Let me see if I can explain this.

I set my custom view so that the letters appear yellow against the blue background when the title is selected and black when it's not. Basically, I have two copies of every field, one visible when the title is highlighted and the other visible at all other times.

Except for DVD Purchase date. I have that one set up exactly the same as all other fields, but the text is always black. It shows up yellow when I am editing the custom view, but not when an item is actually selected in the collection view.