Opening Credits

As old TV series are released on DVD's, it has become more apparent that, at least in the 80's, action footage is recycled from episode to episode. You don't notice it as much when the episodes are a week apart, but when you have the ability to watch several back to back, it becomes more obvious. I noticed this awhile back, and it has become sort of a recurring conversation between me and my wife.

I recently started watching CHiPS again. My wife commented the other day, while watching a segment where Ponch and Jon were merging from an on ramp to the highway, that "they sure use that footage a lot." My reply was, "yes, once a week for 6 years, it's the opening credits sequence."

In her defense, my wife doesn't care for my taste in old 80's TV shows. She tolerates them, but doesn't care to watch them. That being said, she often sees parts of them if she's in the room doing something when I'm watching them.

And there is a trend with TV shows now days where opening credits have been replaced with just a graphic with the name of the show, and the actual credits are displayed during the first minute or so of the show. This allows them to pack more into an episode, by not taking up time with opening credits. More likely, it allows them to have more commercial breaks, without reducing the content of the episode.