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Columbia TriStar Television |
Version 98 - view current page
Compiled by Eric Hartman, Jason Jones, James Fabiano, Matt Williams, Ryan Mead, and Michael Bode
Editions and images by Shadeed A. Kelly and others
Background: Columbia TriStar Television was a merger of Columbia Pictures Television and TriStar Television (after branding Columbia TriStar Home Video). It was founded in 1994 after taking over Merv Griffin Enterprises, and used a logo since the inception, being renamed and rebranded as Sony Pictures Television in 2002.
1st Logo
(1994-1999)
Nickname: "Early Boxes of Boredom"
Logo: On a solid blue background, we see two boxes, the left one contains the Columbia Torch Lady (90s version), and the right one contains the TriStar Pegasus (again, 90s version over Columbia cloud BG). Above the logo, "COLUMBIA TRISTAR" is seen, with the words positioned over their respective logos, and on the bottom is the word "TELEVISION" and the standard Sony Pictures Entertainment byline.
Announcers: From 1994-1995, there were different announcements over the logo and fanfare.
This was the time when both game shows were taken over by Columbia TriStar Television.
In A Hurry?: This is basically Columbia TriStar's home video logo, but "HOME VIDEO" is edited out to put "TELEVISION" in, and a Sony disclaimer is added.
FX: No animation used for this logo.
Music: A re-arranged of the infamous CPT '93 theme done by Steven Kaplan.
Availability: Actually quite rare; appeared on GSN up until their infamous "Dark Period", then was replaced with the current logo. Also could have been spotted on Jeopardy!, Wheel of Fortune (until July 1996), and some network shows. Generally during this time, however, whatever logos the shows were always using were used; C-Tmania did not start until 1997. Was last seen back in 2002 on reruns of Men in Black: The Series on Nickelodeon's short-lived "SLAM!" block. It can also be found on VHS releases of the 1998 movie Godzilla on a Godzilla: The Series promo. Was also last seen on season 4 of Early Edition in 1999.
Scare Factor: None.
2nd Logo
(1996-2002)
Nicknames: "The Sliding Boxes", "The Boxes of Boredom"
Logo: We start out with a background of clouds, which happens to be a lighter conception of the 1993 CTHV into logo, and a blank square is shown. The square divides into 2 where the current Columbia Torch Lady appears in the left square and the TriStar Pegasus in the right. The words "COLUMBIA TRISTAR" appear above the boxes and "TELEVISION" or "TELEVISION DISTRIBUTION" on the bottom with "a SONY PICTURES ENTERTAINMENT company" below everything else.
Variations:
FX: The box fading in and spliting.
Music: Same as the last logo.
Music Variations:
Availability: Pretty common today, but not as common as in years past. With this outfit being changed to the Sony name, it will no longer appear on new prints of classic Sony-owned shows or those in production. However, this logo is still not hard to spot, although it's mainly on near-recent prints of shows reran on cable, like All in the Family, The Jeffersons, several Sanford and Son episodes and majority Just Shoot Me! episodes on TV Land including 1998-2002 episodes of Dawson's Creek on The N, Walker Texas Ranger on USA, 1999-2001 eps. of Dragon Tales on PBS Kids and PBS Kids Sprout, occasionally on Sony owned programs on GSN, and local TV like The Jeffersons, who would have the CTTD logo after 1979-1981 episodes. However, the CTDT logos can also be seen on season 2 DVD releases of All in the Family and Sanford and Son among others. CTTD or CTDT can also be spotted on several Sony classic movies on TCM occasionally.
Scare Factor: Depending on the logo variant:
![Columbia TriStar Television - CLG Wiki]( "Columbia TriStar Television - CLG Wiki")
Editions and images by Shadeed A. Kelly and others
Background: Columbia TriStar Television was a merger of Columbia Pictures Television and TriStar Television (after branding Columbia TriStar Home Video). It was founded in 1994 after taking over Merv Griffin Enterprises, and used a logo since the inception, being renamed and rebranded as Sony Pictures Television in 2002.
1st Logo
(1994-1999)
Nickname: "Early Boxes of Boredom"
Logo: On a solid blue background, we see two boxes, the left one contains the Columbia Torch Lady (90s version), and the right one contains the TriStar Pegasus (again, 90s version over Columbia cloud BG). Above the logo, "COLUMBIA TRISTAR" is seen, with the words positioned over their respective logos, and on the bottom is the word "TELEVISION" and the standard Sony Pictures Entertainment byline.
Announcers: From 1994-1995, there were different announcements over the logo and fanfare.
- Wheel of Fortune (Charile O'Donnell) Created by Merv Griffin. (On the Wheel of Fortune/Califon card with the drumroll) Wheel of Fortune is produced by (on the CTT logo) Columbia TriStar Television! (on the King World logo) Distributed by King World.
- Jeopardy! (Johnny Gilbert) This is Johnny Gilbert speaking...Jeopardy! was created by Merv Griffin. (on the Jeopardy! title card) Produced by (on the CTT logo) Columbia TriStar Television (on the King World logo) Distributed by King World.
This was the time when both game shows were taken over by Columbia TriStar Television.
In A Hurry?: This is basically Columbia TriStar's home video logo, but "HOME VIDEO" is edited out to put "TELEVISION" in, and a Sony disclaimer is added.
FX: No animation used for this logo.
Music: A re-arranged of the infamous CPT '93 theme done by Steven Kaplan.
Availability: Actually quite rare; appeared on GSN up until their infamous "Dark Period", then was replaced with the current logo. Also could have been spotted on Jeopardy!, Wheel of Fortune (until July 1996), and some network shows. Generally during this time, however, whatever logos the shows were always using were used; C-Tmania did not start until 1997. Was last seen back in 2002 on reruns of Men in Black: The Series on Nickelodeon's short-lived "SLAM!" block. It can also be found on VHS releases of the 1998 movie Godzilla on a Godzilla: The Series promo. Was also last seen on season 4 of Early Edition in 1999.
Scare Factor: None.
2nd Logo
(1996-2002)
Nicknames: "The Sliding Boxes", "The Boxes of Boredom"
Logo: We start out with a background of clouds, which happens to be a lighter conception of the 1993 CTHV into logo, and a blank square is shown. The square divides into 2 where the current Columbia Torch Lady appears in the left square and the TriStar Pegasus in the right. The words "COLUMBIA TRISTAR" appear above the boxes and "TELEVISION" or "TELEVISION DISTRIBUTION" on the bottom with "a SONY PICTURES ENTERTAINMENT company" below everything else.
Variations:
- On some Game Show Network reruns (mostly old episodes of Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune), Charlie O'Donnell says "Columbia TriStar Television" over the fanfare. This is presumably done to blend in with the spiel at the end of the program and cover up the end reference to King World.
- There is another version where a darker box zooms back and then splits to form the logo. This version was seen on Walker, Texas Ranger and Seinfeld.
- A silent version existed for the short version of CTTD.
- The company name was changed entirely to Columbia TriStar Domestic Television in 2001. The logo was also expanded in ratio size in observance to High Definition programming. This version has been nicknamed "Enhanced Boxes of Boredom."
- There also was a variant featuring an "in association with" on the top left corner of the logo on CTTD.
- There's also a black & white variant.
FX: The box fading in and spliting.
Music: Same as the last logo.
Music Variations:
- Sometimes a shorter version of the jingle is used, only about the second half of the long version. This version of the music sounds like a reorchestration and not a truncation of the regular logo. This is mostly seen on the "TELEVISION DISTRIBUTION" variation of the logo.
- On some TriStar produced shows (especially Mad About You and Early Edition) the ending of the original TriStar movie theme from 1992-1993 or even TriStar's '93-'99 television theme was played. This was started in 1997.
- The 1987 CPT theme was also heard on this logo on several Three Stooges shorts part of Stooge TV on The Family Channel. Short version of CTTD only.
- On several 2001-2002 episodes of Jackie Chan Adventures, there was a high and a low tone included based on the theme song.
Availability: Pretty common today, but not as common as in years past. With this outfit being changed to the Sony name, it will no longer appear on new prints of classic Sony-owned shows or those in production. However, this logo is still not hard to spot, although it's mainly on near-recent prints of shows reran on cable, like All in the Family, The Jeffersons, several Sanford and Son episodes and majority Just Shoot Me! episodes on TV Land including 1998-2002 episodes of Dawson's Creek on The N, Walker Texas Ranger on USA, 1999-2001 eps. of Dragon Tales on PBS Kids and PBS Kids Sprout, occasionally on Sony owned programs on GSN, and local TV like The Jeffersons, who would have the CTTD logo after 1979-1981 episodes. However, the CTDT logos can also be seen on season 2 DVD releases of All in the Family and Sanford and Son among others. CTTD or CTDT can also be spotted on several Sony classic movies on TCM occasionally.
Scare Factor: Depending on the logo variant:
- None with the standard, long, short version, and high tone themes; this is a good logo, but it was also wildly hated by many people for several years due to its over-common presence and use of plastering old logos, until the Sony Pictures Television logo came around in 2002, and that's when things went from tolerable, to bad, to worse, MUCH WORSE.
- Minimum with the 1987 and 1993 TriStar Television themes.
- Low with the 1987 CPT theme. Some may still have bad memories with the 1987 CPT logo and fanfare.
