TBS (originally an abbreviation for Turner Broadcasting System) was an American pay television network owned by the Turner Entertainment Networks division of Warner Bros. Discovery. It carries a variety of programming, with a focus on comedy, along with some sports events, including Major League Baseball, National Hockey League, NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, and professional wrestling from AEW Dynamite.
SuperStation WTBS[]
1st ID (August 27, 1979-August 28, 1981)[]
Nicknames: "SuperStation Wars", "WTBS Wars", "Old TBS Wars", "17 Wars", "Atlanta Wars", "The Star Wars SuperStation", "The Logo From Atlanta In Space"
ID: On a space background, we see a blue glowing circle with a silver outline. When the stacked words "SUPER STATION" in orange and in a similarly Star Wars font zoom in and pan up, the circle zooms out and places itself off-center, revealing the words "WTBS 17 ATLANTA" (also stacked) on it, with "17" inside a rounded square.
FX/SFX: The zooming and panning.
Music/Sounds: A quick synthesized theme.
Availability: Extinct.
2nd ID (September 28, 1981-October 2, 1985)[]
Nicknames: "Super Satellites", "The Bars", "CNN Satellites"
ID: There are various versions of the ident, some of them containing the signature CNN satellites:
- General 1 (with TBS and satellites): We see blue lines wiping in on a black background, some of them from left to right and the others from right to the left. The letters "TBS" in an italicized segmented yellow font (called "Helvetica Oblique") slide in from the right side to the center and "TurnerBroadcastingSystem" wipes in underneath the logo. An image of the CNN satelites then appears while "SuperStationWTBS" appears letter-by-letter on top of it. "Atlanta" fades in at the bottom of the end from "SuperStationWTBS".
- General 2 (with satelites): On a rainbow-colored grid background, we see a picture of a bunch of animated satellites fade in on the center. The text "SuperStationWTBS.", in white, fades in below it.
- General 3 (with gold bars and TBS): This may have debuted in 1983. We see a golden screen with the words "TBS" flipping in, then the screen zooms out to reveal that it's made of bars, while "TBS" also zooms out to the bottom-right corner of the screen. "SuperStationWTBS" slides in below "TBS", while a segmented golden "T" slides in on the bars.
FX/SFX: Nice CGI visual effects, all done by Fred/Alan, Inc. and Television by Design.
Music/Sounds: A light drum and guitar theme.
Availability: Extinct.
3rd ID (September 4, 1984-September 7, 1987)[]
ID: On a black background, the word "SuperStation" (in blue and in Garamond Bold Italic) types in itself on the upper-mid screen. The "WTBS" initials pop-up on the bottom in a white, slab-serif font, which was designed specifically for WTBS, called "ITC Lubalin Graph Bold".
Trivia:
- Using the "WTBS" initials with a basis, this logo (and the accompanying slab serif font) was designed by Ivan Chermayeff and animated by Digital Productions, a firm also responsible for many other logos.
- The logo debuted at the annual sibling meeting on March 30, 1984, and made its first network appearance six months later to the day.
- Perhaps being created on a 60-field system, this logo runs at 24p.
Alternate Variation: A variant exists with the "Station" part from "SuperStation" colored red. On superimposed footage of fireworks, two CGI initials "WTBS" (blue and red) appear from off-screen. While the initials turn, the "W" was placed behind the "T", in which most of it dissolves away, forming the "TBS" initials in front of the "W".
FX/SFX: The word "SuperStation" typing in with the "WTBS" initials popping up.
Music/Sounds: A majestic piano chord, followed by six string pizzicato tones, and then a softer version of the piano chord.
Availability: Common. The logo made its first appearance on the Nature episode "Krakatoa: The Day That Shook the World", broadcast on September 30, 1984.
Editor's Note: While this logo hasn't been shown on TV for many years, it was still very highly regarded.
SuperStation TBS[]
(September 7, 1987-September 27, 1989)[]
ID: On a black background, a line draws vertically across the mid of the screen. After all, more lines draw horizontally and diagonally. Each line was labelled with a number. The vertical line was "1", the horizontal line was "2", and the two offset diagonal lines are "3" and "4". Twelve lines draw across the screen from the top, labelled "5" through "17" while they are drawn. Lines "15" through "17' are a bit bolder than the others. A pair of three boxes was drawn between lines "6" and "12". The three boxes were labelled "18". The first two are drawn in between lines "5" and "13". The third and latest one was labelled "19". The last line, labelled "20", crosses through line "3" and creates an axis. The orange-outlined uppercase initials "TBS" (along with more lines through each letter to give a 'blueprint' effect), and the word "SuperStation" in lowercase, in bigger letters, and in Garamond Italic Bold (which was on top of the boxes), in a darker shade of orange appear, labelled "21" through "26" for each respective character.
FX/SFX: The animation with the lines/circles/letters, all done by Studio Productions, which was now called "Flip Your Lid Animation".
Music/Sounds: A stranger gurgling-type noise with a high note to start with. Three atmospheric synth notes are repeated, and cowbell-like noises (paired with a ding) were played when lines "5" through "13" are drawn. A gong note was played on line "14", a soft bell noise on line "15", a pan-crashing noise on line "16", and the same noise from before along with an echoing "bouncy" note on line "17". This sound repeats and becomes lower pitched on the drawing of the first circle ("18"). A solemn synth note was then played, along with three guitar notes and a reverse cymbal. Composed by Richard Gibbs.
Availability: Extinct.
TBS SuperStation (first era)[]
(September 28, 1989-September 7, 1990)[]
Nicknames: "Merging Crystal TBS", "3D Glass"
ID: We see seven computer-generated crystalline images of three slanted boxes. When the images rotate toward the background along their vertical axes, they merge into one full "TBS" and one profile. Five spectral lines, in a rainbow of colors that also appear on the beveled edges of the logo, race across the bottom of the screen. The word "Superstation" then appears over the spectral lines.
Trivia:
- Eagle-eyed viewers will notice that the residue trail has a total of seven slanted boxes, including the "TBS" initials.
- This logo was "videotaped" and runs at 30i rather than TBS' usual 24p.
- The logo was animated at Pacific Data Images using a Silicon Graphics 4D/25 workstation, and designed by John C. LePrevost.
FX/SFX: The slanted "TBS" boxes leaving behind a trail while settling from the mid of the screen, and multicolor lines wiping in while forming the "Superstation" logotype.
Music/Sounds: A long held-out string note combined with synth bells (played on a Roland D-50 using the Fantasia preset) and chimes.
Availability: Extinct. The logo debuted after the September 15, 1989 edition of Washington Week in Review.
Editor's Note: This logo was well-liked for its nice animation and soft music.
TBS (first era)[]
1st ID (September 10, 1990-September 9, 1994)[]
Nicknames: "Windows", "The TBS Windows", "CGI Window", "TBS Express"
ID: On a black background, a CGI window appears with a bird's-eye view of the Earth, a plastic globe spinning on the top right, and a telescope rotating on the bottom left. A pair of pear-colored slanted boxes (with the "TBS" initials colored light blue) appears in front of the window and grows smaller when the window grows bigger. While the two encounter each other, the window disappears. Inside the P-Head are transparent images of two globes, a feather and a telescope. The boxes take their place in the top-mid of the screen and turns to light blue and aquamarine.
Trivia:
- This was based on a 1995 rebranding of PBS produced by PMcD Design and animated at Tape House Digital by Patrick Inhofer on a Grass Valley Group Kadenza and Michel Suissa on a Silicon Graphics Onyx with Reality Engine 2 using Discreet Logic FLAME (this was a few months before their Inferno product, which would displace FLAME on the Onyx line, was launched); this rebranding would gradually be adopted by many PBS stations over the ensuing years, including WITF, WSJK/WKOP, WNET, WQED, WVIZ, Kentucky Educational Television, Maine Public Broadcasting Network, and Vermont ETV.
- This would be the last PBS logo to be produced in 30i.
FX/SFX: Neat CGI effects.
Music/Sounds: A new age tune with guitars and flutes, composed by Elias Associates.
Availability: Uncommon.
- This logo's first confirmed appearance was on September 10, 1990.
- This logo appeared at the start and end of Turner Home Entertainment's releases.
- Even when the next logo started to be used, it continued to be used by some programs for some time, with its last new appearance being on Doo Wop 50.
Editor's Note: This logo has some very neat effects for the time.
2nd ID (September 12, 1994-October 17, 2003)[]
Nicknames: "Boxes of Staleness", "TBS in the Sky"
ID: Almost only this time, in a blue sky with all a bunch of clouds, the overall appearance of the boxes was a lot "shinier" with a darker shade of yellow, and the "TBS" initials more golden and in a more basic version of the font, called "Bodoni Condensed".
Variants:
- During this logo's duration, two cloud backgrounds were used: one with more detailed clouds (1994-1997), and one with less-detailed clouds and a much brighter color (1997-2003).
- A syndicated version has the text "PRESENTED BY" in small lettering at the top.
- Beginning in March 1997, the "SUPERSTATION" text (in Zurich Light Extra Condensed) was added underneath the boxes.
FX/SFX: Usually none.
Music/Sounds: A 7-note loud horn theme with a drum rolling throughout and a cymbal clash at the last 2-3 notes, sometimes with an echo effect at the end. This music was basically the final notes of the Merrie Melodies theme song, "Merrily We Roll Along".
Availability: Uncommon.
TBS Superstation (second era)[]
(February 20, 2003-June 14, 2004)[]
Nicknames: "The Flight", "TBS in the Clouds"
ID: A thin, VHS-sized rectangle with an image of clouds inside appears in the center of a black background, and slowly grows so that it takes up the whole screen. The camera flies through the clouds, and, after a few seconds, both the smaller, red "TBS" initials at the right and the bigger, blue "Superstation" text underneath (both in Myriad Pro Bold) appear, and the surrounding area fades to black.
FX/SFX: The CGI clouds, all done by PMcD Design.
Music/Sounds: Faint unintelligible whispers, followed by a whimsical-sounding fanfare, accompanied by various sound effects (e.g. water gushes, tool whirs, grunts, camera lens adjusting, scrapes, and bird chirps, sometimes louder).
Availability: Common, given its longevity of eight whole years.
Editor's Note: It wasn't stranger from the last two logos, but the odd fanfare may bother people.
TBS (second era)[]
1st ID (June 14, 2004-May 31, 2007)[]
Nickname: "TBS City"
ID: Over a CGI city, we see all of the CN characters (mostly in their usual 2D forms) interacting with the city. The re-rendered "TBS" initials in lowercase and in a more basic version of the font (called "Harabara Mais") always appears in walls and signage near the end, or the corner.
FX/SFX: Awesome mix of 2D animation and CGI. They were designed by Publicis NY, Troika, Tricefalo Studio, and Awesome Incorporated.
Music/Sounds: Which vary depending on the variant shown.
Availability: Used to be common in TBS broadcasts from Shadow the Hedgehog, Sonic Riders, Sonic the Hedgehog (2006), and Sonic and the Secret Rings.
2nd ID (June 4-September 13, 2007)[]
Nickname: "Summer 2007"
ID: The environment takes place in a sea (against a green sky) containing an island with a shovel, bucket, and an orange/green/blue/red sand-umbrella. In a few seconds, the sea fills up the whole screen, while the pink-peach "TBS" initials drops underwater, in color and length.
FX/SFX: A combination of CGI/traditional 2D animation, all done by Awesome Incorporated.
Music/Sounds: "Get Away" by Cee-Lo Green.
Availability: Extinct.
3rd ID (September 14, 2007-July 13, 2008)[]
Nickname: "Fall 2007"
Logo: We see three boxes with red-orange drop shadows fly-by with a rainbow trail until it passes away. Just then, all of the snippets are going inside the half-circle resembling a smiling mouth, while the "tbs" initials pop up at the top. In a few seconds, the "PREMIERE" (in Glypha 65 Bold) banner wipes in at the bottom of the half-circle.
FX/SFX: An "a-maize-ing" combination of CGI/digital 2D animation, all done by Shilo Designs.
Music/Sounds: "Fall Is Just Something that Grown-Ups Invented" by The Hives.
Availability: Extinct, at least in TBS broadcasts such as Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity.
4th ID (July 14, 2008-July 2, 2010)[]
Nickname: "Noods"
ID: The bumpers showed all dummy figures interacting with colors.
- Capacity: We zoom out from a pink background to reveal the word "Capacity", which consists of the first six letters "CAPACI" (in the same font used from the 2004 TBS logo, called "Harabara Mais"), next to them, we see a small, pink arrow with a blue plus-sign, and next to them, we see the letter "Y" in the same color as "CAPACI", which was at least slightly edited.
- Flicks (July 14, 2008-July 2, 2010): The yellow one goes to the elevator, the green one was in a grocery store next door, the blue one was at the backyard, the orange one was fetching, and the purple one was in an auto-bus. Finally, the camera zooms out to reveal an eradicated house/garage, with a stylized "FLICKS" in different colors (in a respective order: yellow, green, blue, purple, red, and orange). The left side (which was the garage door) of the house has the 2004 TBS logo.
- From January 5, 2009 to January 18, 2010, TBS aired its primetime bumpers which featured a dummy figure with a billboard and filmed in Atlanta, Georgia.
- Let's-a Go! (September 13-November 25, 2009; March 26-May 28, 2010): We see a whole world of multicolored squares and balls, all stylized, hovering, spinning and moving across a black background. When blue and purple streaks move around, the shapes combine into the 2004 TBS logo and it zooms out while the white text "LET'S-A GO!" (this time in YWFT Ultramagnetic ExtraBold) flies out underneath it.
- From February 8, 2010 to May 28, 2010, there were bumpers with dolls being covered in silver or multicolored confetti, transformed into a Chia Pet, getting spilled with black ink, whiteout, or red paint, and getting covered with dirt by a motorcycle.
Banners: Here are the banner variants:
- Green "New Episode" banner. Used whenever a new episode of a show aired.
- Yellow "Marathon" banner. Used whenever a marathon of a show aired.
- Purple "Premiere" banner. Used whenever a show or movie premiered.
- Blue "Special" banner. Used whenever a special aired.
- Green/blue/pink/white "Bill Engvall Marathon" banner. Used during the Bill Engvall marathon in July 2009.
- Red and white "Meet the Browns Marathon" banner. Used during the Meet the Browns marathon that aired in June 2009.
FX/SFX: CGI, all done by Capacity.
Music/Sounds: A remixed version of "Superstition", arranged by Justice.
Availability: Used to be extinct on TBS broadcasts of both Sonic Unleashed and Sonic & the Black Knight.
5th ID (May 29, 2010-May 18, 2013)[]
Nickname: "Prefuse"
ID: The bumpers showed all snippets interacting with the 2004 TBS logo.
- Next Bumpers (May 29-July 2, 2010): On a black background, we see a bunch of color-changing slanted stripes moving from the left, inside a (probably gone) box. At the bottom-right corner, we see a load of white, milky paint. Right then, a long, black rectangle appears via a computer glitch-like effect.
- Flicks (July 3, 2010-May 18, 2013): We see many shots of a realistic family getting a humorous situation, which finally ends up with a black, stylized "FLiCKS." over a white backdrop with a grid of grey dots and black boxes.
- Watch & Play (July 10-August 28, 2010): On a grey background with CMYK patterns, after it explodes, we see a black rotating cube (containing three surfaces; the first one has the 2004 TBS logo in white, the second one has a close zoom-in of an eyeball with blue iris, and the third one has a pink game controller with one of them being a yellow plus sign) from the right.
Banners: Here are the banner variants:
- The NEW EPISODE banner. Used whenever a new episode of a show aired.
- The MARATHON banner. Used whenever a marathon of a show aired.
- The NEW SERIES banner. Used whenever a new show aired.
- The PREMIERE banner. Used whenever a new movie aired.
- The season finale banner. Used whenever the final episode of the show's season aired.
- The SERIES PREMIERE banner. Used whenever a new show aired.
- The SEASON PREMIERE banner. Used whenever the first episode of the show's season aired.
- The EXTRA banner. Usually used after the airing of some movies whenever an extra cartoon aired.
- The SPECIAL banner as seen on the third logo. Used whenever a new special event aired.
FX/SFX: CGI, all done by Ferroconcrete.
Music/Sounds: A remixed version of "Superstition" by Two Door Cinema.
Availability: Extinct, while the last TBS broadcast standard was Sonic Free Riders.
6th ID (May 20, 2013-October 31, 2015)[]
Nickname: "Prefuse II"
ID: Several trails of different colored lights move across the screen and come together. Just right then, after the trails of light moved away, the "N" box with a pompadour pops up, which later holds a sign that shows the 2004 TBS logo.
Banners: Here are the banner variants:
- "New Episode" banner. Used whenever a new episode of a TV show was aired.
- "Marathon" banner. Used whenever a marathon was aired.
- "Special" banner. Used whenever a television special was aired.
- "New Original Show" banner. Used whenever an episode of a recently-new original show was aired.
- "Premiere" banner. Used whenever a new movie was aired.
- "Series Premiere" banner. Used whenever the first episode of a new original show makes its premiere.
- "New Season" banner. Used whenever the first episode of a new season of a currently-running TV series was aired.
- "Sneak Peek" banner. Used whenever the sneak peek of a currently-running TV series was aired.
- "Exclusive Preview" banner. Used whenever an exclusive episode of a currently-running TV series was aired.
FX/SFX: CGI, all done by Prologue Films.
Music/Sounds: A synth whooshing while the logo forms, followed by "Mengheningkan Cipta" by T. Prawit.
Availability: Extinct.