My New Year’s resolution isn’t for one brand in particular. Heck, it’s not even for what most of you would consider a “brand.” Rather, it’s for my favorite pastime—TV. (Yes, that may be an embarrassing admission, but don’t pretend TV’s not in your top five)

This is what I have to say to my favorite TV shows—Big Love, Glee, Modern Family, Mad Men, True Blood, Gossip Girl (yes, another shameful confession)—start using social media like it’s nobody’s business! You don’t have to wait for Nielson Ratings or Sweeps any longer. If you want to know what viewers think of a new character or a controversial plotline, turn to Facebook, Twitter or read a blog or two. Social media is a cheap and painless way to get these answers—in real-time, nonetheless.

One of my favorite shows, HBO’s Big Love, premiered its fourth season on Sunday, January 10th. Much to my surprise (and to many viewers’), the show had a new opening sequence. The new intro threw me off so much that it was difficult to enjoy the long awaited season premiere. I missed the old sequence where the four main characters—the husband and his three sister-wives—skate on thin ice to the sounds of the Beach Boys’ “God Only Knows.” The ice breaks and then they find themselves separated from one another only to be reunited in the celestial kingdom. The music and the symbolism did a fantastic job of setting the tone for the show. The new one falls flat—no pun intended.

Old sequence

New sequence

HBO knew that changing the opening sequence was a risky move, so they took to Facebook the day after to poll the fans. The response was overwhelming with over 1,000 fans commenting on the new opening sequence and only 1/3 of those comments positive. We’ll see this Sunday if HBO moves back to the old sequence as a result.

-Hiley Spaet

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