The Outstanding Main Title Design category is always one of the Emmys’ most delightfully unpredictable ones. Previous winners have included obvious choices, like Game of Thrones and Mad Men; but occasionally you get left-field sleeper picks, like Da Vinci’s Demons (which exists?) and the 78th Annual Academy Awards, which seems a little too Hollywood-self-congratulatory if you ask me. Below, Vulture presents this year’s Outstanding Main Title Design nominees.
Black Sails
If you were looking for 2014’s random “that’s a thing?” nominee in this category, may I present Starz’s Black Sails?
COSMOS: A SpaceTime Odyssey
This is totally awe-inspiring up until the moment that Seth MacFarlane’s name flashes across the screen. I mean, great, fantastic, thanks for bringing Cosmos back, but I’d rather not be reminded of your involvement all of 30 seconds into every episode.
Masters of Sex
Wink-wink, nudge-nudge, get it? There’s a pussycat and a cock crowing. Sex stuff is happening! And would you like your muffin buttered? Would you like us to assign someone to butter your muffin? Mean Girls did it first, Masters of Sex.
Silicon Valley
I never realized how short these credits were in comparison to every other show currently airing on TV. They totally hit the right tone of kitschy and applicability to the show’s plot, though. I just wish there were a few seconds more.
True Detective
True Blood 2.0: That’s what you get when HBO does a heavy drama’s opening credits these days. That’s not to say there’s anything wrong with True Detective’s approach. The trippier images at the end touch on the show’s tone nicely.
