Technology forges new art forms and destroys them. The printing press galvanised(激励，使振奋) literature and rubbed out(消灭，抹除) illuminated manuscripts. Cinema killed the music hall. Today a popular gizmo(小玩意儿，小装置) is threatening another intricate(复杂精细的) craft. The art form is the TV title sequence; the menacing tech is the little “Skip Intro” button that you reflexively(反射性地，条件反射地) click. The outcome is changing the way stories are told and watched on screen.
技术创造新的艺术形式，也毁灭它们。印刷术激励了文学，抹去了手抄本。电影院杀死了音乐厅。如今，一个小玩意儿正威胁着另一门精巧技艺。这门艺术就是电视片头序列；构成威胁的科技就是那个你条件反射般点击的“跳过片头”小按钮。其结果正在改变故事在屏幕上的讲述和观看方式。
Once upon a time, TV titles were simple cards displaying static text. By the 1950s they served as prologues, introducing characters and catchphrases(口头禅，流行语): “It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s Superman!” say the wowed onlookers in the opening of “The Adventures of Superman”. Titles incorporated cutesy(矫揉造作的，过分可爱的) animations (as in “Bewitched”), split-screen effects (“The Brady Bunch”) and stunts(特技，惊险动作) (like the much-emulated(被广泛模仿的) bonnet-slide in “The Dukes of Hazzard”). Many came with earworm tunes(洗脑神曲), like the finger-clicking theme for “The Addams Family”.
曾几何时，电视片头只是显示静态文字的简单卡片。到了1950年代，它们成为序幕，介绍角色和口头禅：“是鸟！是飞机！是超人！”《超人历险记》开场中惊叹的围观者说道。片头融入了可爱的动画（如《家有仙妻》）、分屏效果（《布雷迪一家》）和特技（如《哈扎德公爵》中广被模仿的引擎盖滑行）。许多片头配有朗朗上口的旋律，比如《亚当斯一家》的响指主题曲。
The form peaked in the era of prestige TV(精品电视剧，高端剧) at the turn of the millennium. In the titles for “The Sopranos”, the protagonist, Tony, is glimpsed(瞥见，隐约看见) through cigar-smoke and in a rear-view mirror. He is close yet elusive(难以捉摸的), as he remains for six seasons. The falling figure in “Mad Men” (pictured) embodies both glamour and mental disintegration(精神崩溃). Finest of all is the ghostly imagery in the first season of “True Detective”, a concise montage of its Louisianan themes: sleaze, pollution, faith, guilt and downright(彻头彻尾的，十足的) weirdness.
这种形式在世纪之交的精品电视剧时代达到顶峰。在《黑道家族》的片头中，主角托尼在雪茄烟雾和后视镜中若隐若现。他近在咫尺却又难以捉摸，正如他贯穿六季的形象。《广告狂人》（如图）中坠落的人物既体现了魅力，也展现了精神崩溃。最出色的是《真探》第一季中的幽灵般意象，一个关于其路易斯安那主题的简洁蒙太奇：肮脏、污染、信仰、罪恶以及彻头彻尾的怪异。