20th Century Fox Television (1994-2020)

From the Audiovisual Identity Database, the motion graphics museum

Revision as of 19:37, 14 January 2023 by imported>Paxton Jordan (→‎Background)


Background

20th Century Fox Television was the television division of 20th Century Fox (now 20th Century Studios). It was originally founded in 1949 (under the name of TCF Television Productions, Inc.) as other studios were branching out into television production. In 1955, the studio officially began television production. 20th Century Fox also owned a stake in the NTA Film Network from 1956 to 1961, and has produced some of the most popular television programs over the years. After Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation acquired TCF on March 6, 1986, TCF/News Corp acquired the television holdings of Metromedia (including its TV stations and television production company). This acquisition helped News Corp launch the Fox Broadcasting Company, and TCFTV became the production arm of FBC. Between 1997 and 1998, the company's library expanded by acquiring New World Communications and MTM Enterprises. On August 10, 2020, TCFTV was renamed "20th Television" (the name of the company's former syndication unit, which was folded into Disney Media Distribution), as part of a corporate restructuring, similar to the movie distribution siblings became 20th Century Studios and Searchlight Pictures on January 17, 2020. Today, the former TCFTV library is owned by The Walt Disney Company. TCFTV also produced cable television shows under the Fox 21 Television Studios (now known as the short-lived revival of Touchstone Television) name.


TCF Television Productions

1st Logo (1955-1959)


Logo: A logo similar to the 20th Century Fox logo, except instead of "20th CENTURY FOX", it reads "TCF" and contains an explosion-like shape behind it. Underneath, there's a byline.

Bylines:

  • "FILMED AT THE HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS OF TCF Television Productions, Inc. IRVING ASHER, Executive in Charge of TV Productions".
  • FILMED AT THE HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS OF TCF TELEVISION PRODUCTIONS, INC.
  • IRVING ASHER EXECUTIVE IN CHARGE OF TV PRODUCTION

Variants:

  • In some cases, this logo is superimposed over the ending credits image.
  • In color shows, the tower is yellow-orange and the background is blue.

Technique: None.

Music/Sounds: The closing theme of the show.

Availability: Extremely rare. It's seen on Broken Arrow, the first season of How to Marry a Millionaire (the series), and My Friend Flicka in color, also available for viewing on the Museum of Broadcast Communications Archives website.

2nd Logo (October 7, 1958-August 20, 1959)

Logo: A still version of the standard version of the 1935 movie logo of the era. Over the tower is the following text:
IRVING ASHER
Executive Producer

Technique: None.

Music/Sounds: The end theme of the show.

Availability: Rare. Seen on the second season of How to Marry a Millionaire and Man Without a Gun. It was preserved on the DVD release of the former.

3rd Logo (September 29, 1959-June 5, 1963)


Logo: We see a backdrop of a night sky covered with stars and clouds. Over this backdrop, we see the following text:

20TH
CENTURY-

FOX

fade in, with a visible trail that leads to the bottom-left side of the screen. The "20TH" seems to be more to the right of the other text, as displayed here.

Variant: On Adventures in Paradise, this appeared as an opening logo with a fanfare, followed by the Martin Manulis Productions logo.

Technique: Simple fading effects.

Music/Sounds: The opening or closing theme of the show.

Availability: Extremely rare. Recently seen on The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis on MeTV and the Shout! Factory DVD set. Also can be seen on Adventures in Paradise, which is currently available for viewing on the Museum of Broadcast Communications Archives website, as well as the NBC sitcom Five Fingers.

20th Century Fox Television

1st Logo (November 6, 1957-1966)


Logo: We see the usual 1935 film logo animating. We start off with the logo close-up. The camera then backs away as the word "TELEVISION", slanted at an angle, suddenly appears extremely up-close (almost filling the whole screen). It then zooms out, plastering itself on top of "CENTURY".

Variants:

  • The logo also appears in sepia-tone.
  • Sometimes, the camera would back away slowly.
  • Sometimes, a sped-up variant of the logo exists.
  • The movie logo of the time opened the pilot to The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, "Caper at the Bijou", with the Martin Manulis Productions logo (the fanfare plays over the Martin Manulis logo).
  • On some variants, when the word "Television" zooms out, the searchlights abruptly jump back to where they began when the logo began.

Technique: Traditional animation.

Music/Sounds:

  • 1959-1964: A rearrangement of the Alfred Newman fanfare used on the movie variation.
  • 1961-1966: A short tune played on muted trumpets and strings, that sounds similar to the Fox theme.
  • 1963-1964: A shortened variant of the 1959 theme.
  • 1965-1966: A sped-up/shortened version of the 1961 theme.

Music/Sounds Variants:

  • On the TV series Hong Kong, there are three different arrangements of the 1959 theme.
  • In some cases, it used only the closing theme of the show, or none. This is the case for The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis.

Availability: Very rare. It can be seen on season 1 reruns of Daniel Boone on World Harvest Television (also available on the Liberation/Goldhil DVD release) and on reruns of The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis and 12 O'Clock High on MeTV, as well as the Season 1 Blu-ray of Lost In Space. Fox updated this with a newer logo (most likely 20th Television) on most prints and DVD releases of shows from this era, but can still be seen on older prints. Initially seen on the last episodes of How to Marry a Millionaire and Man Without a Gun before the NTA logo. Also appeared on the Rod Serling western The Loner, and appeared before the Martin Manulis logo on later episodes of Adventures in Paradise.

Legacy: The finishing product of this logo (or rather, its design concept) would not only be used for the next two logos but would also be the inspiration for 20th Television's name (as the finishing product of this logo has "TELEVISION" plastered over "CENTURY", making the logo read "20th Television Fox").

2nd Logo (September 16, 1965-1984)


Logo: We see the 1953 theatrical logo, but this time, the camera doesn't back away from the tower structure. The word "TELEVISION" appears again and it slowly plasters itself on top of the word "CENTURY".

Variants:

  • A "gray scaled" variant appeared on B&W prints of classic color shows from the era, such as Batman.
  • The word "TELEVISION" would appear in either gold, orange, or yellow.
  • In 1966, the logo is shifted over to the left and the word "TELEVISION" zooms out rapidly onto the structure. A tip of the letter "C" in "CENTURY" is seen.
  • In 1976, the registered trademark "®" symbol was added to the 1965 logo. Plus, the logo is shifted to the left a little more from the 1966 version, but "TELEVISION" remains centered and zooms out again slowly, consequently revealing the "C" in "CENTURY".
  • There is a still version of the 1965 variant with the text "DISTRIBUTED BY" on the top left corner of the logo (this was seen at the close of the 1976-78 version of Liars' Club).
  • On the TV series The Starlost, a shortened version of the 1953 movie logo is used.
  • A green-tinted variant exists.

Technique: Same as the 1st TCFTV logo.

Music/Sounds:

  • 1965-1969: The same 1961 theme from 1st TCFTV logo.
  • 1966-1984: The same 1965 theme from 1st TCFTV logo.

Music/Sounds Variants:

  • Same as before, it used only the closing theme of the show or none. Post-1986 prints of the 1974 television movie Hurricane use the Metromedia Producers Corporation jingle instead of the standard jingle.
  • On the DVD and Blu-ray print of the S1 Batman episode "Hi Diddle Riddle", it uses the 1989 theme from the next logo, due to the HD master on this episode using a different source for the audio (in this case, the 1990s video masters). The Brazilian Portuguese track from this episode, however, uses the 1994 theme from the last logo instead.
  • Hulu prints of M*A*S*H from the first two seasons have this logo with the 1989 TCFTV jingle, due to a reverse plaster error.
  • A version of the TCFTV fanfare is incorporated into and appears at the end of, the theme for the 1976-1982 syndicated documentary series That's Hollywood, which TCFTV produced and distributed. At the end of that show's closing credits, the TCFTV logo is timed to appear as the That's Hollywood theme segues into the logo fanfare as the song ends.

Availability: Rare, due to frequent plastering by later Fox logos.

  • The 1965 version is retained on the 2nd through the final season of Daniel Boone last aired on Retro TV and World Harvest Television, as well as the DVD sets of these seasons from Liberation/Goldhill and streaming and DVD/Blu-ray releases of the 1960s Batman series from Warner Home Video.
  • The 1976 version is available on the first two episodes of The Fall Guy on the season 1 DVD set, while the next logo is intact on the remainder of the season.
  • The Magnetic Video print of The Making of Star Wars from 1979 also has this logo (it was omitted from its 1981 reissue as a double feature with SPFX: The Empire Strikes Back, and replaced by the 20th Television logo in the 1995 reissue and bonus disc 3 of the Star Wars saga Blu-ray set).
  • It is also seen on the Star Wars Holiday Special from 1978. Copies of the special have been circulating for decades.
  • Also appears on the VHS release of Tomorrow's Child. It's Good to Be Alive (1974), aired on Atlanta's WATC 57, June 27, 2009, preserved the 1976 version at the beginning. It's also seen on the Season 2 Blu-ray of Lost in Space.
  • After the next logo's introduction, it was seen at the end of the TV special The Facts in 1982; the short-lived series AfterMASH and a print of the Canadian TV movie Pygmalion in 1983; W*A*L*T*E*R and the TV movie When She Says No in 1984.
  • Beginning in 2017, this logo has been restored on Hulu prints of the first two seasons of M*A*S*H, marking the first time since 1992 that this logo has been restored to that series. It was also spotted on FOX Classics’ broadcasts of the episodes "The Price of Tomato Juice", "In Love and War", "Hepatitis", "C*A*V*E", "Tell It to the Marines", "Bottle Fatigue" and "Bless You, Hawkeye" in Australia, as well as GREAT! TV's print of "Fade Out, Fade In (Part 2)" in the United Kingdom. It has also recently began appearing on Season Three episodes of Lost in Space on MeTV, replacing previous prints of those episodes which had the 1995 20th Television logo with the News Corporation byline.

3rd Logo (October 19, 1981-1993)


Logo: Same as the 1981 theatrical logo, but with one of the searchlights removed and the word "TELEVISION" once again zooming out and plastering over the word "CENTURY".

Variants:

  • This exists as both a filmed and a videotaped/telecine version. Originally presented on film throughout its whole run, it also appeared in telecine format starting in 1986.
  • The word "TELEVISION" would appear in either gold, yellow, orange, or ivory.
  • Around 1984, the sky background looks a bit darker.
  • On the series Working Girl, the unaired TV pilot of Revenge of the Nerds, and The Simpsons S3 episodes: "Bart the Murderer", "Homer Defined", "Treehouse of Horror II", "Lisa's Pony", "Flaming Moe's", "I Married Marge", "Radio Bart", "Separate Vocations", "Colonel Homer", "Black Widower", and "Bart's Friend Falls in Love", you can see more structure on the logo as it appears further out.
  • On some old syndie prints of S1 Small Wonder episodes, the logo freezes after "TELEVISION" plasters "CENTURY" before cutting to black.
  • There exists a "matted" 1.78:1 widescreen version.
  • On a few episodes of Bobby's World, it has a greenish background.
  • On A&E airings of a few season 2 episodes of L.A. Law, the logo animation was in slow motion, but the jingle remained unaffected.
  • On a Channel 4 airing of The Simpsons episode "Homer vs. Lisa and the 8th Commandment", the logo cuts out before the final note ends.
  • A variant with "DISTRIBUTED BY" at the bottom of the logo also exists.
  • On The Tracey Ullman Show Backstage, the copyright stamp of the company is seen below next to the IATSE and AMPTP logos.

Trivia: If you look closely, you can see that there are two searchlights behind the logo instead of three like the movie logo. There is, however, a rare variant with three searchlights.

Technique: Almost the same as the last logo, but with Scanimate.

Music/Sounds:

  • October 19, 1981-August 22, 1991: The same 1965 theme from the previous two logos. Even though it mainly stopped being used in late 1989, some shows have used it into the 1990-1991 season, such as S1 and early S2 episodes of In Living Color, the first two S5 episodes of L.A. Law (pretty odd, considering said show used the next theme on November 1989-May 1990 episodes of the fourth season), the L.A. Law 100th Episode Celebration, a few international prints of S1 Bobby's World episodes, and most of season 1 episodes and the first season 2 episode of True Colors.
  • November 1989-1993: A short version of the 1979 Fox jingle, which was later used for the early variant of the standard 20th Television logo from 1992-1993.

Music/Sounds Variants:

  • There are abridged variants of the 1965 theme, such as the case for Hooperman that the closing theme ends abruptly with the last note of the 1965 theme, and Charlie & Co., which used the last 5 notes of the fanfare.
  • Two versions of the 1989 theme exist: one where the last note echoes for a bit after fading out and another without the echo. The latter version was seen on In Living Color, the unaired Revenge of the Nerds pilot, and the 1991 M*A*S*H retrospective Memories of M*A*S*H.
  • On some episodes of Mr. Belvedere and Sister Kate, the first note is cut-off (via fade transition).

Availability: Uncommon, due to plastering with the 20th Television logo.

  • The Simpsons episodes "There's No Disgrace Like Home", "Krusty Gets Busted", "Mr. Lisa Goes to Washington", "Treehouse of Horror II", "Saturdays of Thunder", "Colonel Homer", and "Black Widower" preserve this logo on their respective season DVD releases.
  • It has been spotted on Comedy Central's prints of Office Space and French Kiss, but has been plastered over with the 20th Television logo in recent airings due to split screen credits. A similar situation happened on a few episodes of The Pretender when reran on TNT, but has now been plastered by the 2013 20th Television logo on H&I (Heroes and Icons).
  • On VHS, it can be seen on The Simpsons Christmas special, L.A. Law, and, in the UK, on The Simpsons episode "Homer vs. Lisa and the 8th Commandment". It was also spotted at the end of a Simpsons short titled "Family Therapy" that was included on the UK rental VHS of The War of the Roses. The Australian rental VHS release of the said film also includes this short, though the TCFTV logo is absent from this release.
  • More recently, the logo has been sighted on several 1970s-'80s TV movies on Fox Movie Channel. It can also be seen on some early season one and most season two and three episodes of In Living Color on DVD.
  • The 1981-1991 and 1989-1993 variants can be found on the Alien Nation series DVD set, along with original airings of Capitol Critters on ABC.
  • The 1981-1991 version of this logo can be seen on Fox Movie Channel's prints of The Hurricane.
  • The 1980s variants are also seen on the Shout! Factory DVDs of Mr. Belvedere, although FamNET reruns of said show plaster it with the 2008 20th Television logo on almost all episodes, and the 1995 20th Television logo on several episodes while Antenna TV reruns plaster it with the bylineless 2013 20th Television logo on all episodes.
  • The 1981 version appeared on the 1985-1988 syndicated run of The $100,000 Pyramid and was preserved on USA reruns. Since 1997 reruns, the logo was plastered by the 1997 Columbia TriStar Television logo.
  • This can also be found on the unaired TV pilot of Revenge of the Nerds, which can be found on the "Panty Raid Edition" DVD release of Revenge of the Nerds (the movie).
  • On Netflix, it can be found on several episodes of the first two seasons of Bobby's World (while others have either the 20th Television or 1996 Saban International logos).
  • Made an appearance on the 10th episode of S4 of In Living Color (that episode being produced during season 3 (1991-92), but not airing until the fourth season).
  • The 1989 version can be seen on a handful of early Simpsons episodes on FXNOW, FX's streaming service, in 4:3 mode only.
  • The 1981 version appeared on the first few episodes of the Fox TV series The Adventures of Beans Baxter before Fox Square Productions took over (which never used a proper logo; just a copyright notice).
  • Despite general use stopping around 1992, the news series Not Just News (co-produced with Fox Television Stations) used this into 1993.
  • The widescreen logo is available on M*A*S*H reruns on Hulu starting in 2017, with the 1989 jingle. Additionally, the 1981 version was seen plastering the previous logo on FOX Classics' prints of “Carry On, Hawkeye", "The Late Cpt. Pierce", "The Bus" and "Dear Ma", and True Entertainment's print of "Fade Out, Fade In (Part 1)". However, the previous logo is restored on Disney+ prints of these episodes.
  • Turned up on MeTV's print of the M*A*S*H series finale "Goodbye, Farewell and Amen".
  • It makes a surprise appearance on Sony Movie Channel's prints of the TV movies Hijack! and The Death Squad (all before the SPT logo), both being Spelling-Goldberg Productions.

Legacy: This logo marks the first time that the familiar shortened TCF theme was used for Fox's television logos after approximately three decades of unconventional fanfares.

Note: 20th Century Fox Television was supplanted by Twentieth Television Corporation from 1989 to 1994. From September 18, 1992-March 19, 1995, the standard 20th Television logo of these years was used. See 20th Television for details on that logo.

4th Logo (Dance Fever variant) (1983-1984)

Logo: On a black background, we see the '80s TCF print logo. Under it is the word "TELEVISION" and a copyright stamp.

Technique: None.

Music/Sounds: The theme song of Dance Fever.

Availability: Extinct. It was only seen on season 5 episodes of Dance Fever on local syndication.

5th Logo (April 28, 1995-December 22, 2020, July 1, 2021, June 12, 2022)

Videos

There are also two extremely rare TCFTV logos taken from a global warming video

Videos

Timestamp: 0:00, 3:44

Logo: Same as the standard 20th Television logo, but now the stack of words has been modified to resemble the standard Fox stack, with "TELEVISION" added to the bottom. The taller structure now reads "20th CENTURY FOX TELEVISION". When the logo is finished zooming out, the registered trademark "®" symbol and the News Corporation byline (on pre-2013 episodes) fade in at the same time.

Variants:

  • An early variant from 1995-1997 featured a slightly darker tower.
  • On the sitcom Andy Richter Controls the Universe, the text "IN ASSOCIATION WITH" below the News Corporation byline fades in at the same time as the News Corporation byline and there's a black banner at the bottom. This would be followed by the 1995, 2002 or 2003 Paramount Television logos. On the region 1 DVD release of the series from CBS Home Entertainment and Paramount Home Entertainment, this logo and the Paramount Television logos are plastered by the CBS Television Distribution logo, although both the Fox and Paramount logos were retained when the show aired on Universal HD and HDNet a few years ago. It is presumed that international releases of the series on DVD will retain the original end logos since Fox (now Disney) owns the international rights.
  • September 26, 1998-May 24, 2010: On shows featured/produced in widescreen/high definition, the sky background is more blue, with less realistic searchlights. Debuted on Martial Law with the already formed logo squished to 4:3, then cropped to 4:3 in season 2, while most shows began using the widescreen variant in 1999. Also, the registered trademark "®" symbol is already there and the News Corporation byline fades in once the logo completely finishes zooming out.
    • On 24: The Video Game, Family Guy Video Game!, the Nintendo DS port of The Simpsons Game, and the series The Winner, the trademark "TM" symbol is seen instead of the registered trademark "®" symbol.
  • On Titus, the pilot episode of Reba, Method & Red and seasons 1-2 of The Bernie Mac Show, the logo plays in reverse.
  • On The Big House, we see the already formed 1998 logo, but it stays on-screen longer for a few more seconds before fading out.
  • On seasons 3-5 of Soul Food, there is a still version of this logo. On The Simpsons Arcade Game, downloadable on Xbox Live and PSN, a still version of the enhanced logo is used.
  • On April 13, 2007, starting with Drive, the logo was given a more "enhanced" look with more realistic effects. Like the 1998 variant, the registered trademark "®" symbol is already there and the News Corp. byline fades in later. However, some shows still used the 1995 or 1998 variants, such as King of the Hill (until November 18, 2007), American Dad! (until May 4, 2008), The Simpsons (until January 25, 2009), Family Guy (until May 17, 2009), and 24 (until its series finale on May 24, 2010).
  • On the 2009 animated sitcom Sit Down, Shut Up, there was a shortened version of the 2007 logo.
  • Starting with the 9th season of Bones on September 16, 2013, the logo is bylineless. This was due to the split of News Corporation which occurred back at the end of June (with Fox and all of the former company's entertainment divisions going to the then-newly-formed 21st Century Fox). The Simpsons, Bob's Burgers, Family Guy, and American Dad! still used the byline until November 10, 2013. The Simpsons and Family Guy started using the byline-less version on November 17, 2013, while Bob's Burgers and American Dad! started using it on November 24, 2013.
  • On current prints of Buffy the Vampire Slayer starting with season 6 with no English audio option, there was a shortened version of the 2013 bylineless logo. Also, the shortened 1997 fanfare is heard, carrying it from the Kuzui Enterprises and Sandollar Television logos.
  • On the pre-broadcast pilot of the series A.U.S.A., the logo is slightly extended, starting off with a close-up of the structure, then easing into the normal animation. The standard version was used when it hit broadcast.
  • On old AMC broadcasts of Young Frankenstein and The Longest Day, a B&W version of the 1998 logo appears.
  • On the fourth season of The Simple Life, the logo cuts off when the byline fades in.
  • On seasons 1-7 episodes of Family Guy and direct-to-DVD film, Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story, the logo fades out.
  • On the first eight episodes of season 1 of Central Park, the logo is in a slightly different tint. On the last two episodes of the same season, the logo is in its regular tint.

Technique: CGI animation, provided by Studio Productions (now Flip Your Lid Animation) for the 1995 and 1998 versions.

Music/Sounds: Here are the main versions:

  • April 28, 1995-March 21, 2018: A re-arranged and re-recorded variant of the 1989 jingle, which is based on the 1994 20th Century Fox fanfare by Bruce Broughton. It is slightly different from the 1994/1995 20th Television fanfare. It's the 2nd alternate theme that was first used for 20th Television in 1994.
  • 1995-July 14, 2014: The 1994/1995 20th Television fanfare.
  • October 19, 1997-September 14, 2020: A re-arranged, re-recorded, faster variant of the 1961 jingle conducted by David Newman.
  • August 29, 2005-October 4, 2012: A truncated variant of the 1997 film jingle (presumably heard on Something's Got to Give, the Fox En Español logo and the 1997 and 1999 Fox Sports logos), much shorter than the above. Used on the first season of Prison Break, the first four seasons of Glee and the first season of American Horror Story.
  • September 14, 2005-July 24, 2020: A re-orchestrated and another truncated/altered version of the 1997 film jingle, albeit edited to resemble the 1995-2018 jingle.
  • September 4, 2012-August 21, 2020: The 2008 20th Television fanfare. Sometimes, this fanfare can be slightly rearranged with more trumpets.
  • August 26, 2015-December 22, 2020, July 1, 2021, June 12, 2022: The last 4 notes of the 1997 20th Century Fox fanfare; the last note is cut short. Used only on the short variant. A warp-speed version of it also exists. It was the only theme left when all of the above retired.

Music/Sounds Variants:

  • Starting in the 1997-1998 TV season, Fox commonly uses their own fanfare over the logos (also known as generic themes).
    • Some series such as The Simpsons had retired using these generic themes as early as 2011, while Family Guy keeps using them to this day. Most other animated shows have no generic theme at all.
    • On the CTV Throwback prints of the Sit Down, Shut Up episodes "Pilot" and "Miracles Are Real", this generic theme variant of this logo is kept.
  • In exceptional cases, it used the closing theme of the show, the generic network theme on Fox, ABC, CBS, NBC or The WB (later The CW), or silence.
  • A warp speed version of the 1995-2018 theme exists and was used on seasons 5 through 7 of 24, CHAOS, and S1 episodes of Lie to Me.
  • Sometimes, only the second half of the fanfare will play.
  • There are many abridged variations of the 1997 jingle such as American Dad! and The Cleveland Show that used it.
  • There is also a long version of the theme.
  • On 1995-1997 and some post-1997 episodes of The Simpsons, such as the S9 episode "Simpson Tide", the S11 episode "Treehouse of Horror X", the S15 episode "Treehouse of Horror XIV", the S16 episode "Treehouse of Horror XV", the S18 episode "Treehouse of Horror XVII", the S19 episode "Treehouse of Horror XVIII", and the S21 episode "Treehouse of Horror XX", the 1989 TCFTV logo theme is played.
  • On Seth & Alex's Almost Live Comedy Show and the first two episodes of Bob's Burgers, the 1989 TCFTV logo theme is played, except the pitch is a bit higher.
  • On the Network Ten and Sky One airings of 24: Live Another Day in Australia and the United Kingdom, a warp speed version of the 1994/1995 20th Television fanfare was used on the 2013 bylineless variant.
  • On older Sky One airings of The Simpsons season 10 episode "Monty Can't Buy Me Love", the 1995 fanfare is used.
  • On Quintuplets, the 1998 enhanced TCFTV tower features the 1994/1995 20th Television fanfare.
  • HITS airing of The X-Files has the 2007 revision with the 1994/1995 20th Television fanfare.
  • On The Simpsons season 7 episode "The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular", the fanfare comes in roughly half a second to one second after the logo starts animating. For the reason, given Sky One's prints of older episodes freeze at the end transitioning into commercial breaks, the last note of the fanfare is abruptly cut off.
  • The American Dad! season 9 episode "Da Flippity Flop" uses the 2012 TCFTV fanfare, rather than the usual abridged version of the '97 fanfare. As a result of this, given how short this variant of the logo normally is, the last few notes of the fanfare play over a black screen. ITV2's broadcast of the episode fixes this in a way by freezing the logo before the cut to black, so the fanfare finishes over the static image.
  • The American Dad! season 9 episode "The Full Cognitive Redaction of Avery Bullock by the Coward Stan Smith" uses an abridged version of the 2012 TCFTV fanfare, consisting of the first two notes and the last four notes of the standard fanfare. This fanfare isn't present on any other episode, despite fitting the length of the logo as opposed to the example directly above.
  • On international PAL prints of The Simpsons episode "Marge Gamer", the fanfare is double pitched. Certain dubbings of the said episode on Disney+ (and TV airings in those languages), however, have the logo in a regular PAL pitch.
  • On select St. Elsewhere episodes on Hulu, the end theme plays as the logo appears (credits were adjusted to fit in the logo as the theme song ends). However, at least one instance forgets to cut out and thusly you can hear the meow sound effect from the MTM Enterprises logo even though it is plastered with this one.
  • On the US DVD release of season 5 of Ally McBeal, if you select the French audio track, the logo (alongside the David E. Kelley Productions logo before it and the episodes as well) plays in a low pitch. This is also the case on select dubbings of seasons 12-20 episodes of The Simpsons on Disney+.
  • On Over There, a unique abridged version of the 1997 TCF theme (heard on Anastasia and some dubs of X2: X-Men United) is used, which begins with the first 10 notes and ends with the final helding note, which would continue over the 2005 FX Networks logo.
  • On the Modern Family episode "Fizbo", the audio channel changes occur in the 1997 TCFTV fanfare.
  • On seasons 1-2 of The Bernie Mac Show and Method & Red, the Fox Television Studios theme is used.
  • On 2009-12 episodes of The Simpsons as well as 2009-13 episodes of Family Guy, the 1997 theme is used on the 2007 logo (despite season 8 using the fullscreen version of the logo).
  • On 2013-20 episodes of Family Guy as well as current prints of Buffy the Vampire Slayer starting with the season 2 episode "Halloween" with no English audio option, the 1997 theme is used on the 2013 bylineless logo, shortened to 8 notes on the last 2 seasons of the latter, due to plastering older logos.

Availability: While no longer in use as of December 2020, it's still ultra common.

  • Until 2020, this logo was commonly found on a majority of network programming from FOX. Also seen on some CBS (Yes, Dear, Martial Law, and Still Standing, etc), NBC (The Pretender, 1997-2000 seasons and the two TV movies, etc), or ABC (The Practice and Boston Legal, etc.) shows.
  • Also appears on its then-new shows produced for other networks and streaming services such as Star and Hoops.
  • In the U.S., this may or may not be present in syndicated repeats of network programs, as the 20th Television logo may follow or plaster it.
  • When Laff airs How I Met Your Mother, the logo is intact, instead of plastered by 20th TV's logo, and not followed by 20th TV's logo at all.
  • The still shot version of this logo can be found on Soul Food: The Series, starting with S3, DVD's (released by CBS) retain it.
  • The version with the edited 1997 theme can be seen on reruns of American Dad! and Family Guy reruns on Adult Swim, the latter left the block in September 2021, among others.
  • Many DVD releases of The Simpsons, starting with the 15th season and ending with the 17th season, replace the 1995 logo with the 2007 logo. Sky 1 (now Sky Showcase) in the UK has recently been airing upscaled HD 'remasters' of The Simpsons season 8 episodes, replacing the 1995 logo with the 2007 logo. Disney+ prints of pre-2009 episodes of The Simpsons also plaster the original logos with the 2007 logo.
  • Also seen on some international prints of FX shows such as It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and Fargo.
  • It can be also sometimes spotted on some movie airings on channels like AMC, Fox, and all those owned by TCFTV's parent company.
  • The bylineless 2013 variant plasters the Fox Television Studios logo on most current prints of Malcolm in the Middle.
  • After its Disney acquisition, this was used on shows during the 2019-2020 season, like for example, the first seasons of Bless the Harts and Duncanville.
  • Despite the rebranding to its current name (20th Television) on August 10, 2020, this logo was still in use until the end of the year.[1] Disney had also stated that episodes produced prior to the rebranding will not be plastered, with the exception of the shows on the Animation Domination block, as they use the 20th Television logo on by the beginning of the 2020-2021 TV season, then switched to the new 20th Television Animation logo in 2021 for the new seasons of the animated shows.
  • With the renaming, this logo had made its final appearance as a whole on the series finale of NeXt which aired on December 22, 2020, but this logo made a surprise appearance on episode 8 of season 3 of Duncanville which aired on June 12, 2022, instead of the 20th Television Animation logo. It's very likely because of an editing mistake.
  • While Family Guy: Blue Harvest actually used the 2007 logo on current prints, the original release used the 1995 logo.
  • This is cut-off from Hallmark Channel airings of Reba. However, CMT and UP airings still retain it.
  • Most TV airings of Fox shows in French territories (Canada, France, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Belgium, Vietnam) from the late 90s up until the mid-2000s usually opened with the 1995 logo, albeit with a slightly dark/brownish taint and a computer generatized fade-in/fade-out. 90s shows used the 1995 theme, while later shows/airings in the 2000s era used the 1997 Fox theme. Airings of widescreen/letterboxed/HD shows like Bones also used this practice back in the day, but with the 1998 enhanced logo (and no fade-in/fade-out). Recent shows no longer use this practice nowadays.
  • The 1995 logo was seen at the start of a late 90s French TV airing of Asterix in America (Asterix et les Indiens).
  • When the Sci-Fi Channel (now Syfy) reran Batman in the late 90s/early 2000s, the 1998 version plastered the 2nd logo.
  • The 1998 enhanced version (in 4:3) made a surprise appearance on the American Dad! episode "Stan Time".

Legacy: This version of the tower design has been used since 1992 (albeit in a modified form), predating the 1994 film version.

References

Copyright Stamps

Here is some information about the copyright stamps on TCFTV series:

  • 1960-1985: Copyright © [YEAR] Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
  • 1985-2020: Copyright © [YEAR] Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All Rights Reserved. (the hyphen was dropped in 1985)
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