Remember the Main!

Screenwriter-novelist Lee Goldberg, who earlier this week created a new blog dedicated to video clips of main title sequences from old TV programs--predominately crime-fiction series--now offers a mini-tutorial on the intent and value of such introductions. In an excerpt from Successful Television Writing (which he co-wrote with William Rabkin), Goldberg explains:

Main titles are created to introduce the audience to the show they are about to see. But for the writer, there is much more information to be gleaned. It is a chance to read the mind of the executive producer. How does he perceive the show? How does he perceive the characters?

How does he perceives the tone? What kinds of stories does he want to tell? Most main title sequences will answer all those questions and more.

To find all four parts of this fascinating post, click here, here, here, and here. You’ll never again treat those opening sequences as dismissively as you did before.

AND THERE’S MORE!: Among the latest offerings on Goldberg’s Main Title Heaven site are the opening sequences from Harry O, Police Woman, Search, and Spenser: For Hire.