Evolution Media

Evolution Media is a production company generally focused on non-fiction television programming, although they have very occasionally dabbled in scripted media. The company was founded in 1987. In July 2017, they were acquired by MGM Television, which then later acquired by Amazon in 2024. Their logos can be viewed on their website, evolutionusa.com.

1st Logo (Early 1990s-1997)

Visuals: In a time-lapse live-action video, two men spray-paint a wall black and then create an abstract globe against it. The company's name briefly flashes and the two men spray-paint the red text "EVOLUTION", with "FILM + TAPE, INC." below it, over the globe, before spray-painting it white.

Technique: Sped-up live-action footage.

Audio: A funky beat (taken from the opening of "Freedom! '90" by George Michael).

Availability: It's unknown if this was ever used on any actual programs, but it can be viewed on Evolution's website on their about page.

2nd Logo (1997-November 3, 2001)

Visuals: On a background that changes to show various videos of random objects, the silver word "EVOLUTION" emerges and stays in the middle.

Variant: On the 1998 HBO special Paul F. Tompkins: Driven to Drink, the logo is still and the 1995 HBO Independent Productions logo follows after.

Technique: Digital computer animation.

Audio: A fast breakbeat (the "Industrapper" drum loop off Spectrasonics' Distorted Reality 1 sample CD) with weird-sounding yells ("Wailer" off the same sample CD, which is an edited and reversed sample of "Deliverance" by the French electronica band Space).

Availability

Edit Table

Media Title	Date(s) of Release	Additional Note(s)
Movie Surfers	1997-2001
Jason Kuller: Good-bye Yellow Brick Joke	1998	Still logo. HBO Workspace presentation.
Paul F. Tompkins: Driven to Drink	1998	Still logo. HBO Workspace presentation.
Bug Juice	February 28, 1998-October 15, 2001	Episodes 1 and 4 available on Evolution Media's website.
Screen Gems Network	September 20, 1999-2001	Programming block, produced in association with Columbia TriStar Television Distribution.
Totally Hoops	January 7-November 3, 2001

3rd Logo (July 5-September 29, 2000)

Visuals: On a blue background, there is the same "EVOLUTION" text as before, albeit slightly modified, some windmills, a ladder and an abstract drawing of a fist holding a metallic rod, chiseled through a metallic bracket, The result looks like a stylized "E", can be also seen in the background.

Technique: A still digital graphic.

Audio: The closing theme of the show, or in original CBS airings, a generic theme.

Availability: This was only seen in the first season of Big Brother, preserved in Paramount+ prints of the season.

4th Logo (Late 2000-2001)

Visuals: On a black/blue gradient background, there is a box containing the same abstract fist drawing as before, but can be seen much more clearly, The stacked text "EVOLUTION FILM & TAPE, INC.", with "EVOLUTION" in a chiseled font and much bigger than the rest of the text, fades in underneath.

Technique: Fading effects.

Audio: None.

Availability: Like the first logo, it's unknown what shows used this, but once again, it can be viewed on Evolution's website.

5th Logo (June 3, 2001-)

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Visuals: On a red-orange background with a wheel moving behind it, there is a thick shiny vertical line on the left. A stylized fist then thrusts a wooden rod into the line, with yellow sparks coming out of the thrust, and the screen cuts to reveal that the line is actually the letter "E" without the middle stem. A black bar with the text "EVOLUTION", in the same font as before, is in front in the center. "EVOLUTION" slowly spaces out.

Variants:

• Starting in 2006, the logo was enhanced in CGI, with the original design of the fist from the last two logos, more realistic sparks, the text now in shiny silver, and the background having more movement in it. The beginning shot also zooms out first before the cut.
• An extended version exists, where three fists with rods are shown at the beginning, then it cuts to the normal animation.
• On Botched, Vanderpup Dogs, The Siwa Dance Pop Revolution, and the later seasons of The Real Housewives of Orange County, The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, the logo is smaller due to the compressed credits.
• An MGM byline was added in 2020 (which was originally in Impact font and a box. From 2021, the box is removed and the byline is in a serif font (set in MGM's custom typeface called Metro Mayer Serif) with "MGM" in its current corporate font).
• An subsequent Amazon MGM byline (with "Amazon" set in Amazon Ember typeface and "MGM STUDIOS" set in Metro Mayer Serif) was added in 2024, due to its purchase by Amazon.

Technique: Computer animation by Autonomy.

Audio: The fist thrusting the rod into the "E", a clang and a deep whoosh combined with an ambient synth (all muffled on the enhanced version).

Audio Variants:

• Sometimes, the end theme is used instead.
• The extended version has some quick clangs at the beginning.

Availability:

• The original version was first seen on the last season of the Disney Channel series Bug Juice and has appeared on series like Yo Momma, Clean Sweep and the first season of Fear Factor.
• Those shows are long gone from TV nowadays, but it appears on sporadic Disney Channel airings of the DCOM Now You See It... and on season 1 of Fear Factor on DVD.
• The enhanced version made its debut on the obscure Disney XD series Next X and currently appears on Vanderpump Rules, Botched, and several series in The Real Housewives franchise.
• The extended version can be seen on Evolution's website, as well as on The Real Housewives of Orange County episode "Secrets Revealed".