Lorimar-Telepictures

Logo descriptions by Matt A., James Fabiano, and Adam P.
Logo captures by Bob Fish, Mr. Logo Lord, V of Doom, megamanj2004, and Pygmalion X
Editions by Shadeed A. Kelly and V of Doom
Video captures courtesy of pannoni 8, Pepsi9072, DrClaw77, JohnnyL80, and TrickyMario7654

Background: Lorimar-Telepictures Corporation (or simply "Lorimar-Telepictures") was officially formed on April 21, 1986 by the merger of Lorimar Productions and Telepictures Corporation, after it was announced on October 7, 1985 by Lorimar chairman Merv Adelson. In 1987, Lorimar-Telepictures' TV production and distribution units were rebranded as "Lorimar Television" and "Lorimar Distribution", though the latter business had no onscreen logo. On January 12, 1989, L-T was bought by Warner Communications (later "Time Warner", now "WarnerMedia") and was folded into Warner Bros. Television Distribution and became "Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution".

1st Logo
(January 6-September 18, 1986)

Nicknames: "Linewriter/Flying Parallelograms", "The Lorimar/Telepictures Combo", "Linecoaster", "Loripictures"

Logo: It's basically a combination of the 1978 Lorimar logo in red-orange, followed bythe 1983 version of the Telepictures "Flying Parallelograms" logo (which is shifted down on the screen and played slower).

Variants:

For the logo's first few months, the Telepictures logo would play first, then it will shift down to make room for Lorimar's animation.
It's superimposed on The $1,000,000 Chance of a Lifetime, where the Lorimar logo plays first, then the Telepictures logo plays.
On shows with the Rankin-Bass logo, both logos are in mid-formation and play at the same time. Here, the Telepictures theme will always play.

FX/SFX: The formation of the names.

Music/Sounds: The Telepictures and Lorimar themes playing for their respective animations.

Music/Sounds Variant: On The $1,000,000 Chance of a Lifetime, the Lorimar theme plays first, then the Telepictures "Rollercoaster" logo theme. The early version has it switched around.

Availability: This is a placeholder logo, so it's a pretty rare find.

It was seen on early syndicated airings of The $1,000,000 Chance of a Lifetime, as well as early-mid 1986 episodes of Dallas and Knots Landing, all of which have fallen to plastering to the later L-T and WBTV logos.
However, it can be seen on early episodes of SilverHawks, as well as the early S1 episodes of ThunderCats, all of which are intact on DVD and when last aired on RTV.

Editor's Note: All things considered, it's an adequate logo that harnessed the animations from both companies. But even so, the result just screams placeholder and considering its longevity, that makes sense.

2nd Logo
(September 1986-Spring 1989)

Nicknames: "L-T", "Fireworks", "Crashing Comets"

Logo: Two comet-like streaks with a blueish glow swerve toward each other. As the lines get closer, the ends of each start to gain a red glow. When the lines connect, a red fireworks-type effect flashes/explodes in the background, and the name "Lorimar-Telepictures" (which has both company names in their usual fonts in white 3D lettering, with a hyphen between them) zooms-up rapidly in the center. When it has finished zooming out, the red "fireworks" fade into a black background, which yet again, starts to fade to blue. Sparkles appear, making parts of the logo shine.

Variants:

It appears in-credit on some episodes of The People's Court and Love Connection.
Starting in 1987 on some shows, the background would remain black after the logo zooms in.
Some episodes of The $1,000,000 Chance of a Lifetime have the background fade to red.
Sometimes the trademark symbol "TM" would appear small, a bit bigger, or would feature none at all on the 1987 version.
It appears as a short version minus the twinkles or the 2nd half of the logo theme (such as on later S1 and S2 episodes of ThunderCats)
A warp-speed version also exists.
On the S1 Full House episode "Sea Cruise," the logo theme begins during the last second of the closing credits and then it cuts to the logo midway though the comets streaks animation.
On the 1988 TV movie Jack the Ripper, the word "and" is superimposed onto the logo until the lines connect with each other.

FX/SFX: The fireworks, and the "L-T" logo popping out. The animation was produced by Calico.

Music/Sounds: A 4-note royal-sounding synth horn fanfare combined with a tympani drum, with the last note being held. 3 short chimes are played along the sparkles appearing. The fanfare was arranged and composed by Score Productions. This logo was also played with the then-current Rankin-Bass logo at that time for animated shows.

Music/Sounds Variants:

Very rarely, the original 1971 Lorimar music (and even some special variations of it) was played with this logo (most likely a plastering error). This was spotted on a rerun of the first season of Perfect Strangers, and various episodes of Knots Landing on CBS Drama and the French FOX Life channels.
On original NBC broadcasts and as well as some reruns (namely on TV Land's 2005 50-hour marathon of Warner Bros. Television shows for their 50th anniversary) of The Hogan Family (2nd & 3rd season) (when it was originally titled Valerie and Valerie's Family respectively from 1986-1988), this logo's jingle was an odd-sounding high-tone variation, but in other reruns (namely the 2006 ABC Family reruns), it's usually plastered over with the 1992 version of the Lorimar Television logo with the end-title theme playing.
Over the end-title theme from any show or the respective logo theme, the announcer from any series would announce over the logo.
On some series, the logo theme didn't include the twinkle animation nor sound.
Some series would have the last half of the logo theme.
Sometimes, the logo is silent.
On the first season Full House episode "The Big Three-O" (DVD only) once the blue starry background comes up, the music fades out as it normally would on the short version, and the logo is silent for the rest of the duration.
On the Warner Archive DVD of The Stranger Within and on an 1986 episode of It's a Living, the music is played in a low-tone.
On a few episodes of It's a Living, the last few seconds of the end title theme would play over this logo before the final few seconds of the L-T jingle played.
On Jack The Ripper, it's the closing theme.

Music/Sounds Trivia: The short variant of the logo music appears at the end of track 7 of Neil Cicierega's Mouth Sounds mixtape, "Alanis".

Availability: Uncommon.

Seen on shows from the period, such as the 1980s Alvin and the Chipmunks starting with S4, Dallas (including most episodes from late S9-S11 on DVD), Knots Landing, Falcon Crest, the late 1980s version of Gumby titled Gumby Adventures (including the 2001 Rhino DVDs), Superior Court, The People's Court (Joseph Wapner-era), Love Connection, season 1 of Full House (including the S1 DVD issued by Warner Home Video, followed by the 2003 WBTD logo), as well as Perfect Strangers and the first season of Fun House.
Some episodes of Mama's Family also had this logo, but currently plaster it with either the Telepictures Distribution and/or the 1994 or 2003 Warner Bros. Television Distribution logos (with the music intact surprisingly), except on the episodes "Cellmates" and "Mama's Boyfriend" as featured on the 2013 S1 DVD release.
Later S1 ThunderCats episodes also had this logo (was rerun on Toonami years ago; 2 volumes of the show on DVD have it), as well as the short-lived game shows Perfect Match and The $1,000,000 Chance of a Lifetime.
It was also seen on Freddy's Nightmares; some current airings plaster this with the Warner Bros. Television logo, however it is still available on VHS releases and was seen on some episodes of the said show on the now-defunct Chiller.
It currently appears on two episodes of Tales from the Darkside on SyFy (including the one with the potato bug); the LBS Communications and Tribune logos are seen on most episodes.
This has also appeared on some international reruns of the 1st 2 seasons of ALF as well, along with ALF: The Animated Series.
On the short-lived Max Headroom, most episodes on the now-defunct TechTV plastered it with the 2001 WBTD logo, yet retain it on most episodes on the newest DVD set from Shout! Factory (preceding the 1990 WBTD logo).
Strangely, this logo was seen after the Filmways and MGM logos on the Mister Ed episode "Love Thy New Neighbor" on ThisTV.
It's also seen on the 1987 Family Home Entertainment VHS release of Gumby's Supporting Cast, a 2004 Telemundo broadcast of Return of the Living Dead Part II, at the end of the original VHS releases of The Boy Who Could Fly and The Morning After, recent international and Light TV reruns of Heathcliff and the Cadillac Cats (only at the beginning of the show), and seasons 4-5 of It's a Living as well, following the Witt/Thomas Productions logo.

Editor's Note: Highly regarded among the logo community due to its nostalgic value, beautiful animation and splendid fanfare.

Lorimar-Telepictures

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