages. No one is complaining about that?

    Australia doesn’t have a actors / producers guild requirement that requires credits to be shown – unlike US shows.

    When your have ep of Downtown airs in the UK it gets squeezed credits. And when you have ep of Revenge airs in the US it gets the same treatment. A original credit roll is always created by the show, but US and Oz networks prefer to use the reformatted approach.

    They do this (obviously) to minimize switch off between shows and increase viewer retention from show to show. Increasingly viewers are quick to switch and competition is fierce. It’s a tough ask to expect a network to run 30-60seconds of black rolling credits full screen and risk losing 50k -100k viewers who get bored and switch to a rival network.

    Look at the ratings everyday – it’s cut throat between Seven Nine and Ten. Any trick or device to keep viewers show to show is just a reality and smart execution. Any network that is not doing this is stupid in my opinion.

    The reality is the vast majority of the viewers really don’t care about credits. Main actors, producers, directors and production stuff are included in opening credits, and keyed over opening scenes. Secondary production staff go in end credits.

    The amount of people who want to see who the foley artist was on Revenge or who played “Bad Guy #4” in CSI are a minority.

    Most people would rather skip the credits and see what is coming up next week on their fave show.

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