Colex Enterprises

From the Audiovisual Identity Database, the motion graphics museum


Background

Colex Enterprises was formed on January 30, 1984 as a joint venture between Columbia Pictures Television (now "Sony Pictures Television") and Lexington Broadcast Services (later known as "LBS Communications", now "Fremantle") to distribute classic Screen Gems/CPT shows and TV movies. All distribution went through LBS. When Coca-Cola Telecommunications was created on November 24, 1986, CCT represented Colex and took distribution of the Screen Gems programs distributed by Colex, thus closing the company. CCT closed its own doors on January 1, 1988, ten days after the establishment of Columbia Pictures Entertainment (now "Sony Pictures Entertainment"), and most of the library was later transferred into the reorganized Columbia Pictures Television Distribution. Currently, the name is part of Sony Pictures Television.

Logo (January 30, 1984-January 1, 1988)


Visuals: On a blue background, two sets of three red lines come from either side and merge into one set of three. "Colex", written in a cursive font based on the Coca-Cola logo in a white and blue gradient color, drops down onto the lines and at the bottom, a four-pointed star passes, leaving the word "E N T E R P R I S E S" in white. The shadow of the logo's formation and the finished product can be seen on the background's "floor".

Variants:

  • A black & white variant of this logo exists, which appears used on prints of classic Screen Gems shows in said colors.
  • On Antenna TV airings of The Monkees episode "Son of a Gypsy", the logo bizarrely appeared twice (before and after the 1966 NBC Productions logo). The logo's music can be heard playing faintly in-between.

Technique: Computer animation.

Audio: A synthesized nine-note tune: two pairs of four ascending notes (the second pair is higher than the first) ending with one last high note and a "ping" when the star finishes writing out "Enterprises". It sounds much like an early Nintendo game. Appears to have been composed by Andrew Holtzman (who also composed the 1984 LBS logo introduced that year) with the "Celesta" preset on a Casio MT-40 keyboard.

Availability:

  • Seen on several episodes of Father Knows Best and occasionally on other shows on Antenna TV, such as The Burns and Allen Show, Hazel, and The Monkees, with the former also appearing on Hulu.
  • It also previously appeared on 1980s prints of Dennis the Menace as well, but Antenna TV's prints have it plastered with the 2002 SPT logo.
  • On Encore Mystery (now Starz Encore Suspense) airings of The Canterville Ghost (1986), this was retained, even after the 1992 CPT logo and the 2003 SPTI" logo).
    • This is however not intact on the film's DVD release from Sony Pictures' Choice Collection, which cuts off after the HTV Limited logo.
  • What's Happening Now!! also had this logo, but this has been replaced with subsequent logos, such as the 1982 Columbia Pictures Television logo, the 1987 LBS Communications logo, and the 2002 Sony Pictures Television logo.
  • This is also seen on a handful of Hardcastle and McCormick episodes, which were last seen on getTV and on a Decades binge.
  • This also appeared on an episode of The Monkees on IFC (followed by the 1996 CTTD and 2014 Sony/SPT logos).
  • This also appeared on '80s syndicated airings of films owned by Hope Enterprises like Road to Rio.
  • Additionally, this logo also appears on some episodes of The Donna Reed Show on Me-TV and several episodes of Father Knows Best on FETV.
  • This was also seen after the 2002 SPT logo on Gospel Music Channel (now UP) airings of Miracle of the Heart: A Boys' Town Story
  • Amazon's Prime print of Three Wishes for Jamie also has this intact as well.
  • This logo was also seen on old USA Network airings of the TV series adaptation of Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice, and is also seen on Crackle's prints of said show, plastering the Screen Gems logo.
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