Viacom Productions

Main

Background

Viacom Enterprises was the television distribution division of the CBS Television Network, formed in 1971 as the successor of the pre-1968 CBS Films, later reincorporated as CBS Enterprises, Inc. in 1968. In 1973, it was spun-off because it was against the FCC regulations for a television network to distribute its programs under its own name. Subsequently, Viacom formed "Viacom Productions" to produce first-run television series airing on the major television networks. The company was popular during the 1970s and 1980s, originally distributing CBS-produced shows such as I Love Lucy and The Andy Griffith Show. In later years, they've distributed shows from numerous other production companies, including MTM Enterprises, Filmways Television, Carsey/Werner, Lorimar Television, Rankin-Bass, and Hanna-Barbera (the latter mostly internationally). They also distributed several Four Star shows, and early Nelvana TV specials, as well as most movie releases from Romulus Films, Hallmark Hall of Fame, Tomorrow Entertainment, New World Pictures (until 1984), Orion Pictures, New Line Cinema, Cannon Films, and the Terrytoons library, among others, until they formed their own syndication companies. In 1976, Viacom and its production division formed "Viacom International, Inc." as their new parent company for distributing programs overseas. Within a decade, Viacom was bought by cinema chain National Amusements, becoming part of the newly-reincorporated "Viacom, Inc.". On January 1, 1990, as part of a restructuring, Viacom Pictures was formed. On March 11, 1994, Viacom acquired Paramount Communications, Inc. and Viacom Enterprises was folded into Paramount Domestic Television (now "CBS Television Distribution"), by transferring the domestic rights of the Viacom library. Viacom International was later reorganized as the parent company of MTV Networks and Showtime Networks. Viacom transferred the international rights of the said library into Paramount International Television, while Viacom Productions was reincorporated as a production sub-division of Paramount Television. The Viacom Enterprises logo of the era was still used for "Viacom Productions" with an updated variant, and would remain until 1999, receiving another update to the logo to reflect the company's new status after merging with former parent company CBS. The 1999-2004 Viacom logo would be its last, as the final two series to end under the Viacom Productions name would be Ed and The Division. In light of serious financial troubles brought on to Viacom, the production unit was folded into Paramount Network Television (now "CBS Television Studios") in 2004. Paramount took control of the remaining Viacom-produced series in 2005. On December 31 of that year, Viacom was reincorporated as "CBS Corporation", ceasing to exist officially. A "new" Viacom was established on the same day, as the holding company for Paramount Pictures, the MTV Networks, BET Networks, and their non-television firms. By 2009, most Viacom-distributed TV productions were distributed under CBS Television Distribution (formerly "CBS Paramount Domestic Television") and outside the U.S. under CBS Studios International (formerly "CBS Paramount International Television"), while the previous Viacom-distributed movies, and some Viacom Domestic Media Networks TV shows were distributed by Paramount with U.S. over-the-air rights licensed to Trifecta Entertainment and Media. On December 4, 2019, Viacom and CBS re-merged, forming ViacomCBS. Before the Paramount purchase, Viacom titles were distributed on home video by Magnetic Video Corporation, CBS Video Enterprises, Warner Home Video, VidAmerica, Forum Home Video and U.S.A. Home Video, among others. A little known fact is that Viacom actually stands for "Video & Audio Communications".

1st Logo (June 4, 1971-June 1976)

Black and white variant

EmbedVideo is missing a required parameter.

Nicknames: "\/|/\CO/\/\ II", Wigga-Wigga II", "VIACOM 2000", "Robocom", "ViaBot", "Letters of Glass"

Logo: On a smoky blue background, we see the glass letters of "\/|/\CO/\/\" zooming out, being stacked in front of each other, then spreading out. The background is full of "Wigga-Wigga"-type "\/|/\CO/\/\" letters along with a blue smoke effect slowly clearing out. Underneath "\/|/\CO/\/\" is the text "PRODUCTIONS" in Futura Extra Bold font moving up ala the "Float In" animation of the Microsoft PowerPoint with a line and the byline "a Paramount company" (in the text used for the Paramount Pictures logo) fading in below "\/|/\CO/\/\ PRODUCTIONS".

Variants:

A still version of this logo exists (a la the 1985 "V of Happiness" logo).
In 2002, the words were made bolder, and the letters at the start are brighter.
Sometimes on the 2002 version, "in association with" spreads out above.
A 4:3 version of the 2002 version stretched to 16:9 exists.
A cropped 16:9 version can be seen on most widescreen movies/shows.
Another version has the cropped 16:9 logo zoomed out with borders. This can be seen in 4:3 or 16:9.
There is a true 16:9 version.
A rare 16:9 version exists wherein the 4:3 version is zoomed out without borders, thus causing the sides of the letters to copy themselves into three. This can be found on the French printing of the TV movie Finding John Christmas (entitled À la recherche de John Christmas).
A shorter version cuts to either the first quarter or to the last.
There is a slower version.
A filmed version appears on some TV movies.

FX/SFX: The letters spreading out and the smoke.

Music/Sounds:

A descending crystallized wind chime-like sound effect culminating in a synth explosion, followed by a robotic voice saying the word "Viacom" faintly.
The robotic voice was shortened in 2002.

Music/Sounds Variants:

Very early broadcasts featured the 1990 and 1998 network TV music. This can be seen on "updated" airings of season 7 episodes of Diagnosis: Murder on Me-TV and the season 4 episode of Sabrina, the Teenage Witch entitled "The Wild, Wild Witch".
There is also a silent variant.
A version in which the wind chime sound effect plays faster also exists.
A sped-up higher pitch version also exists.
Sometimes, it has the end theme of the show or TV movie or generic network music, as seen on NBC, CBS and UPN.

Availability: Fairly common.

It can be seen on any show or TV movie produced by Viacom from 1999-2004; these include seasons 4-7 of Sabrina, the Teenage Witch on Antenna TV (plastered on the DVDs by CBS Television Distribution) and Fuse, The Division on Start TV, season 1 of The 4400 last aired on USA Network, and seasons 7 & 8 of Diagnosis: Murder on Me-TV, Decades (occasionally), Encore Suspense, DVD, and Hallmark Movies & Mysteries, as well as the final two TV movies spun off from that show.
The still version can be seen on some season 8 and "updated" season 7 episodes of Diagnosis: Murder on Me-TV, Encore Suspense, Decades (occasionally), Hallmark Movies & Mysteries, DVD releases, and original CBS airings from 2000-2001.
It was also spotted at the end of several made-for-TV movies such as Hysteria: The Def Leppard Story, A Diva's Christmas Carol, Three Blind Mice, Bad Apple, Bang Bang, You're Dead, among others.

Editor's Note: It's not a well-known logo like the previous ones, but it's another well-made logo with some really cool effects. This was also a fitting way to end a company with an amazing and memorable library of logos.