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Compiled by Nicholas Aczel and Kris Starring
NET
(1952-1971)
Background: NET was a former major educational
and public TV network. Among their original affiliates were WNDT New York (now
WNET), KCET
Los Angeles, WGBH Boston, WQED Pittsburg and various others. The network started
out as The Educational Television and Radio Center in 1952, and later became The
National Educational Television and Radio Center in 1959. It was succeeded by PBS in
1971, while the production arm went on to become a part of WNET as the
Educational Broadcasting Corporation.
Nicknames: "The House," "The NET Logo," "House
with Antenna"
Note: the generic logo was established around 1962. It was seen as
an in-credit variant on most pre-1965 series.
Logo (1965-1970): On a black background, a red bar moves down the screen, a yellow
bar moves up, and a blue bar moves down, forming a tri-colored "flag"
taking up the entire screen. The red bar flips to form a red N, the
yellow bar flips to form a yellow E, and the blue bar flips to form a blue T,
starting out spaced like "N E T" then moving closer to form
"NET." Then, the words "National Educational
Television" appear in blue over "NET" and morphs into a stylized gable roof (like one you would see on a house) with an aerial
antenna, the roof connected with the "T."
It’s A
Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood: On the first few seasons (1967-1971) of “MisteRogers
Neighborhood” (including some early black and white ones) the NET logo was
built into the apartment building that was part of the toy village in the
show’s opening and closing.
SFX/Cheesy Factor: The letters flipping, the gable roof being drawn.
Music: A synthesized jingle composed by Eric Siday (writer of the CBS
Color jingle and, infamously, the Screen Gems "S From Hell"). A
male announcer says "This is NET, the National Educational Television network."
The respective words appear on screen one by one.
Variations:
The announcer spiel changed slightly in 1968. "This is NET, the
public television network." On this variant, a blue line is drawn over "NET" and
forms a stylized gable roof.
There was also a seldom seen opening version in their early color years with
this spiel: "The following program is from NET, the National Educational
Television network."
Availability: Gone from television forever, but survives in The Museum of
Television and Radio on various programs from NET, including the debut episodes of
"MisteRogers' Neighborhood"
(in black and
white) and "Sesame Street" (in color).
Scare Factor: Most likely high. This logo wasn't widely seen, but
I can imagine some being scared by the Eric Siday synth music, and the spooky
announcer.
PBS
1st Logo
(1970-71)
Logo: Just a black background with the words
PUBLIC
BROADCASTING
SERVICE
stacked on top of each other. The words are red, yellow and blue respectively.
SFX: None, this is a static logo.
Cheesy Factor: The logo is TOO plain.
Music: None, just an announcer who says "This is PBS, the Public Broadcasting Service."
Availability: Gone from TV forever, was used concurrently with the NET logo from 1970 to 1971 midseason (as a placeholder logo) and then quickly replaced with the 2nd logo.
Scare Factor: Low, though not widely seen the announcer might get to some. But it would change dramatically with the second logo...
2nd Logo
(1971-1984)
Nicknames: "The Tri-Colored Everyman P-Heads," "The Tri-Colored PBS logo," "1971 PBS logo"
Logo: On a black background, an abstract-cut blue P zooms out to upper-mid screen. The P turns into a P-Head, albeit facing left, with the text "PUBLIC" written below, and both move to the left of the screen. An abstract-cut orange B appears to the right of the P-Head, and two black dots appear in the B, the latter dot coinciding with the text "BROADCASTING" appearing below the "PUBLIC." An abstract-cut green S appears to the right of the B and black dots appear twice as well, the latter dot coinciding with the text "SERVICE" appearing below the "BROADCASTING." The final text stack reads:
PUBLIC
BROADCASTING
SERVICE
SFX: The P-Heads' animations.
Cheesy Factor: Really choppy animation.
Music: A telephone-like moog synthesizer scale descending rapidly, followed by five moog synthesizer tones.
Availability: Scarce, might appear on some PBS shows produced from 1971-1984 if your local station has older prints; otherwise you'll see a newer logo. A suprising find of this logo was seen on an recent episode (circa 1999-2000) of Saturday Night Live hosted by Freddie Prinze Jr. in which it opened a spoof of Charlie Rose. This was very suprising, considering past sketches spoofing PBS shows have used more recent PBS logos.
Scare Factor: High, the creepy moog synthesizer music and primitive animation is certain to unnerve more than a few; nevertheless, this logo has a huge following.
3rd Logo
(1984-1989)
Nicknames: "Split Profile", "The Everyperson P"
Logo: On a black background, a blue P-Head appears on the upper-mid screen, facing backwards. The P-Head stretches to the right until a piece of the head separates and settles itself about half an inch away. The text "PBS" appears below in a typewriter font.
SFX: The P-Head appearing and stretching.
Cheesy Factor: Choppy animation, just like the previous logo!
Music: A majestic piano chord, followed by six pizzicato tones, and then a softer version of the piano chord.
Availability: Scarce, might appear on some PBS shows produced from 1984-1989 if your local station has older prints.
Scare Factor: Median, the music is fairly dramatic and the logo does not give much warning to its appearance, so some may be startled by it. But a bit tamer than the previous logo because of the use of acoustic instruments instead of synths.
4th Logo
(1989-1993)
Nickname: "Transparent Blue P-Heads"
Logo: On a black background, a side-facing transparent blue P-Head folds to the right, leaving behind a residue trail of P-Heads. The residue trail disappears as the P-Head settles itself in place taking up the entire screen. Several white lines wipe across the bottom of the screen, leaving the text "PBS" in the typewriter font to the bottom left.
SFX: The P-Head folding, the lines wiping.
Cheesy Factor: Early CGI.
Music: A bell string tune, followed by an announcer who says "This is PBS."
Availability: Scarce, might appear on some PBS shows produced from 1989-1993 if your local station has older prints.
Scare Factor: Low, the music and animation are much cleaner this time.
5th Logo
(1993-1996)
Nickname: "Orange CGI P-Heads"
Logo: In an orange CGI environment, several transparent ellipses revealing people faces appear and disappear one at a time. Then we zoom out through a circle, which turns out to be the eye in the PBS P-Heads standing on a floor. To the left of the P-Heads, the typewriter text "PBS" turns on to the screen.
SFX: The CGI, the zoom out, the letters turning.
Cheesy Factor: Zoom out is rough and animation looks speeded up.
Music: A funky piano and choir boogie, followed by an announcer who says "This is PBS."
Availability: Scarce, might appear on some PBS shows produced from 1993-1996 if your local station has older prints.
Scare Factor: Minimal, the weird music and fast pace of the logo might catch some off guard.
6th Logo
(1996-1998)
Nickname: "The Windowsill"
Logo: On a black background, a CGI window appears with a birds-eye view of the earth, a plastic globe spinning on the top right and a telescope rotating on the bottom left. The yellow PBS P-Heads appear in front of the window and grow smaller as the window grows bigger. As the two meet each other, the window disappears. The P-Heads take their place in the top center of the screen and turn to blue as the typewriter text "PBS" fades in below them.
SFX: The CGI effects.
Cheesy Factor: The dissolve effect used to make the window and its surrounding objects disappear as they penetrate through the P-Heads.
Music: A new age tune with guitars and flutes, followed by a female announcer (voice of Lauren Bacall) who says "This is PBS."
Availability: Scarce, but some reruns of pre-1998 PBS shows may have this logo plastered over previous logos.
Scare Factor: Might surprise you the first time you see it, but it's harmless.
7th Logo
(1998-2002)
Nickname: "Circle P-Heads"
Logo: On a sky background, a person standing to the left covers his or her head with a black circle with the PBS P-Heads on it in white. Acrobats jump from all directions of the circle. The typewriter text "PBS" appears to the right, with the web address www.pbs.org appearing below it.
Variations: This ident varies in terms of who's on screen. People of all ages have appeared in this ID package.
SFX: The computer effects used to shrink the acrobats and superimpose them around the circle.
Music: A new age percussion tune, followed by the female announcer from the previous ID who says "This is PBS."
Availability: No longer current, but still common as the logo is plastered to many PBS reruns.
Scare Factor: Nothing creepy about this logo whatsoever.
8th Logo
(2002-)
Nicknames:
“Be More,” “We Are PBS,” “I am PBS”
Logo:
How do I describe a logo that changes its look almost entirely with every
variant, and has many things happening very quickly? Basically, we see a
letterboxed clip show of live-action footage, filmed on a large set with
hardwood floor and a background of shaggy brown curtains. Culturally and
generationally diverse people are employed in the variants, each giving
different performances on-camera. As the last clip plays, we see the “Circle
P-Heads” logo animating with the word PBS on the right and the slogan “Be
More” on the left. The text has been modified a bit after the past 18
years. Throughout the bumper a bug for the URL pbs.org is seen in
the lower left corner.
Music:
A majestic orchestral tune. The same tune is always used, but is rearranged for
some variants and has a different voiceover (see below for examples).
Logo Variations:
Here are some of the variations I’ve seen of late, with a list of the clips in
each variant in chronological order:
Young People:
A teenage girl presses her hands on her boyfriend’s cheeks and gives him a big
wet kiss; a mommy plays with her baby’s feet; a dad and his little boy are
holding guitars; mom and daughter are side by side; a mom runs pulling a red wagon holding her two
little girls. (Female voiceover: “We are PBS!”)
Performers:
A man sits on a stool holding a guitar; a dressy man plays his trumpet; a
teenage boy is bopping to his headphones; a young dancer spins in her dress; an
elderly man takes a bow. (Male voiceover: “We are PBS!”)
Flowers:
A close-up of a smiling woman’s head, then we see her holding a large bouquet
of flowers, a close-up of the flowers, and finally a close-up of the woman
holding the flowers. (Female voiceover: “I am PBS!” The music is given a
“Baroque” arrangement.)
Daddy and Son:
A dad and his little boy are holding guitars; a close-up of them playing; and
the dad and son on a playground swing. (Male voiceover: “We are PBS!” The
music is arranged as horn-spiked guitar-rock.)
Generations:
A mommy holds her baby; an old man smiling; a young man takes off his cowboy
hat. (Male voiceover: “We are PBS!”)
SFX:
Mostly live action, except for the logo animating at the end.
Availability:
Uncommon. Currently in use on most PBS first-run shows (exceptions:
British imports and any show with the annoying “American Public Television”
bumper). The variants are used randomly.
Scare Factor:
Very low, unless you don’t care for some of the music arrangements used, or
find some of the old people unattractive (Don’t worry, I’m not implying that
all old people are.)
