Logo descriptions by Donny Pearson and Shadeed A. Kelly
Logo captures by Eric S., Shadeed A. Kelly, V of Doom, JohnnyL80, and snelfu
Editions by Shadeed A. Kelly, Bob Fish, V of Doom, Jeff B, and betamaxtheflyer
Video captures courtesy of JohnnyL80 and mosley2k
Background[]
NBC Universal was first formed on May 11, 2004 by the merger of General Electric Company’s NBC and the entertainment division of Vivendi Universal Entertainment. On May 12, 2004, the television production and distribution arms of Universal Television (Universal Network Television, Universal Domestic Television, and USA Cable Entertainment) and NBC Studios and the distributor NBC Enterprises. This was the first time NBC added the Universal name to its production and distribution arms. For Universal, it’s the second time that its production and distribution arms have a new name, since 1998 when Universal became "Studios USA", but maintained Universal Worldwide Television and acquired PolyGram Filmed Entertainment in 1999 and folding it in 2000, renaming PolyGram's television operations as Universal's and retained the USA Networks fully reforming Universal Television in 2002, but during July 2004, the NBC name got added. All shows in production by either Universal TV, NBC, or USA Cable Entertainment changed to the NBC Universal logo starting on September 20, 2004. On January 26, 2011, Vivendi S.A. sold the remaining 20% of NBC Universal to GE until January 28, when Comcast Corporation acquired 51% of NBC Universal, Inc. with GE owning 49%. NBC Universal, Inc. became "NBCUniversal Media, LLC", a subsidiary of a holding company, "NBCUniversal, LLC". On March 19, 2013, Comcast acquired the rest of NBCUniversal from GE, so it is now a wholly-owned subsidiary.
1st Logo
(July 2004-June 11, 2014)[]
Nicknames: "CGI Sunburst Globe", "NBC Peaco*ck-Universal Globe Combo", "The Proud Globe"
Logo: Over a golden burst of light and square confetti hovering in space, the text "NBC UNIVERSAL," sandwiched between Universal's circular globe motif with the six-feathered peaco*ck between "NBC" and "UNIVERSAL", in Copperplate Gothic Bold font, slightly zoom out to its familiar distance.
Bylines: One of these two lines fades in below:
- "TELEVISION STUDIO" (for network and cable programs; retired and became Universal Media Studios (now "Universal Television") as of November 2, 2007.)
- "TELEVISION DISTRIBUTION" (for first-run syndicated programs, off-network reruns, and series seen worldwide.)
Variants:
- On Medical Investigation, the NBC Uni TV Studio logo featured the words "In association with" below "TELEVISION STUDIO".
- From November 5-9, 2007, April 21-27, 2008, November 17-23, 2008, and April 20-26, 2009, the NBC Universal Television Distribution logo was placed on a sky background with a URL "GreenIsUniversal.com" (in green, of course!) and green grass below the logo, with leaves falling off the logo and green butterflies flying past it, to celebrate "Green Week"/"Earth Week", observed by all NBC Uni properties that week; all of the television operations changed their bugs to feature a green tint (NBC, MSNBC, USA, etc.).
- On The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Late Night with Conan O'Brian, and Last Call with Carson Daly, the NBC Uni TV Studio logo featured the NBC Studios, Inc. copyright stamp.
- On November 20, 2008, there is another variant of the "Green is Universal" variant. It features the 2007 Green Is Universal logo (which is the word "green" with "IS UNIVERSAL" in the bottom right of "green" with the circular globe a leaf at the end of each part) on the same background used on the 2007 Green is Universal background. The letters starts popping up one by one for the logo. We later see the wind blowing up the letters to form the slogan "Green Your Routine" underneath the logo.
- There is also a black & white variant that was only used on the unaired Leave it to Beaver pilot, which can be seen on the DVD release of the first season.
- From April 20-26, 2009, November 16-20, 2009, April 19-23, 2010, and November 15-19, 2010, the sky on the NUTD/GIU logo is much clearer, there are no clouds, the green grass is taller, a green butterfly lands on the logo then flies away, and there is a sunshine effect behind the NBC Uni logo to represent the sun.
- On Law & Order: UK, the NBC Universal Television Studio logo is seen on the lower right with the Wolf Films logo on the left and the Kudos Film & Television logo with the Shine Group byline below above the Wolf/NUTS logos with the letter "A" above the Kudos logo and the word "Production" below the logos. 2013 episodes omit the words "A" and "Production". Below the logos has the word "for" and below it has the 2013 ITV logo.
- Two print logos were used on video games. One of them was gray with the separation line below and "TELEVISION CONSUMER PRODUCTS" below it. The other was black-colored without any bylines, but with the copyright info. Seen on Minute to Win It for Nintendo DS and The Office for PC, respectively.
FX/SFX: The logo zooming out.
Music/Sounds: A re-orchestration of the 1999 music plug from the 1996 NBC Studios logo.
Music/Sounds Variants:
- On The Martha Stewart Show, the end title theme played over this logo.
- Several series used the 1999 NBC Studios theme.
- Several other series used the 2nd theme from NBC Studios in 2000. (i.e. post-2004 Will and Grace and Starting Over eps.)
- There is also a silent version that appeared on Complete Savages.
- On Netflix's print of the S1 Law and Order episode "The Torrents of Greed: Part 1", the late 1986 theme from the 1975 Universal Television logo is heard. In addition, their print of the season six episode "Bitter Fruit" has the 1991 Universal Television theme.
Availability: Was very common years ago, but with the introduction of the next logo, it's now uncommon.
- The "Television Distribution" variant is now extremely rare and it was used on shows such as Bravo reruns of Law & Order: Criminal Intent and local reruns of Saved by the Bell, along with episodes of Jerry Springer, Maury, The Martha Stewart Show, The Steve Wilkos Show, and Access Hollywood in local syndication. It was also seen on TV One Access on TV One.
- It used to be on syndie reruns of Deal or No Deal on GSN, until the network changed the closing credits and plastered it with the next one.
- This logo appeared on one episode on Minute to Win It on GSN after the Universal Media Studios logo due to the compressed credits.
- This version also plastered the Universal Domestic Television logo on pre-2004 reruns of Maury and Jerry Springer. Plus, this version was also seen across the globe on series such as Project Runway, hence "NBC Universal International Television Distribution", but only using "Television Distribution". It was also seen on the syndicated version of Deal or No Deal.
- The "Television Studio" version is fairly common and it would pop up frequently on reruns of Law and Order: SVU on USA Network, Law & Order: Criminal Intent on Ion Television and Cloo, and 2004-07 episodes of Monk on USA and Ion Television, House on Fox, and among other shows on several other networks such as Syfy, TNT, USA, and Cloo. It still appeared on Law & Order: UK until its hiatus.
2nd Logo
(March 5, 2011- )[]
Nicknames: "Purple Satin", "Purple Silk", "The Final Curtain", "The Silk of Shame", "And Now, For my PowerPoint Presentation..."
Logo: On a flowing purple satin background, we have the current NBCUniversal logo swiveling across letter-by-letter and zooming in at the same time and then the "Television Distribution" text in the typeface Rock Serif (which is exclusively for NBCU's own use) fades and zooms-in all in white lettering.
Trivia: The logo debuted on January 27, 2011 and was created at Wolff Olins.
Variants:
- For Earth Week (April 17-22, 2011 and April 16-22, 2012), a special Earth Day version of the logo was used with a recycling symbol-like design made out of the NBC logo's feathers with "GREEN is UNIVERSAL" with "GREEN" bigger and above "is UNIVERSAL", next to it with the slogan "Green lives here." intact underneath. This causes the NBCUniversal logo to zoom-in that's in green text. This is all against the classic NBC Earth Day background.
- On reruns of pre-2012 episodes of Jerry Springer, Maury, and The Steve Wilkos Show, the logo is letterboxed to 4:3, rather than center-cut.
FX/SFX: The swiveling, the fading and zooming. The background flowing.
Music/Sounds: Same as the last logo.
Availability: Common. Seen on Access Hollywood/Access Hollywood Live, Maury, The Jerry Springer Show, The Steve Wilkos Show, Trisha Goddard, Steve Harvey, the syndicated run of Baggage, and reruns of The Office, Law & Order, and most episodes of Law & Order: Criminal Intent in local syndication, and the syndicated Deal or No Deal reruns on GSN. This also appears on syndicated airings of The Kelly Clarkson Show.
Editor's Note: A major example of style over substance: the CGI silkbackground design is amazing, but the rest of the logo animation is really low budget and unoriginal, like something done on Microsoft PowerPoint. The logo also doesn't represent NBC nor Universal (notice the lack of the NBC peaco*ck and globe).
