Columbia Pictures Television

page created by: phantomhater 05/13/2025 11:37 AM

on May 6th, 1974, Columbia Pictures reincorporated Screen Gems into Columbia Pictures Television. the name change was announced on May 1st and was suggested by David Gerber (president of Screen Gems). in 1984 The Coca-Cola Company demerged Columbia Pictures and its television distribution. on January 30th, 1984 CPT and LBS joined forces and created Colex Enterprises to distribute CPT stuff from the 50s to the 70s and on October of that year CPT created Television Program Source. on November 24th 1986 CPT was merged with Embassy Communications to form Columbia/Embassy Television. The Coca-Cola Company regrouped CPT, Embassy, and Merv Griffin Enterprises into Coca-Cola Television. on December 21st, 1987 Coke's entertainment business was sold to TriStar Pictures for $3.1B. TriStar Pictures was renamed to Columbia Pictures Entertainment and Coca-Cola Television was shutdown and folded into Columbia Pictures Television Distribution. on October 1991 CPT, TriStar Television and Merv Griffin Enterprises were reorganized into Sony Pictures Entertainment Television Group. on February 21st, 1994 CPT merged with TriStar Television and became Columbia TriStar Television. on January 1st, 2001 CPT was folded into Columbia TriStar Television to form Columbia TriStar Network Television, however its formation was blocked cuz of "fin-syn" laws. on October 25th 2001 CTNT was replaced by Columbia TriStar Domestic Television. CPT still exists as CPT Holdings, Inc. to hold copyrights for CPT stuff. CPT is now Sony Pictures Television

1st logo - 1974 to 1977

visuals: cel or motion-controlled animation. byline font's Modula

audio: composed by Van Alexander and arranged by Eric Siday, and performed on a Moog

Nicknames: "CPT Pretzel", "CPT", "The Pretzel"

Rarity: Rare

Cheese factor: 2.2

Scare factor: 3

CLG note: "This logo's rough animation and design as well as its use of the "S from Hell" theme were clear placeholders until the "Sunburst" was introduced two years later. "

Spida factor: used to love the lindbergh variant as a kid

2nd logo - 1976 to 1983

visuals: camera-controlled animation. text font is Souvenir

audio: composed by Suzanne Ciani

Nicknames: "The Abstract Torch", "The Sunburst", "The Starburst"

Rarity: Very Rare

Cheese factor: 0

Scare factor: Scare logos

AVID note: "This logo is a favorite among logo enthusiasts for its visual effects and music. The regular variant is also considered to be the first logo to ever be uploaded onto YouTube, uploaded sometime in March 2006 (although the original video appears to have been a deleted video). "

CLG note: "This logo is a favorite among logo enthusiasts for its nice visual effects and music. Some people find the fanfare appropriate for the company that would be owned by Coca-Cola, as the effects in the song resemble the sound of pouring and fizzing soda."

Spida factor: neat. always a pleasant surprise whenever i go logo finding ! this sounds nothing like soda

3rd logo - 1982 to 1989

visuals: matte painting for the torch lady, and motion-controlled animation. text font is Souvenir

audio: first theme composed by Suzanne Ciani, second theme composed by Timothy Thompson on a Roland D50

Nicknames: "Eighties Torch Lady", "Coke Bottle Torch Lady", "Torch Lady"

Rarity: Uncommon

Cheese factor: 2

Scare factor: 0.75

CLG note: "It's the 1981 movie logo albeit slightly modified, which was still satisfactory enough for the Eighties. This was the first logo to replace the Embassy logo starting in 1988 on shows from Embassy. Many shows stopped using this logo in 1992, although The Young and the Restless and Days of Our Lives continued to use it until 1993. This was also used for the first season of The Larry Sanders Show, which premiered in August 1992. "

Spida factor: its fine

4th logo - 1992 to 2001

visuals: artwork by Michael J. Deas, modeled by Jenny Joseph text font is Bank Gothic Condensed Bold

audio: composed by Dave Grusin

Nicknames: "90s Torch Lady", "Majestic Torch Lady", "Torch Lady II"

Rarity: Common

Cheese factor: 3

Scare factor: 3

AVID note: "The original artwork was created by Michael J. Deas and modeled by Louisiana homemaker Jenny Joseph, and made its on-screen debut starting with this logo, about a year before a film version debuted. A textless version, along with the Merv Griffin Enterprises and TriStar Television logos, was shown as a Video Daily Double clue under the "Horses" category for $500 in the December 22, 1993 episode of Jeopardy!, as shown here: "This is the Merv Griffin logo, this is the Columbia logo, and the following is this company's". Dave Dixon, who found that Daily Double, wagered $700 of his $1,300 and gave the correct response, "What is TriStar?", increasing his score to $2,000 and taking the lead. Dixon was eventually beaten by fellow contestant Jean Grewe, who became a three-day champion with $29,901 on hand, adding $4,000 to his $25,901 that he won in the previous two days."

CLG note: "A still logo of a painting that still looks exquisite even to this day, supplemented with some grand fanfares. It should be noted that this appeared almost a year before movies began using this new Torch Lady in 1993."

Spida factor: one of the first logos i remember "finding" by myself, around 2020


last updated by phantomhater, 11/12/2025 06:34 PM