S&S Productions

From the Audiovisual Identity Database, the motion graphics museum

Background

S&S Productions is a Canadian television production company established in 1980 by stand-up comedian Steve Smith and his wife, Morag Smith. Originally established to make the Smith's original creations, in the mid-1990s, it expanded with Steve's son David becoming the main executive producer. It is most well-known for producing The Red Green Show, that aired for 15 years (1991-2006) first on Hamilton, Ontario station CHCH-TV, then on London, Ontario station CFPL-TV and the Global Television Network before moving to CBC Television.

1st Logo (1980-1990)

Visuals: Just the following text (in Times New Roman) superimposed on the credits:

a
S&S
production

(C) (year) S&S PRODUCTIONS, INC.
all rights reserved

The word S&S is bigger than the other words.

Technique: A still superimposed graphic.

Audio: Usually the ending theme of the show.

Availability: Seen on early S&S shows, like Smith & Smith (starting with season 2, season 1 was instead produced by CHCH-TV), Me & Max and The Comedy Mill.

2nd Logo (January 4, 1991-March 17, 1997)


Visuals: On a blue-lilac background, there is a crazy writing machine with a hand controlling on the left. On the bottom is several wood ducks passing through a chain and three smiles going up and down. Then, some yellow paper with the words "S&S productions" (in the same font as the previous logo) comes from the bottom and scrolls to the top. Once it reaches the top, the second S in the company name spins backwards and the last letter in productions falls down.

Variant: On season 3 of The Red Green Show, the logo is seen in widescreen with the title graphics bordering it.

Technique: 2D cel animation.

Audio: Scrolling and bumping sounds with a rifle sound as well as laughs.

Availability: Seen on reruns of the first six seasons of The Red Green Show on Comedy Network. Some local PBS stations may rerun these older episodes (TPT in the Twin Cities being one notable example), but most stations rerun later episodes, if they even have The Red Green Show on their schedules at all.

3rd Logo (1997-)


Visuals: On a gray-white sparkling background, there is a gray block coming from the bottom and placing at the near-bottom. Then, as a spark writes out "Productions Inc." on the block, two red balls bounce on the block, ultimately becoming a pair of S's. As everything is almost finished and comes into place, an & symbol goes between the S's to complete the logo.

Variants:

  • Starting in 1998, the URL "www.ssp.ca" appears at the bottom.
  • On CTV's Balance: Television for Living Well, the URL is replaced by a copyright stamp "(C) (year) GWTP Productions Inc.". The reason for this is because S&S is not the owner of the show.
  • There is a static version on Sons of Butcher.
  • A short version appears on seasons 13-15 (the final season) of The Red Green Show.

Technique: Computer animation.

Audio: A calm synth tune.

Availability: Seen on most S&S productions from 1997 onward, including The Red Green Show (starting with season 7), Balance: Television for Living Well, History Bites and Sons of Butcher.

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