Compiled by Andrew Batstone and Shadeed A. Kelly
Logo Pictures by Eric S., Shadeed A. Kelly and V of Doom
Editions by Shadeed A. Kelly, Bob Fish, V of Doom and Brendan Richards


Background: Grundy Television was formed in 1959 by Reg Grundy. In 1983, he formed the US television production company Reg Grundy Productions and established more companies in other countries. His companies were sold in 1996 to Pearson Television, which later was acquired by the RTL Group in 2000 and became part of the FremantleMedia company. In 2006, Grundy Television was merged with Australian TV production company Crackerjack Productions to form "FremantleMedia Australia". Today, Grundy's companies name still exist in Mexico and certain European countries.


Reg Grundy/Grundy Organisation/Organization/Television Productions

1st Logo
(1960-1980)

Nickname: "RG"

Logo: We see the words at the screen:


superimposed over a show’s closing scene after the credits. A stylized, cursive “RG” insignia (the initials of the company’s founder Reg Grundy) sits on the top (or top left) of the text, which is in a sans-serif font.

Later Variant: In about 1979, the logo's wording was changed to:

But a minor modification from about late 1979, the logo is slightly smaller and the spelling of “organisation” is modified with a “z” in place of the “s”.

FX/Cheesy Factor: None.

Music/Sounds: The end of the show's theme. On their game shows, the announcer would say "This has been a Grundy Organisation production produced by [TV Channel]. (announcer's name) speaking."

Availability: Seen after the credits of Grundy shows of the era, such as The Young Doctors, Blankety Blanks (Match Game), and on earlier episodes of Prisoner.

Scare Factor: Low.



2nd Logo
(1980-1990)

Nicknames: "The (Rolling) Diamond"

Logo: An animated wireframe diamond (or, in technical terms for this particular logo, an "icosahedron") – consisting of a hexagonal shape with lines criss-crossing its width and height – rolls towards the viewer from the screen’s centre, growing bigger as this occurs. As it finally settles in place, the words “GRUNDY” (in the diamond’s centre) and “TELEVISION” (below the diamond) simultaneously unfold onto the screen while the word “PRODUCTION” (in a different, thinner font) rises from the bottom of the screen.

Variants:

• Early-mid 1980: The word “Grundy Organization” (spanning the screen’s width) overlaps a static, 2D diamond. The text is solid except for the letters “R” and “G” - representing the initials of Reg Grundy – in the diamond’s centre. The word “production” sits on the bottom right of “organization”. This is the last logo to use initials of any kind.
• 1980-1983: Same static diamond as before, only “Grundy Organization Production” is rearranged below.
• 1983: The diamond is redesigned for a more “3D” look. The word “Grundy” lies right in the middle of the diamond, and the words “Television” (in the same font as “Grundy”) and “Production” (in a thin, sans serif font) are below.
• Circa 1982, Grundy decided to animate the diamond (as described above) using stop-frame animation (using a caption machine in this case). It debuted on the soap opera Sons & Daughters and eventually spread to other shows produced by Grundy. In the late ‘80s, it was redone in CGI for a smoother appearance (see details on 3rd logo).

FX:

• 1980-1983: None. It's a still logo.
• 1983-1990: The diamond spinning towards the viewer. The entire animated sequence is superimposed over the ending scene, making this a unique logo.

Cheesy Factor: The animation is rough on the 1983-1990 version.

Music/Sounds: The end of the show’s theme. See above for game show mentions.

Availability: Still seen on old episodes of Neighbours, Prisoner, The Young Doctors, and Sons & Daughters whenever they are re-run sometime.

Scare Factor: Low. A large wireframe diamond suddenly appearing out of nowhere and rolling into view could easily startle those who have never seen it before, but it is fondly recalled and familiar to a generation of Australian TV fans who grew up with Neighbours, Prisoner, Sale of the Century and countless others. Which is more than I can say for the next logo…



3rd Logo
(1988-1997)

Nicknames: "3-D Rotating Diamond", "Crystal Diamond", "CGI Rotating Diamond", "Silver Diamond", "Diamond of Steel"

Logo: On a nighttime background with stars, we have a crystal diamond (in this case, a 3D icosahedron) outlined in gold zooming out slowly to make its way to the center as it rotates. We later see a gold comet flying from left to right in the middle of the diamond to reveal the name "GRUNDY", fading and zooming in the middle of the diamond as it continues to rotate and later turns silver leaving the gold outline in place. As the comet passes by, we see yet another comet going to the opposite direction on the bottom of the diamond revealing the word "TELEVISION" as it fades in while the 2nd comet passes by from the opposite. We later see the name "PRODUCTION" fading in below.

Variants:

• Some series won't have the full animation. Just the second half of the animation.
• This logo appeared as an in-credit on the opening credits of Neighbours from 1988 to early 1992, although a still version of the "Rolling Diamond" was still used in the closing credits.
• This logo also appeared as an in-credit on some Australian game shows (inlcuding Perfect Match and Wheel of Fortune (not the American series by Merv Griffin.))
• On game shows like Sale of the Century, the logo zooms away to the top, leaving room for the copyright, then fading into the logo of the channel it aired on (e.g. the Nine Network for the show mentioned).
• In mid-1996, the byline "A Pearson Television company" replaced the word "Production".

FX: The diamond zooming out. The commets flying. The stars sparkling. The diamond rotating.

Music/Sounds: None, just the finishing of the end title theme from any show. However, the game shows do use a slight remix of the music from the show's theme, and the announcer signing-off (example being from Sale; "This is a Grundy Television Production for the Nine Network Australia. Peter Smith speaking").

Availability: Seen on reruns of Neighbours among other shows. Some series are succeded by the Pearson Television International logo.

Scare Factor: Low, but it's a pretty neat logo.



4th Logo
(1997-2006)

Nicknames: "Gold G", "G of Grievousness”, "CGI G", "Big G"

Logo: On a black background, a large, elliptical gold ring with a bronze aura forms in the centre of the screen while a white dot flies clockwise from the back and circumnavigates it. As this happens, the top right portion of the ring disappears and a gold trail is formed below, making up a stylized “G” shape. As the aura fades out, a curved boomerang-style trail is cut through the left side. A small point of light shines briefly on the top right end of the “G” upon completion. Throughout this formation, the word “GRUNDY” (in Cooperplate Gothic font in white) fades in below, with “A FREMANTLEMEDIA COMPANY” (in the same font, but smaller) a split second later.

Variants:

• In 1999, while the logo was being animated, the logo was shifted down some to reveal "40 YEARS" above the logo with an arc.
• There was also a still shot of the logo.

Bylines:

• 1997-2001: A Pearson Television Company
• 2001-2006: A FREMANTLEMEDIA COMPANY

FX: CGI.

Music/Sounds: Usually, the end of the show's theme. In the case of most game shows, there were three variations:

• The show's ending music was used when the logo was first shown on television.
• From early 1998, a majestic synth fanfare played during the logo's animation.
• In 1999, the music was changed to droning synth wind music, followed by a high-pitched stinger.

Availability: Seen on recent Neighbours episodes and all other recent Grundy shows. The version with the music appeared on early episodes of the Australian game show Temptation.

Scare Factor: None whatsoever, nice CGI too.
_______________________________________________________________

Reg Grundy Productions, Inc. (America)

(Early 1983-1997)

Nicknames: "The Turning RG", "3-D RG", "CGI RG", "RG Zoom-Out"

Logo: A remake of Australia's 1960 RG logo fading in zooms out from the center to right. We also see the name "REG GRUNDY PRODUCTION" underneath the logo all in gold fading in.

Variants:

• This logo was placed on a dark blue background with words "Distributed by"above "RG". Below the logo says "REG GRUNDY PRODUCTIONS, INC." The entire lettering and the "RG" logo were in gold with a slow shining wipe effect.
• On Sale of the Century and Scrabble, the logo spins from left to right.

FX: The turning "RG", the shining effect on the distributor logo.

Music/Sounds: For game shows, an upbeat, jazzy brass fanfare can be heard, along with the announcer saying "(name of show) is a Reg Grundy Production!" Other shows would have the end title music playing on any show. For the distributor logo, it's just the "whoosh" sound as the shining wipe effect.

Availability: Extremely rare. It appeared on Dangerous Women, Sale of the Century, and Scrabble, among others.

Scare Factor: Based on the logo variant:

• None for the in-credit logo version.
• Low for the distributor version.