ABC marks ‘Nightline’ legacy with an updated take on its classic look

ABC News‘ venerable late-night news program “Nightline” is marking its 45th anniversary with an updated look, new home and revised sound.

For the occasion, “Nightline” reverted to a logo in line with the design it used from 1998 to 2017, featuring the program’s name in a condensed sans serif and horizontal lines accenting the “line” portion. 

An iteration of the pre-1998 logo.

The 2025 logo is also shown in an italic version of the typeface, reverting to a practice that began with the legacy logo back in 2002.

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Prior to 1998, the show used a design that used a different condensed sans serif with more generous spacing and a different take on the horizontal banding that spanned all of the letters.

Logo used from January 2018 to March 2025.

In 2017, the show followed a larger design trend of switching to friendlier, wider geometric sans serifs. It also stylized its name in all lowercase, with “night” appearing bolder than “line.” 

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At the same time, the broadcast also introduced a gold look accented with dark city imagery and touches of blue-teal.

That color palette has been carried over in the latest redesign, with more teal added in. In addition, the logo in the graphics package has picked up neon-like accents. For the word “Night,” the tubes trace the outline of the letters but are inset, with the large footprint of each character reading as the metallic casings found around this style of signage.

In the second portion of the graphics package logo, the lines become horizontal, adding a second linear element to the “line” portion, a touch that helps further emphasize the literal interpretation of the show’s “linear” name inside the actual word “line.”

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The show also received an updated open as well as animated bumpers and rejoins. These elements include a variety of nighttime views of New York City tinted, to varying degrees, with the gold and teal, as well as swirling bursts of light that snake their way through the scenes as well as small orbs of light.

In addition, the show also introduced a new voiceover from actor Kiefer Sutherland. His father, the late actor Donald Sutherland, had previously recorded opens for the show. 

The younger Sutherland can be heard saying “This is ‘Nightline,'” at the top of the show’s cold open. After the teases run with anchor voiceovers, he can be heard saying, “Celebrating 45 years of delivering to you, the most powerful stories of our time. From ABC News headquarters in New York … this is ‘Nightline,'” before fading to its first break, retaining a similar format from before.

Before Kiefer Sutherland took over announcer duties, the show used Randy Thomas, who provides the voice for ABC News special coverage extended opens (though a male announcer has taken over in some recent instances). 

“Nightline” also reached back into its archives for its latest choice in theme music, going back to the VideoHelper piece used from 2005 to 2014, according to Network News Music. 

This music, composed by Joe Saba and Stew Winter, feels richer, more urgent and hard-hitting than the 2014 to 2025 sound. The theme also allows the network to incorporate pulsating beats as a vamp, an element that is common in both late night and news themes in general. It’s also worth noting the theme has subtle nods to the ABC News signature but is different enough to be considered its own signature. 

Amid all these changes, ABC News also moved the show’s production to Studio 4E in parent company Disney’s new Hudson Square building in New York, sharing space with “ABC World News Tonight.” 

Unlike “WNT,” however, no anchor desk is used, with co-anchors Juju Chang and Byron Pitts standing up in front of the space’s large video wall displaying a sweeping view of New York City, much of it bathed in a gold glow. Some of the space’s additional LED panels appear in push-ins and wide shots with closer city views. 

Thanks to the generous use of those push-in shots that start wide, viewers are also treated to a reflective view of the video wall backgrounds of the studio floor that, when taken with the non-reflected portion, almost make it seem as though the talent is standing on glass, somehow suspended above the city.

“Nightline,” which traces its roots to “The Iran Crisis: America Held Hostage,” featuring nightly updates on the Iran hostage crisis of 1979, switched to its current name in 1980 — while still covering the hostages. Originally formulated as counter-programming against NBC’s “Tonight Show,” it was first hosted by Frank Reynolds but Ted Koppel took over shortly after its launch.

During the hostage crisis, the show heavily emphasized the number of days that the hostages had been held captive to the point of the ever-increasing number after “Day” becoming a subtitle of sorts. 

Once the crisis was over (after 444 days), the show continued focusing on a single topic on most editions, typically including a live interview as well.

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A multi-topic format was attempted in 1983 when the show expanded to 60 minutes, but proved unpopular and the show reverted to its previous format and 31-minute footprint until after Koppel exited in 2005, when it was reformatted again as a multi-topic show. Live interviews were dropped from most broadcasts and the show relies more heavily on pre-taped anchor segments, though it can go live for breaking news.

In 2011, ABC swapped “Nightline” and “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” meaning that the network’s late night comedy talk show ran up against CBS’s and NBC’s, whereas previously it was an alternative format in the time.

During the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, the show became a crucial part of ABC News’ strategy to provide viewers with the latest on the disease’s spread. From March 17, 2025 to April 10, 2025, the show was moved up, returning to its previous 11:35 p.m. timeslot.