Paramount Television

Logos[]

1st logo (1949-1955): On a grey background with some random shadows, there is the following:

A

Paramount Television

Production

...with "Paramount", "Television" and "Production" in their famous script in white letters, with a prominent shadow effect over the background.

Variant[]

Some shows such as Time for Beany would have the text at the bottom of the title card reading as "a Paramount Television Presentation".

2nd logo (1959-1961?): It's the same as their movie counterpart of the time, but with several differences:

This time it's referred as "Paramount Pictures", not as "A Paramount Picture".
The text "PRODUCED BY", in a Times New Roman-like font, appears above the Paramount name.

Variants[]

On the game show Seven Keys, an in-credit version of the print logo of the time period was seen. This one has no sky and the word "Pictures" was replaced with "TELEVISION PRODUCTIONS INC." stacked word by word and on the bottom of the mountain is a byline reading "A SUBSIDIARY OF Paramount Pictures Corporation" with "Paramount Pictures Corporation" in its trademark script.
Another superimposed variant exists of in-credit text that reads "in association with PARAMOUNT TELEVISION PRODUCTIONS, INC.".

3rd logo (1968): On a blue background, there is a black mountain and the words "A Gulf+Western Company" in white. Suddenly, a white filled-in circle border makes an iris-in effect behind the mountain. The "Paramount" name, which is written in its majestic script font and appears in black, pops in while 22 white stars appear around the border, starting in the middle and going downward. The word "Paramount" immediately moves upward to make room for "Television" below it, in the same typeface. Below the logo are two subtitles, both in white: "COPYRIGHT © MCMLXVIII BY PARAMOUNT PICTURES CORPORATION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED" in a more standard type, and "Paramount Pictures Corporation" in the Paramount logo font.

Variants[]

One of 6 visual variants were used:

For 2/3 of its existence, a small pre-1968 Paramount's print logo appeared alongside the copyright information, while the rest of the 1968 mid season had just the text.
Variants 3 and 4 had the standard format as the first two, with the addition of the Norway Corporation, as credited on Star Trek.
For variants 5 and 6, the logo appears with the copyright, but without the Gulf+Western byline. This was featured on Mission: Impossible and Mannix, respectively.

4th logo (1968-1969): Against a yellow background is a blue rectangle which is split into two sections; the left and the larger contains the words:

PARAMOUNT

TELEVISION

A DIVISION OF PARAMOUNT PICTURES CORPORATION

Besides the last line, all are set in Eurostile font (the company byline appears to be set in Trade Gothic font). "PARAMOUNT" has the largest typeface, and the other two lines are progressively smaller. On the smaller right side of the rectangle is a Paramount logo with a blue or white border and white or blue mountain. The picture zooms-up to the logo, which kind of looks like a blue and white version of the "Rising Circle" ("A Gulf+Western Company" and copyright message appears at the bottom of the white mountain) except the word "Television" is not present. Also, the copyright stamp appears when the picture zooms in.

Variants[]

There was a variation seen on Here's Lucy in which the mountain has no bylines or copyrights.
Around September-November 1968, the word "Corporation" is missing on the rectangle on some shows.
Star Trek has a special variant with Norway Corporation credited.
On Mission: Impossible and Mannix, the logo appears with the copyright only. This will linger on through the first 2 months of M:I's 4th season and Mannix's 3rd season, as the first 4 episodes didn't feature the copyright on the ending theme just yet.

A version exists with the Paramount copyright. This was seen between 1969-1971.
On Mission: Impossible and Mannix, this logo appears with the copyright only.
A still variant with the text "IN ASSOCIATION WITH" above exists on reruns of The Brady Kids.
A color-faded version can be spotted on the Visual Entertainment, Inc. DVD print of the season 1 Petrocelli episode "Mirror, Mirror on the Wall...".

5th logo (Closet Killer) (1969-1976): Same as the 1968 logo, but with a red background and blue and white logo.

6th logo (1975-1988): There is only the finished product of the 1975 movie logo, but more defined this time. The mountain has been modified to give more room for the word "Television" by compressing the mountain about one viewer's inch and downgrading the amount of indentations (or impressions) to 4 from its standard of 5. On a sky blue background, there is a near-circle made by 22 white stars. The near-circle contains a navy blue backdrop and a flat mountain in another shade of blue with the word "Paramount" in white above it. Below the mountain are the words:

A

Gulf+Western

Company

The word "Television" comes from the right and slides in below "Paramount". Same alignment as the first logo.

Variants[]

By around 1982, a new version of the Paramount Television logo was introduced, utilizing the standard template of the main logo with all 5 indentations intact. As a result, the word "Television" overlaps the tip. This was mainly used on Webster, though the premiere episode, "Another Ballgame", used the regular variant with the 1981 theme.
Toward the end of the run of The Brady Brides on Fox Family in 1999, a still shot of this logo was shown before the compressed credits (a la the "CGI Mountain" logo).
In the final 2 years of this logo, Paramount used videotape trickery. Instead of letting the film clip roll as usual, what they do is show a still of the logo with just "Paramount". Then they allow "Television" to slide in, and then it reverts back to a still image. This can be seen on the first two seasons of MacGyver and a few early episodes of Friday the 13th: The Series.
Filmed and videotaped versions exist.
On some TV specials, a still variant of the movie logo (without the sliding word "Television") was used.
At the start of a 1982 outtake reel of The New Odd Couple, after the word "Television" slides in, the entire mountain's backdrop is replaced with a man barking like a dog. At the end of the outtake reel, immediately after the word "Television" slides in, the entire logo explodes as laughter is heard in the background. (You can view the outtake reel here).
Film-deteriorated variants exist on a Me-TV airing of the season 6 Happy Days episode "Kid Stuff" and the DVD print of the season 2 Petrocelli episode "Face of Evil".

7th logo (1987-2006): There is only the finished product of the 1986 movie logo. It is sometimes still, while other times it has the animated clouds moving westward in the background.

Bylines[]

On the bottom, the following bylines were used:

1987-October 1989: "A Gulf+Western Company" (aligned similarly to the last logo)
October 1989-95: "A Paramount Communications Company" with a line above the byline. From 1989-92 and 1994-95, the byline was in gold. From 1990-95, the byline was in white.
1995-2006: "A VIACOM COMPANY" (styled after Viacom's logo of the era), with a line above the byline.

Variants[]

An early variant of this logo with a "75th Anniversary" text appeared on early 1987 episodes of Entertainment Tonight.
On some shows such as Taxi on TNN (now Spike TV), the logo (with a Paramount Communications byline) was plastered over the Blue Mountain's music and older Bosom Buddies reruns on TBS, the logo [with a Gulf+Western byline] was plastered over the Blue Mountain's music, too. This also happened when Fox Family (now Freeform) showed episodes of Mork & Mindy and The Brady Brides, but used the Viacom mountain. This version can also be found on repeats of several Mork & Mindy episodes when they last aired on the Hub Network (now Discovery Family). If you haven't seen already, this run of The Brady Brides also had another unique occurrence.
Strangely, when Nicktoons were syndicated to some local stations around 1994, this logo was seen, but like Taxi, had the 1975 logo's music.
There is a special bylineless version which appears on a Star Trek: Voyager special and in the opening of some episodes from Cinar's (now DHX Media) The Busy World of Richard Scarry.
Starting in 1995, when the logo is shown closer, it's from Paramount Network Television. However, if it's further away, it's from Paramount Domestic Television.
There is a grayscale variation seen on reruns of black & white shows such as seasons 1-5 of The Andy Griffith Show.
Early episodes of Star Trek: Enterprise feature this logo in letterboxed format.
During the Paramount Communications era, airings of TV movies would close the movie with the full logo's animation and then fade out before the byline faded in, technically creating a bylineless TV variant.
The 1995 network variant often appeared with a noticeably chyroned Viacom byline, and was a still variant.
During the credits on a 1994 airing of Wings, the Paramount Communications era logo appears with a very large mountain, small stars, and a small Paramount wordmark, possibly because of the small space in the right side of the screen. The Paramount Communications byline even takes up 2 lines instead of 1 line like the original logo.

8th logo (1987-1989): Just an in-credit text that says:

Distributed by

————————

Paramount Television

Domestic Distribution, Inc.

9th logo (February 4, 2002-August 27, 2006): There is only the finished product of the 2002 movie logo, with the movement of the clouds being the only animation. Like the 5th logo, when the logo is shown closer, it's from Paramount Network Television. However, if it's further away, it's from Paramount Domestic Television.

Variants[]

The 90th Anniversary version appeared from February 2002 through December of that year. A still frame of that logo was used only on Montel
A widescreen version is used on Star Trek: Enterprise.
Just like the 5th logo, this logo exists in both 4:3 and 16:9.
There was a still shot of the domestic version that was also used on Montel as well as Lifetime airings of the first episode of Frasier.
A still shot of the Network logo was also used
On the short-lived drama Blind Justice, it shows a portion of the end of the animated movie logo.

10th logo (2012): Technically just an in-credit logo. There is the Paramount Pictures print logo with the Viacom byline in the "Wigga Wigga" font with "In association with" above the logo.

11th logo (2015-): On the background of the current Paramount logo, there is the mountain already in the distance. Then, 22 stars encircle the mountain. At the same time, one by one, the words "Paramount Television" zoom out to the top of the mountain. The 2010 Viacom byline fades in.

Variants[]

Nearly a month after Minority Report premiered, starting with episode 4, the animation is slowed down.
A still version appears on Vinyl.
On School of Rock, the logo is on the bottom-left corner of the screen, and the logo is silent like other companies logos in Nickelodeon shows as the network only uses split-screen credits today. This only appears on original airings, otherwise if you were to view it online, this would not be the case.
One airing of Grease Live! showed the first couple seconds of the logo before cutting it off early due to time.
Starting with later episodes of Vinyl, the logo was updated considerably. As with before the logo is still. A fully animated version didn't debut until Berlin Station premiered. Compared to the other versions, the animation is smoother, the stars are at an angle at first but tilt to position and the text has better animation (and also shines) and both the text and stars are a brownish color.
A new variant was introduced in 2017 where it's just a still image of the theatrical logo.

Music/Sounds[]

1st logo: None or the intro and outro of the series.

2nd logo: A majestic fanfare.

3rd logo: The two main themes from Desilu Productions.

4th logo:

September 1968-1969: A majestic 7-note horn fanfare.
September 1969: An 8-note horn-driven jingle written by Dominic Frontiere a.k.a. "The Closet Killer".

5th logo: There were two themes for this logo:

The first is the last 8-note horn-driven jingle written by Dominic Frontiere that was used on the "yellow split rectangle", best known as the "Closet Killer", of which there are two versions.
The other is a faster version of what will later be known as the "Blue Mountain" music by Lalo Schifrin and Robert Drasnin. The first three of its many versions were used for the "Split Box" logo.

Music/Sounds Variants[]

1969: The same Dominic Frontiere jingle used on the previous logo. Notes 4-7 are louder. This applied to most of the 1969 fall season.
1969-1971: An alternate "Closet Killer" theme; the first three notes are slower than the rest, and the remainder of the theme is faster.
It was later switched in late 1970 to an 8-note sped-up, tinkly horn fanfare composed by Schifrin. Known only as the "Color ID", Lalo Schifrin's jingle was slowed down in 1972 to a thick pounding drum rendition, and again in 1974 to a more dramatic sounder, referred to as the "Pound & Drop" version. This signature would eventually be redone for the following logo.
An extreme high tone version was used.
When TBS aired The Brady Bunch around the late 80's or early 90's, one season one episode had the first version of the "Closet Killer" in a low-tone.
On the DVD print of the War of the Worlds TV series episode "Eye For An Eye", it uses the 1987 fanfare! This could very well indeed be due to a strange plastering error.
In some extremely rare cases, it used the closing theme of the show, as in the case of the 1973-74 animated Star Trek series.

6th logo:

1969-1970: An extended version of Frontiere's "Closet Killer" jingle; at least two arrangements are known to exist.
Circa 1971: A fast-paced piece composed by Lalo Schifrin.
Circa 1972: An extended horn-driven variation of the Schifrin arrangement introduced in the previous logo.
Other than that, generally the closing theme of the show, or none at all.

7th logo: A slower version of the Lalo Schifrin jingle first heard with "Split 2". There were many variations throughout the '70s and '80s. There is also one completely different theme composed by Jerry Goldsmith used in 1977. And here are the music variations on this logo. This is going to get complicated, so let's explain this simply:

1975-1976: Marching band rendition of the Lalo Schifrin jingle.
1976-1977: An 8-note horn fanfare composed by Jerry Goldsmith. A high tone theme also exists.
1977-1978: Redone version of Jerry Goldsmith's jingle, sounding a little slower and more majestic.
1978-1979: Slowed down version of the Schifrin jingle.
1979-1985: The infamous medium tempo version with a xylophone in the background.
1980-1983: Slower, xylophone driven version.
1981: A rare version of the 1979 variation in which the xylophone has been made more apparent. Has only been spotted on the Happy Days episode "Baby, It's Cold Inside".
1981-March 28, 1985, October 9, 1986, December 16, 1987: Another medium tempo version (most common on Family Ties) which ends in a harp flourish. There have been other variations of this theme.
1982-1987: Two bombastic horn-driven versions used. Xylophone accompanied on the first horn-driven version and what might sound like a harp on the second horn-driven version. The 2nd most infamous.
1986-1987: A reverberated version as heard only on season 2 of MacGyver. There is also a less reverberated version.

Music/Sounds Variants[]

This logo was used with the 1972 "Split Rectangle #2" music on nearly all season 1 and season 2 episodes of Happy Days when they aired on The Hub (now Discovery Family).
On reruns of Mannix from 1983, this logo used the previous three logo's themes:

The 1967 Desilu jingle (on episodes aired after January 1, 1968)
The 1968 Split Rectangle music (season 2)
The 1969 Split Rectangle music (both music versions; season 3 and part of season 4)
The 1970 Split Rectangle music (seasons 4-5)
The 1972 Split Rectangle music (seasons 6-7 and most of the final season)
The 1974 Split Rectangle music (early final season episodes - specifically the fall 1974 period)

The tall-peaked variant with the 1979 jingle can be spotted on the Happy Days S5 episode "The Apartment" and the season 5 Taxi episode "Arnie and the Kids".
In exceptional cases, the closing theme of the show or TV movie was used, or none.
The first few notes of the 1982 variant played on the last few seconds of The Georgian Bay Ltd. logo on the DVD print of the season 2 Webster episode "That Uh-Oh Feeling", and a couple others.

8th logo: A re-orchestrated version of the last six notes to Paramount Pictures' 1987 theatrical fanfare, which sounds suspiciously similar to the Star Wars theme (but it's actually a re-arrangement of Elsie Janis/Jack King's Paramount on Parade by Jerry Goldsmith, first heard on trailers for Paramount Pictures since 1976). There are two arrangements of the theme. Many of these logos are plastered onto old shows with no music.

Music/Sounds Variants[]

As already mentioned, this logo used the themes from the previous logo:

1987 logo with 1980 theme.
1989 logo with gold byline with the 1970 and 1978 themes.
1990 logo with 1978 and 1979 themes. The version with the 1978 theme was spotted on Me-TV's print of the Taxi episode "Jim and the Kid", while the version with the 1979 theme was spotted on an Australian airing of Taxi.
1995 domestic logo with 1972, 1978, 1979, 1980, and 1981 themes. The 1978 theme variant was seen on most episodes of Mork and Mindy on Syfy, while a few had the 1981-B theme variant.
- On Judge Judy (season 4 to mid-season 6), Judge Joe Brown (seasons 2 & 3), the final 2 seasons of Judge Mills Lane in syndication, the final 2 seasons of Nash Bridges, and The Adventures of Corduroy, the end themes would play over the 1995 Domestic or Network logo.
- On an episode of Entertainment Tonight, aired May 16, 1990, the logo is silent, out of a show of respect to Sammy Davis, Jr. and Jim Henson, who both passed away that day and were the focus of the episode.
- At the end of a 1987 outtake reel of Star Trek: The Next Generation, the last note from the 1966 Star Trek: The Original Series theme music (aka "Theme from Star Trek"), is heard, followed by the 1967 Desilu logo's music, the 1979 Paramount Television theme, and some suspenseful music sounding like the theme music from the 1975 film Jaws before finally concluding with an explosion sound.
- A low-toned version was spotted on some episodes of Family Affair on Me-TV and Decades, which plastered older Viacom logos.
- A version exists that has the last note of the theme cut short.
- On some episodes of Gomer Pyle, USMC when they were aired on MeTV and possibly other shows formerly distributed by Viacom, the "V of Doom" music in warp-speed is heard with the 1995 domestic logo. Similarly, mid-1990s prints of Our Miss Brooks has the 1995 Domestic logo with a low-toned regular 1976 "V of Doom" reverse-plaster.
- On a few episodes of Gunsmoke last aired on Encore Westerns, the Viacom "V of Steel" music in normal speed would be heard with the 1995 domestic logo due to sloppy plastering. The music would jarringly cut after the logo fades out.
- Reportedly, TubiTV's print of the 1990 film Men at Work had the Viacom "Wigga Wigga" music with V/O play over the 1995 domestic logo due to sloppy plastering.
- The first episode of The Invaders on a foreign DVD set had the 1995 domestic logo intact but with the 1988 Worldvision "Whoosh Globe" music playing over it due to sloppy plastering. This also was spotted on some early 2000s prints of The Love Boat episodes.
- A February 2019 rerun of Nash Bridges on H&I used the CBS Television Distribution music with the 1995 Network logo. This is most likely a reverse plaster.
- On a TV Land airing of the Happy Days episode "Guess Who's Coming to Christmas" in July 2003, a split second of the previous logo's music can be heard and it then abruptly cuts to the regular theme of this logo, probably because of a poor plastering job.
- On syndicated airings of Taxi, the 1982 theme from the previous logo is heard faintly before it is cut off by this logo's fanfare.
- One CBS Justice print of an episode of Gunsmoke had the Viacom "V of Doom" music play faintly under the 1995 Domestic version of this logo.
- The fanfare makes a surprise appearance on Dora the Explorer Backpack Adventure VHS.

9th logo: The closing theme to the show.

10th logo: The Same 1987 theme From the 8th logo or silence.

Music/Sounds Variants[]

Some shows like One on One would have a shorter version of the theme when originally aired.
Some versions use the last notes of the 1987 theme.
Another shorter version has the last note cut off short.
Another version uses the 1978 theme.
Judge Judy from mid-season 6 to mid-season 10 uses the end theme of the show.
S1 DVD episodes of Laverne & Shirley use the 1975 Paramount Television theme.
A Me-TV airing of an episode of Laverne & Shirley used the 1981 version of the 7th logo's fanfare before the 1987 fanfare cuts it off.
Network airings on ABC, NBC, CBS and UPN used a generic theme instead.
A variant of the network logo with the 2006-2009 CBS Paramount Domestic Television theme was spotted on one episode of Everybody Hates Chris on Nick @ Nite, probably due to a reverse plastering error.
On Bounce TV airings of the December 1, 2004 and January 5, 2005 episodes of Judge Joe Brown, the CBS Television Distribution theme is played over the Domestic variant due to sloppy reverse plastering.

11th logo: Just the closing theme of the show.

12th logo: Depends on the music variations.

September 21, 2015: The last 5 notes of the 1975 "Paramount on Parade" fanfare
September 28-November 30, 2015: The last bit of the current Paramount Pictures fanfare.
January 31, 2016: A longer, more majestic arrangement of the fanfare. Heard on Grease Live!.
March 12, 2016: The last 6 notes of the 1975 "Paramount on Parade" fanfare. Heard on School of Rock.
October 16, 2016: A re-orchestrated version of the January 31, 2016 fanfare. Heard on Berlin Station.
2017-: Another re-orchestrated version of the January 31, 2016 fanfare.
On Shooter, while the closing theme to the show plays on the combo, by the time the Paramount logo shows up the music would fade out, thus making the logo silent.

Scare Factor[]

1st logo: Low. The surprise for getting such an odd Paramount logo will likely unnerve someone.

2nd logo: Low.

3rd logo:

Original Variant: Low to medium. The fanfare might get to some.
The Lucy Show/Mission Impossible Variant: Low to high, due to the battling loud fanfare.

4th logo: It depends on the variant:

1968-1969: Low to medium, The zoom into the mountain and semi-dramatic music may get to some, but it's not too bad, especially not compared to the next variant.
1969-1971 Closet Killer Variant: Medium to high, the Slasher-esque music makes this much worse than the original variant.

5th logo: Depending on the music:

1969-1971 Closet Killer Variant: High, thanks to the Slasher music retained from the previous logo's late variant being made clearer and more refined combined with the slight darkening of the atmosphere by making the background red, combined with a rougher, faster zoom-in. This logo has gained infamy for being scary to many viewers, hence its "Closet Killer" nickname.
Lalo Schifrin music variant: Medium, we still have the blood-red background and the rough zoom-in, but the music is tamer than the previous variant.
With the closing theme of the show/Silent version: Minimal to low. There's no overdramatic music to accompany the roughness of the visuals making it a lot tamer than the other variants.

6th logo: Low to medium, The Lalo Schifrin music from the previous logo's later variants combined with "Television" sliding in like a piece of construction paper may get to a few, but it is substantially tamer than the previous logo.

7th logo: None to minimal, the fanfare may startle small amounts of viewers, but it is much tamer than the last few logos.

8th logo: None to minimal.

9th logo: None to minimal.

10th logo: None.

11th logo: None. Although the reminiscent qualities of the logo may surprise some people, this is a noble effort to bring the Paramount name back to television.

Gallery[]

Paramount Closet Killer Logo

Big Ticket Television-Paramount Television(2000)