Telepictures Corporation

Background

Telepictures Corporation was formed on September 25, 1978 by Michael Garin. The company syndicated the Rankin/Bass library's holdings from post-1974 to 1988 and numerous television programs. In 1983, the company formed Telepictures Productions as the production arm of the corporation. Telepictures merged with Lorimar Productions, creating Lorimar-Telepictures Corporation (or just "Lorimar-Telepictures") on April 21, 1986. Under Telepictures' ownership, Rankin-Bass produced original animated series. In 1988, Lorimar-Telepictures split the television production divisions into their own separate names but keeping the Lorimar-Telepictures name as the distribution arm. In 1989, Warner Communications (now Warner Bros. Discovery) purchased the company. Lorimar remained a separate production entity, which would be folded into Warner Bros. by 1993. Telepictures Productions later became a producer of syndicated programming that Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution would distribute starting in 1990 after a two-year hiatus.

Logo (April 15, 1980-1986)

Original version
Network version
Love Connection superimposed version
The People's Court superimposed version
The All-New Let's Make a Deal superimposed version
The All-New Let's Make a Deal superimposed version, no disclaimer
Catch Phrase superimposed version

Visuals: Here are the main versions of this logo:

1980-1983: On a black background is the word "Telepictures" in white and in ITC Lubalin Graph Std Bold emerging from the bottom of the screen followed by many "shadows" (blue in the color version), moving from the bottom and curving down towards the middle of the screen. When it stops, the word "CORPORATION" (in ITC Lubalin Graph Std Demi) flashes in at the bottom right of "Telepictures", and two large pings appear at the top left and bottom right of "CORPORATION", respectively.
1983-1986: Against a black background, numerous rectangles of different blue shades fly from the top and bottom of the screen and towards the middle, where they form a blue, horizontally segmented "Telepictures" logo. Then, "Telepictures" suddenly turns into a solid white word as "CORPORATION" flashes in its usual place, and two smaller pings appear on the top left and top right of it.
On network television, the name appeared as "Telepictures PRODUCTIONS".

Variants:

The "rollercoaster" was later updated with smoother animation, "Telepictures" emerging more rapidly, a more vivid blue color, and, instead of the shadows constantly trailing, a limited number appearing and then piling into the logo.
Sped-up variants of this logo exist.
The All-New Let's Make a Deal, 1981-1986 episodes of The People's Court, the 1985-1986 US version of Catch Phrase, and the 1st season (1983-84) of Love Connection superimpose this logo over the credits, animation and all.
Some episodes of The All-New Let's Make a Deal combine this logo with a disclaimer stating "THIS PROGRAM WAS EDITED FOR BROADCAST WITHOUT AFFECTING THE OUTCOME OF THE DEALING."
A B&W variant exists.

Technique: Camera-controlled animation.

Audio: A drum roll sound during the formation of the logo, ending with a "ding" from a triangle when the logo is completed.

Audio Variants:

Sometimes, the logo is silent or may have the show's ending theme.
On the animated special The Coneheads (based on the SNL sketch), the 2nd half of the Rankin/Bass music plays, mixed with the drum roll, perfectly in sync with the "ding" noise from the Telepictures logo.
On the first season of ThunderCats, the 2nd 1985 Rankin/Bass logo music segues into a five-note horn fanfare (composed by Bernard Hoffer), which keeps the "ding" at the end. The "ding" sound is also longer on earlier episodes of said show.
On the pilot episode of ThunderCats, continuing from the 1st 1985 Rankin/Bass logo, when the 1983 variant of the 1980 Telepictures logo appears, an abridged version of the drum roll and a ding from the said logo is heard.
On the PAL DVD print of S4EP5 of ThunderCats titled "Return to Thundera: Part 5", the 1983 variant of the 1980 Telepictures logo features the short version of the music from the 1986 Lorimar-Telepictures "Crashing Comets" logo in a high pitch (likely due to NTSC to PAL conversion), and also due to a reverse plastering error as well.
On produced TV movies, this logo is silent; once they are distributed, the logo has its normal music.
On The All-New Let's Make a Deal, Brian Cummings (Dean Goss for season 2) says "The All-New Let's Make a Deal is a Stefan Hatos-Monty Hall Production, in association with Telepictures!" For the first episode, the drum roll and ding were absent; it was used for all other episodes.
On Catch Phrase, John Harlan announces "Catch Phrase is a Pasetta Production, in association with Telepictures!" The drum roll and ding are not heard.
A low-tone variant exists.

Availability:

It was previously seen on The All-New Let's Make a Deal (in-credit version) on Buzzr and GSN. Some episodes on Buzzr are edited to fade out immediately before the logo appears.
It is preserved on ThunderCats DVD releases from the first season.
It was seen on Love Connection on GSN.
Most VHS releases of Telepictures' movies removed the logo, and most of Telepictures' distributed shows have since been acquired by other companies.
This was seen in the early seasons of The People's Court when it was the last rerun and appeared on AOL's In2TV site.
This was seen on the 1985 U.S. version of Catch Phrase with Art James.
The 1980 "rollercoaster" version can be found at the end of a sales promo from 1981 for the syndication release of Here's Lucy.
- This promo is also available on disc 4 of Shout Factory's DVD "best of" release.
It was seen on a VHS release of Flush, which was put out on VHS in Canada by Marquis Video (a pay-TV print was probably used for this release).
The rollercoaster version is also intact at the start of each episode of My Favorite Martian on Amazon Prime's video streaming service.
The 1983 variant of this logo is also intact at the end of Rudolph's Shiny New Year (1976) on the UK VHS release thereof from Warner Home Video, which is then followed by the 1988 Lorimar Television logo.

Telepictures Corporation

Lorimar-Telepictures
Telepictures Productions

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