Witt/Thomas Productions

Background

Witt/Thomas Productions was a production company that was formed in 1975 when Paul Junger Witt joined with Tony Thomas, the son of legendary comedian Danny Thomas. In 1976, the company was renamed to Witt/Thomas/Harris Productions when writer and Witt's wife, Susan Harris joined the company with their first series Soap a year later. In the 1980s, the company was renamed back to "Witt/Thomas Productions", but the Witt/Thomas/Harris name continued until 1995 when Empty Nest ended.

(September 4, 1975-April 27, 1999)

Logo: On the closing credits, we see this text, often in a Clarendon Bold font on most shows produced by the company:

A WITT THOMAS HARRIS PRODUCTION

Variants:

During the later years, it was referred to as "A WITT/THOMAS PRODUCTION", although this variant of the logo was 1st seen on It's a Living as well as the short-lived ABC sitcom Condo from early 1983, which was seen with a copyright notice.
On Brotherly Love, Pearl, later episodes of Blossom, and The John Larroquette Show, the "Witt/Thomas" in-credit name was shown outside of the credits and placed on a black background with a gradient shade of blue to make it seem like an outside logo.
On the pilot episode of Herman's Head, the company name is written with the names in separate lines, but without Harris.
On Beauty and the Beast, the two names are separated by a hyphen instead of a forward slash and superimposed into the credits.
On the short-lived series Woops!, the company name is placed in a dark blue background, and the two names are separated by a hyphen.
On some episodes of Herman's Head, the variant above is seen, but it's shown in-credit.
During the 3rd and final season of Nurses, this logo was in a double-font combo, much like the closing credits from that season.
During the later years of Benson, as well as the very short-lived Hail to the Chief and the 1985-89, 1st-run syndicated episodes of It's a Living, the copyright notice is in the Helvetica font.
On the Blossom episode "Rockumentary", instead of the usual in-credit logo, the logo is in a pink color at the bottom of the screen on a black background with a live action shot of Dreyfuss the dog from Empty Nest inside a circle (which is also in a pink outline) with the barking being dubbed by Blossom (Mayim Bialik).
On the final season of Empty Nest, it was shown on a black/blue background with the name in the typical Witt-Thomas-Harris Bold Clarendon font.

FX/SFX: None, but the scrolling of the credits on Soap and Benson from 1977-1980, as well the very short-lived Hail to the Chief from Spring 1985, on some 1984-1986 episodes of Benson, and the pilot episode of It's a Living.

Music/Sounds: The ending theme of the show.

Music/Sounds Variants: During NBC's original broadcasts of the final season (1994-95) of Empty Nest and the second through fourth seasons (1994-96) of The John Larroquette Show, it used NBC's generic theme and CBS airings of the short lived Pearl used its generic theme.

Availability: Seen on Soap, Benson, The Golden Girls, Empty Nest, Nurses, The Golden Palace, Blossom, Beauty and the Beast, Brotherly Love, and was also seen on The John Larroquette Show, Minor Adjustments, Muscle, It's a Living, among others.

Editor's Note: None.