Why did the Newsflash logo have to change?

[minor muppetz]

The "News Flash" logo in the Sesame Street News title card changed quite a few times over the years. But for the most part all that changed was the colors on the logo. Size may have changed a few times, though I'm unsure.

But why did the colors change? I can see why the original pink logo changed (why would they use pink as a color for a news logo?), and the mid-1980s logo (with a bit of blue and a flashing title card) does look a bit dated somehow... But the logos don't seem that dated. I don't see what was wrong with the black and white logo.

It's also strange that there's two versions of the most commonly-seen logo: One with all the stars colored in, and one where some of the stars aren't colored in. According to Muppet Wiki the version without all the stars began in the early 1980s, then the one with the blue colors was added, and then the most common version (similar to the early 1980s one, but with all the stars colored in) was introduced... But I find it odd that they'd replace one logo and then replace it with one that looks very similar to the one it replaced.

Also, the late-1980s logo replaced the earlier logos when the earlier ones were rebroadcast since the late-1980s. Does anybody know if this version of the logo was the only one to replace previous ones? Because I've seen many news clips online, whether uploaded by fans or Sesame Workshop, and some feature the original logos, and others include the late-1980s logo on earlier segments, but I haven't seen any segments that are obviously from the early 1970s with the black and white logo or the mid-1980s logo, nor have I seen any 1970s segments with the mid-1980s logos attached. I think it's obvious that the original logo was only on the segments where Kermit's hat is a darker brown color, and every copy of those segments I've seen begin with either the original logo or the late-1980s logo.

 

[wiley207]

Sort of the same reason "Monsterpiece Theater" or "Super Grover" updated their logos. Plus, you remember the old Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies logos? When they had the classic "bullseye" intros, the colors could vary by release season. Maybe they sometimes varied the logo colors for the season the sketch was being made.

The pink-and-white one was the very first "NEWS FLASH" logo made, to my knowledge. I can tell, because some of the very first "Regular" Sesame Street News segments included "The Princess and the Cookie," "Rapunzel" and the original "Sleeping Beauty." On those segments, the theme music sounds a bit low-toned and there's some kind of typewriter-like sound in the background instead of the usual morse code noises, and Jerry Nelson's announcer voice sounds somewhat different, sort of more quieter and mellowed out (is it just me, or did Jerry Nelson do a LOT of announcer voices?) That was pretty much the standard logo used from 1972 to 1974, though on occasion a black-and-white or a sepiatone version (like on the Christopher Columbus one) would be used, and on one occasion they used a completely different visual logo altogether (on the "Miss Muffet" segment, with the blue background and the stars surrounding "news bulletin"). The standard-colored version (with two of the stars black and the other two yellow) debuted in 1974, on the sixth season (and it was enlarged QUITE a bit, too!) This was pretty much the main logo, but for some reason they would still occasionally use the older black-and-white version (I guess at times they could not access the standard title card, remember back in the 1970s they probably had the OLDER title card technique where it was placed on an easel or stand, and the camera aimed towards it, sort of like the early "Monsterpiece Theater" logos.) A few segments also originally had NO logo at the beginning whatsoever (like the "Aladdin" and "Hey Diddle Diddle" segments), but I think in the 1990s they may have had a NEWS FLASH logo added to them or something.
That enlarged 1974 variant was still used on new "NEWS FLASH" sketches until 1984, when they introduced the "flashing" variant with the blue lightning bolt.

The version usually used to replace old logos was introduced in 1986 on the 18th season, and by this time they typically had only one recording of Jerry Nelson's announcement that they would use for all later news report sketches. CTW didn't begin replacing old logos until the early 1990s, I believe. I think they might have done this because of how large the logo was on some segments (like the 1974 variation), and overscan would've cropped it up badly, and since the 1986 logo had the logo at a more "normal" size and could fully be seen on typical TV screens without any part of it cut off, that is what they did.

In fact, if you look at some old News Flash sketches with the 1986 logo plastered on, if you look REAL closely when it fades from the logo to the actual sketch, you might be able to make out part of the old News Flash logo (this can be seen on the "Humpty Dumpty," "Piper's Pickled Peppers" and "Hickory Dickory Dock" segments on YouTube).

 

[minor muppetz]

Sort of the same reason "Monsterpiece Theater" or "Super Grover" updated their logos.

In the case of Monsterpiece Theater, I always figured the first change was due to Masterpiece Theater changing it's opening as well (though I've read that the third opening was not based on any actual Masterpiece Theater opening).

 

[minor muppetz]

The version usually used to replace old logos was introduced in 1986 on the 18th season, and by this time they typically had only one recording of Jerry Nelson's announcement that they would use for all later news report sketches. CTW didn't begin replacing old logos until the early 1990s, I believe. I think they might have done this because of how large the logo was on some segments (like the 1974 variation), and overscan would've cropped it up badly, and since the 1986 logo had the logo at a more "normal" size and could fully be seen on typical TV screens without any part of it cut off, that is what they did.

You know, when I first learned about all these different logos shortly after Muppet Wiki started, I assumed that each new episode replaced the previous logo in later broadcasts. It wasn't until about a year ago that it hit me that people had copies of the pink logo (the image was uploaded on Muppet Wiki and somebody uploaded the Rupunzel sketch with the original logo on YouTube sometime before the first Old School set came out) and yet the first episode shown on Noggin to include Sesame Street News was episode 796, which shows Humpty Dumpty with the black and white logo. I should have known better.

It is interesting that as far as video releases go, most video releases of these segments include the last opening. Old School Vol. 1 shows Rupunzel with the original logo, and Old School Vol. 2 shows Humpty Dumpty with the black and white logo (as part of episode 796). But all the other releases show the last opening, though most video releases of Sesame Street News segments are of 1970s segments. Though the 40th anniversary release shows Foot Snuggies with the logo similar to the last one but with some uncolored stars, and the clip montage in The Best of Kermit on Sesame Street does start with the mid-1980s opening.

And as far as replacing openings and not broadcasting earlier ones go, I recall seeing an episode with the second Monsterpiece Theater opening sometime after I first saw the third Monsterpiece Theater opening. This would have been an episode from season 29 or 30. Unless it was a repeat of an earlier episode (if a Monsterpiece Theater segment was in both versions of an episode that got repeated two years later, after the opening changed, would they have changed the MT opening as well?).

 

[Oscarfan]

Yeah, an airing of "The 39 Steps" in #3797 had the library intro. I can't complain they replaced the second logo; it was kinda long.

 

[minor muppetz]

Yeah, an airing of "The 39 Steps" in #3797 had the library intro. I can't complain they replaced the second logo; it was kinda long.

I sort of agree. I like watching the second intro, but not at sesamestreet.org (where as far as I can tell you can't skip past anything in the clips you watch).

 

[minor muppetz]

The version usually used to replace old logos was introduced in 1986 on the 18th season, and by this time they typically had only one recording of Jerry Nelson's announcement that they would use for all later news report sketches. CTW didn't begin replacing old logos until the early 1990s, I believe.

I just watched episode 598, and interestingly, a Sesame Street News Flash is shown with the 1986 News Flash title card. I was surprised to see that there. It makes me wonder if that segment was originally part of the episode.

 

[wiley207]

I just watched episode 598, and interestingly, a Sesame Street News Flash is shown with the 1986 News Flash title card. I was surprised to see that there. It makes me wonder if that segment was originally part of the episode.

What News Flash segment was it? It could have been an edit on SesameWorkshop's part.

Also, with the thread bump, I did a montage of the News Flash logo through the years:

 

[minor muppetz]

What News Flash segment was it? It could have been an edit on SesameWorkshop's part.

It was the one where Kermit interviewed the pig with the straw house.

This makes me wonder what Sesame Workshop normally does when restoring episodes (because I've read of a few instances where Sesame Workshop restored every episode, even before Noggin began). With so many segments that get repeated in other episodes, it would make sense to only restore them once (unless segments were shown altered in some way) and insert them where they belong in the episodes they were in. Of course if that's the case I wonder what Sesame Workshop does in cases where there were scene transitions.

This is the first instance I know of where an alteration of some kind appeared in a segment years before the alteration would have premiered. All of the other News Flash segments on iTunes (that I've seen) seemingly have whatever logo would have been relevant at the time. I know that two Monsterpiece Theater segments were included on the season 25 episodes, I wonder if those are presented with the library intro (as they should) or if either is shown with the green curtain intro.