Viacom Productions: Difference between revisions

===8th Logo (January 1, 1990-May 11, 2000)=== <!--T:75-->

'''Trivia:''' Many people think the announcer is mispronouncing the name Viacom. It is indeed a long "i", like in "pr<u>i</u>ze", although the original pronunciation of the name pre-1986 was indeed with a short "i", like in "p<u>i</u>zza", hence the pronunciation "vee-a-com". Oddly, the post-1986 pronunciation was used by the announcer on the Magnetic Video logo several years before it became the official pronunciation.

*There is a very rare filmed variant seen on some TV movies from the era, like the 1996 ''Sabrina, the Teenage Witch'' television movie. Also seen on a British rerun as well as the Russian CBS Drama channel airing of the ''Father Dowling Mysteries'' season 2 episode "The Ghost of a Chance Mystery", which plastered over the "V of Steel" logo.

*Several shows have the name already formed during the later years, with the only animation being the shining of the letters.

*There is a text variation on this logo for Viacom Productions. It has the "{{font color|silver|'''VIACOM'''}}" text already formed, but a line slides in from the right and forms "{{font color|silver|'''PRODUCTIONS'''}}" in the Futura Extra Bold font, after which the "{{font color|silver|'''C'''}}" and the "{{font color|silver|'''O'''}}" in "{{font color|silver|'''VIACOM'''}}" shine. This shorter variation was seen on network TV productions from 1998-1999. There was another variant of this in which the text doesn't shine at all, used on ''Diagnosis: Murder''.

*On reruns of the ''Sabrina, the Teenage Witch'' pilot on ABC Family (now Freeform), The Hub (now Discovery Family), Antenna TV, and Pluto TV, this logo is still (a la the 1985 "V of Happiness" logo) and followed by the 2003 Paramount Domestic Television logo.

*A black & white version of this exists on some prints of older B&W shows (though most feature the color version).

*On the 1997 TV movie, ''The Right Connections'', the words "in association with" are seen over the logo's background, then fades out when the animation starts. It was also spotted on another TV movie, ''In the Doghouse'' (1998), as well as the short-lived UPN series from 1995, ''Deadly Games''.

*On WPIX's print of the ''Honeymooners'' episode "The Sleepwalker", the logo freezes before it is fully formed. The audio is distorted in this variant. It's likely an error in production.

*On the 1996 TV movie ''Brothers of the Frontier'' (last seen on CBS Justice UK, and Disney Channel in the United States) and a Me-TV airing of ''Matlock'' S7 episode "The Class", the short version of the logo is played in slow motion.

*On the 1998 TV movie ''Inferno'' and the 1999 TV movie ''The Apartment Complex'', the Productions variant has the text "{{Font|Times New Roman|''Viacom Productions, Inc. Exclusive Distributor''}}" in two lines below.

 

*In some cases, it used the closing theme of the show, generic network music on CBS, NBC, and ABC, or it was silent.

*There is a variant with the "V of Doom" theme playing instead on several early-1990s syndie prints of classic TV movies from the era, plastering the 1976 filmed logo.

*There is another variant with the "V of Doom" music playing faintly instead on some episodes of ''The Twilight Zone'' on Syfy, ''Perry Mason'', and ''The Honeymooners'' both on Me-TV and last aired on WGN America. Sometimes, the short version plays with the normal music, but the "V of Doom" music can be heard again faintly in the background. This is sometimes called the "Ghost of the V of Doom".

*There is a variant with the "V of Steel" theme playing instead on one episode of Gunsmoke as well as a Hungarian-dubbed rerun of the ''Father Dowling Mysteries'' season 1 episode "The What Do You Call a Call Girl Mystery" on AXN Crime. ''Father Dowling Mysteries'' S2 EP1 on the Russian CBS Drama channel also features this.

*A variant with the sped-up "V of Steel" music was reportedly sighted on a British rerun of the ''Matlock'' episode "The Brothers".

*Another variant with the warp-speed VoS music playing under the regular version was spotted on a Hungarian-dubbed rerun of the ''Father Dowling Mysteries'' season 1 episode "The Mafia Priest Mystery: Part 2" on AXN Crime. This is unofficially called the "Ghost of the V of Steel". This may also have been spotted on an Australian airing of a ''Jake and the Fatman'' episode.

*A variant of the original "Wigga Wigga" logo without the announcer in it also exists.

*On the TV movie ''My Body, My Child'', the warped theme plays over the regular variant.

*A variant with the "Pinball" music was reported on a public domain cartoon which aired on a religious TV channel. This has yet to be confirmed.

*At the end of a Russian print of ''Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark'', the 1971 Lorimar jingle plays over this logo. This is due to a plaster error.  

'''Availability:''' Quite common. This logo is quite infamous for plastering the older Viacom logos. Many of the shows that had this logo have been updated with either the Paramount Domestic Television, the CBS Paramount Domestic or Network Television logos ("Eye in the Sky" or "Wallpaper") or CBS Television Distribution logos by now, especially on DVD releases, but it is still seen on some shows and TV movies.

*'''''Regular Variant'':''' It was spotted on the film ''I'm All Right Jack'' on TCM, the miniseries ''The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw'' on Grit (and possibly the DVD release), two episodes of ''Cannon'' on the season 3 DVD (and one episode on Me-TV, S03 E03,) syndicated prints of Cannon Group films such as ''Masters of the Universe'', and one episode of ''The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams'' on DVD. It has been spotted on reruns of color episodes of ''Gunsmoke'' on Me-TV and TV Land, albeit in split screen form on the latter channel, and was also spotted on ''The Alvin Show'' when rerun on Nickelodeon. However, recent prints of ''Gunsmoke'' episodes from Season 12 (the first color season) and Season 13 and are now restored and now use CTD, though it can possibly still be spotted on almost all other episodes from Season 14 on (needs further confirmation). It was also seen when ''Have Gun-Will Travel'' aired on Encore Westerns in the early 2010s, as well as some episodes of ''Perry Mason'', ''Hogan's Heroes'' (these prints now air on U.K. television network Forces TV and Australian cable channel Fox Classics), and ''The Beverly Hillbillies'' on Me-TV and occasionally Decades before they both were issued updated prints by CBS (though it can be still be found in the majority of color episodes of ''The Beverly Hillbillies'' (S05-S09) and formerly on select episodes of ''Gomer Pyle: U.S.M.C.''; for the latter show, all episodes have been restored and use either CBS-Paramount or CTD. FETV prints of ''Perry Mason'' still have this logo intact on many episodes. In the past, episodes of ''I Love Lucy'' and ''The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour'' on Nick at Nite and TV Land had this logo as well. It could also be seen on the ''Perry Mason'' TV movies from 1991-95, and some prints of older ones, but DVDs plaster it with the CTD logo. The high pitched variant was recently spotted on a British television broadcast of ''California Gold Rush''. This can also be found on ''Family Affair'', ''My Three Sons'' (it also appeared on Season 11, Episode 12 of that show after the CBS Television Distribution logo on a June 14, 2018 airing on Me-TV), VHS releases of ''Payoff'' (1991), a True Movies UK broadcast and Me-TV airings of the 1973 TV film ''A Dream for Christmas'', the 2009 Warner Archive DVD-R of ''Don't Be Afraid of the Dark'' (1973), the Republic Pictures VHS of ''Rent-a-Kid'', the Prism Entertainment VHS of ''Memories of Murder'' (The original Lifetime broadcast used the warp speed "V of Steel" logo instead), VHS copies of ''The Right Connections'', ''The Operation'' (AKA: ''Bodily Harm'') (plastering the 7th logo which was used on the original CBS broadcast and also kept on a Lifetime airing), recent Movies! broadcasts of ''Day of the Animals'' (1977) and ''The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia'', the Mexican VHS release of the ''Greatest Heroes of the Bible'' episode "Abraham's Sacrifice", ''They Watch'', the Starmaker Video VHS releases of ''Last Train from Gun Hill'', ''Donner Pass: The Road to Survival'', ''Little Lord Fauntleroy'' (1980), ''The Incredible Rocky Mountain Race'', and ''Perry Mason: The Case of the Lost Love'', among possible others, a Brazilian VHS of the Sunn Classics adaptation of ''The Fall of the House of Usher'', the Kino Lorber DVD of ''Really Weird Tales'' (after the 5th logo), a Brazilian VHS of the Italian film ''Blood Ties'', the Vidmark Entertainment VHS of ''Murder by Moonlight'', and international prints of ''Rawhide'', along with some recent prints on Heroes & Icons. It was also spotted on a 2005 Superstation WGN (now NewsNation) airing of ''Delta Force 2: The Colombian Connection'' (1990), an old syndicated print of ''Alone in the Dark'' (1982), a 2003 WE TV airing of ''Tears in the Rain'' (1988) and Sky Go New Zealand prints of some episodes of ''All in the Family'' like season 2 episode 6.

*'''''Warp Speed Variant'':''' It's currently found on ''Matlock'' on WGN America, Me-TV, Decades, FETV, Pluto TV, and Hallmark Movies & Mysteries (it plasters over the the 7th logo on many episodes from seasons 1 to 4, along with earlier season 5 episodes, and the 5th logo on later syndicated prints of the pilot episode for that show; DVDs use the CBS/Paramount "Wallpaper" logo for season 1 while 2-9 have CTD). Some episodes from seasons 6 and 7, and possibly 8, use the regular variant instead. Also seen on the first 3 seasons and early season 4 episodes of ''Sabrina, the Teenage Witch'' on Antenna TV, Pluto TV, and Fuse (DVDs have the CBS/Paramount "Eye In The Sky" logo for season 1, while seasons 2-3 have the "Wallpaper" logo and 4-7 have CTD. Hulu prints use the CBS/Paramount "Wallpaper" logo for season 1). It's also seen on the first five seasons of ''Diagnosis: Murder'' on DVD, Encore Suspense, Me-TV, Decades (occasionally), and Hallmark Movies & Mysteries (however, DVDs of season 2 use the CBS/Paramount "Wallpaper" logo instead). It was also preserved at the end of the DVD print of the ''Jake and the Fatman'' S4 episode, "It Never Entered My Mind", which is included on the ''Diagnosis: Murder'' season 1 DVD. It is unknown if this same print is retained on the ''Jake and the Fatman'' complete series boxset, or if said boxset retains this logo on later season 4 episodes as well as S5 episodes.

*'''''Ultra Warp Speed Variant'':''' The version where the LaFontaine voice-over cuts in earlier was formerly seen on S1 episodes of ''The Twilight Zone'' on Syfy (though some episodes were known to contain the 2nd logo); recently, Syfy and Me-TV had acquired new, updated prints with the CBS Television Distribution logo, making the logo quite rare. It may still be intact on some episodes of ''Sabrina, the Teenage Witch'', and was spotted on a December 2018 Me-TV broadcast of the ''Gunsmoke'' episode "P.S. Murry Christmas", and can possibly be seen on episodes from the later seasons. It was also intact on many Season 17 episodes of ''Gunsmoke'' on the UK CBS Channels. This was also seen on at least one episode of ''Rawhide'' on H&I and the TV movie ''My Body, My Child'' on True Movies UK. This variant appeared on some Season 2 episodes of ''Matlock'' and some season 2 episodes of ''Father Dowling Mysteries'' when aired on CBS Justice (UK).

*'''''International Variant'':''' It was present on syndicated and international prints (though some used the regular variant) of ''The Cosby Show'' and ''Roseanne'', but it is now plastered with the Carsey-Werner Distribution logo, though some prints have survived, but not all of them. The international version, and sometimes the regular variant, can be seen on some episodes of ''A Different World'' on Netflix, including the pilot, and was also seen on Terrytoon prints that were distributed around in the 1990s, as well as reportedly, one episode of ''The Beverly Hillbillies'' on the Fox Classics Network in Australia.