Telepictures Corporation

Credits

Descriptions by
Matt A., James Fabiano, Adam P., and Ben Masters

Captures by
Shadeed A. Kelly, Bob Fish, Eric S., Mr. Logo Lord, V of Doom, megamanj2004, and others

Editions by
Shadeed A. Kelly, Eric S., V of Doom and Michael Kenchington

Video captures courtesy of
Eric S. (LogicSmash), Phasicblu, JohnnyL80, Stephen Cezar, TVLogoFan2, LogoLive, ClosingLogosHD, Broken Saw and Cnow

Background

Telepictures Corporation was formed in 1978 by Michael Garin. The company syndicated the Rankin/Bass library's holdings from post-1974 to 1988 and numerous television programs. In 1983, the company formed Telepictures Productions as the production arm of the corporation. Telepictures merged with Lorimar Productions, creating Lorimar-Telepictures Corporation (or just "Lorimar-Telepictures") on April 21, 1986. Under Telepictures' ownership, Rankin-Bass produced original animated series. In 1988, Lorimar-Telepictures split the television production divisions into their own separate names but keeping the Lorimar-Telepictures name as the distribution arm. In 1989, Warner Communications (now Warner Bros. Discovery) purchased the company. Lorimar remained a separate production entity, which would be folded into Warner Bros. by 1993. Telepictures Productions later became a producer of syndicated programming that Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution would distribute starting in 1990 after a two-year hiatus.

(April 15, 1980-1986)

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  Original version

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  Network version

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  Superimposed version

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  Another superimposed version

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  The All-New Let's Make a Deal superimposed version

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  Yet another superimposed version

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Logo: Here are the main versions of this logo:

• 1980-1983: On a black background, we see the word "Telepictures" in white and in ITC Lubalin Graph Std Bold emerging from the bottom of the screen followed by many "shadows" (blue in the color version), moving from the bottom and curving down towards the middle of the screen. When it stops, the word "CORPORATION" (in ITC Lubalin Graph Std Demi) appears below it.
• 1983-1986: Against a black background, numerous rectangles of different blue shades fly from the top and bottom of the screen and towards the middle, where they form a blue, horizontally segmented "Telepictures" logo. The word "CORPORATION" appears at the right below the logo, and "Telepictures" then turns white.
• On network television, the name appeared as "Telepictures PRODUCTIONS".

Variants:

• The "rollercoaster" was later updated with smoother animation, "Telepictures" emerging more rapidly, a more vivid blue color, and, instead of the shadows constantly trailing, a limited number appearing and then piling into the logo.
• Sped-up variants of this logo exist.
• The All-New Let's Make a Deal, 1981-1986 episodes of The People's Court, the 1985-1986 US version of Catch Phrase, and the 1st season (1983-84) of Love Connection superimpose this logo over the credits, animation and all.
• Some episodes of The All-New Let's Make a Deal combine this logo with a disclaimer stating "THIS PROGRAM WAS EDITED FOR BROADCAST WITHOUT AFFECTING THE OUTCOME OF THE DEALING."
• A B&W variant exists.

Technique: Camera-controlled animation.

Music/Sounds: A drum roll sound during the formation of the logo, ending with a "ding" from a triangle when the logo is completed.

Music/Sounds Variants:

• Sometimes it is silent or the show's ending theme.
• On the animated special The Coneheads (based on the SNL sketch), the 2nd half of the Rankin/Bass music plays, mixed with the drum roll, perfectly in sync with the "ding" noise from the Telepictures logo.
• On the first season of ThunderCats, the Rankin/Bass logo music segues into a five-note horn fanfare (composed by Bernard Hoffer), which keeps the "ding" at the end. The "ding" sound is also longer on earlier episodes of said show.
• On the pilot episode of ThunderCats, continuing from the Rankin/Bass logo, when the Telepictures logo appears, we hear an abridged version of the drum roll and a ding from the said logo.
• On the PAL DVD print of S4EP5 of ThunderCats titled "Return to Thundera: Part 5", it had the music from the 1986 Lorimar-Telepictures "Crashing Comets" logo in a high pitch (likely due to NTSC to PAL conversion) and also due to a reverse plastering error as well.
• On produced TV movies, this logo is silent; once they are distributed, the logo has its normal music.
• On The All-New Let's Make a Deal, Brian Cummings (Dean Goss for season 2) says "The All-New Let's Make a Deal is a Stefan Hatos-Monty Hall Production, in association with Telepictures!" For the first episode, the drum roll and ding were absent; it was used for all other episodes.
• On Catch Phrase, John Harlan announces "Catch Phrase is a Pasetta Production, in association with Telepictures!" The drum roll and ding are not heard.
• A low-tone variant exists.

Availability: Quite rare.

• It was previously seen on The All-New Let's Make a Deal (in-credit version) on Buzzr and GSN. Some episodes on Buzzr are edited to fade out immediately before the logo appears.
• It's also seen on ThunderCats DVD releases from the first season.
• It was seen on Love Connection on GSN.
• Most tapes of Telepictures' movies removed the logo, and most of Telepictures' distributed shows have since been acquired by other companies.
• This also appeared in the early seasons of The People's Court when it was the last rerun and appeared on AOL's In2TV site.
• This was also seen on the 1985 U.S. version of Catch Phrase with Art James.
• The 1980 "rollercoaster" version can be found at the end of a sales promo from 1981 for the syndication release of Here's Lucy. This promo is available on disc 4 of Shout Factory's DVD "best of" release.
• It also appeared on a VHS release of Flush, which was put out on VHS in Canada by Marquis Video (a pay-TV print was probably used for this release).
• The rollercoaster version also appears at the start of each episode of My Favorite Martian on Amazon Prime's video streaming service.

Telepictures Corporation

Lorimar-Telepictures Telepictures Productions ►