Touchstone TelevisionThis is a featured page

Logo descriptions by Matt Williams and Kris Starring
Logo captures by Eric S., Shadeed A. Kelly, Wisp2007, snelfu, V of Doom, and others
Editions by Shadeed A. Kelly, Eric S. and V of Doom
Video captures courtesy of Royger Short and JohnnyL80


Background: This was the television arm of Touchstone Pictures established in 1985 under The Walt Disney Co. to produce adult-oriented shows and TV movies. In February 2007, Touchstone Television was renamed to ABC Television Studio, which was renamed again to ABC Studios in May 2007; however, from 2007-2009, Touchstone Television survived as an in-name-only unit of ABC Studios until it's final season of Monk on USA


1st Logo
(March-April 1985)

Nickname: "Thunderball Shattering Light"Touchstone Films (1984)

Logo: Just the 1984-1985 Touchstone Films logo but was sped-up.

FX/SFX: The blue ball zoom out, the flash of the thunder; simple animation.

Music/Sounds: A short piano sounder with bells on the collision.

Availability: Extinct. It was most likely only seen on the short-lived ABC series Wildside.

Scare Factor: None.



2nd Logo
(September 1985-2004)
Touchstone Films "Snake" (1985)Touchstone Pictures "Snake" (1986)Touchstone Television - CLG WikiTouchstone Television (1985)Touchstone Television: 1991
Touchstone Television (1989)Touchstone Television (1986)Touchstone Television 1994Touchstone Television 1995

Nickname: "The Snake"


Logo: Same as the "Snake" movie logo, only the parts with the elongated circle are deleted. The text "TOUCHSTONE TELEVISION" is aside the blue circle, and the text has the lightning going through it. When it reaches the circle, the circle flashes and the lightning appears.

Variants:
  • On some shows (especially 90s rerun prints of Witt-Thomas shows), there would be a copyright info saying the year, and Touchstone Films (later Touchstone Pictures and Television). The font for the copyright info may vary.
  • It was referred to its respective theatrical counterparts during its first three seasons ("TOUCHSTONE FILMS" from 1985-1987, "TOUCHSTONE PICTURES" from 1987-1988).

FX/SFX: The flash, lightning and somewhat simple animation.


Music/Sounds: Same as the first logo. In some cases, the ending theme would play over.

Music/Sounds Variants:
  • Some international rerun prints of The Golden Girls would have the 1985 Buena Vista Television chimes theme playing over the logo.
  • On the short-lived series The Oldest Rookie, the last half of the Touchstone Pictures theme is heard.

Availability: Common; can be seen on most non-family programs produced by the Walt Disney Company, specifically reruns of Home Improvement on Nick at Nite, TBS, WGN America, and in local syndication, My Wife & Kids on ABC Family, Boy Meets World (whenever any network decides to re-air it) and The Golden Girls on Hallmark Channel, WE: Women's Entertainment, and on DVD. This logo has also usually been plastered with (or is followed by) the 1995 or 2005 Buena Vista Television distribution logo; an example is The Golden Girls when it was aired on Lifetime, which had the Buena Vista logo featuring the Touchstone copyright information.

Scare Factor: Minimal, the different music makes it feel less ominous than the movie logo.



3rd Logo
(2004-December 4, 2009)
Touchstone Television ( 2004)

Nicknames: "Flash", "CGI Thunderball"

Logo: Basically a sped-up version of the 2003 Touchstone Pictures logo. We see a light shining over a black screen. The light condenses and we see the gold stone from past Touchstone logos over a blue sphere. Finally, the words...

TOUCHSTONE
T E L E V I S I O N

zoom out to their place under the sphere.

FX/SFX: It's all CGI.

Music/Sounds: Usually
silence or the show's ending theme. Sometimes, it used the previous logo's music.

Availability: Common; appeared on Touchstone Television's programs from 2004 to 2007, such as Less Than Perfect was found to have the old jingle, while other shows like 8 Simple Rules, My Wife & Kids, Scrubs, Lost, and Monk, among others continued to feature the ending theme.

Scare Factor: None.


VofDoom
VofDoom
Latest page update: made by VofDoom , Feb 7 2010, 11:42 PM EST (about this update About This Update VofDoom Edited by VofDoom

1 word added
1 word deleted

view changes

- complete history)
More Info: links to this page
Started By Thread Subject Replies Last Post
gabrielboros Still Being Used. 4 Feb 18 2008, 3:30 AM EST by Shadeed329
Thread started: Feb 16 2008, 11:03 PM EST  Watch
This logo can still be found on new episodes of Monk.
4  out of 4 found this valuable. Do you?    
Keyword tags: Touchstone Television
Show Last Reply
Showing 1 of 1 threads for this page

Related Content

  (what's this?Related ContentThanks to keyword tags, links to related pages and threads are added to the bottom of your pages. Up to 15 links are shown, determined by matching tags and by how recently the content was updated; keeping the most current at the top. Share your feedback on Wetpaint Central.)