Columbia Pictures Television/Summary

Background
The origins of Columbia Pictures Television go back to 1948 when Screen Gems was revived as a television subsidiary by Columbia Pictures Corporation. It was formed when Columbia acquired Pioneer Telefilms, a television commercial company founded in 1947 by Ralph M. Cohn, the son of Columbia Pictures co-founder, Jack Cohn, and the nephew of longtime Columbia Pictures president and co-founder, Harry Cohn. Pioneer Telefilms was renamed to Screen Gems after the acquisition. It was responsible for television production, TV movies, syndicating the Columbia Pictures movie library, and starting in 1958, The Three Stooges shorts starting with the Curly series. Screen Gems became a fully-fledged studio in 1951 by moving into telefilm syndication and later into television production in 1952. On July 1, 1956, Columbia studio veteran Irving Briskin formed Briskin Productions to oversee all of Screen Gems' productions. On December 10 of that year, Screen Gems acquired television syndication company Hygo Television Films (a.k.a. "Serials Inc.") as well as its affiliated company, United Television Films, Inc. Also on August 2, 1957, Screen Gems also syndicated the Universal Horror Package from Universal-International for 10 years called Shock and Son of Shock in 1958 and from 1957-1966, the cartoons by Hanna-Barbera, when Columbia acquired a 20% stake when the studio started. In January 1961, Columbia Pictures Corporation and Screen Gems, Inc. were split into separate companies, when the former studio sold 11% of the latter's stock to the public. On December 23, 1968, Screen Gems merged with its parent Columbia Pictures Corporation and the whole organization was reincorporated as "Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc.". On May 6, 1974, Screen Gems was reincorporated as "Columbia Pictures Television" (now "Sony Pictures Television"). The name was suggested by David Gerber, the then-current president of Columbia's television division. In 1984, Coke demerged Columbia Pictures and Columbia Pictures Television. CPT was transferred to "CPT Holdings, Inc.". On January 30, 1984, CPT joined forces with Lexington Broadcast Services Company, Inc. (later known as "LBS Communications, Inc.") and created "Colex Enterprises," which serviced the distribution of most series by CPT from the 1950s-70s. In October, CPT created "The Television Program Source" with Alan Bennett and former King World president, Bob King. On November 24, 1986, CPT was merged with Embassy Communications to form "Columbia/Embassy Television". This was also the birth of Coca-Cola Telecommunications, when CPT's distribution division merged with the Television Program Source. Coke also regrouped CPT, Embassy Communications, and Merv Griffin Enterprises into "Coca-Cola Television". On December 21, 1987, Coke's entertainment business was sold to Tri-Star Pictures, Inc. for $3.1 billion. Tri-Star Pictures, Inc. was renamed to "Columbia Pictures Entertainment, Inc." (now "Sony Pictures Entertainment"). CCT was shut down ten days later and folded into the reorganized Columbia Pictures Television Distribution. In October 1991, CPT, TriStar Television, and MGE were reorganized into the "Sony Pictures Entertainment Television Group" (a.k.a. "Sony Television Entertainment"). On February 21, 1994, Columbia Pictures Television merged with TriStar Television, forming "Columbia TriStar Television." Columbia Pictures Television Distribution was additionally renamed to "Columbia TriStar Television Distribution". On January 1, 2001, Columbia Pictures Television was folded into Columbia TriStar Television; however, the CPT name was retained in the in-credits of The Young and the Restless until October 2002. Currently the division is known as Sony Pictures Television.

Screen Gems Television
===1st Logo (April 1951-1952, December 14, 1957-1974)===

Nicknames : "The Spiral S", "The Filmstrip S", "The Creepy Screen Gems Logo", "The S From Hell", "The S From Heck (by family friendly logo channels)", "The Spiral S (From Hell)", "Burning S", "Scream Gems", "Attack of the Killer S", "The Personification of All That Is Evil", (For version seen on Hawk, "Shrill S," "Buzzy S", or "Hawk S".)

Logo : On a yellow background, two red parallelograms come from the top and bottom of the screen, and the upper one is at a distance while the lower is closer. They fly towards each other, and the higher moves forward while the lower backs away. As they do so, they grow in length and wrap around a space where a red dot appears, forming a stylized "S". Under that, the words "SCREEN GEMS" zoom in.

Trivia : The "S" logo was designed and animated by Chermayeff & Geismar, a firm also responsible for the 1986 six-feathered NBC Peacock, the 1984 PBS logo, the 1990-2005 Viacom logo, and the Chase Manhattan Bank logo, among other designs.

Variants :
 * There's an in-credit logo that's only used on the short-lived series Adventures of the Seaspray, with the text "in association with" and "Screen Gems" in the same font as the credits.
 * Another in-credit version was shown on The Pierre Berton Show with the text "SCREEN GEMS Canada Production" in the same font as the credits.
 * Starting around July 12, 1972, the byline "A DIVISION OF COLUMBIA PICTURES INDUSTRIES, INC." zooms up with "SCREEN GEMS".
 * When shown in black & white, the standard scheme appears to be a light gray screen and black S and words. When shown in color, the standard scheme appears to be a yellow screen, red "S", and black words. The words may or may not have actually been red at one time as well.
 * On some prints of The Partridge Family, the S and the words were both black, attributed by some to film deterioration. However, when the Columbia byline was added, everything was changed to a light gray, and that color change appeared more natural. At the same time, other Screen Gems shows carried the normal color scheme (as did The Partridge Family when it was reran on Hallmark Channel).
 * Several shows in 1970 didn't have the name in bold.
 * There is also a still variant of this logo with the phrase "DISTRIBUTED BY" in small print above "SCREEN GEMS".
 * Another still variant with and without Columbia bylines respectively was seen on the first season of Police Story and the short-lived The Girl with Something Extra.
 * Another variant has the byline appearing after the company logo/text animation stop. This variant was seen on early episodes of the miniseries QB VII.

FX/SFX : The parallelograms wrapping around the dot, "SCREEN GEMS" zooming in.

Music/Sounds : Composed by Eric Siday, the entire score was performed on a Moog modular synthesizer (Siday was one of the first musicians to have one). It consists of six French horn-like notes, followed by two synth-brass triplets with the last note held. In 1970, it was shortened so only three notes came before the tones. This shortened variant was sped-up and was used for the first short-lived Columbia Pictures Television logo.

Music/Sounds Variants :
 * There is a version of the logo where no music is played. This was seen on the 1971 television movie Brian's Song.
 * The latter version had the end theme of Police Story playing over the logo.
 * At least one show, the 1966 Burt Reynolds series Hawk, carried an alternate recording of the Eric Siday music, which had sharper, more "shrill" tones, almost sounding like a loud saxophone.
 * On some first season episodes of I Dream of Jeannie (as seen in syndication in the 1970s and early 1980s), as well as the half hour packaging of Batfink, an alternate trumpet fanfare played over the logo. (This may be the fanfare attributed to Van Alexander, but this is not certain.)
 * In other cases, it used the closing theme of the show or TV movie.
 * Some prints (mainly PAL prints) have the music higher pitched.
 * When ABC reran Bewitched on their daytime schedule in 1968, this logo had the 1963 "Dancing Sticks" music attached to it, probably due to a plastering error.

Availability : Pretty common.
 * This logo has been seen, beautifully restored, on reruns of Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, and The Partridge Family on Antenna TV and FETV. Ironically, the DVD versions are not so lucky; except for one B&W episode (episode #22, "How Lucky Can You Get?") of I Dream of Jeannie, the logos were removed on disc, but the short version complete with jingle has been restored starting with the seventh season of Bewitched, as well as the fourth season of The Partridge Family. It is unknown, however, if the 2021 Mill Creek Entertainment complete series Blu-ray set of I Dream of Jeannie retains this.
 * The VHS release The Partridge Family: C'mon Get Happy! also preserves this logo, followed by the 1993 CPT logo. The only other DVDs with this logo are the 1971 TV movie Brian's Song (again, it is unknown if the 2020 SPHE Blu-ray retains this) and the 1974 miniseries QB VII, with theme music over it, plus the Columbia byline. This logo can be seen after every episode on the DVD release of Bridget Loves Bernie.
 * This logo can also be found on every episode on the 2014 Mill Creek Entertainment DVD release of Gidget.
 * The still variant with the Columbia byline can be found on most episodes of the first season of Police Story on DVD, released by Shout! Factory. It was also shown in an edited form on Fox Family reruns of The Partridge Family and in a sped-up form without music on The Hallmark Channel reruns of Bewitched. A good few episodes of Bewitched when aired on the UK satellite channel Living have this logo, often followed by the Sony Pictures Television International logo.
 * The "Hawk S" can be seen at the Paley Center, and on the 1966 edition of NFL Game of the Week, which can be found on YouTube. This was also seen on a episode of The Monkees on IFC, which was followed by the 1996 CTTD and 2014 Sony/SPT logos.
 * The first shows to have it were the third and final season of The Farmer's Daughter, on ABC, and the fifth and final season of Hazel, on CBS

Editor's Note : Though this logo has gained somewhat of a cult following, it is notorious for scaring some viewers, even enough to spawn a short documentary in 2010 called The S from Hell.

Columbia Pictures Television
===1st Logo (September 4, 1974-August 10, 1976)=== Nicknames : "CPT Pretzel", "CPT", "The Pretzel"

Logo : Against a red background, the yellow letters " C-P-T " appear one by one as each initial appears on screen and zooming out at the same time. The "T" is in the middle of and on a higher plane than the " C " and " P ", which slide upwards diagonally to merge with the " T " to form a stylized logo, which looks like a pretzel. On either side of the logo's stem are the words "COLUMBIA" and "PICTURES", and below that "TELEVISION". Under all that is the byline "A DIVISION OF COLUMBIA PICTURES INDUSTRIES INC." all in white lettering.

Variant : A stretched 16:9 variant was spotted on a Plus7 streaming print of Police Woman.

FX/SFX : The letters appearing, the letters "combining."

Music/Sounds : A little sped-up version of the 1970-1974 Screen Gems theme as the first three opening notes bring forth the three initials in the logo. The rest of the theme plays normally. The first three notes appears to be played faster than on the SG version.

Music/Sounds Variants :
 * On the TV movie The Lindbergh Kidnapping Case, the same music was heard being played on an organ, since the movie took place in the 1930s.
 * Sometimes, the closing theme of the show or TV movie would play over it.

Availability : Rare.
 * It appears on the 2009 DVD of the 1976 TV movie The Story of David with the closing music playing over it.
 * The first version can be seen on every episode of Born Free on DVD, and was also spotted on an airing of Police Story on Black Starz! (now Starz in Black) years ago. It also appeared on a recent 7mate airing of Police Woman in Australia as well as a Plus7 streaming print of the same episode.
 * The second version has only appeared on the TV movie The Lindbergh Kidnapping Case and was preserved on the VHS version; it is unknown if the 2013 Choice Collection DVD retains it.
 * It was also seen on the short-lived ABC shows Good Heavens, That's My Mama (it was left intact on a few season two episodes on Crackle), The Feather and Father Gang, and Chopper One (the 2016 DVD release of which may have it intact).

Editor's Note : This logo's rough animation and design as well as its use of the "S from Hell" theme were clear placeholders until the "Sunburst" was introduced two years later.

===2nd Logo (In-credit Variants) (1974-2002)===

Logo : Just a simple in-credit from the following:


 * Days of our Lives (1974-1983): "A CORDAY PRODUCTIONS COLUMBIA PICTURES TELEVISION PRESENTATION © (year), PRE-RECORDED".


 * The Young and the Restless (1974-2002): "A COLUMBIA PICTURES TELEVISION PRESENTATION in association with BELL-PHILLIP TELEVISION, INC. (later "BELL DRAMATIC SERIAL CO." in 1984) and CORDAY PRODUCTIONS, INC. Copyright © (year) by (name of CPT company) All Rights Reserved".


 * Dealer's Choice (1974) and The Diamond Head Game (1975): "This has been a Columbia Pictures Television Presentation". The former show had it in the Cooper Black font (later used for one of the font style for Columbia) while the latter used Peignot.


 * The Fun Factory (1976): This has the Fishman-Freer Productions in-credit logo with a copyright notice and below that is "in association with COLUMBIA PICTURES TELEVISION".


 * The Upper Hand (1990-1993): "Produced in association with COLUMBIA PICTURES TELEVISION".


 * Beakman's World (September 18, 1992-1997): We have the Columbia Pictures print logo in white with the words "Columbia Pictures Television Distribution" in Souvenir font (later Bank Gothic MD BT font as "COLUMBIA PICTURES TELEVISION DISTRIBUTION" in 1993) under the Torch Lady. Underneath that is the phrase "In Association With", which was later changed into "IN ASSOCIATION WITH" in all-caps since 1993. September 18, 1992-May 22, 1993, episodes have the 1989-1993 print Torch Lady with the sunburst behind her, while episodes aired between September 18, 1993-1997 have the current Torch Lady with a cloud background placed inside a box.


 * Miracle on I-880 (February 22, 1993): "COLUMBIA PICTURES TELEVISION".

Variants :
 * On the first season of The Upper Hand, it scrolls in the credits.
 * On The Best of Beakman's World, the phrase, "In Association With" is in the similar font as the show's credits.

FX/SFX : The scrolling or the fade in of the text.

Music/Sounds : The show's closing theme.

Availability : Extremely rare, but it's intact in some variants.
 * It appeared on Days of our Lives, The Young and the Restless, The Upper Hand (a British sitcom based on Who's the Boss?), and Beakman's World.
 * The Dealer's Choice, The Diamond Head Game and The Fun Factory variants are extinct, but the second season of Dealer's Choice did appear when GSN aired episodes back from 1997-1998 and should be retained if it re-airs.
 * The Miracle on I-880 variant appears on that very film, which can be purchased on YouTube and was also released on DVD in 2011 through the Sony Pictures Choice Collection.

===3rd Logo (2nd official logo) (September 21, 1976-September 28, 1982; 1983)===

Nicknames : "'90s Torch Lady", "Majestic Torch Lady", "Torch Lady II"

Logo : We see a still picture of a brand new Columbia Torch Lady (designed by Michael J. Deas, and modeled by Louisiana homemaker, Jenny Joseph; some think it resembles actress Annette Benning) holding a light torch on top of a new pedestal against the background of clouds with dark blue skies around it. The word "COLUMBIA" appears in giant chiseled silver letters behind her at the very top, similar to the classic Columbia Pictures logo from 1936-1976. Underneath the lady are the words "COLUMBIA PICTURES TELEVISION", or until 1996, "COLUMBIA PICTURES TELEVISION DISTRIBUTION" (in Bank Gothic MD BT font) and underneath that is the byline "a SONY PICTURES ENTERTAINMENT company". It should be noted that movies did not begin using this new Torch Lady until 1993 when a animated version was created by Synthespian Studios, as well.

Trivia : The painting was originally made in 1991 and made its debut in 1992.

Variants :
 * On a Jeopardy! episode aired on December 23, 1993, the logo was seen on a "Video Daily Double" clue. The logo appears to be close-up, there is no text below the Torch Lady and the "COLUMBIA" text is not there.
 * There is a black & white variation that was used to plaster Screen Gems logos on classic B&W shows.
 * On the TV movie pilot of Dark Skies, "The Awakening," the name and the byline fade out at the same time as the logo.
 * On Beakman's World, a CGI toy rocket flies around the Torch Lady.
 * An open-matte version can be seen on the Parker Lewis Can't Lose season 3 episodes, "Beauty and the Kube" and "Hungry Heart".
 * A rare 1.37:1 "academy" version exists.

FX/SFX : None. Except when it fades out, where the name along with the byline below dims out and later fades out completely.

Music/Sounds : Here are the main versions:
 * 1992-1994: The 1988 music from the previous logo. The Young and the Restless and Days of Our Lives were the two series who used this starting in mid-Spring 1993 and used it until New Years Eve 1993.
 * September 1993-2001: A 6-note majestic tune is heard; full of brass instruments composed by Dave Grusin.
 * 1994-2001: A re-composed version of the Grusin theme that's slightly re-arranged.

Music/Sounds Variants :
 * Sometimes, the ending theme of the show plays over it. An example is ONE Australia reruns of Walker, Texas Ranger.
 * There is a silent version of the logo.
 * A sped-up NTSC pitched tone version exists usually for early PAL prints.
 * A high-toned version exists usually for PAL prints.
 * On The Greatest '70s Cop Shows, the short Columbia TriStar Television Distribution theme was heard on the first regular episode of Police Woman (and it was also heard on Gidget Grows Up), and the long Columbia TriStar Television Distribution theme was heard on the pilot of Starsky & Hutch. This was the fact that it was a rushed job due to horrible plastering. The short CTTD theme is also heard on The Jeff Foxworthy Show on TBS and The Dana Carvey Show episode "The Mug Root Beer Dana Carvey Show" on DVD.
 * The short-lived 1997 series Ivanhoe used the second half of this logo in black & white.
 * For the black & white and color versions of CPTD as well as the color version of CPT on some episodes of Charlie's Angels, a warped version of the 1993 theme was sometimes used.
 * On syndicated reruns of the Early Edition episode "Red Fellas", the 1993 TriStar Television logo music is heard. This was probably due to a plaster error.
 * On the short-lived series Dark Skies starting on episode 2, "Moving Targets", as well as some episodes of Charlie's Angels and the 1996 TV movie Sudden Terror: The Hijacking of Bus #17, the Columbia TriStar Television theme is used.
 * On the CTHE DVD print of the season one Charlie's Angels episode "Night of the Strangler," the final note of the 1993 CPT theme echoes. (It is unknown if this is also the case for the Mill Creek DVD or Blu-ray versions of the same episode, or if the logo is even intact there.)
 * On a print of the TV movie To Kill a Cop, the 1976 theme is used.
 * It is rumored that some episodes of Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman have this logo paired with the elusive TAT Communications jingle (most likely due to rushed plastering).
 * On a Petersburg-Channel 5 airing of the TV movie Goliath Awaits, the 1992 theme starts from the second note.
 * On a DVD print of The Real Ghostbusters episode "Captain Steel Saves the Day," the Coca-Cola Telecommunications theme is heard due to bad plastering.
 * On a 2006 Channel 5 UK airing of the 1976 TV movie The Boy in the Plastic Bubble, the first 3 notes of the 1976 theme from the previous logos in PAL pitched tone playing faintly in the background before the correct 1993 theme in NTSC pitched tone appears, due to plastering over the older logo.

Availability : Surprisingly pretty common, as it has managed to pop up on several current prints of Sony series and movies even with the Sony Pictures Television logo plastering over logos.
 * The Young and the Restless and Days of Our Lives did not begin using this logo until 1993.
 * On local stations, it can be spotted quite frequently on Good Times.
 * The CPTD logo can also be found on TCM, the season 5 Good Times episode "The Evans Get Involved: Part I" on TV One, the end of The Producers (1968) on This TV, and at the front of Nevada Smith on GetTV.
 * The black & white version appeared on I Dream of Jeannie and Bewitched; it was also spotted at the beginning of the 1965 film Darling on TCM and some episodes of Dennis the Menace on Hulu (plastering the 1955 and 1960 Screen Gems logos).
 * This logo is available on DVD releases of the first seasons of All in the Family, Good Times, The Jeffersons, Charlie's Angels, and Sanford and Son (though it strangely doesn't appear on the Sanford and Son episodes "Coffins for Sale" and "TV or Not TV," and some Good Times episodes, such as "Black Jesus," instead use the 1988 logo as previously mentioned).
 * This logo is also seen on the original three DVD volume releases of The Real Ghostbusters, released by Sony in 2005. It is also seen on volume 1 of Married... with Children: The Most Outrageous Episodes and The Greatest '70s Cop Shows on DVD.
 * The version with the 1988 music can be seen on the VHS release of Married... with Children: It's a Bundyful Life, The Best of Beakman's World (the variant with the rocket) on VHS and DVD, at the start of a 1993 Columbia House VHS tape of Bewitched called "Love That Witch", on most episodes of the final season of Designing Women on DVD (a handful of episodes have the 1993 version, and the series finale "Gone with a Whim" has the SPT logo), and on the DVD prints of four season one episodes of Sanford and Son ("We Were Robbed," "A Pad for Lamont," "The Great Sanford Siege," and "The Piano Movers").
 * It also appeared at the end of The Partridge Family: C'mon Get Happy! on VHS--it's also likely preserved on other VHS tapes in the Screen Gems TV series. Weirdly on some episodes of Bewitched, this logo is seen in-between the 1965 Screen Gems logo and the Sony Pictures Television logo.
 * It's also seen at the end of The Graduate on Antenna TV. The CPT logo is present on several season 5 episodes of Barney Miller on the Shout! Factory DVD set, following the Four D Productions logo.
 * The logo was also spotted on an airing of Just You and Me, Kid on Antenna TV, plastering the first few seconds of the 1976 Columbia film logo.
 * It was also spotted on some episodes of The Jeff Foxworthy Show on TBS, surprisingly not falling victim to TBS's style of split-screen credits. However, it's intact on the 2015 complete-series DVD set from Mill Creek Entertainment.
 * This was also seen at the beginning of one airing of The Natural on Antenna TV.
 * A small handful of episodes of The Jeffersons were presumed to have this logo on the 2014 Mill Creek Entertainment release of season 2, with both the 1988 and the 1993 music, until it was discovered that every episode ends on SPT.
 * It also appeared at the beginning of airings of Moscow in the Hudson on This TV, which is actually quite odd. It can also be seen on Crackle prints of episodes of The Steve Harvey Show, The Critic, and season 3 of The Real Ghostbusters.
 * It's also retained on DVD releases of the first four seasons of Walker, Texas Ranger, but on the fifth season, it's plastered in favor of the CBS Paramount Network Television "Wallpaper" logo, and seasons 6-8 use the CBS Television Distribution logo. The DVD releases of season two (and presumably season three) of Police Story and season four of Police Woman have this as well.
 * On recent prints of the TV movie Goliath Awaits, it appears at both ends.

Editor's Note : A still logo of a painting that still looks exquisite even to this day, supplemented with some grand fanfares. It should be noted that this appeared almost a year before movies began using this new Torch Lady in 1993.

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Copyright Stamps : Here is some information about the copyright stamps on the CPT series and TV movies:
 * 1974-1984: Copyright © (year) by Columbia Pictures Television, A division of Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc.
 * 1984-1993: Copyright © (year) by Columbia Pictures Television, A division of CPT Holdings, Inc.
 * 1986-1987: Copyright © (year) Columbia Pictures Television (Used on the first two seasons of The Real Ghostbusters)
 * 1987-1988: COPYRIGHT © (year) BY TRI-STAR TELEVISION, A DIVISION OF TRI-STAR PICTURES, INC. (Used on 1988 aired episodes of My Two Dads, Buck James, and Werewolf, during S1)
 * 1987-1988: COPYRIGHT© (year) EMBASSY COMMUNICATIONS (Used on 1988 aired episodes of produced series by Embassy Communications)
 * 1988-1997: COPYRIGHT © (year) ELP COMMUNICATIONS (Used for Embassy's productions when it was renamed ELP Communications and went under CPT)
 * 1988-: Copyright © (year) CPT Holdings, Inc.
 * 1988-1998, 1999-2001?: Copyright © (year) Columbia Pictures Television, Inc.
 * 1988: Copyright © (year) Weekend Adventure Company (Used on the TV movie Weekend War)
 * 1991-1992: Copyright © (numeric year Roman numeric year) The Weinberger Company (Used on Baby Talk)
 * 1991: Copyright © (year) by HIGHER GROUND PRODUCTIONS (CANADA), INC. (Used on the TV movie Christmas on Division Street)
 * 1992-1993: COPYRIGHT © (numeric year Roman numeric year) ELP COMMUNICATIONS (Used on the 1st season of Beakman's World)
 * 1993: Copyright © (year) CPT/ABCP VENTURES (Used on Moon Over Miami)
 * 1998-1999: Copyright © (year) Global Entertainment Productions GmbH & Company Medien KG

Final Note : Columbia TriStar Television took over for then-current shows formerly ending with this logo by 2001, though the copyright holder at the end of each show would credit "Columbia Pictures Television, Inc." or "CPT Holdings, Inc." until 2002, shortly after the debut of the Sony Pictures Television logo. However, "CPT Holdings, Inc." is still being used today as the copyright holder of The Young and the Restless and old programs from their television library such as What's Happening!!, the Sony-owned Pyramid incarnations, and others, and would also be used on foreign shows by Sony Pictures Television International from 2002-2010.