TV, Theme Songs and Branding

In a recent CNN story, they lamented What ever happened to the TV theme song? They recounted some of the great TV show theme songs, like “Cheers” and “The Brady Bunch”. To which I would personally add: “JAG”, “Hill Street Blues”, “The West Wing”, “La Femme Nikita,” and “Magnum PI”.

The article explains how producers are concerned that during that critical 60 seconds of intro you might get bored and reach for the remote control. The article goes on to say:

“I think one of the things that has squeezed themes out is this relentless kind of move toward tightening everything, making it go right from joke to joke, from action to action, from shootout to shootout, so that you won’t press the dreaded remote control.”

Many of us writers here at MyMac have lamented this unfortunate trend. However, I’d like to propose that, in this case, it’s simply a failure to have confidence in the value of branding. Being Apple enthusiasts, we’re all aware of how successful Apple has been at defining their brand. I’d like to suggest that these clueless producers have lost sight of what branding can do for them in the Internet Age.

When we designate a TV show as a favorite, it’s typically because we like the actors, we like the plots and writing, and we like what they do. A theme song and intro is a place where we can solidify our interest in the show. Typically, the actors are seen in a snippet doing something cool, and their names are displayed for us to remember. And the music puts us in a familiar mood. We know what to expect. Our appetite for the show is whetted, and we’re reminded why we like the actors and what they do.

This is branding.

I propose that producers who are in a hurry to lead us into the show are forgetting about branding. In the end, that leads to a dilution of the show as a special experience and, instead, merely marks it as a sequence of images intended to transfix the audience until the first commercial. (When Stargate SG-1 tried this, there was fan rebellion, and the producers backed off in season 10.)

While I’m on this soap box, I want to also scold The SciFi channel for dabbling in WWE. The SciFi channel took on some WWE events when its sister channel, USA Network was running the (tennis) U.S. Open. (Oh, my, weren’t those U.S. Open ads with music by KT Tunstall simply amazing?) The SciFi Channel also needs to work harder at branding — in terms of defining what the viewer can expect and providing consistency. Otherwise, they run the risk of degenerating into a channel that simply has the goriest and most tasteless stuff currently airing. How can SciFi Channel run Battlestar Galactica, the best show on TV, (so there!) and also run WWE?

Their brand is threatened as well.

So I propose that rather than think about the degeneration of broadcast TV and the Decline Of American Society, it’s just because, unlike Apple, the network producers are allowing their good instincts and training in branding to be overwhelmed by fear, failure to trust in good material, and their failure to exercise taste — in great contrast to, say, Apple. (And if you suspect I’m pointing the finger at Numb3rs, you’re right.)

All that will, in the end, drive us away. The producers won’t even have to worry about us reaching for the remote control because it’ll be a Mighty Mouse we’re reaching for.