Background: ABC Studios was originally formed as the original Touchstone Television, which was then renamed as "ABC Television Studios" in February 2007, before it was renamed again to its current name in May 2007. On August 10, 2020, ABC Studios was folded into ABC Signature.
1st Logo (May–September 23, 2007)[]
Logo: On a white background, a black ABC circle iris in on the left with the text text "studios" in the same font as the ABC logo, with a shadow effect rises up from the middle of the screen on the right side of the logo.
FX/SFX: The circle wipe and text appearing.
Music/Sounds: None.
Availability: Rare. Appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live on ABC, season 2 of Kyle XY on ABC Family, and some ABC summer programs during 2007.
2nd Logo (September 24, 2007-September 2013)[]
Nicknames: "The Silhouettes", "Silhouettes Working on Set", "ABC Camera"
Logo: On a white/silver background, we see silhouettes of people working, carrying ladders, cameras, etc. as if they were working on a studio. then we rapidly zoom to a lens of a camera, which overtakes the screen. Then we see the ABC logo, in 3D with a "glossy" texture, with "studios" next to it, in a dark background with a small blue streak passing by, similar to the "Start Here" graphics from the 2007 fall season.
Trivia: The whole logo appears to be a throwback to the classic 1962 "An ABC Presentation" camera logo. At the beginning of the logo, the numbers 4, 8, 15, and 16 appear on the clapper, then 15 and 16 change to 23 and 42. These are the recurring numbers from Lost. Design-wise, this logo was probably the work of Troika Design Group, who were behind the "Start Here" look.
Variant:
- A shorter widescreen version was seen on the second season of Dirt.
- Both widescreen and full screen versions exist.
- There was a variant in 2008 where Bolt (from the Walt Disney Animation Studios movie of the same name) was shown in the camera lens then barks loudly and looks at the camera.
- On Ringer, there was a very short variant where it simply shows the logo in a dark background with a small blue streak passing by from the left to right. This version is also silent (excluding the pilot). Also, some original airings of Lost used a slightly extended version of that.
- A shorter version exists.
FX/SFX: The people moving around and the 3-D ABC logo shining.
Music/Sounds: A bass drum "boom" sound is heard, then an uplifting, five-note orchestration, mixed with twinkle sounds (the first four notes are the ABC jingle from 1998-present). It is rarely heard however, as ABC either places its own generic music or the closing theme on the logo, while it is more commonplace outside the US. On Scrubs, the logo is silent.
Music/Sounds Variants:
- There is a longer version of the theme.
- On season 1 episodes of Castle, only the clap sound of the clapper is heard. This is due to an audio mixing error; the music in the left/right channels of the 5.1 soundtrack is missing, and only the clap in the center channel remains.
- On seasons 2-5 of Castle, some episodes of the last 3 seasons of Desperate Housewives, some later episodes of the short-lived Legend of the Seeker, episode 20 of season 6, episode 14 of season 7, episodes 6 and 14 of season 8, and later season 9 episodes of Grey's Anatomy, the clap sound plays over the music.
- On the shorter version, after a bass drum "boom" sound finishes, the theme is shortened to the last two notes.
- On the last few episodes of season 4 of Criminal Minds, you can hear the end of the CBS Paramount Television "Wallpaper" logo's music before the ABC Studios logo's shorter version audio starts.
Availability: Common. It's on just about any show produced by ABC before 2013 (i.e. Desperate Housewives, Grey's Anatomy, Scrubs etc.), excluding ABC's own broadcasts, which instead feature in-credit mention for the studio (since 2009); VOD and home media releases have the logo though (DVDs even have it as a de facto home video logo). It can also be seen on Criminal Minds and Ghost Whisperer on CBS, and other ex-Touchstone shows (except for post-2007 episodes of Monk). The version with the music was last seen on Jimmy Kimmel Live on ABC and the short-lived Legend of the Seeker in syndication. It also plasters Touchstone logos on later prints of Felicity.
3rd Logo (September 2013-2020)[]
Logo: On a dark, murky background, a pale yellow spotlight fades in, moving towards the top-right of the screen. It flashes brightly for a moment, and some of its light morphs into the 2013 ABC logo and the word "studios" written next to it in the ABC font. The word and logo shine and zoom in. The spotlight continues to move towards the corner, gradually fading out, leaving just the ABC logo and "studios" written on the once again murky background.
Variants:
- An early version features the spotlight and ABC logo tint in red.
- There is a variant in which the light and ABC Studios logo simply fade and zoom in. This version looks much cheaper.
Effects: The spotlight shining and moving, the logo and word fading, shining and zooming in.
Music/Sounds: A light 6-note synthesised glockenspiel tune, followed by a deep synthesised sounder in a different key.
Music/Sounds Variants:
- The prototype version used from September to the end of November 2013 was silent.
- On some shows like Inhumans, only the glockenspiel is heard.
- Sometimes the music from the previous logo is heard.
- Starting with Agent Carter, the theme is slightly slowed-down.
- An extended version of the theme exists. This is seen on the extended variant.
Availability: Common. The standard pale yellow version appeared on programming of the period, such as Jimmy Kimmel Live and Betrayal. The red version appeared on early episodes of Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Again, this does not appear on the actual ABC broadcasts of some of these shows (exceptions being Nashville, Designated Survivor, and The Muppets), which have the in-credit mention.
4th Logo
(2016-2020)[]
Logo: We see the ABC logo (in gray tones) zooming out to the left part of the screen, showing the word "studios" with a flash below (which gradually disappear) on a gray background with a glow.
Variant: A red-colored version exists.
FX/SFX: The logo zooming out and the flash.
Music/Sounds: None.
Availability: Seen at the beginning of international prints of ABC shows such as Once Upon a Time, as well as international airings of Disney-owned theatrical films such as Ed Wood and Honey I Shrunk the Kids.