Maybe I’m just biased but in my opinion the 1980’s was the golden age of Production Company Logo’s. What’s a production company logo you ask? You’ve seen them. They’re the small 5 or 10 second clips with a company name that appeared at the end of many TV shows. I didn’t have cable when I was growing up so I watched a lot of 80’s show reruns throughout the 90’s on my local affiliates. As a result I have an intimate knowledge of these clips. Without further ado I’m going to take you on a trip down memory lane with a collection of embedded Youtube links to some of my favorites!
Ah this is the logo I have the fondest memories of. Back then I referred to it as “that typewriter guy” but I used to see it every Saturday night during my weekly Saturday evening ritual. A local independent channel used to play two hours of The Three Stooges from midnight to 2AM which I made sure never to miss. In fact, I also recorded it so that I would have a growing collection of Three Stooges episodes I could watch throughout the week in the summertime. At any rate, before the block would begin a show called “Renegade” would air from 11:00PM to midnight. Naturally, as I was tuning in for the Three Stooges and prepping my VCR and the 6 hour EP format tape I would catch the end of the show and this production logo.
I always associate this one with Michael J. Fox because I remembered seeing it at the end of Family Ties as well as Spin City. As a kid some idiots in school thought the narrator was saying “boo boo” despite the fact that the screen clearly says “UBU”. This is one of the reasons I have contempt for the masses today.
This one kind of sucks compared to some of the others. I guess it did the job though since I’m posting it on here and remember it. Cheers is the only show I remember this playing after but since I didn’t have cable and it was very popular in syndication, I ended up watching a lot of Cheers as a kid.
An obvious parody of the famous MGM logo with a roaring lion, I used to think I had just seen an inside joke that wasn’t supposed to air. This one appeared after a lot of CBS shows that I probably didn’t watch.
Oh man who doesn’t remember this one? After all, it opened the door for most of us to make our very first dick jokes. I mainly remember this after The Real Ghostbusters but they were fairly prolific and were involved in the production of a ton of cartoons such as The Super Mario Bros. Super Show, Sonic the Hedgehog, Inspector Gadget, and even that shitty Captain Planet cartoon. I will spare you all the obligatory joke about a kid with a floating dic outside of his window.
This one really hits me in the feels. When I was in the 3rd grade my local FOX affiliate played a one hour block of Mama’s Family every weekday night from 9PM to 10PM. It was part of my daily routine and this logo at the end of the second episode signaled that it was time for bed. Here we have a double whammy as not only are we treated to Joe Hamilton Productions but Lorimar Telepictures as well! I’ll sleep good tonight!
I’m sure all three of you reading this remembers this one from The Simpsons. ‘Nuff said.
Alright so I’m cheating a bit with this one since it’s from the 1990’s but it’s still a memorable production logo from my childhood so I’m running with it. If any of you have bothered to hang on I’m sure you also remember it from Boy Meets World.
Although production company logos are still in wide use today I cannot honestly recall any recent ones. Maybe it’s because I just don’t pay as much attention to them anymore. Perhaps its because I seldom watch any new original programing. But I’d like to think it’s because things were just done better in the past.
Super RetroMania 