NEED TO KNOW
Stuart Fails to Save the Universe offers different intros for each episode
Acclaimed composer Danny Elfman also wrote and reinvented the theme song for each
Stuart Fails to Save the Universe drops new episodes Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO Max
Chuck Lorre has one major pet peeve when it comes to streaming.
The longtime TV producer, 73, tells PEOPLE that he “always thought it was horrible that there’s that ‘skip’ button on titles on streaming shows.” That’s why he came up with a plan to shake things up for Stuart Fails to Save the Universe, the latest Big Bang Theory spinoff.
For the HBO Max series, Lorre and those behind it are giving viewers a new reason to watch the opening credits each week. “The only solution we could come up with was you have to make it entertaining,” he says. “And it’d have to be different every week, it would have to be a different title sequence. That turned out to be a lot of fun.”
Kevin Sussman in ‘Stuart Fails to Save the Universe’
Credit: HBO
The strategy becomes clear from the very first episode. The opening sequence recommends viewers don’t press the skip button, beginning with the words “do NOT skip!” along with an arrow pointing directly at the streaming service’s “Skip Intro” button. It then zooms through the show’s multiverse.
Lorre even sneaks in a personal touch. One of his favorite opening sequences, he teases, is simply “a love letter” to his dog, Harvey, who becomes an unexpected star of an intro.
John Ross Bowie, Lauren Lapkus, Kevin Sussman, Brian Posehn in ‘Stuart Fails to Save the Universe’
Credit: Colin Remas Brown/HBO Max
The ever-changing visuals are only half the experiment. Lorre says the series got a boost when acclaimed composer Danny Elfman signed on to not only write the show’s theme song, but also reinvent it for each episode. “We got this cosmic gift and when Danny Elfman said, ‘Yes, I will write and produce a theme song and mess with it in each episode,'” Lorre says. “It’s a different theme song as the series goes along.”
He adds, “So hopefully the audience is getting a little bit more than they paid for it. Right? They’re getting a title sequence that is new. It’s fresh. It’s got new information, new jokes, new music.”
The title sequences are just one example of how Stuart Fails to Save the Universe breaks away from the traditional sitcom format that made The Big Bang Theory a television staple. When asked what longtime fans will find most surprising, co-creator Zak Penn points to the show’s cinematic scope. “I think they’ll be surprised by the opening shot, honestly,” Penn, 58, says. “They’ll just see the scope of the show and know how different it is.”
“It’s not your grandfather’s sitcom,” Lorre adds.
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Stuart’s scale was intentional from the beginning. “When the very idea was this would be a science fiction action adventure comedy, you can’t put that on in front of an audience,” Lorre says. “You have to make a little movie.”
Lorre says the creative team held itself to one simple rule: don’t settle. “We just had to trust ourselves. We had to be honest with ourselves on every page that this was truly the best we can do,” he says. “Once it’s on TV, you can’t take it back and say, ‘I can make it better.’ You can only make it better while you’re working on it.”
Stuart Fails to Save the Universe drops new episodes Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO Max.
Read the original article on People