Streaming has not been kind to Chuck Lorre‘s vanity cards. The mega producer has been using his production company logo (which is flashed for a second at the end of each episode) for decades to share essays, make jokes and write diatribes about the world around him. But for his Max series “Bookie,” Lorre has decided to just write one card for the show’s entire Season 2 run.
“The reason is no one, not even my family and friends, bothers to read them. It’s not surprising,” Lorre wrote in the card. “Max actively dissaudes viewers from reading end credits, let alone sticking around to read the mischievous word salad that is a classic Chuck Lorre vanity card.”
Lorre’s referring to the now-standard practice by most streamers of shuffling viewers to the next episode of a show, or another series, as closing credits start to roll — shrinking to a small picture-in-picture box as a timer counts down to the next thing. (If audiences want to watch episodic credits, they have to scramble for the remote and click on that tiny box to bring it back to the full screen.)
Is it the end of an era? Lorre is still penning his vanity cards for the end of each episode of CBS’ “Georgie and Mandy’s First Wedding,” so it’s not all over yet. But he knows that even broadcast TV isn’t necessarily where people are watching TV live anymore: “If you’re hungry for a peek inside my fiendishly clever mind, I still have a show with easily accessible vanity cards on CBS,” Lorre added in his one Season 2 “Bookie” card. “Ask your grandma what that is, and where it can be found.”
When asked about his decision to just do one vanity card on “Bookie” this season, Lorre was melancholy about it: “You watch television,” he told Variety.” You know the credits are gone, and a vanity card? That’s from another era. But you know, I’m trying to keep it alive.”
Did Max have any thoughts about this specific “Bookie” card? “They have not said a word, but they don’t speak to me generally,” he quipped. “So I don’t know if that’s a good or bad thing.”
Here’s his one and only “Bookie” Season 2 vanity card, as seen on the show’s Dec. 12 return:
“Heads up. I’m only writing this one card for season two of BOOKIE. The reason is no one, not even my family and friends, bothers to read them. It’s not surprising. MAX actively dissuades viewers from reading end credits, let alone sticking around to read the mischievous word salad that is a classic Chuck Lorre vanity card. They want you, for their own selfish reasons, to immediately leap into the next episode or, failing that, MILF Manor. So, once again, do not bother looking for a new card at the end of the remaining seven episodes of BOOKIE. There won’t be one. Will the world be a poorer place? I like to think so. If you’re hungry for a peek inside my fiendishly clever mind, I still have a show with easily accessible vanity cards on CBS. Ask your grandma what that is, and where it can be found.”
As for “Georgie and Mandy’s First Marriage,” Lorre’s most recent card is a bit of a self-deprecating holiday greeting.
This isn’t the first time Lorre has broken with his vanity card tradition; he also didn’t include them on his Netflix single-camera series “The Kominsky Method,” for similar streaming reasons.
Lorre began the tradition with “Dharma and Greg” in 1997, when he was given a second at the end of each episode to flash a vanity card — which is usually a logo of the writer’s production company — and he decided to use that real estate to have some fun by writing his thoughts down. At first, people found them by hitting “pause” on their VCRs — and then their DVRs. As Lorre’s comedy empire grew, he was soon writing three or more a week, especially as he came to dominate CBS’ primetime.
Several cards were censored by the network over the years, including an open letter to then-Viacom executive chairman Sumner Redstone, and another that referenced a lawsuit between CBS and the studio behind his shows, Warner Bros. TV. Perhaps his most famous card came in 2011, referencing the troubles Lorre was having at the time with a certain “Two and a Half Men” star. After detailing his intense physical regimen, Lorre quipped, “If Charlie Sheen outlives me, I’m gonna be really pissed.”
In 2012, Lorre collected his favorite vanity cards, including some of those banned ones, into the coffee table book “What Doesn’t Kill Us, Makes Us Bitter,” the proceeds of which went to many health care–related charities and educational efforts, including the Venice Family Clinic. The entire collection of Lorre’s vanity cards can be viewed at chucklorre.com.
