Of television series and their cast

I didn't have a television in France, but since I got home, I've started following some series again. Amongst which are the ones I watched before, like CSI (I prefer by far the Las Vegas one) and Criminal Minds, and also some more recent ones like The Mentalist (okay, this isn't very recent but still more than the other two) and The Pupil. Oh, and there are a few others, but I'm not gonna list them all out, right?

Now I have noticed that in the recent television series (the American ones, not The Pupil, for example, which is Singaporean in case you don't know) they have done away with the "cast introduction" (as I decide to call it, since I don't know whether it has an official name :P ) at the beginning. I mean the part where they show each actor's face with the name of the actor on the screen. I think that is a huge loss, because suddenly you don't even know who you're watching.

For some shows that I watched, such as Charmed, CSI (Vegas) and Criminal Minds (just to name a few), even though I never really paid much attention to the actor's names, after some time those names just somehow get fixed into the mind. And even if I couldn't tell you who played a certain character in a series, if I come across that name I would be able to recognise it. It would at least sound familiar.

But with the new series (as examples there are The Mentalist, Fringe and NCIS LA), you have no idea who is playing whom. They have a short "intro" to replace the cast introduction, with a few images but no names (except the title of the series, if you want to consider that a name) Then after that intro, they put the names of the main actors on the bottom-left corner of the screen...where the supporting actors or guest stars used to be (I've seen that on Charmed too many times not to know :P ).

The problem is that people don't usually pay attention to the bottom-left corner of the screen, especially when the show has started. I know that I don't (Charmed was an exception as it was very long series, and I think it was also because the show usually starts with a view over the city, unlike these new series which skip directly to action). For a whole season of The Mentalist I had no idea who played the main characters, or even, the main character. Until I read an article about the series in the newspaper and realised that I had never heard of any of the cast's names before. That was when I started looking at any mention of their names on the series, and finding them on the (famous?) bottom-left corner.

I think this is a shame, as it robs the actors of recognition. Of course, die-hard fans would probably search them out, and some people who always note the actors wouldn't miss their names either. But what about those casual viewers (like yours truly) who just wouldn't bother? The actors would probably lose out on some fans.

So don't cut out that essential section. Give the actors their due!

And amidst all this, let me share a quote that was on Criminal Minds last night:

Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self. ~Cyril Connolly

Well, that's what I'm doing on this blog, isn't it? (I mean having no public :P )