Valleycrest Productions
mr3urious and thehugetvfan
Captures by
Mr.Logo, mr3urious, thehugetvfan, and CSKing
Video captures courtesy of
JoltPlayzz and Eric S.
Background
Valleycrest Productions Ltd. is a division of Disney-ABC Home Entertainment and Television Distribution, initially formed in 1987 as Buena Vista Productions, before it was split up into three groups in 1994; the other companies that were formed through the split were Faded Denim Productions and Lipshtick Productions. Undeniably Valleycrest's best-known production is the American version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Valleycrest also produced Win Ben Stein's Money and co-produced Mike & Maty with ABC.
1st Logo (April 11, 1994-June 24, 2011)
Visuals: Above a valley with hills and green grass, the bronze word "VALLEYCREST" zooms in, with the letter "V" larger than the rest, and below it is the spaced-out text "P R O D U C T I O N S L T D .", written in black on a bronze rectangle and also zooming in. The words shine.
Variant: Copyright stamps appear on Mike & Maty and Win Ben Stein's Money. Early episodes of Mike & Maty has "© (YEAR) American Broadcasting Companies, Inc. All rights reserved" below, while on later episodes of Mike & Maty and pre-1999 episodes of Win Ben Stein's Money, it reads "© (YEAR) All rights reserved."
Technique: Computer animation.
Audio: The closing theme of the show; original Millionaire airings on ABC used the network's generic theme.
Availability: This first appeared on the ABC daytime show Mike & Maty. It appears on the U.S. version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?. This was also seen on the Comedy Central game show Win Ben Stein's Money, which was last seen in reruns on GSN from 2004-2006.
2nd Logo (September 5, 2011-March 21, 2021)
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Visuals: Same as before, but the valley is enhanced and looks more realistic, and the words are in gold/bronze, this time flipping upward while zooming.
Technique: CGI.
Audio: The show's closing theme. On the ABC revival of Millionaire, while the other logos use their own themes, it uses the last second of the 2010-2019 closing theme from the syndicated version, composed by Jeff Lippencott and Mark T. Williams.
Availability: It debuted on the 2011-2012 season of the syndicated Millionaire when the show transitioned to high definition. The last new episode of the series aired on May 31, 2019, and reruns lasted on most stations into September 2019. It returned to television on the 2020-2021 ABC network revival of Millionaire. Reruns of the syndicated series are also currently seen on many CW stations in late night timeslots.
