Columbia Pictures Television: Difference between revisions

Background: Columbia Pictures Television (CPT) was the second name of the [[Columbia Pictures]] television division [[Screen Gems Television|Screen Gems]] (SG), reincorporated on May 6, 1974. The name's change was announced on May 1 and was suggested by David Gerber, who was president of Columbia's television division. In 1984, Coke demerged Columbia Pictures and Columbia Pictures Television. CPT was transferred to "CPT Holdings, Inc.". On January 30, 1984, CPT joined forces with Lexington Broadcast Services Company, Inc. (later known as "LBS Communications, Inc.") and created "[[Colex Enterprises]]". It was created to distribute most series by Screen Gems and CPT from the 1950s to the '70s. In October, CPT created "The Television Program Source" with Alan Bennett and former King World president, Bob King. On November 24, 1986, CPT was merged with Embassy Communications by forming "Columbia/Embassy Television". This was also the birth of Coca-Cola Telecommunications, when CPT's distribution division merged with the Television Program Source. Coke also regrouped CPT, Embassy Communications, and Merv Griffin Enterprises into "Coca-Cola Television". On December 21, 1987, Coke's entertainment business was sold to Tri-Star Pictures, Inc. for $3.1 billion. Tri-Star Pictures, Inc. was renamed to "Columbia Pictures Entertainment, Inc." (now "Sony Pictures Entertainment") and CCT was shut down ten days later and folded into the reorganized Columbia Pictures Television Distribution. In October 1991, CPT, TriStar Television, and MGE were reorganized into the "Sony Pictures Entertainment Television Group" (a.k.a. "Sony Television Entertainment"). On February 21, 1994, Columbia Pictures Television merged with TriStar Television by becoming "Columbia TriStar Television" and Columbia Pictures Television Distribution was renamed to "Columbia TriStar Television Distribution". On January 1, 2001, Columbia Pictures Television was folded into Columbia TriStar Television as a failed attempt to become a network television syndication division called Columbia TriStar Network Television (later replaced by Columbia TriStar Domestic Television), however, the CPT name was retained in the in-credits of ''The Young and the Restless'' until October 2002. Currently, the division is known as Sony Pictures Television. A separate entity of CPT continues to exist on paper as an intellectual property holder, and an in-name-only unit and division of SPT known as "CPT Holdings" (formed in 1983) to hold the copyright for the TV show ''The Young and the Restless'' including the UK version of ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'', as well as old incarnations from the company's television library such as ''What's Happening!!''.

Nicknames: "CPT Pretzel", "CPT", "The Pretzel"

Logo: Against a red background, the yellow letters "C-P-T" appear one by one as each initial appears on screen and zooming out at the same time. The "T" is in the middle of and on a higher plane than the "C" and "P", which slide upwards diagonally to merge with the "T" to form a stylized logo, which looks like a pretzel. On either side of the logo's stem are the words "COLUMBIA" and "PICTURES", and below that "TELEVISION". Under all that is the byline "A DIVISION OF COLUMBIA PICTURES INDUSTRIES, INC." all in white lettering.

Variant: A stretched 16:9 variant was spotted on a Plus7 streaming print of ''Police Woman''.

FX/SFX: The letters appearing, and the letters "combining".

Music/Sounds: A little sped-up version of the [[Screen Gems Television#6th Logo (September 13, 1965-August 29, 1974)|1970-1974 Screen Gems theme]] as the first three opening notes bring forth the three initials in the logo. The rest of the theme plays normally. The first three notes appear to be played faster than on the Screen Gems version.

Music/Sounds Variants:

Availability: Rare.

Editor's Note: This logo's rough animation and design as well as its use of the "S from Hell" theme signified that this logo was only temporary until the "Sunburst" was introduced two years later.

=== 2nd Logo (In-credit Variants)<br>(May 1974-2002) ===

Logo: Just a simple in-credit from the following:

*''Dealer's Choice'' (1974) and The Diamond Head Game (1975): "This has been a Columbia Pictures Television Presentation". The former show had it in the Cooper Black font (later used for one of the font style for Columbia) while the latter used Peignot.

Variants:

FX/SFX: The scrolling or the fade in of the text.

Music/Sounds: The show's closing theme.

Availability: Extremely rare, but it's intact in some variants.

Editor's Note: None.

=== 3rd Logo (2nd official logo)<br>(September 21, 1976-September 28, 1982) ===

Nicknames: "The Abstract Torch", "The Sunburst", "The Starburst"

Logo: We see a bright torch light appear against a black screen and as it shrinks, it changes into a more "abstract" torch light. The light rays recede from the bottom to about half way with 13 symmetrical white light rays remaining. An orange half circle, or a semicircle, fades in from behind the rays and the words "Columbia Pictures Television" appear under it in a gold Souvenir font. The entire logo then slowly backs away as it fades out.

Trivia:

Variants:

FX/SFX: The light rays shrinking and turning into the abstract torch.

Music/Sounds: The television theme is a variation of the theatrical inspirational music. Was also written by Suzanne Ciani. Some people find it appropriate for the company that would be owned by Coca-Cola, as the effects in the song resemble the sound of pouring and fizzing soda.

Music/Sounds Variants:

Availability: Very rare.

Editor's Note: This logo is a favorite among logo enthusiasts for its nice visual effects and music. The regular variant is also considered to be the first ever logo to have been uploaded onto YouTube, uploaded sometime in 2006. However, the original video appears to have been deleted.

=== 4th Logo (3rd official logo)<br>(September 24, 1982-June 18, 1993) ===

Nicknames: "'80s Torch Lady", "Coke Bottle Torch Lady", "Torch Lady"

Logo: We see the then-current Columbia Pictures logo, the lady holding a light torch on top of a pedestal (Columbia, a representation of the USA), in her 1981-1993 incarnation against the backdrop of clouds. The words "Columbia Pictures" appear on either side of the torch lady, the word "Television" underneath in the same font as above, and underneath that, either the respective company byline, or sometimes nothing at all. The woman's torch "shines" after the music ends, and the words also shine lightly.

Bylines:

Variants: There are several versions of this logo, namely in bylines, company name, and animation:

FX/SFX: The Lady's torch "shining". The blue/ivory logos would have the name "Columbia Pictures" shining, except on the 1988 versions.

Music/Sounds:

Music/Sounds Variants:

Availability: Uncommon. Most of these logos have been plastered by the Columbia TriStar and/or Sony Pictures Television logos but it just might pop up on some older prints of shows.

Editor's Note: It's the end bit of the 1981 movie logo albeit slightly modified, which was still satisfactory enough for the '80s. This was the first logo to replace the Embassy logo starting in 1988 on shows from Embassy. Many shows stopped using this logo in 1992, although ''The Young and the Restless'' and ''Days of Our Lives'' continued to use the blue/ivory logo until 1993. This was also used for the first season of ''The Larry Sanders Show'', which premiered in August 1992.

=== 5th Logo (4th official logo)<br> ===

(August 15, 1992-January 2, 2001)

 

Logo: We see a still picture of a brand new Columbia Torch Lady (painted by Michael J. Deas, and modeled by Louisiana homemaker, Jenny Joseph; some think it looks like actress Annette Benning) holding a light torch on top of a new pedestal against the background of clouds with dark blue skies around it. The word "COLUMBIA" appears in giant chiseled silver letters behind her at the very top, similar to the classic Columbia Pictures logo from 1936-1976. Underneath the lady are the words "COLUMBIA PICTURES TELEVISION", or until 1996, "COLUMBIA PICTURES TELEVISION DISTRIBUTION" (in Bank Gothic Condensed Bold font) and underneath that is the byline "a SONY PICTURES ENTERTAINMENT company".

Variants:

FX/SFX: None, except when it fades out, where the name along with the byline below dims out and later fades out completely.

Music/Sounds: Here are the main versions:

Music/Sounds Variants:

Availability: Surprisingly pretty common, as it has managed to pop up on several current prints of Sony series and movies even with the Sony Pictures Television logo plastering over logos.

Editor's Note: A still logo of a painting that still looks exquisite even to this day, supplemented with some grand fanfares. It should be noted that this appeared almost a year before movies began using this new Torch Lady in 1993.

=== Copyright Stamps: ===

=== Final Note: ===