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1When a series, especially a TV drama series, has episode titles, but those titles never appear [[EpisodeTitleCard on the screen]]. It's generally assumed that everyone has access to an [[OldMediaPlayingCatchUp interactive program guide]], so this former courtesy has long been waylaid.
2
3There's a good chance that during localization, dubbing studios take note of the missing information and choose to re-edit the translated episode title into the video footage, somewhere between the opening or intro credits. Especially noteworthy if the title is written in a different font than the credits.
4
5Although the majority of modern scripted programs omit {{episode title card}}s, this isn't a new innovation, as sitcoms since the start of network TV have only rarely shown on-screen episode titles, and even in the 1950s and 1960s some drama TV series did not show titles, such as ''Series/MissionImpossible''.
6
7----
8!!Examples:
9
10[[foldercontrol]]
11
12[[folder:Anime]]
13* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}''. There is a title screen for each episode, but it only shows the number of the episode in a style unique to that episode.
14* ''Manga/{{Nana}}'' episodes show custom-styled screens with episode numbers, but no titles.
15%% * Some of the anime localized by Creator/FourKidsEntertainment, e.g. ''Anime/YuGiOh'' and ''Anime/UltimateMuscle'', suffered from this.
16[[/folder]]
17
18[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
19!!!'''Creators:'''
20* Most live-action shows produced by Creator/{{Filmation}}, the exception being ''Series/JasonOfStarCommand''.
21* Most live-action shows on Creator/{{Nickelodeon}} and Creator/DisneyChannel do this.
22* Aside from the specials based on them, Creator/{{NHK}} children's shows, such as ''Series/OkaasanToIssho'', ''Series/InaiInaiBaa'' and ''Series/{{Miitsuketa}}'' do not have actual episode titles. On the website, they're instead named after the day of the week they air on.
23!!!'''Series:'''
24* ''Series/ThirdRockFromTheSun'' took advantage of this by making nearly every episode title [[{{Double Entendre}} a vulgar pun on the name of main character Dick]].
25* ''Series/TheAmazingRace'' (starting in Season 2) derives its titles from contestants' quotes, so to those without a program guide, an episode's TitleDrop may not be recognized by viewers.
26* ''Series/TheAquabatsSuperShow''
27* The ''Series/{{Arrowverse}}'', with one exception by technicality: an episode of ''Series/LegendsOfTomorrow'' is titled [[Recap/LegendsOfTomorrowS3E17GuestStarringJohnNoble "Guest Starring John Noble"]], and indeed credits Creator/JohnNoble as a guest star.
28* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', with the sole exceptions being "Once More With Feeling", "Conversations With Dead People" and "Bargaining".
29%% * ''Series/BattlestarGalactica2003''
30%% * ''Series/BarneyAndFriends'' for its ninth season.
31%% * ''Series/TheBigBangTheory''
32%% * ''Series/{{Cheers}}''
33%% * ''[=CSI=]'' franchise
34%% ** ''Series/{{CSI}}''
35%% ** ''Series/{{CSINY}}''
36%% ** ''Series/CSIMiami''
37%% ** ''Series/CSICyber''
38%% * ''Series/CriminalMinds''
39%% * ''Series/{{Elementary}}''
40* ''Series/FellowTravelers'': The episodes don't include their titles.
41* ''Series/{{Friends}}'' doesn't show the names of its episodes; however, since the titles all start with 'the one where...', they usually aren't too hard to guess. General rule of thumb is that the title refers to either the most important, interesting or funny thing in the episode.
42* ''Series/TheGoodPlace'' has episode title cards, but they don't actually show the title, just the episode ([[InsistentTerminology or as they put it, "Chapter"]]) ''number''.
43* Taken to an extreme in ''Series/{{Hex}}'', where individual episode titles announced only in listings magazines were used for the TV broadcast, but the packaging of the home video releases of both seasons only used episode numbers.
44* ''Series/{{House}}''
45* ''Franchise/KamenRider'' did this from 2001-2004 and 2006. ''Series/KamenRiderAgito'', ''Series/KamenRiderRyuki'', ''Series/KamenRider555'', ''Series/KamenRiderBlade'' and ''Series/KamenRiderKabuto'' all did not list episode titles on screen, but the titles were given on the official Web site.
46* The 2008-09 {{Revival}} of ''Series/KnightRider'', though the original series showed its episode titles.
47* ''Series/LawAndOrder'' originally had episode titles displayed, but stopped doing so shortly into the second season.
48%% * ''Series/{{Leverage}}''
49%% * ''Series/{{Lost}}''
50%% * ''Series/{{MASH}}''
51%% * ''Series/Millennium1996'' averted the trope in season two, but played it straight in seasons one and three.
52%% * ''Series/MissionImpossible'', as noted.
53* ''Series/MisterEd'' did not have episode titles up to the third season. It did for the last two.
54%% * ''Series/ThePinkertons''
55%% * ''Series/{{Privileged}}''
56%% * ''Series/TheRedGreenShow''
57%% * ''Series/SabrinaTheTeenageWitch''
58%% * ''Series/SavedByTheBell''
59%% * ''Series/{{Scorpion}}''
60* ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'' episodes were given simple titles because it was assumed that nobody would ever see them.
61* Most post-2014 ''Series/SesameStreet'' episodes have a given title (for instance, "When Dinosaurs Roamed Sesame"), but all that is shown in the episode proper is the EpisodeCodeNumber.
62* ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'' is the first series in 50+ years of franchise history to employ this trope.
63* ''Series/StarTrekPicard'' also lacks an EpisodeTitleCard, so this seems to be the new standard for the franchise.
64* ''Series/{{Survivor}}'' often does the same thing as the above example with ''The Amazing Race'', using quotes from contestants for the titles, but regardless of whether they do or not, these titles are never seen on-screen.
65* ''Series/That70sShow''
66* ''Series/TorchwoodMiracleDay''. Interestingly, the UniverseConcordance ''Ahistory'' ignores these in favour of simply "Episode 1" etc, on the basis that using episode titles that never appeared on screen would just confuse things (and there is after all, precedence in the Franchise/{{Whoniverse}} for not using individual episode titles for a serial even when they ''do'' appear on screen).
67* In ''Series/{{Tweenies}}'', the characters announce the title rather than it appearing on screen as an image from the upcoming episode is shown on screen.
68* ''Series/{{Wonder Woman|1975}}'': None of the episodes displayed the title in the opening credits. (At least, not until later in its run.)
69* ''Series/TheXFiles'':
70** The writers considered showing the titles in a subtle way, such as using them as the titles of case files, but decided that not mentioning them added to the mystery.
71** The German dub avoided this and spoilt the fun by replacing (almost) every instance of "THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE" from the opening with the actual episode title.
72[[/folder]]
73
74%% [[folder:PuppetShows]]
75%% * Done in ''Series/FraggleRock''.
76%% * ''Series/ItsABigBigWorld'' applies to this.
77%% * ''Series/TheWubbulousWorldOfDrSeuss'' for the show's second season.
78%% [[/folder]]
79
80[[folder:Webcomics]]
81* In ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'', until a 2020 redesign of the website, no title was displayed on the comic pages. The only way to know a specific comic's title was to look its number up in the archives (also, the last comic's name is displayed in the side bar). The names of each StoryArc aren't included anywhere in the online comic, only the print editions. Which, fortunately, also display the title of the individual strips at the bottom of every page. The redesign added this to the online versions.
82[[/folder]]
83
84[[folder:Web Video]]
85* In an odd inversion, [[WebSite/ChannelAwesome TGWTG]] reviewer WebVideo/{{Phelous}} doesn't have a title for his ''series''. Occasionally [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in the videos, either by creating a WordSaladTitle or lifting one [[WordOfDante from IMDb]] (the most frequent being ''[[CharacterNameAndTheNounPhrase Phelous and the Movies]]'').
86* ''WebVideo/DragonBallZAbridged'' has episode titles (usually involving a ShoutOut or CallBack) but are never shown in either the episode or the actual video title.
87[[/folder]]
88
89[[folder:Western Animation]]
90!!!'''Creators:'''
91* This trope is common in many Creator/AdultSwim shows, such as ''WesternAnimation/AquaTeenHungerForce'', ''WesternAnimation/{{Squidbillies}}'', ''WesternAnimation/TwelveOunceMouse'' and many more.
92* A common trope in early Creator/DiCEntertainment series. While ''WesternAnimation/HeathcliffAndTheCatillacCats'' had title cards because of its TwoShorts format, the company didn't start using them consistently until ''WesternAnimation/TheRealGhostbusters'' in 1986, leaving shows like ''WesternAnimation/InspectorGadget'', ''WesternAnimation/{{MASK}}'', and ''WesternAnimation/JayceAndTheWheeledWarriors'' without onscreen titles.
93** Played with in their ''WesternAnimation/PolePosition'' series. While it doesn't have on-screen title cards, Wheels[[note]]Played by Melvin Franklin, one of Music/TheTemptations.[[/note]] (one of the two cars' on-board computers) does give the episodes' titles as he narrates the "on today's episode" segments.
94* Since 2018, any show that airs on Creator/DisneyChannel's Disney Junior block now does this for some reason, though one (or more) of the characters still announces the name of the episode as if the title still shows up on screen.
95** However, this only applies to shows made in-house. Imported shows such as ''WesternAnimation/PJMasks'', ''WesternAnimation/{{Bluey}}'' and ''WesternAnimation/DinoRanch'' are exempt from this practice.
96* All three of Creator/SethMacFarlane's cartoons: ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'', ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'', and ''WesternAnimation/TheClevelandShow''.
97!!!'''Series:'''
98* ''WesternAnimation/AllHailKingJulien'' does not show the episode titles.
99* ''WesternAnimation/{{Archer}}'' does not show the episode titles.
100* ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDragonJakeLong'' does not show the episode titles.
101* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' has a variant: The episodes have title cards, but ''the show itself'' doesn't. The creators admit they forgot to put it in.
102* ''WesternAnimation/BigHero6TheSeries'' does not show the episode titles.
103* ''WesternAnimation/BluesClues'' for its first four seasons. Since Joe became the host, title cards were put in use. ''WesternAnimation/BluesCluesAndYou'' displays the episode titles outright.
104* ''WesternAnimation/BobsBurgers'' does not show the episode titles.
105* The original run of ''WesternAnimation/TheBugsBunnyShow'' on ABC and later ''[[WesternAnimation/PorkyPig The Porky Pig Show]]'' did not present the cartoons' titles in the body of the shows (except for a couple of rare times). The titles of the shorts were seen in tiny lettering along with their copyrights on the bottom of the screen during closing credits.
106* The FiveEpisodePilot of ''WesternAnimation/ChallengeOfTheGobots'', in contrast to the other 60 episodes, did not use title cards and instead had the titles revealed by a voice-over.
107* ''WesternAnimation/CleopatraInSpace'' does this, but an interesting case in particular as the only way to find out what the episode titles were, before the show was released on Peacock, was to translate the official Korean titles used in TV guides.
108* Hanna-Barbera's ''WesternAnimation/ClueClub'' (1976) did not have episode title cards. When they were edited down as features of the ''Skatebirds'' series a year later (rebilled as ''Woofer & Wimper: Dog Detectives''), they were kitted out with titles.
109* ''WesternAnimation/DoraTheExplorer'' and its spinoffs don't have the titles appear onscreen, but they do appear in the end credits.
110** ''WesternAnimation/HeroElementary'' does the same thing.
111* Unlike with other Creator/HannaBarbera shows, which either had title cards or added them retroactively, ''WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones'' never had title cards, even in reruns. This isn't the case with any of the spin-off shows, however (except for the Fred & Barney segments in 1972's ''The Flintstone Comedy Hour''; those did not bear titles).
112* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'', like many Fox shows does not show the episode titles.
113* None of the episodes of the ''WesternAnimation/GarbagePailKidsCartoon'' have visible titles, presumably because of the show having never aired on television and only being made available by receiving a DVD release nearly two decades after the show was produced.
114* Every single episode of ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' never had the episode titles shown onscreen.
115** Somewhat subverted with the episodes "Bottemless Pit" and "Little Gift Shop of Horrors" where each three segments of their respected episodes had the title cards shown.
116* ''WesternAnimation/TheJetsons'' subverted this. The original 1962 season did not display the titles, at least when aired in syndication. But when seasons 2 and 3 were produced in the '80s with {{Episode Title Card}}s, the first season was retrofitted with title cards to match.
117* ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'' does not show the episode titles.
118* ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'': The episode titles don't appear onscreen.
119* ''WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitchTheSeries'' plays with this. The episode titles never show up on screen, but because of the show's simplistic IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming (each episode being named after the subject of the episode, almost all of which are the [[Characters/LiloAndStitchExperiments experiments]] featured in them) and a character (usually Lilo) giving them their names in the episode (making them a subtle TitleDrop), it's not necessary. This was even exploited by the show's producers for the episode "[[Recap/LiloAndStitchTheSeriesS1E8Yapper Yapper]]" in order to throw off kids of [[TurnOfTheMillennium the time the show was produced]] using ''Magazine/TVGuide'' from figuring out the new experiment early.[[note]]The experiment of this episode is actually Mertle's new "dog" Gigi, but Lilo and Stitch spend most of the episode trying to beat them at a dog show while Gantu spends most of his time wandering around Honolulu (where the dog show was being held) looking for the experiment. It isn't until Gantu finally arrives at the dog show and tries to take Gigi when it's revealed that she is the experiment. Lilo does call Gigi "the little yapper" in the {{Denouement}}, however.[[/note]] That said, there has been a few instance where the experiment's new name is never mentioned by anyone, such as "[[Recap/LiloAndStitchTheSeriesS1E6Holio Holio]]" and "[[Recap/LiloAndStitchTheSeriesS1E12Amnesio Amnesio]]", the latter because Lilo and Stitch lost the experiment to Gantu before they could get a chance to name him.
120%% * ''WesternAnimation/TheProudFamily'' does the same thing.
121* The first episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'' did not feature a title card.
122* Creator/HannaBarbera's version of ''WesternAnimation/RichieRich1980'' had segments of four different lengths: "Gems", "Riches", "Treasure Chest" and "Zillion-Dollar Adventures". Beyond those generic titles, the segments were not identified on screen.
123* ''[[WesternAnimation/RockPaperScissorsNickelodeon Rock, Paper, Scissors]]'' doesn't show the episode titles.
124* During their initial run on ABC, the 1976 episodes of ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDoo'' did not display titles. They were added in 1977 when they were replayed with new episodes that did have titles.
125** In 1972, Magazine/TVGuide would have the episode titles for ''WesternAnimation/TheNewScoobyDooMovies'' in the listing's synopsis, but the titles were never displayed on the show (or any of Hanna-Barbera's shows between 1972 and 1977).
126* ''WesternAnimation/ShimmerAndShine'' for its first season. Starting in Season 2, title cards were used.
127* ''WesternAnimation/SidTheScienceKid'' is actually a somewhat rare example of preschool/young children's animated series that does this. The only thing that's shown at the beginning of the episodes is a small amount of crew, such as executive producers. No episode titles are given.
128* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' had about four exceptions, one of which was a gag where [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS2E10BartGetsHitByACar "Bart Gets Hit by a Car"]] showed up, right before Bart got hit by a car. According to the episode commentary, the animators put this in so that viewers would wonder whether the show had always been giving the titles and they'd just missed it somehow.
129** Averted with the Polish, German and Spanish dubs, where the episode titles are shown during the CouchGag.
130** Played straight by [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS27E5TreehouseOfHorrorXXVI "Treehouse of Horror XXVI"]]. While most Treehouses of Horror episodes display the episode's title, guest animator Creator/JohnKricfalusi didn't include one in his opening sequence.
131* ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil'' shows the credits for the episode, but not the name of the episode itself.
132** ''WesternAnimation/{{Mysticons}}'' does the exact same thing.
133* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'', even though they could easily have slipped the titles in instead of the fortune cookie lines shown after the title sequence. The [[SequelGap long-]][[UnCanceled delayed]] [[WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWarsSeasonSeven seventh season]], however, chose to emulate the two already-completed [[WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels follow-up]] [[WesternAnimation/StarWarsResistance series]] and have its episodes CloseOnTitle instead.
134* ''WesternAnimation/TangledTheSeries'' does not show the episode titles.
135* The entire ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama'' series, like many Canadian shows.
136* ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime'' was the first western ''Transformers'' series to not feature the title of the episode on-screen. The creators said they could never agree on a way to display the titles so they just decided not to. This ended up creating some issues in late Season 1 when episodes 21-23 aired early in Canada, since nobody knew what to call the episodes. Website/TFWikiDotNet went with calling them “''Transformers: Prime'' episode 21” and so forth until the episodes were listed on [=Zap2It=] a week later.
137* The ThreeShorts episodes of ''WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures'' not only have titles for the shorts themselves, but the episode as a whole as well. However, only the shorts get the {{Episode Title Card}}s.
138* The [[Creator/FourKidsEntertainment 4Kids]] release of ''WesternAnimation/WinxClub'' did not have episode title cards unlike its other releases.
139* ''WesternAnimation/XavierRiddleAndTheSecretMuseum'' does not show the episode titles.
140[[/folder]]

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