The End is Nigh: Music Postfaces and End-Credit Sequences in Contemporary Television Serials

End-credit sequences have received little scholarly attention, and yet since The Sopranos (1997–2006), at least, there has been a concerted effort on the part of certain shows’ producers to use this ‘space’ productively. Rather than the same theme returning at the end of each episode, a different audio track/song may be selected (or composed) for each one. Since The Sopranos other serials have followed suit: examples include Mad Men (2007–15), Boardwalk Empire (2010–4), and True Blood (2008–14). Of course, popular songs have been heard during the end-credit sequences of feature films, particularly since the 1980s, for reasons of cross-promotion and economics. And certainly, on the one hand, the curation of popular songs (and other music tracks) over the end-credit sequences of high production-value television serials, particular to each episode, potentially signals a scale of budget for music rights that might be considered cinematic rather than televisual. But televisual seriality offers another reason why this approach is productive. Using The Sopranos as a case study, here I investigate the end-credit sequence of contemporary television serials in the context of this seriality.