Bloodworth-Thomason-Mozark Productions

Credits

Descriptions by
bigrene2, Codyfinke2, and Shadeed A. Kelly

Captures by
Camenati

Video captures courtesy of
Broken Saw, Nion's Logo Archive, Jordan Rios, and Matthew Mayfield

Background

Bloodworth-Thomason-Mozark Productions is a production company founded in 1982 first known as "Linda Bloodworth Productions" and later "L.J. Bloodworth Productions" by writer Linda Joyce Bloodworth-Thomason. In July 1983, Bloodworth married Harry Thomason, whom they've met in 1980 and during the time in 1983, the duo created "Mozark Productions", named after their home states: "MO" for Missouri & "ARK" for Arkansas and an allusion of the overlapping Ozarks region.

Bloodworth-Thomason-Mozark Productions

1st Logo (September 21-October 26, 1985)

• 

Logo: On a dark blue background, we see text that reads:R.J. PRODUCTIONS
and
BLOODWORTH/THOMASON
MOZARK PRODUCTIONS

In Association With

Technique: None.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Extinct. It was only seen in the short-lived series Lime Street.

2nd Logo (September 29, 1986-May 11, 1991)

• 
  Early
• 
  Normal
• 
  "New Year's Daze"/"Reservations for Eight"
• 
  "Killing All the Right People"
• 
  "Their Finest Hour"

Logo: Superimposed on the Designing Women credits, we see an orange heart sliding to the right, and reveals the text "MOZARK" (in a bulky font bearing a striking resemblance to the Burger King logo of the time) as the heart turns to red. As the heart disappears, the "MOZARK" turns to white, letter by letter. As it turns white, we see "Bloodworth/Thomason" on top, and "productions" in italics at the bottom of the text. As the logo finishes, the text "in association with" is shown under. It then cuts to the Columbia Pictures Television logo of the time.

Variants:

• On the first few episodes, there were no shadow effects.
• Sometimes, the heart may be either purple or pink.
• On "New Year's Daze" and "Reservations for Eight", the "productions" text is in the same font as the "Bloodworth/Thomason" text, making it look unevenly spaced.
• On "Old Spouses Never Die", the logo is in warp-speed.
• On "Killing All the Right People", the background is black.
• On "Their Finest Hour", the background is a salmon color and the chime is not heard.
• On "La Place sans Souci", the text appears out of sync with the heart wiping in.

Technique: Chroma-key cel animation.

Music/Sounds: A synth chime sound effect.

Music/Sounds Variants:

• Sometimes, the logo is silent.
• The end theme may play over the chime.
• Sometimes on season 4 and 5, the chime is extended.

Availability: Common. It's currently seen on the first five seasons of Designing Women on Logo TV. It's also intact on DVD releases of said show.

3rd Logo (September 17, 1990-December 11, 2001)

• 
  Normal
• 
  IAW
• 
  Evening Shade season 1
• 
  Later

Logo: On a gray background, there is a white square with green mountains emerging from it, which represent the Ozarks with fog below it. Through the Ozarks is a long blue filmstrip, running up and down the gaps and also going over the top and bottom edges, leaving shadows and partially overlapping the text. Under that we see the text arranged like this:

BLOODWORTH/THOMASON
MOZARK
P R O D U C T I O N S

Variants:

• Sometimes, the words "IN ASSOCIATION WITH" are above the logo.
• On season 1 of Evening Shade and the first Season 6 episode of Designing Women, "The Big Desk", the logo has an alternate look where the ozarks box is smaller and the entire text is much larger (except for "IN ASSOCIATION WITH") and in a different font (in this case, Bookman). The logo is enclosed in a large outline fused from a square and a rectangle, casting a shadow over the background.
• In 2001, an updated variant was introduced where the box and text were made wider to match each other's length, with "BLOODWORTH/THOMASON" and "PRODUCTIONS" now fairly larger and "M O Z A R K" significantly smaller, but spaced to length with the others. The filmstrip also now quickly lights up from the back to the front, in sync with the start of the music and revealing its frames and holes.

Technique: None for the regular version. Computer animation on the updated version.

Music/Sounds: Some ascending synth tinkles, followed by an orchestral synth chord. NBC airings on Emeril used a generic theme.

Music/Sounds Variant: In early days, a calm 6-note synth tune was used.

Availability: Seen on Mozark shows, such as Designing Women (starting with the 6th season), Hearts Afire, and Evening Shade (all 3 shows are on DVD). The updated version appeared on later episodes of the infamous short-lived sitcom Emeril. This may have been seen on the HBO series 12 Miles of Bad Road, but we'll likely never know as it was cancelled before it debuted and hasn't been released ever since.