A pet peeve: Logo removal and replacement (1 Viewer)

[MatthewA]

UPDATED 8/26/2005

Is anyone else bothered by the replacement or removal of original logos on television shows? I am, and for many reasons.

—It constitutes an unnecessary alteration. The logos were part of the shows as they originally were intended.
—It creates an anachronism. A 21st century logo on a 1960s or 1970s series is as ridiculous as putting the Pathé rooster on a current film.
—Newer logos, especially CGI ones, just plain seem out of place on the older shows.
—For nostalgia alone, a lot of the older logos have that appeal.

As for where the studios stand (year indicates first use of logo):

Warner Bros.:
Removed:
—Black Bart: (unaired pilot on DVD with "Blazing Saddles"): Warner Bros Television '72
—Dallas: Lorimar '72 and '78 (on all but two S3 episodes)
—Kung Fu: Warner Bros. Television '72
—Roots: Warner Bros Television '72
—Thorn Birds: WBTV '72
—Wonder Woman: WBTV '72

Retained
—North and South (all 3 parts): WBTV '84
—Scooby Doo, Where Are You?: Hanna Barbera '68

Columbia TriStar (Sony):
Removed:
—Beulah Land (miniseries): Columbia Pictures Television '76
—Bewitched: Screen Gems '63
—Married With Children (season 1 and part of season 2): Embassy Communications '86; (much of season 2 and season 3): Columbia Pictures TV '87
—The Nanny: TriStar Television '92
—The Partridge Family: Screen Gems '65 (not necessarily removed, but suppressed by "bridging", more to come)

Retained:
—227: Embassy Television '83
—The Blue and the Gray (miniseries): Columbia Pictures Television '82
—Brian's Song (original TV movie): Screen Gems '65
—Married with Children: (Outrageous Episodes): Columbia Pictures TV '87, Embassy Communications '86
—QB VII (miniseries): Screen Gems '65

Paramount:
Removed:
—Cheers: Paramount Television '75
—Laverne & Shirley: Paramount Television '75

Retained:
—The Brady Bunch: Paramount Television '69
—I Love Lucy: Desilu (in-credit animation)
—Star Trek: TOS: Desilu '66 (albeit plastered with 1978 copyright notice)

Fox:
Removed:
—M*A*S*H: 20th Century Fox TV '61
—The Simpsons (seasons 1-3): 20th Century Fox TV '80s (except on a handful of episodes)

Retained:
—The Bob Newhart Show: MTM Productions '70
—Family Guy: 20th Century Fox TV '97
—Futurama: custom 30th Century Fox TV
—[i[Garfield and Friends[/i] (first 13 episodes on V.1): Film Roman '80s; (all episodes after that): Film Roman '89
—King of the Hill (season 1): 20th TV '92; (season 2): 20th Century Fox TV '97
—The Mary Tyler Moore Show: MTM Productions '70
—The Simpsons (seasons 4-5): 20th TV '92

MGM:
Retained:
—Green Acres: Filmways
—Outer Limits: United Artists TV '62

Disney/Buena Vista/Touchstone:
Retained:
—The Golden Girls: Touchstone TV '85

Universal:
Removed:
—Columbo (season 2): Universal '71
—Kojak: Universal '71
—Magnum, PI (Season 2): Universal '75
—Murder She Wrote: Universal '75
—Quantum Leap (Season 2): Universal '75

Retained:
—Baretta: Universal '74
—Columbo (season 1): Universal '71
—Law and Order (Season 1): Universal '75
—Magnum, PI (Season 1): Universal '75
—Quantum Leap (Season 1): Universal '75

Shout! Factory
Retained:
—Punky Brewster: NBC Productions '84

Many of these logos removed are from companies that no longer exist. I don't see why that is necessary. Is it too much to put the current logo after the old one?

While it has never been a deal breaker for me, it has been a disappointment.

Please help me add to this list, and for a description of many logos, this site is helpful:

http://members.fortunecity.com/teamfx2000/

BTW, I only count logos from the original run. Many shows didn't have logos on the original run to begin with (the old Wonderful World of Disney, Norman Lear shows).

 

[SeanC]

Ugh, I absolutely hate that!!! I love to see the original logos, as they were first shown. I've definetly noticed it on Sony DVDs, where they've taken off the Columbia TriStar Television logo and replaced it with the Sony Pictures one. Not only that, but there's a pause in between the end credits and the logo now thats really annoying. Artisan would constantly chop off the original logos and put theirs on their movies, which annoyed me to no end.

 

[ScottR]

I love original logos. Paramount is bad about replacing them. The episodes of Star Trek TOS on Sci-Fi Channel show the original Desilu logo unaltered, but the dvds (which supposedly come from the same prints) have the 1978 Paramount copyright at the bottom.

- Wonder Woman WB logo replaced
- Roots WB logo replaced
- The Thorn Birds WB logo replaced
- The Monkees, no Screen Gems logo

On the other hand, Paramount has retained the original logo on The Brady Bunch.

 

[MatthewA]

Okay, I will add that to the list.

I think the Monkees was removed because the copyright was bought out by Warners, who own Rhino, which owns the Monkees' recordings.

I forgot about Roots.

 

[Tory]

Punky Brewster has the NBC International Presents Opening Logo and I love it madly, it also ends with an old NBC Productions logo Copyrighted 1985 so I like that too but after that they show a new NBC Enterprises logo. I don't like so much but I think all the old is there.

 

[MatthewA]

Thanks. I will add a section for smaller companies as soon as I can.

 

[Paul_Stachniak]

I always hated the OZ logo for the DVDs. Like the original one better, but whatever.

Also I hated how with CSI they went from the nice 2D logo to some awful 3D logo. Oh and ER, Season 3's spine is bigger then the others.

 

[Jay Pennington]

Gotta agree with this thread. But then I'm the one who always hopes for original sponsor credits, bumps and tags, etc. Hell, for early 60s shows that were sponsored from start to finish and delivered to the network with commercials already on the print, I wanna see those, too!

It's a nice treat that many of these touches have been retained in the Twilight Zone season sets.

On Star Trek: once, and only once, during the Sci-Fi Channel's first batch of remastered, unedited Star Trek airings during 90-minute blocks, right after the opening credts there was a ~3 second art card of the Enterprise in orbit above a planet and the show title (if you're a Trek fan you'd know the still if you saw it--it showed up on merchandise, etc). I believe the negatives of all the episodes would have this silent card following the credits, because shows used to be delivered to the network in this way for them to add a "Star Trek! Brought to you by..." voiceover. This would be followed by an ad for the sponsor.

It was cool to see, and like an idiot I erased the tape. I'm sure the Sci-Fi Channel has never aired it that way again.

I'll have to catch the show again on the channel to see that original Desilu opening (thanks for the heads up, Scott). I've been watching the 1978 version all my life, so it'll be neat to see. It's interesting that the mindset at Paramount at the time was to retain the Desilu logo even though they were already altering it to reflect the new copyright date. Since Desilu hadn't existed for over ten years, I'm surprised they didn't just replace it with a Paramount logo while they were at it. I'm glad they didn't, because at least the 1978 one was still similar to the original.

I miss the old Gulf&Western Paramount logo that used to be on the end of syndication prints, but the original airings probably used something different, anyhow.

 

[Carlos Garcia]

Add Dragnet 1967 to the list. I miss the original closing Universal logo. The new logo stinks. Sorry, but seeing it on everything today made it get old very fast, while the memory of the old logo still lingers with good feelings surrounding it.

 

[Christian Preischl]

Universal are really bad when it comes to replacing logos. They seem to have had a change in policy recently, because the first seasons of Quantum Leap, Magnum P.I. and Columbo still had the original logos. But from seasons 2 onwards they chopped them off (rather clumsily in some cases) and instead you have to sit through the current 20 second CG logo before every damn episode.

I'm sure this is the case with other Universal TV shows released around that time, too (e.g. A-Team and Knight Rider), but those three are all I own.

Chris

 

[JeffWld]

Another annoyance for me was "Kung Fu". Warner Bros. not only changed the original logo, but also failed to retain the theme music variant which originally played under the logo. The DVD set has the rather jarring WB fanfare, which is completely out of place with the closing theme.

 

[Mark B]

The Screen Gems logo is on the Partridge Family discs, but has been bridged to prevent it from playing. You can see it if you load the disc into the PC.

 

[MatthewA]

Sony strikes again! Tell me more.

 

[MishaLauenstein]

I remember as a kid the closing credits to Six Million Dollar man (I think) being followed up by the Universal (I think) logo of the sledge-hammer stamping the logo onto a piece of metal. In my brain it's part of the closing theme song. Like the Meow at the end of an MTM show.

 

[Jay Pennington]

That was the logo for Mark VII Productions, which was owned by Jack Webb. His company produced many shows on behalf of Universal, and so their logos would follow each other, which is why you associate the two logos in your memory.

 

[ChrisPearson]

The original logos have been substituted on all the Hanna-Barbera (Warner) sets I own: The Flintstones S1-3, The Jetsons, Top Cat, Wacky Races and Dastardly and Muttley, although the original logo is present on those Wacky Races episodes that have commentaries (though, strangely, only when you play them with the commentary). I presume the logos have also been replaced on the other HB sets available: Jonny Quest, Penelope Pitstop and the two Scooby Doo sets. The new logos are great IMO but, like many here, I would have liked the originals better.

BTW this is a prevalent issue on R2 releases of UK TV shows. Some companies, like Network, recognise the value of retaining original logos and adcaps, but many can't resist interfering and cutting them off. It's hard to believe, but I think they actually think removing them is an improvement.

 

[AndyMcKinney]

Just out of curiosity, which episode? The reason I ask is that when some selected episodes were released on the old RCA VideoDiscs (the CED type) in the early '80s, this title card was displayed after the opening credits for several seconds on only one episode: The Trouble with Tribbles. I was thinking that if that perhaps it was retained for some reason in the 1978 print and survived again when Sci-Fi showed the "remastered" ones.

 

[MatthewA]

Chris, which logo(s) are you talking about?

 

[ScottR]

The Scooby Doo Where Are You set has the original logos from the two years it ran.

 

[Carlos Garcia]

Anyone remember the original "Trans-Lux" opening from the 60s cartoon "Speed Racer"?






Now it's been replaced with:








To me the original opening was very nostalgic. I hate the new opening, it doesn't bring back the childhood memories the Trans-Lux opening did. It seems alot of these companies just don't realize the nostalgic value these logos and original openings (and closings) have to the people who buy these discs. It's a shame they really don't seem to understand what's important in the programs they own the rights to. I doubt we'll ever see our favorite old shows be COMPLETELY released, looking exactly the way they did when they originally aired, so we should just be happy these shows are getting released at all. It's sad.