Cannell Entertainment

Background

Cannell Entertainment, Inc. (also known as The Cannell Studios and formerly Stephen J. Cannell Productions) was originally started in 1979 by writer Stephen J. Cannell after leaving Universal Studios. He was a writer and producer for most shows. In 1986, Cannell with Tri-Star Pictures and Witt/Harris Productions created a joint venture distribution called "TeleVentures". On July 11, 1990, Cannell and Tri-Star dissolved TeleVentures and was sold to Cannell and was renamed "Cannell Distribution Co." and Stephen J. Cannell Productions, Inc. was renamed to "Cannell Entertainment, Inc". In 1995, Cannell Entertainment was acquired by New World Communications for $30 million and folded Cannell Distribution Co. into New World Entertainment, and on January 22, 1997, New World was acquired by News Corporation. However in 1998, Cannell re-acquired his library from News Corporation including an 8% distribution fee. The company is still active and currently run by Cannell's family after Cannell's death on September 30, 2010. Cannell worked as a novelist the remainder of his life and served as a creative consultant for the 2010 film, The A-Team with 20th Century Fox, and the final film with Cannell's name, the 2012 film, 21 Jump Street, which was released by Columbia Pictures. The logo was last used on an original series in 1999, when Silk Stalkings ended its run on the USA Network. Though News Corporation owned Cannell Entertainment at the time of Cannell's death, Cannell owned most of his library with the exceptions of The A-Team, Stone, The Duke, and Black Sheep Squadron (owned by NBCUniversal), Hardcastle & McCormick and Riptide (owned by Sony Pictures Television in the U.S. only). On January 24, 2006, The Carsey-Werner Company acquired distribution rights to Cannell's library with the exception of those owned or distributed by major television studios. Shout! Factory currently owns domestic and international rights to Cannell's solo-produced series. Some streaming rights are also held by FilmRise.

1st Logo (March 18, 1981-April 18, 1999, 2004, October 11, 2010)

Visuals: Stephen J. Cannell (the proper self) types on an IBM Selectric typewriter in an office/study area with multiple bookshelves and awards. The camera then pans clockwise from Cannell's face to Cannell's back. Once the camera is towards his back, Cannell throws the paper that he is typing on over his head. The paper becomes animated on a black background and floats downwards towards a stack of animated papers below. The paper "scoops" up the top papers in the stack and forms a "C" as the stack becomes more abstract and the perspective becomes a top-down perspective. The company name (with Cannell's name typed in followed by "Productions" sliding out from below the company name) is formed at the top of the screen.

Name Variants: Aside from the company name, other names are given by the company through the following:

From 1991 to 1996, the company was referred to as "Stephen J. Cannell Productions, Inc."
Starting in 1993, the company is now referred to as "Cannell Entertainment Inc.".
On 1996 episodes of Renegade, the text is replaced with "Renegade IV Enterprises".
On Profit, the company name reads "A Stephen J. Cannell Production".

Later Variants: This logo was updated thereafter: the main difference is with Cannell wearing different clothes as well as aging over the years; new awards in the office added as well; and different offices were used. Here, the concept was always the same, as well as the animation. The following is a list of outfits worn by Cannell over the years (as seen below):

March 18, 1981-June 30, 1984: Cannell has a dark-colored sweater with a white collar shirt, plus Cannell is smoking a pipe.
December 13, 1983-July 21, 1984: Cannell has a blue jean jacket and white flannel shirt over a black turtleneck, plus Cannell is smoking the pipe. For this, the camera didn't move and there's only a front view of Cannell typing before he throws the paper.
March 25-December 31, 1984: Cannell has a black jacket and dark colored sweater over white collar shirt. As with the above, the camera didn't move and there's only a front view of Cannell typing before he throws the paper.
- This is the first time Cannell doesn't smoke the pipe (he abandoned smoking on March 1, 1984).
December 11, 1984-January 23, 1988: Cannell is wearing a white and gray striped flannel shirt.
- A longer version of it exists: at first the camera doesn't move when Cannell types and then the version proceeds as usual.
October 1, 1987-1989: Cannell is wearing a casual black polo shirt.
September 18, 1989-December 6, 1996: Cannell is wearing a vermilion polo shirt (with the collar up). Sometimes in 1993, it cut awkwardly to the animated portion (after Cannell tosses the paper): otherwise, Cannell gently tosses the paper in front of himself instead. On Profit, it has the last half of the version.
September 15, 1996-April 18, 1999: Cannell is wearing a black polo.
2004, October 11, 2010: Cannell is wearing a black jacket with a black turtleneck.

Tribute Variant: At the end of the Castle episode "Punked" (right after the end credits), the 2004 logo is shown. As Cannell is typing, the text "STEPHEN J. CANNELL" fades in above and below the text "COLLEAGUE, MENTOR, FRIEND." fades in. As Cannell tosses the paper in the air, the logo fades to the black background as the paper falls. The text in the center "WE'LL MISS YOU, PAL." fades in as the animated paper continues to fall outside of the letterbox format. This version is presented in a 4:3 letterbox format, due to the 2004 logo being in a 16:9 widescreen format.

Other Variants:

On some later S2 episodes of 21 Jump Street (starting with "Besieged: Part 2"), the 1985 and 1987 versions have the camera move faster for the two short 1987 logo themes.
A short version exists on The Commish and the 1994 TV movie A Place for Annie: only the last half of the animation of the logo is seen.
On early episodes of Caesar's Challenge, the logo appears as an in-credit logo.
On the Riptide season 3 episode "Home for Christmas", the final product is seen in a still image.
On an RTL9 airing of Hardcastle and McCormick S3 episode "A Chip Off the Ol' Mit", the credits were time compressed, speeding up the logo in the process. Also, the closing music played over it.
On the 1986 LWT airings of The A-Team, this logo fades into the alternate 1986 LWT endboard.
An IAW variant also exists after the formation of the logo, in which the "AN ASSOCIATION WITH" text appears under the pages being formed into a "C". This was seen on the original U.S. airing of the eighth episode from the second season of Sonny Spoon.

Trivia:

The concept for this logo came about partially as an attempt to counter Cannell's developing perception in the press as a "TV Mogul", which he was very uncomfortable with. The concept was created by a Linda Stewart in Cannell's PR department. ^[1]
This logo is parodied at the near end of the music video for the song "DVNO" by Justice, as well on The Simpsons S4 episode "The Front", the Family Guy S2 episode "The Story on Page One", the Parker Lewis Can't Lose final season episode "Write or Die", and the 30 Rock S6 episode "What Will Happen to the Gang Next Year?". The 1989 logo was also seen during the end credits of the 21 Jump Street movie.
When Cannell appeared on Hollywood Squares for a week of episodes in May 1988, he and the other Squares competed in a typing contest during the intro, as a reference to his studio's logo. The results were used as questions in the game. See the video for this.

Technique: Live-action, followed by cel animation.

Audio: These are the following variants:

March 18, 1981-October 11, 1987: A dramatic three-note horn fanfare plays first, followed by a rousing orchestra and a five-note guitar with violins playing under the guitar. Composed by Mike Post and Pete Carpenter. Used on most pre-1987 Cannell shows (up until S1 of 21 Jump Street and earlier S2 episodes of the aforementioned 21 Jump Street).
- Two arrangements exist:
  - April 8, 1981-January 20, 1983: A slightly more dramatic arrangement (also by Mike Post and Peter Carpenter) of the above: the first note of the three-note fanfare is lower and played on a horn-like instrument and the remaining notes of the three-note fanfare are played on trumpets; and the guitar (albeit similar) plays a slightly-slower 7-note theme. Used on some S1 episodes and some later S2 episodes and some early S3 episodes of The Greatest American Hero and also on the 1982 short-lived series The Quest.
  - November 25, 1981-February 8, 1983: The 1981 theme is used, this time without the violins under the guitar.
November 4, 1981-January 13, 1982: An eight-note dramatic tune (also composed by Mike Post and Peter Carpenter) is played on a xylophone and violins, ending in a different four-note guitar riff (adapted from the first few notes of the theme song of The Greatest American Hero). Used only on early S2 episodes of The Greatest American Hero.
December 11, 1984-January 23, 1988: The first 8 notes of The Greatest American Hero early S2 version of the Cannell logo theme followed by the April 1981 version of the 1981 Cannell logo theme. First used on the Riptide season 2 episode "Peter Pan Is Alive and Well" and last used on the J.J. Starbuck season 1 episode "Murder by Design".
September 24, 1987-October 20, 1990, 2004, October 11, 2010: The eight-note dramatic tune from The Greatest American Hero early S2 version of the Cannell logo theme is used, but only while Cannell types (the instrumentation consists of violins, French horns, tubular bells and pounding synthesizers). As the camera rotates behind him, the tone becomes more soothing so that it reaches a tense climax. Cannell throwing the paper into the air is punctuated by a calming upward glissando by a string section, combining with the pounding synthesizers used while Cannell types, as the other instruments stop during this time. The highest note of the glissando is held as the background fades to black, and continues for the rest of the logo's duration. As the "C" forms, a rock guitar plays a six-note tune. First used on the Hunter S4 episode "Not Just Another John Doe". 21 Jump Street continued to use this theme until S4 and the first two S5 episodes.
- A short edited version of this exists of this logo theme having the first three notes, followed by the fourth dramatic note and the remaining six-note theme. Used only on some episodes of seasons 2-4 of the aforementioned 21 Jump Street.
October 3-November 3, 1987, October 26, 1988-April 18, 1999: An arrangement of the 1987 theme (played on a piano, guitar, bells and orchestration) is used. The climax includes a trilling flute before the rousing music plays. As the "C" forms, an acoustic (albeit Malibu-style) guitar plays a four-note tune, with a mordent on the first note. At first, it was first heard on the Hunter S4 episode "Playing God" and last heard on the J.J. Starbuck episode "First You've Got to Go to the Picnic"; later first used on the Wiseguy S2 episode "Going Home".
- This variant also has two short versions:
  - A short version of this exists on the 21 Jump Street S2 episode "After School Special".
    - The first four notes of the dramatic theme play and then the 8th note of the aforementioned theme (albeit the note is played an octave lower), followed by an additional guitar note as the rousing music plays and then the remaining four-note theme. Also, the orchestration is slightly different at the end.
  - Another short version (featuring the last half of this theme) also exists on Profit.
- A version without the orchestration exists on season 1 (and the first half of season 2) of Renegade.
The in-credit logo has the closing theme play over it (the same also happened on a S1 episode of Riptide [and also on the episode "Home for Christmas"] and The Commish). On the TV movie A Place for Annie, none.

Availability: Seen on shows produced by Cannell in his lifetime, with each version used in the respective period above. The first show to use this logo is The Greatest American Hero. The in-credit text of Cannell Entertainment was seen on TV movies such as Living a Lie and Highway Heartbreaker; and the in-credit logos of Stephen J. Cannell Productions were seen only on early episodes of Caesar's Challenge.

The 1981 version is seen on the aforementioned show and also on the 1982 short-lived series The Quest, season 1 (and early season 2 episodes) of The A-Team, most of The Rousters and early season 1 episodes of Hardcastle and McCormick.
The 1983 version is seen on late season 2 episodes of The A-Team, late season 1 episodes of Hardcastle and McCormick, some season 1 episodes of Riptide and the remainder of The Rousters.
The 1984 version is seen on early season 3 episodes of The A-Team, the last two episodes of season 1 and early season 2 episodes of Hardcastle and McCormick, other season 1 episodes and early season 2 episodes of Riptide and early season 1 episodes of Hunter.
The 1985 version is seen on Stingray, The Last Precinct, the remainder of The A-Team, Hardcastle and McCormick and Riptide, late season 1 episodes and seasons 2-3 and early season 4 episodes of Hunter, early season 1 episodes of J.J. Starbuck, season 1 and early season 2 episodes of 21 Jump Street and the pilot of Wiseguy (and also on the season 1 episode "New Blood").
The 1987 version is seen on Sonny Spoon, Unsub, late season 4 episodes and season 5 of Hunter, the remainder of J.J. Starbuck, late season 2 and early season 3 episodes of 21 Jump Street and other season 1 episodes and all season 2 episodes of Wiseguy.
The 1989 version is seen on the remainder of Hunter, 21 Jump Street and Wiseguy, and all further shows produced by Cannell (such as most of Renegade and the first five seasons of Silk Stalkings, among others).
The 1996 version is seen on the last three seasons of Silk Stalkings and the remainder of Renegade.
Also seen on the reruns of Hunter and DVD releases of 21 Jump Street, Riptide, Hunter, Silk Stalkings, The Greatest American Hero, The A-Team, Hardcastle and McCormick (the Hardcastle releases are from VEI of Toronto, Ontario in Canada), and Wiseguy.
The 2004 version is seen on a few DVD releases of The Greatest American Hero.
- It is also seen during the featurette "Castle's Godfather" on the season 1 DVD of Castle.
The 2010 Castle tribute is seen only at the end of the Castle episode "Punked" (only on the original airing from ABC).
- However, other prints of the episode omit the tribute version.

Legacy: This logo is very well-known, both inside and outside the logo community. It has been recognized several times over the years by numerous large figures in entertainment, and it's also a fan favorite for its music, its visuals, and its simplicity overall.

2nd Logo (1991-January 14, 1994)

Visuals: On a boysenberry-colored marble background, there is a 3D "silvery" version of the "C" from which the screen zooms out, along with the 3D text "THE CANNELL STUDIOS" in Times New Roman font tilted at a 90-degree angle, then does a 90-degree turn to face the camera while the "C" takes its position below the Cannell text. Once the text and the "C" go into their above and below positions, respectively, the "C" quickly flashes, turning everything into 2D. A copyright notice for Stephen J. Cannell Productions, Inc. fades in below the logo after the animation is all done.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: A dramatic synth tune.

Availability: Seen on later Caesar's Challenge episodes on NBC (which broadcast the show as part of its daytime block; it was preserved when it last aired on the Canadian channel Game TV) and the 1991-92 show Personals.

↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7k-AZ238cI

[1] ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7k-AZ238cI

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