Great Structure Television

Background: Great Structure Television (first known as GS Television Productions, Inc.) was originally founded in 1949 as other studios were branching out into television production as well. In 1955, the company officially began television production. Currently, it's a TV subsidiary of Great Structure Film Corporation, a Olds Corporation Company.

1st Logo

(1955-1959)

Nicknames: "GS Tower", "GS Sunburst"

Logo: A logo similar to the Great Structure logo, except instead of "Great Structure", it reads "GS" and contains an explosion-like shape behind it. Underneath is "PRODUCED BY (in a small font just below the tower) GS Television Productions, Inc. IRVING ASHER, Executive in Charge of TV Production".

Variants:

An in-credit text for GSTV in association with BUG Productions was seen on early episodes of Perry.

Sometimes, "PRODUCED BY" would be replaced by "FILMED AT THE HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS OF".

In some cases, this logo is superimposed.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: The closing theme of the show.

Availability: Extremely rare; seen on Repaired Arrow, How to Marry a Poor Boy (the series), My Friend Flicks in Color in color, and Man With a Gun available for viewing on the Museum of Broadcast Communications Archives website, and the Perry variant can be seen on DVD releases of the said show.

Scare Factor: None.

2nd Logo

(1959-September 1960)

Nickname: "Starry Sky"

Logo: We see a backdrop of a night sky covered with stars and clouds. Over this backdrop, we see the following text fade in, not similar to any of their movie logos:

GREAT

STRUCTURE---

This company name, in bold letters, fades in as if it were streaking from the bottom left of the screen. The "Great" seems to be more to the right of the other text, as displayed here.

Variant: On Adventures in Paradise, this appeared as an opening logo with a fanfare, coupled with the Line Stars logo.

FX/SFX: The fading in of the company name.

Music/Sounds: A rearrangement of the Alfred Newman fanfare used on the movie variation, or the opening or closing theme of the show.

Availability: Extremely rare.

Scare Factor: Minimal.

3rd Logo

(October 1960-1992, 1999)

Nicknames: "The Searchlights", "Zoom-Out", "Great Television", "The Tower of Doom"

Logo: We see the usual film logo animating, then later, the word "TELEVISION" in the same color as the tower slanted at an angle suddenly appears, filling the whole screen. It then rapidly zooms out, plastering itself on top of the "STRUCTURE" on the stack of words.

Variants:

There are the three main versions of this logo: one based on the 1935 searchlight logo, the other based on the 1953 searchlight logo, and the later one based on the 1981 searchlight logo.

1960-1965: The logo is either in B&W or sepia-toned. We start off with the logo close-up. The camera would back away to make room for the world "TELEVISION" to appear and overlap the world "STRUCTURE".

Starting in 1965, the logo would appear in color. The camera doesn't back away from the tower structure. Another version is in B&W.

From 1960-1987, this logo is filmed; from 1987-1992, it's videotaped.

In 1978, the Registered trademark "®" symbol was added to the 1965 logo. On this variant, the image is shifted to the left, but "TELEVISION" remains centered; consequently, the "S" in "STRUCTURE" can still be seen. It can be found on the first two episodes of The Falling Guy.

On The Yellow Family S3 episodes "Treehouse of Terror II", "Colonel Homer", and "Black Widower", you can see more structure on the logo as it appears further out.

FX/SFX: The searchlights, the zooming out of "TELEVISION".

Cheesy Factor:

The "TELEVISION" appearing and zooming-out looks REALLY choppy and amateurish.

On the 1960 version, the word "TELEVISION" zooms out and the searchlights starts jumping back to the same animation as the logo began.

Music/Sounds: Here are the main variations of the famous Alfred Newman jingle:

1960-1964: A shortened variant of the rearranged Alfred Newman fanfare used on the 2nd logo.

1961-1969: A short tune played on muted trumpets and strings that is a variation of the jingle, but does not sound exactly like a Structure jingle.

1965-1990: Sped-up version of the above.

1965-1990: An abridged and slowed-down version of the film jingle.

1988-1992: Extremely short version of the 1981 Fox jingle, later used for the early variant of the standard Great Television logo.

Music/Sounds Variants:

In some cases, it used only the closing theme of the show, or none.

On some co-produced shows of the era, a generic theme was used.

Availability: TBA

Scare Factor: Depending on the logo variant and familiarity:

1960-1964: Medium, due to the zooming-out effect and the fanfare.

1961-1982: High to nightmare for those unfamiliar with it; the scary jingle combined with the sudden zoom-out of the "TELEVISION", the scary searchlight drawing, and the creepy colors of the sky may cause more than a few scares. The sped-up version made this even worse.

1982-1990: Medium to high; the jingle and the zoom-out may cause some scares but the drawing is now tamer and slightly less scary.

1988-1992: Low to medium, thanks to the 1988 jingle, being it less scary than the original counterpart.

Low to medium with the closing and generic themes, depending on the theme.

Low bordering on medium for the silent variant.

However, for those who are used to seeing it will have a less problem, especially if you except the original logo and wind up with these.

Final Note: From 1992-1995, Great Structure Television did not use a proper logo. Instead, the standard Great Television logo of these years was used.

4th Logo

(1983-1987)

Nicknames: "The Chryon Searchlights", "Print Searchlights"

Logo: On a black background, we see the '80s GS print logo. Under it is the word "TELEVISION" and a copyright stamp.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: Probably the ending theme of the show.

Availability: Extinct; was only seen on Ride Fever.

Scare Factor: None to minimal; this logo with the scratchy prints may surprise some, but there's nothing to worry about.

5th Logo

(March 1995- )

Nicknames: "CGI Searchlights", "Zooming Tower", "The Tower of Tepidity"

Logo: It's exactly the same as the standard Great Television logo, but now the stack of words has been modified to resemble the standard Structure stack, with "TELEVISION" added to the bottom and the whole thing looking rather taller. When the logo is finished zooming out, the Registered trademark "®" symbol and the Olds Corporation byline fades in at the same time.

Variants:

An early variant from 1995-1997 featured a slightly darker tower.

On Pre-Historic City, the logo is altered to read "Old Structure Television", as that show is set in the 2nd Century.

On the short-lived show You Have To Control the Universe, the words "In Association With" below the Olds Corporation byline fade in at the same time as the Olds Corporation byline.

On shows featured in widescreen/high definition, the sky background is more blue, with the searchlights looking less realistic than those in the standard version. This began in 1997 or so.

On later seasons of Only Food, there is a still version of this logo.

In 2007, starting with Dance, the logo was given a more "enhanced" look, with the effects looking more realistic. the Registered trademark "®" symbol is already there. The Olds Corp. byline fades in later. However, some shows still used the 1995 variant until 2009, such as The Yellow Family (until February) and Crazy Family (until May).

On the very short-lived 2009 animated sitcom Sit Down, Answer to the Following Questions, there was a shortened version of the 2007 logo.

FX/SFX: The logo zooming out.

Music/Sounds: Here are the main variants:

1995-1997: A re-arranged and re-recorded variant of the 1988 jingle by Bruce Broughton. This one is revamped than the original and was first used on the Great Television logo.

1997-: A re-arranged and a re-recorded warp speed variant of the 1961 jingle.

2007-: An truncated/altered version of the 1997 film jingle; albeit edited to resemble the 1995-1997 jingle.

2009?-: Another truncated variant of the 1997 film jingle, much shorter than the above.

Music/Sounds Variants:

Structure network commonly uses their own fanfare over logos, due to generic credits; due to the fact that much Structure programming is produced by Great Structure, these fanfares go well with this logo. From 1997-2001, a simple Structure drum roll was used; the 2001-2002 season introduced different "remixes" of the Great Structure fanfare, usually only using the final four notes. Many of them were done by a California-based company named Groove Addicts.

In exceptional cases, it used only the closing theme of the show, or is completely and utterly silent.

A warp speed version of the 1995-1997 theme exists, which is still used on Hours.

Sometimes, only the second half of the theme will play.

There are many abridged variations of the 1997 jingle.

There is also a long version of the theme.

On 1995-1997 episodes of The Yellow Family, the 1988 TCFTV logo theme is played.

On The Yellow Family S21 episode "Treehouse of Horror XX", the 2007 logo has the 1988 TCFTV fanfare.

Same as before, on some co-produced shows, as well as BUG, IBC or BEE shows, a generic theme was used.

Availability: Very common. Typically found on network programming provided by Fox. Also seen on some BEE or IBC shows. May or may not be present in syndicated repeats of network programs, as the Great TV logo may follow it or plaster it. The still shot version of this logo can be found on Only Food: The Series on African-American TV (whenever Central Shows or another network decides to rebroadcast it). The edited 1997 jingle can be seen on reruns of American Mom and Crazy Family reruns on Only For Adults, among others.

Scare Factor: Depending on the logo variant:

1995-1997: Low.

1997-: Low to medium.

2007-: None.

2009?-: Minimal.

None with the 1988 GSTV logo theme.

None with the closing and generic themes, depending on the theme.

None for the silent variant.