It's like the networks just gave up.

All at once, as soon as the Y2K dust cleared, proving that the human race could truly prevail through anything, certain important funding streams were seemingly drained to zero. Departments were closed (I think), talented people were fired (probably), and dreams were shattered (mine, at least).

Of all the horrible things that have happened in the 13 years since the '90s drew to a close, there is one criminally overlooked tragedy, one that, if we become too far removed from it, I'm afraid we might forget ever existed:

The extinction of the great sitcom fonts.

The name Walter Afanasieff is not a household name, which I've recently learned is a shame. I had never heard his name until yesterday, but after typing it into the Internet, learning that he was important enough to merit a Wikipedia page (no photo, though, so ... ), and reading that he worked with an impressive list of artists, it became clear that I needed to know more. He spent the 1980s recording with the likes of Aretha Franklin, Lionel Richie, Whitney Houston, and Patti LaBelle. But as his discography reached the '90s, there's one name that routinely appears over and over again: Mariah Carey.