Okay, maybe it's just me. Perhaps I wouldn't have noticed it if I weren't reporting on the television industry. However, I have, and I'm a bit disturbed about it because it could mean the beginning of the downfall of Western civilization as we know it. Yes, it's been said that everything from microwave ovens to Britney Spears would be the downfall, but I really think this is.
What am I talking about? The amount of television shows this season with one word titles, of course. What the heck do you think I was talking about? The Middle East? North Korea? Britney having another baby? Hell, no! I write about television; I don't care about any of those issues!
Seriously, maybe it began with shows like Lost, but it seems like a majority of shows this season are saving a lot on graphics with a one-word title. You doubt me? Well, you always doubt me, but I have proof to back up my theory. Jump ahead and you'll see what I mean.
Let's begin with FOX, who is the main culprit in this conspiracy. They currently have six shows on their schedule with one-word titles: Bones, Cops, House, Justice, Standoff and Vanished. That's six out of the 17 shows currently on the network's fall schedule. That's nearly forty percent!
CBS and NBC have the next largest group of one-word titles at five each. NBC has ER, Heroes, Kidnapped, Medium and Scrubs, while the Eye network has Jericho, Shark, Smith, Numb3rs, and Survivor. The CW follows up with four shows: Girlfriends, Runaway, Smallville and Supernatural. In last place, with the show that probably started this trend, is ABC with only Lost and mid season replacement Traveler as their single-word shows. Well, you could add Supernanny to that list, but that really isn't an official word, is it?
Scandalous! What's next, one letter titles? Maybe they'll remove the them all together, making us guess at what the show's title should be. Or, maybe the titles will begin to reflect the genre that they belong to: Sitcom, Drama, Dramedy, Stupid Reality Show That I Can't Believe You Are Wasting Your Time Watching. My TV Squad readers, we need to put a stop to this. Write the networks, call your congressmen, stand on the steps of your town hall and exclaim that you won't take it anymore. If not, then we may be talking about the new dramas P, Q and Z for the 2007-08 fall schedule.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
9-05-2006 @ 4:27PM
Keith McDuffee said...
How about shows with a number in the title?
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip
30 Rock
The Nine
Six Degrees
And those are just the NEW shows!
Reply
9-05-2006 @ 5:11PM
SJ said...
Woah...it's not Sept. 6th yet! And Keith was able to comment on the article before it was written!
I know this article is probably written as a joke, but I don't see what's the big deal with one word shows.
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9-05-2006 @ 8:59PM
Arieanna said...
It is really annoying as a blogger for Bones because you try searching news for "bones" and you'll end up with murder plots and other horrid things you don't want to know about! I have "Fox Bones" instead, but it's so inaccurate. Grr
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9-06-2006 @ 3:35AM
L.E. said...
Why complain about one-word titles? Did you LIKE reading "Two Guys, A Girl and a Pizza Place" or "Thursday, 8/7 Central" as TV show titles or something? Brevity kicks arse. So take your popcorn, sit down, shaddap and enjoy.
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9-06-2006 @ 8:52AM
Lacey said...
It's funny that you posted this, because I was just talking about it the other day, especially with the fox shows.
I know there's tons of new shows out there that are more than one word....but it seems like the majority of them are just one word.
Although, it's easier, for blogging sake, to type out Standoff, or Justice, than it is to type out, The New Adventures of Old Christine, or It's always sunny in philadelphia, lol.
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9-06-2006 @ 9:10AM
Scott H said...
It seems like a further dumbing down on the part of marketing and the audience. Even when shows had multiple-word titles, the promotions frequently boil them down to one word. It's like the networks don't believe the audience has the brain capacity or attention span to handle more than one word in a title. It's the same logic that leads shows to give characters the same first names as their famous star actor.
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9-06-2006 @ 9:35AM
DMK said...
"ER" isn't one word; it's two letters.
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9-06-2006 @ 10:24AM
Dianna said...
Actually, there was a one letter show on years ago. It was simply called 'V'. I believe it starred Marc Singer and was about an alien invasion of lizard like people who wore fake body suits to resemble humans. So, the one word titles could be a step up.
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9-06-2006 @ 10:41AM
Lampbane said...
"House" isn't a one-word title, because the name of the show is actually "House, M.D." thank-you-very-much. It's just easier to leave the letters off at the end when you're speaking.
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9-06-2006 @ 11:02AM
Chris W said...
I think they should name shows like Motorola names their slim phones (RZR, SLVR, SLDR); just take out the vowels.
HS MD, BNS, GRS ANTM(Y) - sometimes Y, LST, R, FRNDS, FRSR, DSPRT HSWVS, LS VGS, LW & R-DR, DDWD, and on and on and on....
Brilliant, I say. Can I copyright this? (c)2006
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9-06-2006 @ 12:11PM
Allen said...
I noticed the exact same thing last night, when the commercial for Standoff came on. It's the new trend. You should add WIndfall to the list, if you haven't already.
Remember a few years ago when all new bands had numbers in their names? Blink 182? Sum 41? Carbon 9? Trends come, trends go.
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9-06-2006 @ 1:08PM
phantomprophet said...
How is Cops part of this "trend" when it's been on the air since 1989?
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096563/
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9-06-2006 @ 1:46PM
renton said...
Many of these shows, Survivor, ER, Scrubs, etc. have been on longer than Lost.
Yeah, it's kind of a trend - but I don't think Lost started it.
Reply
9-06-2006 @ 3:10PM
Brent McKee said...
While it's true that the actual title of "House" is "House M.D." it is extremely easy to omit the "M.D." because the main titles for the show make the "M.D." so small as to be virtually invisible. As though the "M.D." part pales to insignificance in the presence of House.
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9-06-2006 @ 3:51PM
MikeA said...
A list off the top of my head, just cuz:
Seinfeld
Friends
Roseanne
Columbo
Soap
Newhart
Deadwood
Smallville
Dallas
Alias
Batman
Charmed
Angel
Bewitched
Flipper
Gunsmoke
Wings
Bonanza
Alice
Becker
Airwolf
Chips
MASH
Taxi
Cheers
ALF
Baretta
MacGyver
Blossom
Manimal
Webster
Benson
Baywatch
Amen
Ach, enough!
Reply
10-11-2006 @ 6:37PM
Blue Spider said...
Aside from the normal shows... the geneology for one word freak shows... goes
Alias
Lost
Eyes
Threshold
Surface
Invasion
and then the current season of words like Vanished, Justice, Kidnapped, who cares?
Reply
10-20-2006 @ 12:42AM
scififan9009 said...
I hate that they cancelled Surface.
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