Chuck Lorre Productions

Main Logo Variations

Credits

Descriptions by
Michael David Bass and BenIsRandom

Captures by
Michael David Bass and BenIsRandom

Chuck Lorre Productions
Founded:	January 10, 2000 (24 years ago)
Founder:	Chuck Lorre
Location:	United States

Background

This is the production company of Chuck Lorre, founded in the 1990s, but incorporated on January 10, 2000 in Los Angeles, California, responsible for producing Lorre's television shows. Lorre's earliest shows were produced by The Carsey-Werner Company, which Lorre had an overall deal with from 1994 to 1995, while Dharma & Greg was produced by 20th Century Fox Television through a four-year overall deal from 1995 to 1999 (the show ran until 2002); all of his shows from Two and a Half Men onward have been produced by Warner Bros. Television Studios through an overall deal since 1999.

1st Logo (January 2-December 17, 1995, November 10, 2011)

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  Arial font

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  Peignot font

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  Macintosh Classic variant

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  Essay variant

Visuals: There is an Apple Macintosh SE (specifically the less-common dual disk model) on a desk with lots of office supplies surrounding it, including a keyboard, mouse, pencils and a floppy disk, as well as a drink. The company name, in a white Peignot font is written on the monitor against a dark blue background. The logo is still.

Variants:

• The Macintosh SE (1987) is replaced with a later Compact Macintosh, either a Macintosh Classic (1990) or Classic II (1992), but it cannot be determined exactly which because both use the same case, and the name was removed from the computer in the logo. The camera angle is also different.
• The font is changed from Peignot to a standard sans-serif font (i.e. Arial). This version also has a decanter on the desk.

Technique: A still, live-action image.

Audio: The closing theme or a CBS generic theme on original airings.

Availability: Originally seen on season 1 and early season 2 episodes of Cybill when originally aired on CBS. It later reappeared on the Big Bang Theory episode "The Ornithophobia Diffusion" as part of that episode's essay.

2nd Logo (March 13, 1995-1998)

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Visuals: The white company name text with a black shadow is seen at the bottom. Behind is a random photograph.

Variants:

• One photograph has a man holding a bag of cheese puffs and waving his hand. This appears on the Cybill episode "The Replacements".
• Another photograph shows a man and a woman. The man is seen without his pants, but it's censored by a black rectangle.

Technique: Film scratch effects.

Audio: The closing theme or a CBS generic theme on original airings.

Availability: Can be seen on at least two Cybill episodes.

3rd Logo (September 24, 1997-)

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Visuals: Over a white background is the company name at the top of the screen all caps in a black typewriter font, with a number next to it that groups how many variants of the logo there have been (for example: CHUCK LORE PRODUCTIONS #20). Below it is a short, humorous (and often cynical and at times, political) essay in a very small font which must have the viewer pause or screenshot to read it. The logo is still in most cases.

Essay Descriptions: Click here.

Trivia:

• The logo was briefly retired due to the media taking the essays too seriously during the Charlie Sheen controversy that went on season 8 of Two and a Half Men.
• There are currently more than 700 different essays.
• This logo was parodied in MAD magazine when it spoofed The Big Bang Theory.
• A special coffee-table book was printed in 2012 called What Doesn't Kill Us Makes Us Bitter, which features artsy arrangements of hundreds of Chuck's essays.
• This logo has been used as vanity cards with tags of numbers since September 1997.

Variants:

• When this logo first appeared, it featured a black background with white text.
  • Starting on September 28, 1999 with essay #37, it was inverted so it could be easier to read, especially after VHS got retired. This is pointed out by Lorre in the aforementioned essay #37.
• On some occasions, photos, symbols and drawings replace the normal text. The card may also look different, too.
• In some cases, a card numbered "111" is used when Lorre has "nothing worth writing about". It has only been seen on two occasions.
• The very first essay, as well as all essays on The Kominsky Method and Bookie, don't list the number of the specific essay.
• On the Two and a Half Men season 7 episode "Warning, It's Dirty", there is another logo reading "A MARTY PEPPER Production". "A" and "Production" are in a script font, while "MARTY PEPPER" is in an black font with white lines. This is all set on a gray, old-school Broadway background. A different version of this variant with the company name can be seen at Lorre's website; it is labeled there as essay #271.
• Special "Censored" cards have been used when the networks (usually CBS) reject a certain essay. The cards have the word "Censored", sometimes with exclamation points at the end, and usually also have a message telling viewers that the rejected essays in question are available to be read if viewers "know where to look" (i.e. Lorre's website) and sometimes why the specific essay was rejected. Examples of "censored" essays are #171, #217, #255, #287, #333 and #375.
  • The "censored" version of essay #287 specifically mentions that "the offending material is available to be read" on Lorre's website.
  • On two occasions, Lorre deliberately censored essays that he knew would be rejected by network censors. These use the statement "Censored by me." The specific essays are #301 and #397.
• Essay #570 features an Apple Animoji pig voiced by Lorre himself who says "Believe me!".
• On essay #366, which appears on the Big Bang Theory episode "The Ornithophobia Diffusion", there is an image of the 1st logo (the later Peignot variant). The essay is merely what Lorre remembers about his first vanity card when he was working on Grace Under Fire and Cybill.
• On the Big Bang Theory episode "The Colonization Application", the essay is replaced with a memorial card to Leonard Nimoy, who died that week. It's a picture of Nimoy with the text "The impact you had on our show and our lives is everlasting." The company name doesn't appear. On Lorre's website, this is labeled essay #493.

Technique: A digital graphic.

Audio: A brief sound clip of a heavenly choir singing, none, or the closing theme of the series. ABC and CBS airings used their generic themes.

Audio Variants:

• On the Two and a Half Men series finale "Of Course He's Dead", the choir is rearranged.
• The "Marty Pepper" variant has a funny voice saying "It's a pepper!", followed by a cuckoo sound.
• On the Big Bang Theory episode "The Bon Voyage Reaction", Rajesh Koothrappali (played by Kunal Nayyar) is still talking about Lucy throughout the show's closing theme before his jabbering (he says over the logo "So, you know a silver lining...") is cut off by the 2003 Warner Bros. Television logo's music.

Availability: Seen on Dharma & Greg, Two and a Half Men, Mike & Molly, The Big Bang Theory, Mom, Young Sheldon, The Kominsky Method, B Positive, United States of Al, Bob Hearts Abishola and Bookie.

Legacy: Thanks to its unique concept and funny essays, it's a very popular logo and is well-liked by many.

Archives: There is a complete collection (which is updated every time a new episode airs) of the vanity cards at Chuck Lorre's website.

4th Logo (August 25, 2017-January 12, 2018)

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Visuals: On a black background is a white shield also resembling that of a coat-of-arms. Surrounding it is some Lorem Ipsum-like text (which has four words that read "HUMILITAS FICTA", "UN-FOCUSED RAGE", "NEUROTIC ANXIETY" and "SELF-OBSESSION") with a crown and the stacked company name in a medieval font inside.

Trivia: There are two parts of the shield that represent Chuck Lorre's two long-running CBS sitcoms: the atom represents The Big Bang Theory, and the symbol of two men and a kid represents Two and a Half Men.

Technique: A digital graphic.

Audio: The end theme of the show or none.

Availability: Seen on Disjointed.