Evolution Media

Credits

Descriptions by
naxo-ole and CooleyBoy10

Video captures courtesy of
Mr. Gann and Broken Saw

Background

Evolution Media is a production company generally focused on non-fiction television programming, although they have very occasionally dabbled in scripted media. The company was founded in 1987. In July 2017, they were acquired by MGM Television. Their logos can be viewed on their website, evolutionusa.com.

1st Logo (Early 1990s-1998)

Visuals: In a time-lapse live-action video, there are two men spray-painting a wall black and then create an abstract globe against it. The company's name briefly flashes and the two men spray-paint "EVOLUTION", with "FILM + TAPE, INC." below it, over the globe, before spray-painting it white.

Technique: Sped-up live-action footage.

Audio: A funky beat (taken from the opening of "Freedom! '90" by George Michael).

Availability: It's unknown if this was ever used on any actual programs, but it can be viewed on Evolution's website on their about page.

2nd Logo (February 28, 1998-October 15, 2001)

Visuals: On a background that changes to show various videos of random objects, the word "EVOLUTION" emerges and stays in the middle.

Variant: On the 1998 HBO special Paul F. Thompkins Driven to Drink, the logo is still; the 1995 HBO Independent Productions logo would follow after.

Technique: Computer animation.

Audio: A fast breakbeat (the "Industrapper" drum loop off Spectrasonics' Distorted Reality 1 sample CD) with weird-sounding yells ("Wailer" off the same sample CD, which is an edited and reversed sample of "Deliverance" by the French electronica band Space).

Availability: This was seen on Bug Juice when it was last aired on Disney Channel in Summer 2004, The Making of... episodes, and it was probably seen on Totally Hoops and Totally Circus. It was also seen on the Screen Gems Network, and on syndicated half-hour compilations of The Three Stooges from the same timeframe.

3rd Logo (July 5-September 29, 2000)

Visuals: On a blue background, there is the same "EVOLUTION" text as before, albeit slightly modified, some windmills, a ladder and an abstract drawing of a fist holding a metallic rod, chiseled through a metallic bracket, The result looks like a stylized "E", can be also seen in the background.

Technique: A still digital graphic.

Audio: The closing theme of the show, or in original CBS airings, a generic theme.

Availability: This was only seen in the first season of Big Brother, preserved in Paramount+ prints of the season.

4th Logo (Late 2000-2001)

Visuals: On a black/blue gradient background, there is a box containing the same abstract fist drawing as before, but can be seen much more clearly, The stacked text "EVOLUTION FILM & TAPE, INC.", with "EVOLUTION" in a chiseled font and much bigger than the rest of the text, fades in underneath.

Technique: Fading effects.

Audio: None.

Availability: Like the first logo, it's unknown what shows used this, but once again, it can be viewed on Evolution's website.

5th Logo (June 3, 2001-)

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Visuals: On a red-orange background with a wheel moving behind it, there is a thick shiny vertical line on the left. A stylized fist then thrusts a wooden rod into the line, with yellow sparks coming out of the thrust, and we cut to reveal that the line is actually the letter "E" without the middle stem. A black bar with the text "EVOLUTION", in the same font as before, is in front in the center. "EVOLUTION" slowly spaces out.

Variants:

• Starting in 2006, the logo was enhanced in CGI, with the original design of the fist from the last two logos, more realistic sparks, the text now in shiny silver, and the background having more movement in it. The beginning shot also zooms out first before the cut.
• An extended version exists, where three fists with rods are shown at the beginning, then it cuts to the normal animation.
• On Botched, Vanderpup Dogs, and The Siwa Dance Pop Revolution, the logo is smaller due to the compressed credits.
• An MGM byline was added in 2020 (which was originally in Impact font and a box. From 2021, the box is removed and the byline is in a serif font (set in MGM's custom typeface called Metro Mayer Serif) with "MGM" in its current corporate font).

Technique: Computer animation.

Audio: A clang and a deep whoosh (all muffled, which is retained on the enhanced version).

Audio Variants:

• Sometimes, the end theme is used instead.
• The extended version has some quick clangs at the beginning.

Availability:

• The original version was first seen on the last season of the Disney Channel series Bug Juice and has appeared on series like Yo Momma, Clean Sweep and the first season of Fear Factor.
• Those shows are long gone from TV nowadays, but it appears on sporadic Disney Channel airings of the DCOM Now You See It... and on season 1 of Fear Factor on DVD.
• The enhanced version made its debut on the obscure Disney XD series Next X and currently appears on Vanderpump Rules, Botched, and several series in The Real Housewives franchise.
• The extended version can be seen on Evolution's website, as well as on The Real Housewives of Orange County episode "Secrets Revealed".