TruTV Originals
Background
TruTV is an American basic cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. As of January 2016, the channel is available to approximately 91 million households in the United States, The channel launched in 1991 under the name "Court TV", The channel mainly focused on crime shows, legal dramas and coverage of prominent cases, In January 1, 2008, Court TV rebranded to it's current name TruTV and changed their focus to action-oriented docusoaps and "caught on camera" programs.
Court TV Original Productions
1st Logo (1990?-1995?)
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Logo: We see the original Court TV logo, which consists of two blue lines. the words "COURT" in the center, along with a blue and a gray rectangle, the gray one has the word "TV", the logo slowly rotates from left to right.
Variants:
- In the original pitch reel for the channel, the logo is in a black background and the words "WATCHING THE REAL LIFE DRAMA OF JUSTICE" fade in under the Court TV logo.
- In the VHS release of The Rodney King Case: What the Jury Saw in California v. Powell, many different footage in blue is seen, which then ends at a court setting, the blue lines then open up to the beginning.
- In Court TV: Inside America's Courts, we first see black and white footage of a judge hammer slamming on a gavel, which then the Court TV fades in, on top of the logo is "For information about", at the bottom of the logo is "And the case it covers", along with the company's phone number.
FX/SFX: The logo rotating, early CGI animation.
Music/Sounds: either the opening theme or the closing theme of the show.
Music/Sounds Variants:
- In the pitch reel, an announcer says "Court TV, watching the real life drama of drama and justice."
- In the VHS release of The Rodney King Case: What the Jury Saw in California v. Powell, an announcer says "Court TV presents."
- In Court TV: Inside America's Courts, an announcer says "For information about Court TV and the case it covers, call 1-800-9-COURT-0."
Availability: Ultra rare, it first appeared in a pitch reel for the channel, it also appeared in the VHS release of The Rodney King Case: What the Jury Saw in California v. Powell and Court TV: Inside America's Courts.
Editor's Note: None.
2nd Logo (1999?-2005)
Logo: On a blue background with white outlined "COURT"s, the words "In association with" appears with a wipe sparkle effect, then the words "COURT TV" flies letter-by-letter (a la Game Boy), the words "TV" then forms a red fingerprint, the background then moves until the logo fades out
Variants:
- a still version exists, here, the logo is on a white background, "COURT" is in black and is less spaced out and the TV fingerprint is orange.
- Sometimes, the logo is seen with a copyright in the bottom.
FX/SFX: The letters appearing, the background.
Music/Sounds: a large swoosh sound followed by a low tone note.
Music/Sounds Variants:
- In the still version, none.
- In some shows such as Forensic Files, the ending bit of the end theme of the show trails off into the logo.
- In some episodes of Masterminds, it's the ending theme of the show.
Availability: Rare, seen on Court TV originals at the time, such as Mugshots, early episodes of North Mission Road, Masterminds, Seasons 7-10 of Forensic Files, Stories of the Innocence Project and Trace Evidence: The Case Files of Dr. Henry Lee, later prints of some of these shows tend to remove this logo, but it's preserved in DVD prints of Forensic Files (FilmRise prints plaster this with the Medstar Television logo, with the theme still intact in 2014 prints of the show.) and Tubi and Amazon Prime Video prints of Masterminds, the still version is only seen on Guilt by Association.
Editor's Note: None.
3rd Logo (2005-January 1, 2008)
Logo: On a dark blue background, we see a bunch of red rectangles flying across the screen, which then forms the newer Court TV logo, which consists of the words "CourtTV" with a white rectangle with a gap in which several red lines take the space, the words "IN ASSOCIATION WITH" is at the top like the last logo, along with "ORIGINAL PRODUCTIONS" at the bottom, the logo slowly zooms in.
Variant: like the last logo, the logo is sometimes seen with a copyright in the bottom.
FX/SFX: The logo forming.
Music/Sounds: Same as the last logo.
Availability: Rare, seen on Court TV originals at the time until it's rebrand to TruTV in 2008, examples include Most Shocking, Jail, Smoking Gun TV, Seasons 10-12 of Forensic Files, Most Daring, Parco P.I., Hot Pursuit, Suburban Secrets and later episodes of North Mission Road, almost all of these shows aren't on TV anymore or haven't seen any home media releases, but Philo prints of Most Shocking and DVD prints of Forensic Files (FilmRise prints plaster this with the Medstar Television logo, with the theme still intact in 2014 prints of the show.) and Hot Pursuit perverse this logo.
Editor's Note: None.
TruTV Originals
1st Logo (January 1, 2008?-2012?)
Logo: We first start at a orange background, which then zooms out to reveal a orange circle in a blue background, when the circle finishes zooming out, the words "tru" slides to the left, and the circle gains the words "TV" and the words "NOT REALITY, ACTUALLY" appears as well.
FX/SFX: Simple animation.
Music/Sounds: None.
Availability: It's only known appearance is in Bait Car, it might be seen on other TruTV shows at the time, don't expect to see this on Seasons 12-14 of Forensic Files as it uses a in-credit notice.
Editor's Note: None.
2nd Logo (2016-2018?)
Logo: We start at a black background, then, we then see a dark blue circle with "TV" in it bouncing, which then makes a green background with the words "Tru" sliding from the left like the last logo, the logo stays still for a few seconds until the animation plays reverse.
FX/SFX: 2D animation.
Music/Sounds: None.
Availability: Seen on seasons 5-7 of Impractical Jokers, it was also seen on DVD releases of their shows.
Editor's Note: None.
3rd Logo (2019-2020?)
Logo: On a white background, we see the words "A Tru ORIGINAL", then a green ball with the word "TV" drops down and bounces until it stops, then the logo stays still before cutting to black.
Variant: In Impractical Jokers: The Movie, the background and the text's colors have been swapped, the background is now black and the text is now white.
FX/SFX: Simple animation.
Music/Sounds: a 5 note low tone theme.
Availability: Seen on I'm Sorry and Impractical Jokers: The Movie and it's trailer.
Editor's Note: None.
4th Logo (2020-)
Logo: On a blue background, a bunch of TruTV logos start appearing, it later reduces to just one, then the logo glitches to 3 rectangles with the first one having the word "ORIGINAL", TruTV then reappear and "ORIGINAL" moves to the right, ending the logo.
Variant: an Red and Black version exists.
FX/SFX: The logo glitching and forming.
Music/Sounds: distorted glitchy 8-bit noises.
Availability: Current, seen on the ninth season of Impractical Jokers, Top Secret Videos, the Red and Black version is seen on Hot Onesː The Game Show
Editor's Note: None.
