Columbia Pictures Television: Difference between revisions

On May 6, 1974, [[Screen Gems Television|Screen Gems]] was reincorporated as "'''Columbia Pictures Television'''". The name 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|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 Productions|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 [[TriStar Pictures|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!!''.

* The first version can be seen on every episode of season 2 of ''Police Woman'' and ''Born Free'' on DVD, and was also spotted on an airing of ''Police Story'' on Black Starz! years ago. It also appeared on a recent 7mate airing of ''Police Woman'' in Australia as well as a Plus7 streaming print of the same episode.

* It was also seen on the two short-lived ABC comedy series ''Good Heavens!'' and ''That's My Mama'', and the short-lived ABC drama series ''The Feather and Father Gang''.

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

* According to the book Screen Gems: A History of Columbia Pictures Television from Cohn to Coke, 1948-1983, by TV historian Jeb H. Perry, this logo was described as "a graphic representing the glow from The Lady's torch", which is, indeed, what this logo was meant to represent. Mr. Perry, however, made a mistake in this book, in that he said that this logo started in 1974 with the change to Columbia Pictures Television from Screen Gems. The real first logo of CPT was the "Pretzel", as described above.

* On the second episode of the short-lived series ''Filthy Rich'', titled "Town and Garden", the animated sunburst appears chroma-keyed over the end-title scene. The show's closing theme plays over it.

* Open matte versions of the 1989 and 1991 logos exist, revealing more of the Torch Lady's pedestal. The 1989 version is seen on ''Dark Avenger'' (1990) and ''Hardball'' (the latter has the phrase "'''In Association With'''" appearing below it), while the 1991 version is seen on ''Christmas on Division Street''. On the 1989 version, the text looks {{Font color|peru|bronze}} rather than {{Font color|gold|gold}}. Another version, seen on part one of ''Switched at Birth'', ''Cast the First Stone'', and a few episodes of the short-lived 1989 CBS drama series ''A Peaceable Kingdom'' have no black under the pedestal. The 1989 open-matte version was exclusive to TV movies and drama shows, barring soap operas.

* It was also spotted when Chiller aired reruns of the short-lived series ''Werewolf''. Comedy Central's print of the movie ''Hairspray'' (1988) used the 7th variation listed in the opening (w/the '88-'93 jingle).

* It recently made a surprise appearance on Decades airings of some ''Riptide'' episodes, which they recently aired as part of their weekend binge.

'''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.