MCA Television Enterprises

Compiled by Jason Jones, Michael Bode, Kurt Toy and James Fabiano


MCA TV

1st Logo

Nickname: ''The Filmreel from Hell''

Logo: We see, on a dark background, a reel of film, with a black rectangle in front of it. The words ''DISTRIBUTED BY'' in a futura font, appear atop the reel. Inside the rectangle are the words

MCA TV
Ltd.

''MCA TV'' appears in a variation of the futura, while ''Ltd.'' which appears underneath, is in a fancy cursive font. Underneath the reel, the words ''EXCLUSIVE REPRESENTATIVES'' in the same font as ''DISTRIBUTED BY'', are shown contoured [if that's the right word], taking up half the reel's shape.

FX: None, this is a still logo.

Cheesy Factor: The film reel looks sort of hand drawn.

Music: None. It is all silent.

Availability: Very, very, extinct. …'The Abbott and Costello Show', for many years, perhaps the lone remaining source of that logo, has gone through syndicator changes. Episodes now end with either Alan Enterprises (pre-1983 prints) or [DFS] Program Exchange logos (current licensee of TCA Television Corp.,the copyright holders) plastered over the reel logo.

Scare Factor: Median to high. Dark backgrounds and silence can give someone the shakes.


2nd Logo
(1954-1956)

Nickname: ''The Sunburst Filmreel''

Logo: Virtually the same alignment as before, except that the reel doesn't take up as much picture space, is on a sunburst background, the ''DISTRIBUTED BY'' is in a different font, ''MCA'', ''TV'' and ''LTD.'' [the latter now shown in block letters] are in a variation of the same 3-dimensional font as the then Revue logo, the ''TV'' and ''LTD'' are smaller than ''MCA'', and the ''EXCLUSIVE REPRESENTATIVES'' doesn't take up as much reel space.

FX: None, same as before.

Cheesy Factor: The sunburst background makes this logo SCREAM 1950s.

Music: The last few bars of the show's closing theme.

Availability: Can be seen at the end of 'The Adventures of Kit Carson' on Encore Westerns, as well as first-season episodes of 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' and early episodes of 'The Millionaire' alongside the Don
Fedderson Productions logo. (MCA was Fedderson's agent.) [The latter were in-credit.]

Scare Factor: Low to minimum. The background may make a few people feel uneasy, but an improvement over the previous logo.


3rd Logo
(1956-1960s)

Nickname: ''The Arrowhead''

Logo: On a dark screen, a trio of trilons turn to reveal an arrowhead which has the letters ''mca'' in a lower-case font inside, set against a satiny background. After a second or two, the ''a'' appears on top of the ''mca'', while ''tv'', underneath, and the word ''release'', under the arrowhead, fade in. The trilons then turn a different direction, and the screen is dark once again.

Variation: Also shown as an in-credit logo at the end of Revue shows alongside the Revue logo from 1956 to at least 1962, as well as black-and-white episodes of ''My Three Sons'' made prior to 1965.

FX: The turning walls.

Cheesy Factor: Bad grammar; It should be ''AN MCA tv release, not ''a''.

Music: A fanfare that starts with drumbeats similar to the first notes of 20th Century-Fox's famed jingle, then goes to a 3-note ominous sounding horn sounder.

Availability: Appears on old MCA DiscoVision/Videocassette/Home Video releases of pre-1950 Paramount movies; these are too easy to spot due to the MCA-TV prints being 16mm rather than the original Paramount 35mm master negatives and are therefore lower in picture quality. This company switch is due to Paramount selling their entire pre-1950 film library to MCA.

Scare Factor: Median to high. Largely on account of the scary-sounding fanfare.


MCA Exclusive Distributor
1st Logo

(1974?-1990)

Logo: Similar to the '70s/'80s Universal television logo, except the text, in yellow, now reads "MCA-TV," with "EXCLUSIVE DISTRIBUTOR" under that. Usually preceded by a graphic with the show's title and other information (like the "In Association With" screen). Also, one version of the logo has the picture "flipping away" when the music finishes.

Cheesy Factor: The flipping effect. And the freeze-frame of the logo looks really low-budget.

Music: The original Revue theme, though it may have been abridged.

Availability: Appeared on "Bionic Six", "Puttin' On The Hits", and reruns of "Gimmie A Break!", "Kate and Allie" in the 80s. Can still be seen on "Kate and Allie" reruns on Oxygen.

Scare Factor: High, Is a bit shocking thanks to the dramatic Revue music.


(Mid-to-Late ‘80s)

Logo: Like Universal Television's 1975-91 logo, we see a still of the then-current Universal “Zooming Globe,” but the logo now reads, in the same font as the MCA byline on that logo:

FROM

M C A

TELEVISION

Music: Universal TV’s 1987 theme

FX/Cheesy Factor: None

Availability: Very rare, only known to have been seen on the short-lived 1988 ABC series “Probe.” The logo is preserved when the show is rerun on the Sci-Fi Channel.

Scare Factor: Median


2nd Logo
(1990-1995)

Nickname: "CGI Globe 1"

Logo: We see a computer generated rendition of the globe logo. The company name "MCA TV" (which is now in the font used on MCA Records and MCA/Universal Home Video) slides in from the top of the screen, and makes a stop in front of the globe. The words "Exclusive Distributor" fade in below the MCA name.

FX: The slide-in of the name.

Music: Universal TV's 1987 and 1990 jingles respectively.

Availability: Uncommon.

Scare Factor: Median.


3rd Logo
(1990-1997)

Nickname: "CGI Globe 2"

Logo: Like its network counterpart, the words "MCA TV" (in the previous logo's typeface" appear from behind the rotating globe and makes a stop in front of it. The byline, "Exclusive Distributor", appears afterward.

FX: CG of rotating globe and company name.

Music: Same as 2nd Logo.

Availability: Uncommon.

Scare Factor: Minimum.


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