Telepictures Productions

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. and V of Doom

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

Background

After Lorimar-Telepictures was folded into Warner Bros. Television Distribution and became Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution on January 12, 1989, Telepictures Productions became a producer of syndicated programming that Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution would distribute starting in 1990 after a two-year hiatus. It is also involved in online areas, including operating the TMZ celebrity blog (until 2021), amongst others.

1st Logo (September 10, 1990-Mid 1993)

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  Bylineless version

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  Bylineless version

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  Bylineless version

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  Time Warner byline version

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  Time Warner Entertainment byline version

Visuals: On a white background, a square with a "T" in it (with the left tip of the "T" separated from the rest of the letter) quickly changes colors in a blur, from yellow to orange to neon green, before it becomes blue and quickly flips around. When it stops, it turns black, and small black text that says "TELEPICTURES PRODUCTIONS, INC." in spaced-out lettering appears underneath. Then the separated part of the "T" (which is now on the right side) turns red.

Variant: On 1992-1993 episodes of The Jenny Jones Show and The Jane Whitney Show, either the byline "A TIME WARNER COMPANY" on early episodes or "A TIME WARNER ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY" (in the same font used in the 1984 Warner Bros. Pictures and Warner Bros. Television logos) on later episodes fades in after the separated part of the "T" on the right side turns red.

Technique: Computer animation.

Audio: The closing theme of the show, silence on season 2 of The Jenny Jones Show, and/or an announcer spiel.

Availability: It was seen on the final season of Fun House, the first two seasons of The Jenny Jones Show, the 1990-91 game show Trump Card, and the early episodes of The Jane Whitney Show, among other shows.

2nd Logo (Mid-Late 1993)

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Visuals: On a white background, there is a circular logo with a border that's gray on the top half and white on the bottom, inside of it is a gray left half and a white right half. Inside is a "T" that's white on the left and gray on the right. The black text "TELEPICTURES" (in a Futura font) and "p r o d u c t i o n s" (spaced out and in italics) zooms out and places itself on the "T" emblem. A line and the black text "A TIME WARNER ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY" fade in below.

Variant: Sometimes, "IN ASSOCIATION WITH" appears below the byline when the logo moves up.

Technique: Simple zooming.

Audio: A 3-note theme with a twinkle ding or the ending theme of the show.

Availability: It can be seen on mid-late 1993 episodes of The Jenny Jones Show and The Jane Whitney Show, as well as How'd They Do That? and The Wild West.

3rd Logo (Late 1993-2009)

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  Time Warner Entertainment byline

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  AOL Time Warner byline

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  Time Warner byline

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  Warner Bros. Entertainment byline (4:3)

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  Warner Bros. Entertainment byline (16:9)

Visuals: There are three versions of the logo:

• 1993-2001; 2003-2008: On a black background, the same circular emblem from the previous logo in white zooms towards the screen. In a flash, the logo appears much closer and with the word "TELEPICTURES" (in the same font as the previous logo) in the center. Another flash (which results in a white bar as if someone turned off a television) brings the logo to a median distance, and under "TELEPICTURES" is "p r o d u c t i o n s" (spaced and in italics). Under all that, the Warner byline fades in.
• 2001-2003: The animation is the same, but the end product looks different. In this variation, the "Circle T" is zoomed-in much more (almost taking up the whole screen) and the "T" is now in a Times New Roman font, and the "Telepictures Productions" text seems smaller in proportion than the original. This is done to create a AOL Time Warner byline (in about the same position as the old logo) inside the "Circle T".
• September 8, 2008-2009: An enhanced version of the logo, featuring the logo glowing blue with a fresh byline to boot. The word "productions" now zooms in and spreads into position.

Bylines:

• 1993-2005: "A Time Warner Entertainment Company"
• 2001-2003: "An AOL Time Warner Company"
• 2004-2009: "A Time Warner Company"
• September 8, 2008-2009: "A Warner Bros. Entertainment Company"

Variants:

• A still version exists on at least one episode of The Rosie O'Donnell Show.
• A short version also exists, where it starts where the words "productions" fade in.
• The logo may fade out to black at the end with the succeeding Warner Bros. Television logo fading in, or cut straight to the then-current WBTV logo. On The Tyra Banks Show, the logo crossfades to the WBTV logo.
• Starting in 2005, the “Time Warner” variation was slightly modified. The logo’s zooming animation was shortened, and the white background when the logo flashes now has a letterbox effect.

Technique: Computer animation by WunderFilm.

Audio:

• 1993-2004: A thunderclap sound is heard, along with a "shout", with "tingles" and "wind" heard in the background. Sometimes, it'll just have the end of the show's theme or, on early episodes of The Ellen DeGeneres Show, post-2003 episodes of Street Smarts, and post-1993 episodes of The Jane Whitney Show, the sound effect with the show's theme.
• 2004-2009: Sounds similar to before, but the "crash" sounds more percussive and the wind has been replaced with a synth drone. Composed by Norman Arnold.
• In other cases, the end theme of a show or the generic network theme.

Audio Variant: On early episodes of The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, the second-half of the Next Entertainment theme plays over it.

Availability:

• Most productions from this period either aren't rerun on TV nowadays or are talk shows, which typically aren't broadcast past their original airings.
• Also seen on shows produced by AND Syndicated Productions (such as Judge Mathis, Street Smarts and Are You Hot?), a division of Telepictures that was founded in 1998, as they do not use their own logo.
• The AOL variant was seen on 2001-2003 episodes of The Jenny Jones Show, Judge Mathis, the U.S. version of The Sharon Osborne Show, Street Smarts, SlamBall and Elimidate, among others.
• The Time Warner variants are rare and can be found on all shows produced by the company from 1993-2009, such as The Jenny Jones Show from 1993-2001, The Tyra Banks Show, 1999-2001 and 2003-2009 episodes of Judge Mathis, all episodes of The Rosie O'Donnell Show, and pre-2009 episodes of TMZ on TV.
  • The DVD box set of The History of Rock and Roll also retains this variant.
• The WBE version was seen only on episodes of The Ellen DeGeneres Show from September 8, 2008 (the day when the show went into 1080i HDTV and moved to being taped at Stage 1 on the nearby Warner Bros. lot in Burbank), up to the time the next logo was introduced in 2009. It was also seen on Ellen's Even Bigger Really Big Show.

4th Logo (2009-)

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Visuals: On a brown background, a gold bar zooms out of view as lights move in different directions. The gold bar rotates, revealing that it is the pieces of the Telepictures logo, with the "T" cut in half (the logo resembles the 1993 version, with amendments made to its design). The parts of the "T" then join to form the whole "T" as the black and white circle fades in, and the word "TELEPICTURES" (in Futura like in the previous logos, but in a thicker weight) rotates and zooms out. The logo then zooms out slowly to its usual distance, with the Warner Bros. Entertainment byline fading in.

Variants:

• Starting in 2010, an alternate version exists with the Warner Bros. byline in a serif font. Even though most shows from the company from 2021 onward use the 2009 byline, the serif byline was still used on The Real until its end in 2022 and is still used on Extra.
• On some shows starting in 2014, the logo's colors are brighter.
• A scope version exists. The byline is also shifted up in this version.
• Like the previous logo, the logo may fade out at the end and the following Warner Bros. Television logo would fade in (on TMZ and Extra) or will have the logo cut straight to the WBTV logo (on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, The Real, Judge Mathis (until that show started using split-screen credits), and The Jennifer Hudson Show).
• Starting in 2020 on some shows, like TMZ, The Real and Judge Mathis, the logo is part of the split-screen credits alongside the other logos in the show's logo combo, including the WBTV logo.
  • On post-2020 episodes of Judge Mathis, the print logo is used.
• A long version exists and was seen on the test-run show The Hustle. It can also be found on New Wave Entertainment's official Vimeo account.
• A shortened version exists, which starts when the two parts of the "T" are about to join together. This was seen on the 2016 revival of Mad TV, Ellen's Game of Games, Paris in Love, Family Game Fight, and The Jennifer Hudson Show.
• An even shorter variant also exists, where the logo starts when the two parts of the "T" have already joined together. This was spotted on the short-lived show Raq Rants.
• A warp-speed version exists.
• A still version exists.

Technique: CGI done by Pembrook Creative and New Wave Entertainment.

Audio: A laser-like sound and a "clang" when the parts join together. The following music plays throughout:

• 2009-2010, 2021-present: Two mysterious-sounding synth notes. A longer version exists; the first three seconds would later be used for the 2014 theme.
• 2010-June 17, 2022: Three synth piano chords.
• 2014-2020: A rearranged version of the 2009 music, which is basically the long 2009 music cut to the first three seconds. First heard on season 2 of The Real.

All the jingles made for this logo were composed by Norman Arnold.

Audio Variants:

• Short versions of these themes exist.
• Sometimes, the closing theme of the show or the network generic theme is used.
• Sometimes, the logo is silent.
• Reportedly, at least one episode of Judge Mathis that aired in late 2009 or 2010 used the 2004 sounder.
• On season 1 of Ellen's Game of Games and the 2017 revival of Love Connection, a whoosh sound plays towards the end of the logo, that sound later plays into the Warner Horizon Television logo. Starting with season 2 of the former series however, it no longer played on the Telepictures logo.

Availability:

• It's seen on post-2009 Telepictures shows in syndication such as The Ellen DeGeneres Show until its end in 2022, Extra, TMZ on TV (until September 15, 2021 when Fox Alternative Entertainment took over), Judge Mathis (until May 25, 2023 when the show ended), The Real, and The Jennifer Hudson Show, among others.
• It also appears on videos uploaded for the Tumblr blog DC All Access, which is produced by Telepictures, and on the 2016 revival of Mad TV, respectively.

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Telepictures Productions