by Nathaniel R
105 shows, that's what. This is a peculiar obsession of ours because, apart from the handsome site Art of the Title, it gets precious little attention, interest, or coverage online. The awards aren't given out on air and sometimes they make terrible mistakes as to what's nominated or excluded (same as it ever was, in any category). Nevertheless we'd argue that title design is important, not just in the soulless connotations of "branding" but in its soulful counterpart "identity". A show's title sequence gives you just that (if it's good), setting the tone. We curse Netflix for letting you skip past opening titles if you're bingeing. To our way of thinking if you won't sit through the opening titles, you don't deserve the show...
A show is generally only eligible for this category in its first season with the exception of major refurbishings of those opening titles. Some long running shows that are eligible again this year include (but are not limited to) Crazy Ex Girlfriend and Game of Thrones (which won the category in 2011) since both of those shows renovated their credits for their finales. Another exception is anthology series which tend to be eligible each year since most of them revamp their credits each time to reflect the change in tone, stars, and theme: American Horror Story (three previous nominations in this category) and True Detective (one previous win in this category) are both eligible again, to name two examples.
Here are 16 or so memorable examples from those 105 eligible titles that we could find quickly that you might see nominated (voting is happening right now and for the next two weeks...)
It's hard not to love the Game of Thrones opening even if you're not a fan of the show but sometimes the simple ones can be as impactful. Pose's super short in your face glittery explosion of just that word with Billy Porter's voiceover is perfect.