Other variations
In the early 1950s, the bold upper case NBC letters (later used in the 1953 "Xylophone" logo) were also used as an animated "light-up letters" logo in synchronization with the NBC chimes in front of a gray background. This closing sequence was edited in at the end of a network program. Another variant was later used with a darker gray background and a disclaimer underneath the light-up letters: "This program was reproduced by the Kinephoto process," a reference to a live program put onto black and white film identified as a Kinescope recording. This variant was widely used throughout the 1950s and 1960s. Many programs were originally recorded in this manner before the advent of two-inch videotape. NBC, however, continued to use its Kinephoto recording system to archive many of its videotaped programs so the videotapes can be erased and reused for other programming. This is evident with such 1960s programs as Hullabaloo using both archived Kinescope footage with rare color videotape finds, which was later re-released for home video on VHS and DVD.
For NBC's 1965 fall preview special, the peacock introduction began as normal with announcer Mel Brandt's standard introduction; however, when the peacock faded, Brandt is heard saying "It just starts in black and white!" Used to begin the special, the variant – with the voice-over being featured at the beginning of the ident, instead of during the middle – led into almost the complete pre-title teaser of Get Smart's pilot episode, which was shot in black-and-white. This variant is also known as the "Pink Peacock" on video-sharing websites such as YouTube due to the faded color of the video.
For the first American television broadcast of The Beatles' black-and-white film, A Hard Day's Night, on October 24, 1967, NBC replaced the peacock with a penguin: a caption showing I Dream of Jeannie and The Jerry Lewis Show (the programs NBC was pre-empting that night) was pushed off-screen by an animated, waddling penguin adorned with a top hat and flapping its flightless wings (imitating the peacock), accompanied by announcer Mel Brandt drolly saying "I Dream of Jeannie and The Jerry Lewis Show will not be seen tonight. Instead... (music cue) The following very, very special program is brought to you in lively black and white, on NBC." At the end of the sequence, the penguin is shown taking off its top hat and unzipping its chest, with The Beatles jumping out and performing, before running away while being chased by fangirls.[29][30]
In 1968, a variant of the 1965 "in living color" peacock ID was featured at the start of an episode of Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In. At the very end of the sequence, the peacock sneezes, sending its feathers flying off-screen, after which the puzzled peacock is shown looking in each direction in notice that its feathers are missing. This clip was later re-used in 1985 to open an episode of TV's Bloopers & Practical Jokes, and in the 2002 special The Most Outrageous Game Show Moments 2. The sneezing peacock was only an animation added onto the end of the original clip of the 1965 peacock ID, as the peacock's feathers became brighter upon switching to the portion in which it sneezed.
In 1993, NBC commissioned several artists such as Al Hirschfeld,[31] Peter Max,[32] John Kricfalusi,[33][34] J. J. Sedelmaier,[35] David Daniels,[36] Joan C. Gratz,[37] and Mark Malmberg[38] to devise abstract variations of the peacock for promotional use.
The NBC late-night talk show Late Night with Conan O'Brien occasionally featured sketches with "Polly, the NBC Peacock", a puppet of the logo who overpraised the network's programming, while mocking the ratings, programming, and stars of its competitors.[41]
In 2017, NBC published a print advertisement in The New York Times marketing itself as the United States' number-one television network, which featured a variant of the peacock with a flipped beak to resemble the number "1".[42]
On January 6, 2026, a special logo commemorate NBC's 100th anniversary designed by Joshua Ecton was unveiled,[43] combining golden "100" number and the redesigned peacock.[44] The logo was accompained by tagline "A Century Together", which was unveiled on February 6 on that year.[45]
