Sony Pictures Television

Background

Columbia TriStar Television was a merger of Columbia Pictures Television and TriStar Television (after branding Columbia TriStar Home Video). It was founded on February 21, 1994 and the same day, SPE renamed Columbia Pictures Television Distribution to "Columbia TriStar Television Distribution". With Columbia TriStar International Television (formerly "Columbia Pictures International Television") already in operation since the early 1990s, all three became part of the "Columbia TriStar Television Group". On June 4, 1994, CTT folded Merv Griffin Enterprises and took over the rights to Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune, and used a logo since the inception by September. However, CPT and TriStar continued producing their own series until TriStar Television became in-name-only in 1999 and CPT folded in 2001. Columbia TriStar Television was officially incorporated on July 12, 1996. On October 25, 2001, CTT and CTTD were merged into "Columbia TriStar Domestic Television" with CTIT remaining.

On September 16, 2002, Sony Corporation decided to retire the Columbia TriStar Television name and logo from its television division, renaming it "Sony Pictures Television". For the first time since 1974, the Torch Lady or anything resembling Columbia's symbol is nowhere to be seen; instead, the corporate logo for Sony Pictures was introduced to television viewers for the first time. In late 2019, SPT announced a new in-production name called "Sony Pictures Television Studios", in order to further make use of production in the SPT library and rolls out for current and future titles throughout the rest of the year and 2020. The SPT name and logo will continue to be used in media sites and international broadcasts.

Columbia TriStar Television

1st Logo (September 1994-May 27, 2000)

Nicknames: "CT Boxes", "Split Boxes", "Still Boxes"

Logo: On a solid blue background, we see two boxes, the left one contains the Columbia Torch Lady ('90s version), and the right one contains the TriStar Pegasus (again, '90s version over Columbia cloud background). Above the logo, "COLUMBIA TRISTAR" is seen,with the words positioned over their respective logos, and on the bottom is the word "TELEVISION" and the standard Sony Pictures Entertainment byline.

Trivia: This is basically Columbia TriStar's home video logo, but "HOME VIDEO" is edited out to put "TELEVISION" in, the background is solid blue, both boxes have a very thin black border instead of a regular gold border, and a Sony byline is added.

FX/SFX: Just a simple fade in and fade out or none. On GSN as well as Project G.e.e.K.e.R., the logo fades out like the 1992 CPT logo, the names and bylines dims out first, then the background and logos fade out, and the names fade out.

Music/Sounds: A re-arranged version of the CPT '93 theme done by Steven Kaplan.

Music/Sounds Variants:

Like CPT, from 1994, the logo theme was re-orchestrated.
From 1996-2000, the logo would fade out at the last note. This wouldn't happen on Jeopardy! or Wheel of Fortune.
On some episodes of Early Edition from the 4th season such as "Take Me Out to the Ball Game", it uses the 1993 TriStar Television theme.
On the VHS promo for Godzilla: The Series, it's silent, except for non-U.S. releases that carries the logo theme. It was also used on Jeopardy! on the Philips CD-i.
On some airings of season 4 Early Edition episodes, the 1993 TriStar Television music is heard over the logo.

Voice-overs: From September 1994-November 1996 on Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune, there were different announcements over the logo and fanfare:

Jeopardy! (Johnny Gilbert):

(September 1994-1995): (On the credits) This is Johnny Gilbert speaking. (Later turns to the Jeopardy! title card) (on the CTT logo) Jeopardy! is a production of Columbia TriStar Television. (on the 1990 King World logo) Distributed by King World.
(1995-November 1996): (On the credits) This is Johnny Gilbert speaking. Jeopardy! was created by Merv Griffin. (on the Jeopardy! title card) Produced by (on the CTT logo) Columbia TriStar Television. (on the 1990 King World logo) Distributed by King World.

Wheel of Fortune:

(September 1994-Early 1995): (on the Wheel of Fortune/Califon card with the drum roll) Wheeeeel of Fortune is produced by (on the CTT logo) Columbia TriStar Television! (on the King World logo) Distributed by King World!
(Early to summer 1995): Created by Merv Griffin. (On the Wheel of Fortune/Califon card with the drum roll) Wheel of Fortune is produced by (on the CTT logo) Columbia TriStar Television! (on the King World logo) Distributed by King World.
(September 1995-1996): This is Charlie O'Donnell speaking. Wheel of Fortune was created by Merv Griffin. (Later turns to the Wheel of Fortune/Califon card with drum roll by a page flipping effect. O'Donnell would sometimes announce on this card) (On CTT logo) Produced by Columbia TriStar Television. (On the 1990 King World logo with the theme) Distributed by King World.
(Johnny Gilbert) (November 1995) (on the Wheel of Fortune/Califon card with the drum roll) Wheeeeel of Fortune was created by Merv Griffin! (on the CTT logo) Produced by Columbia TriStar Television. (on the 1990 King World logo) Distributed by King World.

This was the time when both game shows were taken over by Columbia TriStar Television.

Voice-over Variant: A rare variant just like the 1997 logo. Charlie O'Donnell says "Columbia TriStar Television" over the fanfare. This is also presumably done to blend in with the spiel at the end of the program and cover up the end reference to King World. This happened in 1997.

Availability: Actually quite rare.

It appeared on GSN up until their infamous "Dark Period", then was replaced with the then-current CTT logo.
It was spotted on Jeopardy!, Wheel of Fortune (both until spring 1997), Men in Black: The Series (until 2000), Channel Umptee-3, Jumanji: The Series, several S1 episodes of Godzilla: The Series, and some network shows. Usually during this time, however, whatever logos the shows were always using were used; "C-T mania" did not start until 1997.
Was last seen back in 2002 on reruns of Men in Black: The Series on Nickelodeon's short-lived "SLAM!" block. Although the said show was last seen on The Hub (now Discovery Family), the CTT logo was replaced by the SPT logo there.
It can also be found on VHS releases of the 1998 movie Godzilla on a Godzilla: The Series promo.
Was also seen on The Dana Carvey Show episode "The Taco Bell Dana Carvey Show" on DVD, several early season 4 episodes of Early Edition on FamilyNet and Malcolm & Eddie, as well on a French airing of some episodes of Just Shoot Me! and UK airings of certain season 7 episodes of Mad About You.
When GSN reran the 1994-1995, 1995-1996, and 1996-1997 seasons of Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune over a decade ago, this logo was plastered by the 1997 CTT logo and keeping the voice-overs from the '94-'95 and '95-'96 seasons intact.

Editor's Note: None.

2nd Logo (Early 1995-2003)

Nicknames: "CT Boxes II", "Split Boxes II", "The Sliding Boxes", "The Boxes of Boredom", The Boxes of Annoyance"

Logo: It's almost the same as the sky variant of the 1995 Columbia TriStar Home Video logo, except "TELEVISION DISTRIBUTION" replaces "HOME VIDEO" and the Sony byline is intact. Plus, the cloud background in the TriStar box is replaced with the one from its movie logo and the text has the drop shadow effect.

Standard Variants: Depending on the unit that the show originated (Television, Television Distribution, or Domestic Television), the logo was modified accordingly.

Variants:

The Television variant of this logo was introduced in February 1997, with it having a number of differences to the Television Distribution variant. In this version, the word "TELEVISION" along with the Sony Pictures byline, do not have the drop shadow effect while the words "COLUMBIA TRISTAR" still have the drop shadow effect intact. Plus, the logo has the red-pink tint and the Sony byline is in a different font (as Helvetica).
There is a version used for CTTD, where a darker box with the animation of the clouds (footage re-used from the 3rd CTHV logo) zooms back and then splits to form the logo (similar to the 1993 Columbia TriStar Home Video logo). This version was seen on Walker, Texas Ranger, Seinfeld, and Born Free: The New Adventures.
On widescreen international versions of some programs such as season 2 of The King of Queens and seasons 3-5 of Dawson's Creek on French airings, there is a widescreen version of the CTT and the CTDT logo.
On 1997-2002 episodes of Jeopardy!, there would be a freeze frame effect at the end of the logo. The logo would sometimes fade out instead of disappearing.
Starting in late 1999 on some series, the logo was expanded in ratio size in observance to High Definition programming. This version has been nicknamed "Enhanced Boxes of Boredom". The animation here is a bit cheaper and is filmed, the Torch Lady along with her cloud background both have a zooming out effect as the box splits, the TriStar Pegasus animation is slowed down a bit, the boxes have a thin white border and the text doesn't have the drop shadow effect and are in blue color. The "Television" and "Television Distribution" units were merged together on October 25, 2001, forming Columbia TriStar Domestic Television with "DOMESTIC TELEVISION" below the boxes with the SPE byline a bit smaller.
There is an off-center version of the 2001 byline variant which was spotted on a 2004 airing of Jackie Chan Adventures on Cartoon Network.
There are three versions of the Domestic Television variant of the logo. The first version is where the logo is up close and looks like the boxes are almost touching the screen. The second version is where the logo is in the letterbox format, stretched to fit the screen. The third version is where the logo is in the far-distance known as the "Open Matte" boxes and the SPE byline is a bit bigger and not bold.
There also was a variant featuring an "in association with" on the top left corner of the logo on CTTD.
There are also black and white variants of all three logos.
On some TV movies like Rag & Bone, Into Thin Air: Death on Everest, and Double Platinum, there is a filmed version of the logo for CTT.
On German shows such as Powder Park and Rita's Welt (translated as Rita's World), there is a still in-credit version of the CTTD logo superimposed into the credits. Plus, "TELEVISION DISTRIBUTION" is replaced with "FILM UND FERNSEH PRODUKTIONS GMBH" (translated in English as "FILM AND TELEVISION PRODUCTIONS LTD") and it doesn't have a drop shadow effect.
On several Columbia TriStar Television Distribution-produced shows like The $treet, the words "TELEVISION DISTRIBUTION" are set in Eurostile Thin, while the Sony byline is set in Futura Medium. Plus, the words (except for "COLUMBIA TRISTAR", which is the only text remaining in its standard font) don't have the drop shadow effect.
There is another version of this variant seen on a handful episodes of What About Joan?, in which the logo is stretched to 4:3 and the text "IN ASSOCIATION WITH" is seen above to the left.
An extremely rare filmed variant for CTDT exists and appears on the TV movies Blood Crime and Breakaway (also known as Christmas Rush). Both movies can be found on DVD.
On DVD prints of the Get a Life episode "Married", the logo stutters and shakes, presumably due to a master tape error (à la The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 episode "Dadzilla").
There is also an extremely rare enhanced variant for CTTD. So far, it has been seen on the TV movies The Linda McCartney Story and First Shot (the latter using a filmed version), which were last seen on Sony Movies (however, a recent airing of the latter had SPT instead, while the DVD has Domestic Television instead). It can be also seen on some episodes of the final season of V.I.P. on CTV.ca.
A still version was seen on ATF (1999).
On original airings of the Seinfeld episode "The Betrayal", the Television Distribution logo plays in reverse while the audio plays forwards (the Castle Rock Entertainment Television logo, which is also in reverse video and forward audio, follows the logo, adding more to the "backwards" effect presented in the Seinfeld episode).
A warp speed version of CTDT (with the ending theme) was spotted on an Escape (now Court TV Mystery) airing of The Juror.
A black-and-white version of the Television Distribution variant (apparently in telecine format) was spotted on a Retro TV print of the Naked City season 2 episode "The Day It Rained Mink". This plasters the original Screen Gems Torch Lady logo.

FX/SFX: The boxes fading in and sliding, and the animation of the Columbia and TriStar theatrical logos in the boxes.

Music/Sounds: Same as the last logo. NBC, CBS and ABC airings used their generic themes. Starting in 1999 with CTT (and later CTDT), the first note is cut off.

Music/Sounds/Voice-over Variants:

Sometimes a shorter version of the jingle is used, only about the second half of the long version. This version of the music sounds like a re-orchestration and not a truncation of the regular logo. This is mostly seen on the "TELEVISION DISTRIBUTION" variation of the logo. However, it was also used on the "DOMESTIC TELEVISION" variant of the logo on 2001-2002 episodes of V.I.P.
On some TriStar produced shows, the 1992, 1993, and 1997 TriStar Television themes were used. However, some shows produced by CTT such as Cupid used the 1993 TriStar Television theme as well. This was started in 1997. On some current prints of the TV movie The Advocate's Devil, the TriStar theme plays over the filmed version.
The 1988 CPT theme was also heard on this logo on several Three Stooges shorts part of Stooge TV on The Family Channel, particularly Goof on the Roof. Short version of CTTD only.
On The Jeffersons episode "984 W 124th Street, Apartment 5C" aired on Me-TV, the 1988 CPT theme is heard under the CTTD logo due to botched plastering.
The 1993 CPT theme was also heard on the CTTD logo on 1996-2001 episodes of Ricki Lake and the 1999 CTT logo on Phantom Investigators and Bette.
On several 2001-2002 episodes of Jackie Chan Adventures, there was a high and a low tone included based on the theme song. On the short-lived series Secret Agent Man, it used the standard, high, low, and very low tone variants.
On Married... with Children: The Most Outrageous Episodes: Volume 2, at the end of the episode "If Al Had a Hammer", the Sony Pictures Television logo music is heard on the third version of the CTDT logo.
On CourtTV Mystery's airings of the film Eyes of Laura Mars, the SPT theme is heard over the 1996 CTTD logo.
On Crackle prints of the Sheena episode The Fool Monty, the high pitched SPT theme plays over the alternate "Eurostile Thin" CTTD logo.
On some Game Show Network reruns (mostly old episodes of Jeopardy!, Wheel of Fortune (excepting the 1988-1990 seasons), and Headline Chasers), Charlie O'Donnell says "Columbia TriStar Television" over the fanfare. This is presumably done to blend in with the spiel at the end of the program and cover up the end reference to King World. On the 1994-1995 and 1995-1996 seasons on both shows, the original voice over is intact, but plastering the 1994 logo with this logo. This even happened on reruns of game shows where this situation was not needed, such as the 1976 network version of Break the Bank, and on a rerun of The $25,000 Pyramid finale on New Year's Eve 1999, as there was no voice over in the end.
On the CTT logo in 1999, it sometimes plays the last half (2 1/2) notes of the short CTTD theme and was heard on Dilbert. One variant is even higher.
On the end of the VHS promo for Spider-Man: The New Animated Series (found on the 2002 VHS of Spider-Man), the music is silent on the second version of the CTDT logo.
On the short-lived series The $treet, only the final note of the logo music is heard on the CTTD logo.
Some episodes of Father Knows Best on Antenna TV have the Colex Enterprises logo music playing over this logo. This is due to a really bad plaster.
In other cases, the ending theme of the show plays over it.
One S2 episode of The Guardian had the CTDT logo silent.
On international printings of the 1999 Annie remake, the two first notes are cut off.
On one S1 episode of The Guardian on DVD, the CBS Television Distribution theme is played on the CTDT logo due to a plaster.
There is another version of the CTT theme that has a reverb effect and the last note cut short.

Availability: Uncommon.

It's not very hard to spot despite being less common than before, although it's mainly on near-recent prints of shows reran on cable, like Walker, Texas Ranger on Cloo, the first season of The Guardian on TV Guide Network (later renamed TVGN, and currently Pop), and most of the final season episodes of Early Edition last seen on FamilyNet, TV Guide Network and Syfy.
It also occasionally appeared on Sony-owned programs on GSN like Russian Roulette, seasons 1-5 of Hollywood Squares, the Donny Osmond version of Pyramid, and the short-lived Party of Five spin-off Time of Your Life, in which CTV Throwback's prints retain it. It also appeared on every episode of Harold and the Purple Crayon on HBO Family--even though it no longer airs nowadays, the CTT logo was always retained whenever HBO Family reran the series. However, the DVD releases and CTV Throwback prints plaster it with the Sony Pictures Television logo.
The CTDT logos can also be seen on season 2 DVD releases of All in the Family, Sanford and Son, Good Times, and The Jeffersons, and a couple episodes on the season 4 DVD release of Punky Brewster (with the NBC Enterprises or NBC Universal Television Distribution logo following it, this was kept on one episode on Peacock but with the 1982 CPT and the current NBCUniversal Television Distribution logos following this logo), and was last seen on reruns of Mad About You on Antenna TV (plastering the 1992 TriStar Television logo), among others. CTTD or CTDT can also be spotted on several Sony classic movies on TCM occasionally.
As for the high and low tones, they're extinct and were last seen on most season 2 episodes of Jackie Chan Adventures when it was reran on Cartoon Network. Current prints of season 2 plaster the logo over with the SPT logo (like when it popped up on Disney XD at one point). The low-tone variant was also seen on the short-lived series Secret Agent Man when it was aired on UPN. CTTD can be found on Sleepless in Seattle and The Quick and the Dead on TBS and TNT, The Jeffersons episode "Lunch with Mama" on TV One, and some films on ThisTV like Swamp Thing, Casualties of War or 1941. The latter title was followed by the SPT logo. CTDT was found (followed by SPT) on the Married... with Children episode "Have You Driven a Ford Lately" on TBS.
The short version was commonly seen on the animated version of Dilbert (also on UPN and preserved on Russian airings). It was also last seen on 1998-2002 episodes of Dawson's Creek on The N (now TeenNick). However, it's preserved on the first two season DVDs of said show.
The "open matte" version was seen at the end of Guess Who's Coming to Dinner on Centric. The first filmed version appeared on some TV movies like Rag & Bone, Into Thin Air: Death on Everest, and Double Platinum, and is preserved on the DVD releases of the latter TV movies.
A widescreen filmed variant of the 1999 Columbia TriStar Television logo was spotted on an HBO Asia airing of Call Me Claus (followed by the 2014 version of the Sony Pictures Television logo) and the Hulu print of the 2000 TV movie The Three Stooges (followed by the 2002 Sony Pictures Television logo).
The black-and-white variant of CTT can be seen on several episodes of The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin on Antenna TV, and the episode "Yo-o Rinty" used the 1993 TriStar Television theme with it. It also appears on several episodes of Gidget on Antenna TV, which happens to be TV Land's prints plastering the Screen Gems "S from Hell".
On Netflix, this can be found on most episodes of The Tick.
CTDT can also be found on S1 episodes of The Shield on Crackle and the region 1 DVD release. It can be also found on BounceTV's airings of Blue Streak.
The CTTD logo first appeared on Stooge TV, a Three Stooges hour program on The Family Channel in 1996. This can also be found on the Seinfeld 100th Episode VHS tape released in 1995 as part of a promotion with General Mills.
Both CTT and CTDT variants can be found (in HD) on S1 episodes (and the first four S2 episodes) of The Guardian on iTunes and Paramount+. The CTTD logo is also seen on five episodes of The Edge (while the rest retain the 1992 TriStar Television logo) on DVD, which can be bought here.
The "darker box" variant of CTTD has also been seen on two early 2000s pitchreels for revivals of The $100,000 Pyramid and The Gong Show on Wink Martindale's YouTube channel.
The enhanced variant of CTTD is ultra rare as most shows using kept using the standard variant until CTDT took over in 2001.
The "Eurostile Thin" version of CTTD is a tough one, but it can be currently seen on season 2 episodes of Strong Medicine on Start TV, as well as on The Roku Channel and Tubi prints. It also appeared on V.I.P. and Sheena (both of these being first-run syndication shows), as well as on some episodes of Oh, Baby (in which the CTV Throwback prints retains it) and season 2 of the the Showtime original series Rude Awakening, among others.
The logo was also shown surprisingly intact on PBS Kids Sprout (now Universal Kids) airings of Dragon Tales.
The CTTD version appears on season 1 episodes of Sledge Hammer! last seen on Me-TV, following the New World Television logo and followed by the SPT logo, and was seen on at least one episode of The Donna Reed Show on Me-TV.
It can also be found on Australian airings of The King of Queens on Channel Eleven and current international prints, usually followed by a CBS Broadcast International or CBS Studios International logo.
CTT makes a surprise appearance on Laff's print of the film If Lucy Fell.
It also surprisingly appeared on one episode of Barney Miller on the Shout! Factory DVD set.
When CTT became SPT in 2002, the third version of the CTDT logo (also known as the "Open Matte" boxes) was used until 2003 on the 5th season of Hollywood Squares (H2) in syndication. The first two versions ended in 2002.

Editor's Note: This logo is a mixed bag for many people. On one hand, it's a well-animated and scored logo for the era, with the help of the re-orchestration and usage of the CPT. On the other hand, this logo was disliked by people for several years due to its over-common presence and usage of plastering old logos. This logo would also pale in comparison to the Sony Pictures Television logo, which plasters logos in a much worse manner and on a larger scale.

Sony Pictures Television

1st Logo (November 15, 2002-)

File:E19adcef6bb20d238937782eaa474858.png

Nicknames: "The Shining Bars", "The Bars of Boredom", "The Bars of Annoyance", "The SPE Parallelogram", "SPE Bars", "The Flash"

Logo: Against a lined background, the words "SONY PICTURES TELEVISION" (all in the Sony typeface and stacked word-by-word with "SONY" being largest) emerge and zoom away downwards from the screen. The three words aren't directly stacked at first, but as the animation progresses, they slide into place. A horizontal line is drawn between the "PICTURES" and "TELEVISION". While this happens, a flash of light appears on the left side of the screen, and the lines in the background themselves back away as well, eventually moving back to the upper part of the screen and into a diagonal pattern to form the logo. The flash dissipates and we see an oblong orange-white glare surrounding the logo and words, which shrinks into the bars to give it a shine. The finished logo appears against a shaded navy blue background. The logo is a striped parallelogram.

Trivia:

This logo first appeared as a print logo in Fall 1991 on broadcasting ads in magazines such as Variety, around the time when SPE was founded.
This logo was animated by "Rick Scott" at Tigar Hare Studios, also known for their work on the 2011 Technicolor logo.

Variants:

A rare filmed variant of the logo exists.
There is a longer version of this logo featuring an extreme close-up of the "stacked" names at the beginning of the animation. It starts off with a bright white light and later reveals the names as the light dies down. While the logo finishes, it shows a longer shot of the logo.
There is an even shorter version of this logo that starts from where the 3rd-to-last note of the theme plays. This version began appearing in July 2003.
In 2004, the phrase "DISTRIBUTED BY" appeared above the logo, it was still until it faded in above the logo on the 2006 version of Chain Reaction and season 4 of The Newlywed Game both on GSN, but the font is in Times New Roman on those said game shows. Early shorts on Crackle's C-Spot has the phrase above the name rather than the logo. For the rest, the phrase was placed on a black screen, which later fades to the SPT logo.
In 2005, an updated widescreen version was introduced. It consists of just a solid blue lighting effect in the lower right-hand corner of the screen, where the reflection of the Bars would usually be. Sometimes this version was squashed to fit a 4:3 TV, and has been featured on several movies, first-run production, and classic series on television and DVD.
There is also a black & white variant for classic shows by Screen Gems.
In 2008, there is a black screen that reads "DISTRIBUTED BY" before the SPT logo. This only appears on web shows on websites like Crackle, MySpace, YouTube, and Hulu, among others such as C-Spot or Penn Says.
Another variant has "DISTRIBUTED BY" in a small font above the SPT name rather than above the SPT logo. This appeared on early shows on Crackle.
On pre-2011 episodes of Watch What Happens: Live, the logo is a still shot on a gray-like background.
In 2010 on The Three Stooges short "The Sitter Downers", the 2005 logo is in black & white.
Starting on the 4th season of The Newlywed Game, the text reads as "DISTRIBUTED THROUGH" above the logo.
Sometimes, the logo can appear a little up-close.
There is also a version with extra brightness on both 2002 and 2005 versions in color.
On Robot Chicken since season 6, Houdini and Doyle and the TV movie Grave Halloween (alebit with a fade-in/fade-out), there is a still version of the logo. On the 2021 Lifetime TV movie The Long Island Serial Killer: A Mother's Hunt for Justice, a still shot of the Sony Corporation logo is seen first, then cuts to this.
A superimposed in-credit variant exists. This can be found on international shows like Niñas Mal.
Starting with the second season of Masters of Sex and newer episodes of Wheel of Fortune, The Dr. Oz Show, and Jeopardy!, the Sony Corporation logo is seen first. Then, the light flashes to reveal the short SPT logo. Some shows, such as The Young and the Restless, syndicated reruns of Seinfeld, and shows co-produced by SPT subsidiary Embassy Row still do not use this variant.
On a PAL release of The Real Ghostbusters, the long version is used but the normal music is heard.
On an April 16, 2017 HBO Signature Caribbean airing of Pixels, the logo was silent, but the music played 5-6 seconds after the logo cut to black.
A scoped version exists. This can be similar to 21:9, or letterboxed 4:3 being stretched in widescreen 16:9.
On #FreeRayShawn, the logo is still and shares screen with the Fuqua Films logo.

FX/SFX: The words flying down, the bars zooming back and tilting, a white flash and a glare shrinking into the bars.

Music/Sounds: A majestic 5-note orchestral theme composed by David Kurtz, which sounds vaguely similar to the Habanera section of Bizet's opera Carmen.

Music/Sounds Variants:

The long version has a descending piano tune before the main fanfare (which is a bit re-orchestrated), and the last note is held much longer.
Another music variation has only the last three notes of the theme re-arranged. This version began in July 2003.
In later years, the music has become a bit more orchestrated.
In 2005, there is another short version with the last half of the animation of the standard animation of the logo. Used on the ultra short-lived series Sit Down, Shut Up and several final season episodes of Jackie Chan Adventures.
Sometimes, when used along a co-production or co-distributor ID, the first few notes of the music for this logo will play over the last few seconds of said ID before going into this visual logo. This has happened on such syndicated shows as Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune, back when King World Productions (now "CBS Television Distribution") was still in operation. But now until October 2007, the CTD music plays on the CTD logo, and the SPT theme plays on the SPT logo.
Sometimes, the logo used the Columbia TriStar Television theme until 2014. The theme can still be heard on some syndicated airings of Good Times via TV One.
Two more versions exist by having a high and low tone starting in 2003.
Another version exists having a bell-type twinkle mixed into the standard theme.
A very high tone version of the music was used on some S4 episodes of Married... With Children on its DVD release. It could sometimes be used on certain TV airings of theatrical films, possibly due to the NTSC versions being in high tone.
On some shows like The King of Queens (2004-2007 episodes) and other shows, the end theme plays over this logo.
Middle season local reruns of Good Times and Sanford and Son would have the first four notes of the standard theme playing first, followed by the finishing of the final notes from the SPT long version theme.
Up until 2012, the Sony Pictures Television International sounder was sometimes used, particularly on the Mill Creek DVD release of the Nickelodeon original movie The Last Day of Summer (the original DVD release from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment doesn't have it), DVD releases of shows like Married... With Children, on Antenna TV's print of the Sanford and Son episode "Sanford and Gong", and on DVDs of The Berenstain Bears (1985) that SPHE released.
There is also a silent version (sometimes on movie networks like Starz and Encore).
Another variation would have the 1993 CPT theme. This happened on several reruns of Just Shoot Me! on TV Land. R2 DVDs of T.J. Hooker and the 2nd season of Party of Five also have this variation if you select the French audio track.
A variant exists that has the 1993 CPT theme overlapping the SPT theme. This was spotted on an Antenna TV airing of the Good Times S4 episode "Michael's Great Romance".
A few episodes of The Jeffersons from the 1980-1981 season last aired on TV One have the SPT and the short CTTD themes playing at the same time.
On The Three Stooges short "Cash and Carry", there is a 2005 low tone version.
On Antenna TV's print of the All in the Family episode "The Jeffersons Move Up," the short Columbia TriStar Television theme is heard.
One S1 episode of That's My Mama! on DVD ("Clifton's Con") has the 1982 CPT music over this logo.
On the CTHE DVD print of the S3 Married... with Children episode "The Gypsy Cried", it has the first note of the 1988 CPT theme before going into the SPTI theme.
On several international prints of May-June 2013 episodes of Days of Our Lives and The Young and the Restless, the 1994 TriStar Television theme is heard.
On the Mill Creek S4 DVD of Married... with Children, the episode "Hot Off the Grill" has the 1988 CPT theme playing over this logo.
One 4:3 airing of the TV movie Breakaway has the Columbia TriStar Domestic Television music play over the logo.
On the Me-TV print of The Facts of Life S5 episode "Brave New World Part 2", a sloppy plaster job results in the theme playing before the logo itself appears.
On the NTSC DVD print of the mini-series Comanche Moon, the second CBS Paramount Television logo's music plays (and vice-versa), due to an editing error.
On current prints of the 1931 film Arizona, the movie's score finishes over the logo after the end title fades out, as the music originally ended over a black screen.
One S2 episode of The Guardian on Russian airings has the CBS Television Distribution theme played on the logo.

Availability: Ultra common. In fact, it might be the most common logo in history.

Seen on new series and a staggeringly tremendous amount of new prints of classic shows, off-net syndication series, TV movies and theatrical films on television. It's quite infamous and annoying for removing and replacing old logos on many pre-2002 Sony TV programs and movies. The only four pre-2002 shows that do not have this logo are Walker, Texas Ranger on USA Network and the defunct Cloo, All in the Family on GetTV and Sony Crackle, the original One Day at a Time on Antenna TV and The Jeffersons on Me-TV. However, this may or may not appear at the end of of movies, notably the recent ones.
It appears on shows produced by Adelaide Productions, Sony's television animation studio, as they do not have their own logo.
The long version is not as common as the standard version, but it was seen on every episode of Jeopardy! from 2002-2007, The Nate Berkus Show, the DVD release of All in the Family: The Complete 3rd Season, and the DVD release and Crackle prints of Odyssey 5 (except for "Astronaut Dreams", which uses the normal version instead), but it may appear on some classic and off-network shows. It also appears at the end of every episode of The Three Stooges DVD Collection volume sets, beginning in the second volume, and can also be found on many other TV on DVD releases from 2002-04 (from 2005 onward it went to the standard version).
The low tone theme is uncommon and was last seen on early episodes of Stuart Little: The Animated Series on HBO Family and the 1976 TV movie Banjo Hackett on DVD, while the high tone (both 2002 and 2005 versions) appears on The Boondocks on Adult Swim and Netflix, many Three Stooges shorts on IFC, among other shows and certain films on television.
The scoped version can be seen on CBS airings of S.W.A.T. and some theatrical films on TV.
As for the short version, it's fairly common and it appeared on The Shield on local syndication and Spike (now Paramount Network), the ultra short-lived series Sit Down, Shut Up on FOX, and reruns of Joan of Arcadia and Stephen King's Kingdom Hospital.
The version with the SPTI theme was spotted on the 1971 film The Anderson Tapes on TCM.
It can also be seen on Sony Movie Channel in widescreen.
For series outside the US, it's seen on the series incarnation of the 2007 movie Niñas Mal (translated as Bad Girls) on MTV Latin America and nuvoTV, and Bienvenida Realidad (translated as Welcome Reality).
This was oddly seen at the end of an episode of The Jeffersons on Antenna TV before the show's credits, with the CTT logo after the credits.
This also appears at the end of a Roku Channel print (and Sony Movie Channel and ThisTV airings) of Lake Placid.
As of 2020, this is used in tandem with the third logo, as it still appears on Dr. Oz, The Young and the Restless, and The $100,000 Pyramid, and also on international prints of Sony films and shows they didn't produce.
It was spotted at the end of a HBO Asia airing of Darrow & Darrow: In the Key of Murder with the ending theme playing over it.

Editor's Note: This logo has earned the dubious honor of being one of the most hated closing logos of all time (along with the 1992 20th Television and 2007 CBS Television Distribution logos, the latter of which often preceeded this logo in shows like Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune). It's wildly infamous for not only its omnipresence, but also how often it plasters logos from previous Sony-owned companies on newer prints of old shows (about 99% of the time - the times where older logos are preserved are usually flukes). The animation isn't awful (and the long version is well-animated overall), but it has a very dull and boring appearance to it, especially since the most common variation uses the most technically simple portion of the logo. This has been said to be the most common logo when it comes to plastering on television. In fact, it even plasters the Columbia TriStar Television logo, which also earned some heat over plastering other logos, but not as much as this. While it does get a lot of hate, the longer variant is more liked (due to not being used for plastering nearly as much) and the logo itself wasn't nearly as hated when it debuted in 2002.

2nd Logo (October 11, 2019)

Nicknames: "SPE Bars II", "The Bars of Boredom II", "The SPE Parallelogram II", "The Flash II"

Logo: On a blue gradient background, a purple flash appears onscreen, covering it. When the flash dies down, the print version of the Sony Pictures Television logo appears. The logo zooms back for a few seconds before stopping completely.

FX/SFX: The flash and the SPT logo zooming back.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: This made its debut on El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie, but it's unknown if this logo will replace the 1st logo on new SPT series and newer episodes of existing SPT shows in the near future. It's likely this is simply a custom logo produced for the film.

Editor's Note: Even though the logo can be seen as bland, it's a breath of fresh air from the previous logo.

Sony Pictures Television Studios

(January 7, 2020-)

Nicknames: "The Flash III", "The Flashing Text"

Logo: On a black background, we see the Sony logo. It fades out, and the text:

SONY PICTURES TELEVISION
STUDIOS

appears flashing in the same vein as the 2014 Sony logo at the end of TV commercials.

Opening Variants:

August 28, 2020: The logo is zooming in, and even the text says "A SONY PICTURES TELEVISION STUDIOS PRODUCTION" (in the font called Clarendon from the Sony logo) while it flashes. The Sony logo does not appear in the beginning.
January 1, 2021-present: The logo is updated which is similar to the regular logo, but without the flash.

FX/SFX: Only the flashing. Zooming in for the opening variant.

Music/Sounds: The same "ding" sound in G major used in the Sony logo or none. The ending theme may also play over it. Starting with a December 28, 2020 rerun of the November 23, 2009 episode of Jeopardy! and the same day's episode of Wheel of Fortune, we hear a swish followed by a dreamy synth fanfare after the ding sound. There is also a longer version.

Availability: Current, and is used in tandem with the 1st logo. Debuted on One Day at a Time: Promo Special. It started appearing on Sony series later in 2020, such as the 37th season of Jeopardy!, the 38th season of Wheel of Fortune, the 12th season of Shark Tank, and the 4th seasons of The Good Doctor and S.W.A.T. (the 2017 TV series). The opening variant is debuted on the Netflix prints of Cobra Kai, then later in the updated version for the show's third season. Recently, it appeared on the Lifetime TV movies Chris Watts: Confessions of a Killer and Salt-N-Pepa. This appeared at the end of FX's print of Holmes & Watson (a 2018 Columbia Pictures film), and may also appear on future airings of old and recent Sony theatrical films on television. Strangely on OWN reruns of Underground, this is seen after the Tribune Studios logo, but the 2002 SPT logo follows afterwards as a failed reverse-plaster attempt. Interestingly, it played before the 2002 Sony Pictures Television logo (whether retained or added) on some shows. Don't expect to see this on The Bleepin' Robot Chicken Archie Comics Special (aired on May 23, 2021), but it is possible to see this on Robot Chicken's upcoming eleventh season.

Editor's Note: Say what you will about the Bars of Boredom, but at least that one had some semblance of creativity. This one (including the early version of the opening variant), on the other hand, is one of the worst of its kind, representing everything wrong with the 21st-century trend of simplistic logos. It doesn't even transition correctly from the Sony logo. In fact, it’s so bland, it was actually once thought to be a placeholder when the logo first debuted. The version with music is slightly better, but not by much.

Copyright stamps

Here is some information about the copyright stamps on the SPT series and TV movies: Note: During the formation of CTT on February 21, 1994, all series were merged under the CTT banner. However, both CPT and TriStar studios still used their respective copyright stamps on their series from 1996-1999:

External Links