Production Logos From Hell

Why some of the following production logos scared most of us when we were kids.
On
December 05, 2006
I can't speak for anyone else but I speak for myself when I say that there were some past TV and movie production logos that can just be downright scary especially to a little kid. When I was a kid our family told my mother that I was sensitiive to sound.
I remember putting my hands on my ears and just crouching in a corner whenever TV and movie ending logos came on. Even now when I look at the RJ Commercial Bumpers and IDs section of the site I am constantly reminded of why some of these logos were so creepy to me.

LBS

Stands for Lexington Broadcast Services. It was probably one of the worst logos for me as far as sound went. Even now I don't really like having the sound on my computer turned up too loud.

The LBS Logo from 1976



The LBS logo from 1976 consists of multi coloured lines streaking across the screen and then the camera backs up to reveal the iniitals LBS coloured in blue on the top half of the screen and the words LEXINGTON BROADCAST SERVICES COMPANY on the bottom half of the screen. This logo was paired up with very loud synthisized music going up and down scales. It was just like nails going up and down on a chalk board and very hard for me to listen to even now.

PBS



Stands for Public Broadcasting Service. Another logo with sound that was just brutal to my ears. The PBS logo from 1971 consisted of a backwards P that looks like a head, then a B that has circles cut out of it, and then an S that looks like a snake. Under the letters PBS was PUBLIC BROADCASTING SERVICE. This logo ran until 1984. The music in this one was so scary that I refused to open my eyes or take my hands off of my ears until it was gone.

The Columbia Pictures Television Sumburst Logo



This logo ran from 1976 right up until 1982. It consisted of a red sunburst that looked like an upside down mushroom cloud. This would always come on at the end of Barney Miller after the Four DDDD Productions logo. The music was just awful and the logo was even worse.


The Viacom V of Doom Logo.



This logo was officially creepy to me. It ran until 1987 and the Viacom V of Steel logo from that year. That's a picture for another article. This logo consists of a zooming purple V on a lavender background with the words "A Viacom Presentation" superimposed over the V. The music was enough to make any kid jump a few feet out of their chairs.

Stephen J Cannell Productions Logo



This appeared in the mid-late 1970s to the early 1980s and consisted Mr Cannell working on his typewriter and all of a sudden he decides that he doesn't like what he's writen and throws the paper away only the paper turns into the C in Stephen J Cannell Productions. This logo was parodied in the Simpsons with the Itchy and Scratchy production logos.
Later versions of the Stephen J Cannell production logos consisted of Mr Cannell working on an electric typewriter and ripping the paper out of his typewriter that forms the C in Stephen J Cannell. The musical scores in the later versions of the SJC logos were longer and therefore scarier. They also didn't have the 360 degree turn to see a profile of Mr Cannell's face in the earlier version of the SJC Prods logo.
20th Century Fox



Very early versions of the 20th Century Fox logo were spotty at best. Just 20th Century Fox with spotlights and a loud fan fare that could be heard from clean across the room.


Hanna-Barbera Productions.

There are different versions of the Hanna-Barbera prodcution logos for different eras.

In 1966, 1968, and 1969 the HB logo consisted of a zooming HB with a hanna-barbera production superimposed on the front and a Taft by-line on the bottom.



As you can see there are different colour variations of the different HB logos from the 1960s. The zooming action surely would have sent an epileptic sailing straight into a seizure.

In 197t4 and 1977 the logo consisted of a rainbow waterfall effect with Hanna Barbera in different colours on a black background and Hanna-Barbera Productions INC.



Note that the logo on the bottom has a barely visible "Taft Entertainment" by line.

In 1979 we were blessed to see the Swirling Star logos. Maybe we were blessed to see the swirling star logos because it meant the end of the scary music.



On the top the red and blue swirling star was a welcomed change from the hellish logos of the past and with it came its own set of dilemas. The CGI multi-coloured swirling star was introduced in 1986 after the red and blue swirling star was retired.

Other H-B logos include.

The logos that had the cartoon characters such as Jonny Quest, Fred Flintstone, Muttley Dastardly, and others with the cheesy sound effects like a computerized "ouch!"

Then the introduction of the Cartoon Network studios owned by Warner Brothers Entertainment.

So now that you know which logos are scary to me I'm finally able to put it to rest and let sleeping dogs lie.
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