In the age of streaming TV, who needs title sequences?

Streaming services have made binging mainstream, and in the process, they have transformed the very nature of the shows we watch. As James Poniewozik argued in The New York Times a couple years ago, streaming TV shows now constitute their own genre in which directors can avoid tedious practices like “‘repeating the pilot’: telling repetitive stories in the early episodes to accommodate latecomers.” As a result, title sequences can feel misplaced in this new genre, a vestigial nuisance for viewers who are four episodes into a season-long binge. In a response this spring, Netflix began to tantalize a “skip intro” button, which allowed viewers to do away with titles completely, bringing serial television even closer to marathon-length movies. - Lance Richardson, The Verge [via/web:http://streaming-tv.us]