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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. The best thing that program producers can do to make sure the credits get played in full and not to be butchered by the networks, is to have a Coda at the end of the program with the credits showing over it, like Kath and Kim used to do with the Wine Time at the end of the show. Effectively the show is still running with dialogue while the credits are being shown and it’s impossible for the networks to cut into it.

  3. Any one else notice that credits at the start of US shows go on for ever? House, Grey’s Anatomy and Desperate Housewives can still be showing credits 15 minutes after the show begins. That is more annoying to me than squashing the end credits.

  4. BBC used to show the Neighbours credits with the credits scrolling on the left hand side, then a box in the top right showing promos. Worked well for them and nothing was squashed or illegible.

  6. Same, same. Just play the credits as intended. If I liked the program, I’ll watch next week. Plus if they show an ad for the next week, I always turn off/over as I don’t want to be spoiled. I like to enjoy dramas as they unfold and not know what’s coming up halfway thru. Of course, it doesn’t actually matter with Seven as they show bits from eps several weeks away.

  7. If they’re going to have such disregard for the people that made the show, I’d say don’t bother.

    Run whatever crap they want at the end of the show, but include a shortened URL (eg seven.tv/DA14) and a QR barcode that takes you to the IMDB record for that episode.

    Whenever I see someone I want to look up in an episode, I launch IMDB anyway.

  8. Why don’t they just show the credits in large print but scrolling at the bottom of the screen? That way if you’re recording, you can pause on what you want to read. That seems obvious to me.Why hasn’t anyone ever thought of that?

  10. Just play the credits, whatever happened to theme music? And have a small teaser promo rather than giving away what’s going to happen. Simple.

  11. You know what’s even more stupid and annoying. They play an ad for next weeks episode during the credits. Credits finish and it goes to an ad, and they play the exact same ad for next weeks episode. I think Offspring did that quite a lot.

  12. i am more interested in the promo, why is that so squashed? if people want to know the names of cameramen and hair stylists i say go online and find out for yourself.

  13. The way to fix it is no promos over credits, no promos over the screen while a show is playing, and no pointless promos for the show that’s just about to start (and which gives away plot surprises. Did you know Jamie Oliver was going to be on Masterchef this week? What a surprise that was. Not)

  15. I like reading the credits….not just for actors….but yes…although I did not see this….many times they are way too small to read….or go through at such a speed, you again are unable to read them…
    Solution…just show the credits as is…stop fiddling….
    Like that is going to happen… 🙁

  16. Here’s an idea so the credits then run a promo for next week. But this is not just a local problem, seem some shows from the US and they do similar for some shows in prime time.

    Why is it the digital channels manage to show the credits in full without promos stomping on them but the main channels get butchered, if they bother showing them at all.

  17. I reckon that having the credits on their website’s probably the best idea if they’re just going to play them at unreadable speeds anyway.

  18. Channel 10 completely remove the opening and closing credits to the longest running show on their network: The Bold and the Beautiful. When asked of they could put the unedited content on their website instead of the broadcast edit, the response: No
    Complete disregard for the viewer.
    It shits me no end!!

  20. Just play the credits like they were intended.
    The people working on the shows work hard enough to get them out there. The least the networks can do is acknowledge them.
    Not like the networks are that stretched for time…. everything runs over anyway

  21. It’s not only frustrating to viewers but totally disrespectful to the production especially when they splash their loud promos over the credit sequence.

    The classic was Ten’s treatment of Crackerjack where there was actually dialogue (from Bill Hunter IIRC) over the end credits and Ten decided to cover half the screen with ads for one of their ‘must see’ reality shows and with loud voice over as well so no chance of hearing Mr Hunter’s epilogue. Totally ruined the end sequence of said film. I’m sure it’s not the only film to suffer such indignity.

    IMDB often comes to the rescue but that’s not perfect and also just having the credits is part of the experience of watching a program or movie. So many iconic shows are defined by their opening and closing sequences but these days shows are not allowed that sort of identity because it’s far more important that we get more reminders of what’s coming up on Master Chef

  22. Really? Would it kill them to air programmes in the form (and sequence) they were produced?

    This really is just one more reason why people increasingly source their TV shows in optical disc format, or as a digital download of some sort. The networks don’t seem to have realised that you can only treat viewers like mugs for so long in the current environment, as they *do* have alternatives to poor programming decisions nowadays. Seriously… If I have to wander off to the Net to look at credits, why don’t I just get the whole product there?

  23. Thinner promo, and the credits vertically opposite, probably easier to read. Slowing the speed of the credits whilst playing an extended promo, bigger typeface as well? It’s a bit of a conundrum.

  24. “Anybody have any better suggestions how networks can handle these?”

    Well, they can play them as they come on the source. After all, if they want the credit for showing the programme (the purpose of the watermark in the corner), the least they can do is extend the same courtesy to the people that actually made the show.

    Or, they can accept that shrinking them into blurred obscurity or lopping them off completely is yet another of the dozens of reasons why people turn to places like TPB. Sure, TV programmes from those sources often don’t have credits attached either – but neither do they contain 7 minute clumps of ads, have the programme trimmed to fit those ads in, and it’ll be on my TV when I expect to see it, not 5-20 minutes later.

    Fair’s fair, guys – if you want us to put up with your behaviour, you should at least put up with ours.

  25. Think I noticed 9’s ‘bastardised’ credits for Mentalist a week or two ago – top half of screen used for promo of something soon, while bottom half had three columns of readable credits, slowly either scrolling or fading to next page.

    At least, this way, they were readable!

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