Hesker Boys Television

Background: Hesker Boys Television is the television division of Hesker Boys Pictures founded in 1955 by the TV producer and actor Tomy T. Buu (credited as Tm. T. Buu). Around circa 1960, HBTV formed Hesker Boys Television Distribution. Currently, it is a division of Hesker Boys Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of DayHesker.

1st Logo

(1955-1967)

Nickname: "The HB Sword"

Logo: A superimposed rendition of the infamous Hesker Boys sword logo, minus the banner that usually reads "Hesker Boys Pictures". There is no company name on screen, except some cases.

Variants: This had many variants:

There was an opening logo, which appears a shot of the Hesker Boys Studios (like the current Hesker Boys logo) and the famous sword zooms. The word "presents", in script, may or may not appear over it.

Also, there were different variants of the sword with text over it like "Filmed at HESKER BOYS STUDIOS in Burbank, California".

Some shows had the Hesker Boys logo over a grainy background, a la DuNet Television Network.

Later, there would be a color version of this logo, with a red background and the usual colors of the sword, and for the superimposed variant, only the sword and the letters would appear in yellow.

On some shows, in the opening variant, there would be a "presents" banner.

FX/SFX: None, except on the studio buildings, where the studios and sword were zooming.

Music/Sounds/Voice-over:

Opening:

A drum roll followed by majestic fanfare with an announcer saying "A Hesker Boys Television Production" for the intro on some shows like Spy 55.

On the logo at the end of an opening for some TV shows, the announcer says "Produced by Hesker Boys" Sometimes it would be accompanied by a 7-note fanfare followed by a drum sound when the logo is on a grainy background.

Closing: None, unless you want to count the show's closing theme. But, on the animated un-superimposed variant without "Presents", this had a 17-note trumpet and would be followed by an announcer saying "This program has been produced by the Entertainment Capital of the World. Produced for television by Hesker Boys" as the fanfare ended.

Availability: TBA

Scare Factor: Minimal; not much to worry about here. Although low to medium for the animated variant with the fanfare, which may startle some, along with the silence at the end.

2nd Logo

(1967-1970)

Nicknames: "HB-8", "H8", "H8 Sword"

Logo: Just a superimposed stylized sword, with a combination of a "H" and a "8" (representing Hesker Boys-Eight Stars) against the ending titles. The company name is shown below in all caps.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: None or the closing theme.

Availability: Rare.

Scare Factor: Minimal; the H8 may have actually looked a bit tamer than it's predecessor.

3rd Logo

(1970-February 1972)

Nicknames: "The Kenny Sword", "Sword Stretch", "Long Sword", "The HB Kenny Sword"

Logo: Over a blue screen is an abstract sword (like those seen on HB 60s movie posters) in a golden color with a dark brownish color inside. A simple lettering of the HB appears at the upper part and a rectangle of the same colors appear at the lower part of the sword, reading "A KENNY SERVICES COMPANY". The words "HESKER BOYS TELEVISION" appear underneath the logo.

Opening Variant: The logo is the same, except "PRESENTS" appears below the logo.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: None, or the opening/closing theme.

Availability: Rare; appeared for a short time on some shows of the era.

Scare Factor: None; this is actually neat to see.

4th Logo

(February-September 1972)

Nicknames: "HCI Sword", "Early HCI Sword", "The HB Sword II"

Logo: Standard sword logo over a navy blue background, with the word "TELEVISION", in large letters, over the banner, and "A HESKER COMMUNICATIONS COMPANY" underneath.

Trivia: This logo looks quite similar to the 1995-2003 "Hesker Boys Animation" logo seen on the former Kids HB! and Animated Channel.

FX/SFX: None, unless you like to count fade-ins from credits.

Music/Sounds: None, or the closing theme of the show.

Availability: Very hard to find as it appeared for quite a short time on TV.

Scare Factor: None to low, but the copy of Karate that has been circulated has a somewhat creepy oriental-ish stinger to it, so it's hard to say.

5th Logo

(September 1972-September 1984)

Nicknames: The Big "H", "(I-I)"

Logo: We see a white abstract H consisting of two slanted elongated lines and a shorter elongated line on the center of the two lines design inside a black square field, whose corners have been rounded and softened, over a red background. The words "HESKER BOYS TELEVISION" is at the top, while "A HESKER COMMUNICATIONS COMPANY" is at the bottom. The typeface for the company name is in white Handel Gothic font.

Variants:

The syndication logo originally had the words "DISTRIBUTED BY" cheaply tacked in, over "HESKER BOYS TELEVISION" in the early years.

The syndication logo was later referred to as "HESKER BOYS TELEVISION DISTRIBUTION".

The bylines appear in shadow mode starting in 1977.

There is a television version resembling the opening movie logo.

Also there is a widescreen version of this logo, seen on some TV movies.

There is a superimposed variant of this logo that appeared on some episodes of Ashley from the third season.

There is a black and white version of the logo with a black abstract "H" on a white square field.

Sometimes, the movie logo: "DISTRIBUTED BY HESKER BOYS" is seen at the end of certain off-net syndicated TV series or TV movies.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: A dramatic 7-note horn fanfare. Usually shown with music from the show fading out or none. There is also a variant with a ascending space-like sound.

Availability: More common than the movie logo; still saved on most 1972-1984 shows.

Scare Factor: None to minimal.

6th Logo

(1984-)

Nicknames: "The HB Sword III", "Sword of Staleness", "The Sword Returns"

Logo: Over a set of clouds, the HB sword appears (including the banner reading "HESKER BOYS PICTURES"), with "HESKER BOYS TELEVISION" above the sword, and the owner byline at the bottom.

Bylines: First here are the little differences in the logo, along with dates in which they were used:

1984-1990: Referred to as "A HESKER COMMUNICATIONS COMPANY"

1990-1992: Referred to as "A DAY HESKER COMPANY"

1992-2001: Referred to as "A DAY HESKER ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY"

February 2001-July 2003: Referred to as "An TMC Day Hesker Company", with most letters in lower case.

July 2003-: Coinciding with the renaming of "TMC Day Hesker" back as "DayHesker", this logo appears without any byline whatsoever for the first time in 36 years. This is done as all of the HB divisions are organized as "Hesker Boys Entertainment" under DayHesker.

Network Variants: Next, we have a few general logo variations. First, the network variations, along with dates in which they were used:

1984-1995: The HB sword appears (including the banner reading "HESKER BOYS PICTURES"), with "HESKER BOYS TELEVISION" on top, the owner byline at the bottom.

1994-1997, 1999-January 2001: The words "HESKER BOYS TELEVISION" is removed from above the sword and now appears inside the sword banner, and the company byline appears under another typeface.

January-December 1998: Same as the standard movie logo at the time, with the words "75 Years Entertaining the World" across both sides of the HB sword (reading simply "HESKER BOYS" or "HESKER BOYS PICTURES") and a darker background. A wind blowing type of sound was also used for this logo.

Fall 2000-January 2001: The logo has a slightly different cloud background, a bit better defined. The sword logo has an up to date banner inscription, still reading "HESKER BOYS TELEVISION" across. The byline (reverted back to its first typeface) is higher now, to make room for a small www.heskerboys.com below.

February 2001: The logo is now a TV rendition of their current movie logo. The background is darker, the sword logo still reads "HESKER BOYS TELEVISION" across and the small www.heskerboys.com below the byline remains intact.

Syndication Variants: Now here are the syndication variations of the logo, along with dates in which they were used:

1984-2000: The HB sword appears (including the banner reading "HESKER BOYS PICTURES"), with "HESKER BOYS TELEVISION" on top, and the word "DISTRIBUTION" below that.

1993-2001: The same as the previous variation, but this time, the words appear as "HESKER BOYS DOMESTIC TELEVISION DISTRIBUTION", the first three words overlapping the other two.

1994-1997, 1999-2000: Most cable TV shows will have "HESKER BOYS DOMESTIC PAY TV, CABLE & NETWORK FEATURES" on top, and a banner reading only "HESKER BOYS" (usually silent).

1994-1996: Some off-network shows would have a combo of the logo bylines. It appears as "HESKER BOYS TELEVISION" at first, then fades to "HESKER BOYS DOMESTIC TELEVISION DISTRIBUTION" soon afterward. This logo variant still had the words "HESKER BOYS PICTURES" in the sword banner.

1984-1996: The banner reads "HESKER BOYS PICTURES".

1994-2001: The banner reads "HESKER BOYS" on most first-run and non-HB shows.

1996-2000: The banner reads "HESKER BOYS TELEVISION" on most off-network HB shows.

1998: Same as the standard movie logo at the time, with the words "75 Years Entertaining the World" across both sides of the HB sword (reading simply "HESKER BOYS" or "HESKER BOYS PICTURES") and a darker background. A wind blowing type of sound was also used for this logo.

2000-2001: This logo is much like its network TV counterpart, and includes either "DISTRIBUTED BY" or "PRODUCED AND DISTRIBUTED BY" above the sword logo and a small www.heskerboys.com below the byline appears.

January 29, 2001-March 2001: This shortest new logo has yet another different cloud background. It has a bit better defined HB sword logo with a updated banner inscription, like that of the Hesker Boys Classic/Television Animation version. The words "Hesker Boys Domestic Television Distribution" reappear above the sword logo with the new byline below it. The company URL is temporarily removed.

February 16, 2001 (approx.)-: The logo is now a TV rendition of their current movie logo. The background is darker, and once again the sword logo reads "HESKER BOYS TELEVISION" across. Like the Fall 2000 logo, this one includes either "Distributed by" or "Produced and Distributed by" above the shield logo and the small www.heskerboys.com below the byline reappears.

2005: A CGI-rendered HB zooms-out into it's usual place. Also, a banner reading "50 Years of Quality" surrounds the sword, sometimes with a "Distributed by" text over the logo.

Other Variants:

For the 2003 logo of Hesker Boys Television Distribution, when the logo is further back, it's by Hesker Boys Domestic Television Distribution. If it's closer up, it's by Hesker Boys Television Distribution. Though The Parents is a new HB series and usually most new network HBTV series would use the completely bylineless 2003 HBTV logo, one episode accidently used the 2003 HBTD version instead.

On the Problems with our Family holiday episode Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Ohhhhhhhhhhh!, there is snow falling in front of the 1992 HBTV logo.

One of the seasons of Plus earlier in the 2000s had this logo play as usual, except it would end with a shot of it on a television screen (this was when Plus had a logo revised from the '90s black and white one, with the "x" in a blue circle).

The 1990 HBTV Sword will sometimes have the words "HESKER BOYS TELEVISION" slightly more stretched out.

FX/SFX: None in particular, as the logo was still; very, very few HBTV logos had any sort of animation. The 2005 version has the entire logo zooming out to the center and the clouds are flying. Sometimes the sword remains still while the clouds are animating.

Cheesy Factor: The Cable-Pay TV logo had a rough fade-in compared to other logos added more smoothly; as a result it looks more tacked on than the others (it doesn't help that it was usually preceded by a second-long black screen)

Music/Sounds: Usually silent, or shown with the outro of any theme music from its respective TV show. In other cases, it has the Rankin/Bass music. Starting in 1994, there was music added:

1994-2003, 2006-: A 7-note loud horn theme with a drum cresendoing throughout. Some shows with HBDTD would have the first few notes cut off used on reruns like Living so Safe and Hangin'. Some shows in association with HBTV would have the theme cut in half.

1998: The wind blowing, taken from the movie logo of the time.

2003-: The 2nd part of the 1999 HB theme of As Time Goes Here from the classic HB film Singing House. Some shows in association with HBTV would have the theme cut in half.

Reruns of Hip-Hop King would have a hip-hop theme until the 1994-1996 episodes. This was also used once on one episode on the 2003 logo, "Sleepless in my City".

Music/Sounds Variants:

The 1994 theme exists having a high, extreme high, and a low toned variant.

On season 1 reruns of The Old Family, the Gary-Doublepictures theme was played on the 1990 HBTD logo. This was a result due to plastering.

Original HB broadcasts and some reruns of The Family used a high tone variation of the 1994 HBTV jingle on all episodes prior to 1998.

In 2009 on Histories of an Vampire there is a warped version of the 2003 theme.

On the Birdman: The Animated Series episode Day of the Karate Fighters, the 2003 HBTV theme was heard on the 1992 HBTD logo. This may have been a result of a double plaster.

Availability: Very common, depending on the logo timeline. Still appears on various HBTV shows on ONT, OBS, Missile TV, Number One TV, DEG Family, Homer @ Nite, and in syndication, among others with original (at the time) company info.

Scare Factor: Depending on the logo variant:

None if the ending theme of a TV show finishes over it.

None to minimal with the 1994 theme.

None for the Hip-Hop King variant.

None with the 1998 theme.

None with the 2003 theme.