Fox Television Stations Productions

Credits

Descriptions by
mr3urious, AsdfTheRevival, D.L. Chandell, Shadeed A. Kelly and MatthewLMayfield

Captures by
Eric S., mr3urious, V of Doom, wolfie14, Shadeed A. Kelly and MatthewLMayfield

Editions by
Bob Fish, V of Doom, Lizz Tetlow, Mario9000seven, MattBr and DisneyInternationalFan

Video captures courtesy of
sailorclose, JohnnyL80, and Tagaichigai

Background

Fox Television Stations Inc. was formed in 1986 after the acquisition of the Metromedia-owned independent stations by the 20th Century Fox film studio as a group of television stations located within the United States, which are owned-and-operated by the Fox Broadcasting Company, a division of Fox Corporation, the bulk of which came from acquisitions of New World Communications in 1997 and of Chris-Craft Broadcasting in 2001. Until 1989, they syndicated television programs; they formed 20th Television to perform this function later on.

1st Logo (1986?-198?)

Fox Television Stations

Logo: An in-credit logo which says "PRODUCED AT FOX TELEVISION STATIONS NEW YORK" with the FOX logo (the one with the invisible "O") below that and next to it is "WNYW 5". Below that is copyright info: "(C) (YEAR) FOX Television Stations, Inc. All Rights Reserved".

FX/SFX: The credit scrolling.

Music/Sounds: The closing theme to the program.

Availability: Extinct. It appeared on old episodes of Sports Extra on the Fox station WNYW in New York.

Editor's Note: None.

2nd Logo (April 3-July 1988)

FTS: 1988

Nickname: "The Plaque"

Logo: On a marble background with a small square on each corner, we see the words "Fox Television Stations" in gold and in the Friz Quadrata typeface with "Fox Television" above and "Stations" below. There is a shining wipe effect.

FX/SFX: The shining wipe effect.

Music/Sounds: The end-title theme of Nickelodeon's Double Dare.

Availability: Very rare. Was only seen on early episodes of Double Dare on Nickelodeon and Fox. It was spotted on at least one episode on The Splat (now NickSplat).

Editor's Note: It's satisfactory enough for 1988.

3rd Logo (September 12, 1988-March 10, 1989)

Nickname: "Fox Tower"

Logo: On a nighttime background, we see a Fox structure in the same angle as the 20th Century Fox logo that says "FOX" with four searchlights. Three searchlights are animated while the searchlight above the tower remains still. There is an arch on the structure that features a city with buildings in the background.

Trivia:

• This was based off the animation of the logo used for the Don't Let Fox Weekend Pass You By promos used from 1987-1988.
• This would also be used for the Fox O&O network ID from 1989-1991, except the nighttime sky is black with stars.

FX/SFX: The searchlights animating.

Music/Sounds: The end-title theme of Finders Keepers or none.

Availability: Extinct. It was last seen on syndicated episodes of Finders Keepers, but is removed from TeenNick/Splat reruns.

Editor's Note: It's just the logo's animation reused from a promo, which still makes a fine logo with nice design.

4th Logo (1988-1993)

Nicknames: "Fox-in-the-Box", "The Fox Plaque", "The Stone Fox TV Plaque"

Logo: On an indigo/black gradient background, we see a silver square with three lines below turning up at an angle, while the FTS logo, consisting of a marble rectangle with a line dividing it into a box and a shorter rectangle; the box holding the 1987-1993 Fox Network logo, and the rectangle holding the text "Fox Television Stations" in large gold lettering and in the same font as the 2nd logo, slowly falls onto the square. A transparent rectangle sweeps over the silver square from right to left just before the FTS logo lands on the center.

Early Variant: On this variant, the Fox logo slides in from the right, wiping in the company name. Here, the text is black, there are no lines at the bottom, there is no rectangular box surrounding the logo, the background of the logo is brighter, and the color scheme in the Fox logo is different (a blue box, grey-black gradient searchlights, white "FOX" text and gold tower).

FX/SFX: The zooming, the rotating, etc.

Music/Sounds: A rather dramatic synth sounder with a "clang" at the end (like in the Saban "Gold Plate" logo) or the end theme of the show. There is also a silent version (as in the early version).

Music/Sounds Variant: On The Ron Reagan Show, the closing theme is heard over it, but the logo theme and "clang" can still be heard faintly.

Availability: Rare. It was seen on episodes of the syndicated versions of the Nickelodeon game shows Double Dare and Finders Keepers, but this logo is removed on TeenNick/Splat reruns. Also seen on many (but not all due to 20th Television plastering) episodes of the first 4 seasons and early season 5 episodes of Cops which was intact on Zone Reality (now CBS Reality) in the UK years ago, the super short-lived soap opera Tribes, the short-lived talk show The Ron Reagan Show, and the news series Not Just News.

Editor's Note: This has very nice CGI, which holds up to even today's standards. It's also quite reminiscent of work created by Television By Design and John Christopher Burns.

5th Logo (August 15, 1992-May 4, 2013)

Fox Television Stations Productions (1989- )

Nicknames: "FTSP", "FTSP Underwater", "The Swirling Smoke"

Logo: Against a blue-black background, we see the letters:

F∙T∙S∙P

textured and in white with slow-trailing smoke effects swirling around from behind the letters. Below that, the words:

'F O X
TELEVISION STATIONS PRODUCTIONS'

(also in white) are shown. A rippling effect is given to the lower text, making the entire logo appear as if it is underwater. All the text in this logo is set in Garamond.

Variant: On later episodes of Cops, there is less of a ripple effect on the text than in the original logo.

FX/SFX: The CGI rippling.

Music/Sounds:

• When the logo was originally released, it featured the voice of a child (boy) saying "Yay" in a rather unemphatic manner over a medium applause by two people. This aural variant was used only on season 5 of Cops.
• Future airings of this logo either had no audio, or the closing theme of the show.

Availability: Still seen at the end of Cops and America's Most Wanted episodes from the era, although some season 5 episodes may not have it due to plastering by the 1995 and 2008 20th Television logos, though it was retained on Zone Reality (now CBS Reality) in the UK. This was also seen at the end of the first 1995 pilot for Time Warped, a planned Fox series from Matt Stone and Trey Parker, creators of South Park (the second pilot was intended for Fox Kids and did not have the logo).

Editor's Note: A downgrade compared to the previous logo. The CGI isn't as sharp as its predecessor, and looks extremely low-budget. Still, it's remembered from people who watched Cops.

Final Note: The company became dormant in 2013 after Fox cancelled Cops. Upon its move to Spike TV, Spike assumed control of the series.

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