Fox Family Productions

The Family Channel Originals

Background

The Family Channel was the predecessor to Freeform. Its roots take place in 1977, when the CBN Satellite Network was formed. On August 1, 1981, the channel was relaunched as CBN Cable Network, repositioning it as a family-friendly entertainment network and moving away from its primarily religious routes, though certain Christian programs still remained on the schedule. On August 1, 1988, the network was renamed to CBN Family Channel; the network's success was becoming worrisome for CBN, who feared it would contradict its main, non-profit business, so they chose to sell it in 1990 to International Family Entertainment, a joint venture between CBN founder Pat Robertson's son, Timothy, and TCI/Liberty Media owner John Malone; they later that year renamed the channel fully to The Family Channel. IFE would later purchase MTM Enterprises and the assets of UK network Television South, adding to their portfolio.

(Early 1990s)

Logo:

Writing in the Sky: On a sky background, we see a red ball with a big blue circle containing the words "THE" and "CHANNEL" above and below circling it. Afterwards, the word "Family" in an orange script font is written in by a laser, then zooms out to position itself on the ball.

FX/SFX: Depends on the variant.

Music/Sounds:

Writing in the Sky: A 4-note horn fanfare, or the closing theme to the feature.

Availability: The "Writing in the Sky" variant is preserved on Golden Book Video releases of Madeline, and Snowy River: The McGregor Saga with the ending theme playing over it. The "Black Rings" variant is seen on Night of the Twisters. It's currently intact on the 1996 Christmas special The Angel of Pennsylvania Avenue when Hallmark Channel airs it.

Editor's Note: None.

Fox Family Productions

Background

In July 1997, the company was purchased by then-Fox owner News Corporation, as a means of broadcasting programs they now owned through Saban Entertainment. The channel became Fox Family the year after, and International Family Entertainment was merged into Fox Kids Worldwide, with the MTM library moving to Fox, and the company later becoming Fox Family Worldwide. Despite initial success, the channel quickly began struggling, due to heavy competition from other children's/family networks as well as poor management at News Corporation. In October 2001, Fox Family Worldwide was sold to Disney for $2.9 billion, giving them control over the channel space as well as the libraries of Saban and TVS. In November that year, they renamed it to ABC Family, whose name stuck until it was renamed Freeform in 2016.

1st Logo (1998-2000)

Logo: On a purple-tangerine gradient sky background, we see a modified version of the 1994 Fox structure, this time with the second and last rows replaced with the words "FOX" and "FAMILY", and the top row consisting of a giant, cartoonish-looking suburban house. The camera pans out from the other side of the structure, and then moves to the familiar 20th Century Fox angle. We then crossfade into a completely different sequence, in which a 3D lopsided green-yellow oval spins around and stops in the middle on a blue background, whilst slowly turning. There are plum-purple "swishes" around the oval, and the text "FOX FAMILY", in the Fox logo font, is shown inside it. The text "You Belong." slides in from the bottom and "crashes" and settles.

Variants:

A short version exists where the camera pans slightly backwards, away from it, as the searchlights next to it move.
A morning version exists which has a blue-pink-yellow gradient sky background with the sunrise. The background on the cross-fading sequence is yellow.
A afternoon version exists which has brighter colors, along with a blue sky background (with a flying bird passing by) and the shining movement of a searchlight at the beginning. The background on the cross-fading sequence is green.
Sometimes, the searchlights are flickering by a off-screen kid.

FX/SFX: Everything. Very good CGI animation, done by Pittard Sullivan.

Music/Sounds: For the regular and short ID, there is a quick pop-rock tune with an alarm clock version of Fox Family's 3-note jingle, along with boomerang sounds for when the other Fox Family logo appears.

Music/Sounds Variant: Other variants would have the off-screen sounds of the family.

Availability: Extinct.

Editor's Note: This bumper is quite nostalgic.

2nd Logo (August 15, 1998-2000)

Logo: On a green background, with clear rings moving about, we see the Fox Family logo of the time (consisting of the words "FOX" and "FAMILY" stacked on each other, in the same font as the 20th Century Fox logo, in purple and rotated to look 3D, and surrounded by a purple oval with a yellow center) zooming out and quickly zooming up. The oval in the Fox Family logo spins briefly before stopping.

Trivia: This is based on an ID used on Fox Family during the time period.

FX/SFX: The background, the Fox Family logo zooming out and quickly zooming in, and the oval spinning.

Music/Sounds: A playful fanfare with horns, and drums.

Availability: Extremely rare. It was seen on Au Pair and some episodes of Great Pretenders when it aired on Fox Family. The Australian DVD release and international airings of the former deletes this logo and plasters it with the Saban International logo. It was seen on Fox Family shows and movies during this era. It was also seen on 1999-2002 Fox Kids (the North American Block) reruns of Life with Louie.

Editor's Note: None.

3rd Logo (2000-2001)

Logo: On a blue background with squares and rectangles flying from left to right of the screen we see the Fox Family logo from the era (a rectangle with rounded corners that is divided into 2 parts, with the word "FOX" in it's corporate font, sideways, and in the small black part of the rectangle, and the word "family" in a black bold universe font on the yellow part of the rectangle) zooming in with a black shadow in front of it.

Variants: There's a variant on a green background for daytime programs.

FX/SFX: The background, the logo, and the shadow.

Music/Sounds: A joyful disco-influenced theme.

Availability: Seen on Special Delivery when it aired on Fox Family, and most likely seen on the channel's other TV movies during the era before it became ABC Family. The green background variant was seen on Braceface and reruns of Camp Candy and Bad Dog.

Editor's Note: None.