American Public Television: Difference between revisions

APT was founded in 1961 as the Eastern Educational Television Network (EEN), distributing public TV shows such as ''The French Chef'', ''Mister Rogers' Neighborhood'', and ''Washington Week'' to public television stations on a regional basis, and then nationwide when NET (now PBS) was formed. They changed their name to Interregional Program Service in the 1980s (though it still used the old name on some shows, such as ''Travels in Europe with Rick Steves'', until 1992), became American Program Service (APS) in 1992, and changed to their current name, American Public Television in 1999. It didn't appear to use a logo until 1970, and then stopped using its own logo for nearly two decades after that.

[[File:Eastern Educational Network.png|center|frameless|352x352px]]

'''Logo:''' Against a black background, we see six overlapping circles of varying sizes. In the center is a compass with the north, west, and south arrows pointing to the innermost circle and the east arrow pointing to the outermost circle. Behind it is a seventh, smaller circle to which the four ordinal directions point. At its core is a black circle with "EEN" inside it. To the right is the text

'''Legacy:''' After ''Wall $treet Week'' became a PBS program around 1972, the EEN would not use another logo for two decades, by which point it had already rebranded itself twice.

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File:American Program Service.png

File:American Program Service (Boston).png

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'''Logo:''' On a {{color|firebrick|maroon}} background, we see the text

'''Availability:''' Preserved on VHS tapes of ''Bloopy's Buddies'' and pre-1996 episodes of ''Computer Chronicles'' (which is preserved on the "Cyber Cafes" and "Macworld" episodes on the Internet Archive). It also appeared on American PBS airings of ''The Big Comfy Couch'' episodes from the era.

[[File:American Programs For Public Television.png|center|frameless|304x304px]]

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'''Logo:''' On a black background with 2 {{color|darkorange|orange/brown}} squares, we the letters "{{color|darkorange|{{Font|Impact|{{Big|'''Aps'''}}}}}}" in orange/brown with the words "{{Font|Courier|American Program Service}}" below the letters zooming out from us, with the "{{color|darkorange|{{Font|Impact|{{Big|'''p'''}}}}}}" slightly on top of the "{{color|darkorange|{{Font|Impact|{{Big|'''A'''}}}}}}", a white bracket revealing the "{{color|darkorange|{{Font|Impact|{{Big|'''p'''}}}}}}", and a black bracket revealing the "{{color|darkorange|{{Font|Impact|{{Big|'''s'''}}}}}}". Once the letters shift into place, the words:

'''Availability:''' Rare. Was seen on 1996-1999 episodes of ''Computer Chronicles''; a few episodes from the era on the Internet Archive retain this. Can also be seen on the final episodes of ''The Kidsongs Television Show'' on iTunes. Again, this didn't appear at all on ''Nightly Business Report''.

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File:American Public Television 1999-2002.png

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'''Logo:''' On a black background, we see three squares—one in the distance zooming out, one with a white outline that flips, and one with {{color|red}} outlining. Each one is {{color|blue}} with transparent lines and watermarks of the name, close-up and in a Helvetica font. As the watermarks scroll to the right and zoom in, a {{color|red}} outline forms another square, which appears like a CRT-TV being turned on as "American Public Television" fades in; it is in the same color and has another watermark of the name with the camera panning on it.

'''Availability:''' Uncommon, but when it was in use, it was basically the PBS equivalent to [[Sony Pictures Television]]. It was tacked onto the end of practically every program shown on PBS during the period, such as ''The Saddle Club'' and ''A Place of Our Own'', as well as shows on independent public TV stations such as 2010-2019 KCET and on the digital broadcast network Create (which APT partially owns). With the logo ending in 2008 and being replaced by the 5th logo, its presence has dipped down, but it can still be found on older prints of programs on PBS. It made an appearance on the 2010 documentary ''Greece: Quest For the Gods''. Though APT normally doesn't show its logos at the end of ''The McLaughlin Group'', this made a surprise appearance on a 2009 episode thereof. The original 1999 variant strangely appears before the 1993 [[Connecticut Public Television]] logo on a 2014 episode of ''Scully: The World Show''.

[[File:American Public Television (2008).png|center|frameless|393x393px]]

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'''Logo:''' A new-and-improved version of the previous logo, with notable differences:  

* The logo is darker and seemingly quicker in pace.

'''Availability:''' Scarce. Appeared on ''WORLDFOCUS'' episodes from the era. Due to its short life, it wasn't nearly as common as the previous logo. It still appears on old episodes of ''Doc Martin''.

[[File:American Public Television (2011).png|center|frameless|428x428px]]

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'''Logo:''' On a shady {{color|darkgray|steel gray}}/{{color|blue}} gradient background, we see the words "{{Font|Times New Roman|'''American Public Television'''}}" appear in the Times New Roman font. Then, several blue/aqua/white-textured squares zoom out from the sides of the screen and the URL "aptonline.org" appears below.

'''Availability:''' Current and common. Seen on current prints of PBS's archival programming such as ''Mr. Bean'' and ''The Joy of Painting'', and newer (episodes of) PBS shows such as ''WORLDFOCUS'' and ''Nightly Business Report'', among others. The version with the normal fanfare can be seen at the end of ''Doc Martin'', ''Midsomer Murders'', ''Mystery Science Theater 3000'', ''Royalty Close-Up'', ''A Daring Journey: From Immigration to Education'', ''The Reformation: This Changed Everything'', ''Free to Rock'', the fifth season of ''Fit 2 Stitch'', and a series of 78 movies licensed from [[20th Century Studios]], [[Warner Bros. Pictures|Warner Bros.]], [[Paramount Pictures]], and [[Sony Pictures Television]] (though the telefilm ''Doc Martin and the Legend of the Cloutie'' uses the later fanfare).

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[[Category:Television logos]]