Background: Big Ticket Television (also known as "Big Ticket Entertainment" and "Big Ticket Pictures, Inc.") was created by the Spelling Entertainment Group in 1994 as a low-budget unit that produces half-hour sitcoms and reality shows. They produced Moesha and its spin-off The Parkers for UPN (now The CW) as well as the daily syndicated court shows Judge Judy, Judge Joe Brown and later on in 2014 Hot Bench. When Viacom acquired Spelling in 1999, Big Ticket Television became a label of the Paramount Television Group, and with it, a new on-screen logo was introduced. Today, it is an in-name-only unit of CBS Corporation's CBS Television Studios, even though they still produce Judge Judy and Hot Bench. Big Ticket also produced Swift Justice with Jackie Glass for syndication. Background Trivia: The "Big Ticket" name was inspired on the Blockbuster corporate logo, which at the time was owned by Viacom and the owner of the Spelling Entertainment Group.
1st Logo
(September 16, 1995-May 25, 1999)
Nicknames: "Smiley TV", "Atom TV", "Now THIS Is Feel-Good TV!"
Logo: Against a gray background, we see a TV tube zooming-out with a flying object which appears to be a white rectangle, flying around the TV tube, then we see the company name:
BIG TICKET
TELEVISION
in Futura Condensed Extra Bold font coming out of the bottom of the TV tube, but "TELEVISION" is multicolored and the flying object becomes a happy smile then the Spelling Entertainment byline appears below.
Trivia: The logo was created by Rod Dyer Design.
Variants:
In 1998, the registered trademark symbol "®" appears on the bottom-right side of the company name.
There is a more common "short" version, where the logo seems to be slightly sped-up.
FX/SFX: The objects flying.
Music/Sounds: A hip-hop like tune with a "Mmmm!"-like sound when the smile appears and the sound of "Yeah!" at the end. On season 3 of Judge Judy, and season 1 of Judge Joe Brown, it's the end theme of the show.
Music/Sounds Variant: A long version exists.
Availability: Uncommon. Appears on early episodes of The Parkers, seasons 1-4 of Moesha, and pre-1999 episodes of Judge Judy and Judge Joe Brown. The long version was seen on Night Stand with Dick Dietrick which is hardly reran and 1996-1998 episodes of Judge Judy. All five had this followed by the Worldvision logo, which is plastered by the 1995 or 2003 Paramount Domestic TV or CBS Television Distribution logos in reruns.
Editor's Note: This logo is a reference to the then-ownership of Spelling Entertainment by Blockbuster Entertainment. The logo depicts a TV tube like object, though, which makes it misleading. It is however a fun logo.
0 Comments