Hearst Media Production Group

Background
Litton Entertainment was founded in 1988 by Dave Morgan as Litton Syndications. The company started out syndicating sports-related specials, however in the 1990s, due to the Children's Television Act requiring television stations to air a weekly quota of educational programs, the company began to syndicate Jack Hanna's Animal Adventures. In 2007, the company bought syndication rights to 85 movies from the Castle Hill library from Peace Arch Entertainment. In 2009, the company began to produce original shows starting with Street Court. In 2011, Litton Entertainment struck a deal with ABC to syndicate a Saturday morning programming block of educational live-action programming called Litton's Weekend Adventure. The block premiered on September 3, 2011 and replaced ABC Kids. In 2013, Litton introduced their second Saturday morning programming block, CBS Dream Team, for CBS. It would replace Cookie Jar TV. In 2014, Litton introduced their third Saturday morning programming block, One Magnificent Morning, for The CW. It replaced the Vortexx block (run by Saban Brands), and Litton became responsible for the end of Saturday morning cartoons on television in the United States. On February 24, 2016, Litton introduced another Saturday morning programming block, The More You Know, for NBC. It will replace NBC Kids. Despite ending the Saturday morning cartoons era, Litton has done other things such as producing educational shows for viewers of all ages including Dog Whisperer with Cesar Milan: Family Edition, Jack Hanna's Wild Countdown, Ocean Mysteries with Jeff Corwin, Recipe Rehab, among others. In January 2017, Hearst Communications acquired a stake in Litton.

1st Logo (1995-2008)


Logo: On a cloudy gray background, a diagonal blue square with a rough line at the bottom is seen, mostly being grey while a paintbrush fills out the rest in a zigzag path. The words "LITTON SYNDICATIONS" in a Impact font is embossed into the square. When the paintbrush leaves the square, the box flashes white, turning the text white and solid as well. The text shines with a few gray lines and the square shines with a ping at the top left.

FX/SFX: The appearance of the box, the shine.

Music/Sounds: The music from the Watercourse Road Productions logo, or (mostly) a guitar theme.

Availability: Probably extinct. The short version (which cuts to the flash) was seen on Critter Gitters in syndication, but has been plastered with the Creative Television Marketing logo on recent airings. It also appeared on Jack Hanna's Animal Adventures.

2nd Logo (2009-2014)


Logo: On a black background, the word "LITTON" is formed, letter by letter. Then, two bright trails of light collide and create a flash, which reveals the word "ENTERTAINMENT" below that, and then the trails of light emerge from the flash and leave the screen.

FX/SFX: The forming of the text

Music/Sounds: We only hear a synthesized whoosh as the word "ENTERTAINMENT" forms. Otherwise, it's the closing theme of the show.

Availability: Was seen on 2009-2014 shows produced by Litton Entertainment. Although those shows no longer air, making this logo extinct on TV, you can see this logo on Born to Explore with Richard Wiese and possibly other Litton shows from the era on Netflix.

3rd Logo (2014- )
Logo: On a black background, a spark flies across the screen from left to right, then flies closer to the screen, turns, and flies from right to left, revealing a dark cloudy/sunset background as well as the word "LITTON", which is tilted to the side a bit but turns around to face the viewer. "ENTERTAINMENT" fades in below, and the logo shines. We then fade out.

Variant: Starting in 2017, the Hearst Television logo fades in below "ENTERTAINMENT".

FX/SFX: The animation.

Music/Sounds:
 * 2014-2017: A deep synth note is heard through the entire logo, and we hear a sword slashing sound when the logo shines. The synth is in the key of C.
 * 2017- : A different deep synth note is held (in the key of D) with a 5-note orchestra tune, sounding similar to the Viacom "V of Doom," the 1990 VIVA Films and other logos.

Availability: Very common. Seen on all shows produced by Litton Entertainment since 2014.

Editor's Note: A rather infamous logo, though not for the logo itself, but for the company in general. Some may see this as a worthy successor to the previous logo. Others may see it as an ominous mood whiplash from the Cartoon Network Productions and Cinar logos.