New Girl's new opening credits look like they were made on Microsoft PowerPoint and even Zooey Deschanel hates them

'I had no choice' said actress

(Fox)

Opening credits are superfluous and annoying, this we know to be true.

While some shows have abandoned them altogether, there are still plenty of great ones using overly long sequences (Hey House of Cards and OITNB!), while others strike a balance with just a little flourish (a la Breaking Bad's puff of smoke).

New Girl in its first three seasons went for this approach, with a quite simple and charming (if a little twee) theme that sort of deconstructed the idea of opening credits and mocked how overblown they tend to be, with the characters adopting jazz hands-esque poses before awkwardly walking away from them.

But they're gone, now we have what look like cheap press shots arranged in a badly-cropped collage. Winston jumps! Schmidt beams! Nick does that hands-under-armpits pose last seen in a Backstreet Boys video!

I feel kind of embarrassed for them, and the Apple commercial-ready instrumental guitar version of the theme doesn't help.

Opening credits are a stupid thing to get angry about, but what the hell, Fox? Did someone let an intern loose on circa 1998 WordArt? Do the titles signal a new era of the show about saving yourself for marriage and doing rad skateboard tricks?

Here's Zooey Deschanel on them (via Hitflix):

Finally talk a bit about the new credits. What are your thoughts on seeing them?
I had no choice. Yeah, it wasn’t my choice and I had no real influence in the matter.

But what was your reaction when you saw them for the first time?
It’s different.

Do you view them as being sort of like long-term or would you ideally like to have season five a whole new thing?
I don’t really have an opinion on it. I like the original ones personally but that’s just me.

I just feel like a lot of people miss the original ones.
Yeah. I like them too. I mean that’s my personal opinion and a lot of people have kind of complained to me on Twitter and stuff. But it was mandated by not me.

That’s what Twitter is there for to give people a chance to complain.
Exactly. No, someone wanted it for some, and I’m sure it was a good one, reason and I don’t know why. But anyway I like the original.