Fox Television Studios

Background

Fox Television Studios was the network television division of 20th Century Fox Television, that was formed in 1997 by News Corporation (later "21st Century Fox Inc.", now "The Walt Disney Company"). On December 4, 2014, the Fox Television Group merged Fox Television Studios with Fox 21 into Fox 21 Television Studios. On August 10, 2020, Disney revived the "Touchstone" brand name after nearly 3 years and rebranded Fox 21 Television Studios into the short-lived revived Touchstone Television, which was folded into 20th Television later at the end of 2020.

(May 19, 1998-December 18, 2014)

File:LWT Productions and Fox Television Studios (2002) (From - Life Network airing of the UK adaptation of Temptation Island S02E02).png

Nicknames: "Dark CGI Searchlights", "Lightning Tower"

Logo: We see the standard Fox structure, this time reading "FOX TELEVISION STUDIOS", but all is not well: the searchlights are turned off, the normally clear sky is gone, and a thunderstorm is brewing overhead. A bolt of lightning crashes down on the tower, turning on the searchlights. The News Corp. byline is still intact (pre-2013 only).

Trivia: The background of this logo is based on the 1995 Fox Lab logo, minus the two electric beams.

Variants:

This logo is seen for a split-second at the beginning of the Foxstar Productions logo in 1998.
In 2008, the logo was given a more "enhanced" look with more realistic effects and background, with the byline now in all caps and a more cheap-looking Times font. The design also looks cheaper.
Sometimes, the logo is bylineless, but has always been bylineless since 2013, due to the News Corp. split.
On Return to the Batcave: The Misadventures of Adam and Burt and the first four season DVD releases of Soul Food: The Series, a short version is used.
An extended version exists, where the tower (seen darkened) slowly turns and zooms in a bit with lightning in the background. The logo then continues as normal, staying on a few seconds with more searchlight animation and the extended fanfare.
On the TV movie Home Alone 4: Taking Back the House, the logo has more searchlight animation, but not as much as above. On an ABC Family (now Freeform) airing, this version is shortened to the last three seconds.
The DVD and initial TV edits of Empire of Dreams: The Story of the Star Wars Trilogy have a slightly cropped version of the logo. The ending theme plays over it and it appears before the Lucasfilm logo. This is plastered with the 2008 variant in a 2015 revision of the special (which is also the version used on Disney+).

FX/SFX: The stormy sky, the lightning, and the searchlights turning on and moving. The original 1998 version was done by Flip Your Lid Animation, and the 2008 "enhanced" version was done by Cinergy Creative.

Music/Sounds: The final 4 notes of the 1997 Fox fanfare, or the shortened 1997 or 2005 20th Century Fox Television fanfare, accompanied by sounds of thunder.

Music/Sounds Variants:

In some cases, it's the closing theme of the show, the generic network theme on Fox, ABC, CBS, NBC or The WB (later The CW), or none.
The long version has thunder and an extended short version of the Fox fanfare.
On Olive: The Other Reindeer and a handful of season 1 episodes of Malcolm in the Middle, the 1997 TCFTV music is used, abridged to the last two notes on the latter.
The Home Alone 4 version has the extended version of the music in low-tone.
On some shows, it uses the last four notes of the 1997 TCF movie fanfare, accomplished by a different thunder stock sound.
On Fox airings of Murder in Small Town X, a different thunder sound plays over a generic theme.

Availability: Common.

This logo made its first appearance on the 1998 TV movie Gargantua.
This was also seen on The Glades, Burn Notice, White Collar, the short-lived The Good Guys, Maron, and Saving Grace, among others.
It can be seen on most comedies that Fox produced like The Hughleys and was also seen on network airings of Malcolm in the Middle.
It survives on DVD releases of The Shield.
Some shows on Fox Sports Net also used this logo.
Some reruns of shows like The Hughleys (last seen on FXX and Bounce) and Malcolm in the Middle on Fuse plaster it with the 20th Television logo (sometimes leaving the music intact).
It was also seen on The Girls Next Door last seen on E! and preserved on Tubi prints.
The long version so far was only seen on Night of the Headless Horseman.
Nickelodeon's print of Olive the Other Reindeer plastered this with 20th Television, while Cartoon Network and The WB's print didn't show any Fox logo.
Reruns of Malcolm in the Middle on Comedy Central UK plasters this with the 2013 bylineless 20th Century Fox Television logo, whilst some episodes from later in the series run retain this logo. However, on Netflix prints of Malcolm in the Middle, this logo is plastered by the 2013 bylineless 20th Century Fox Television logo on all episodes. Hulu prints of the sixth and seventh seasons of Malcolm in the Middle retain this logo, beginning with the sixth season episode "Tiki Lounge". It's also preserved on Aussie airings of said show. Speaking of Malcolm, some current prints of the show, like on 4Music UK airings, plasters the original logo with the 2008 version.
On current HD prints of Home Alone 4: Taking Back the House (TV, digital, etc...), this is plastered by the 2013 20th Television logo, sometimes leaving the FTS theme intact.

Editor's Note: The thunderstorm can scare some viewers, even those who hate thunderstorms, but is a favorite for those who grew up with it.

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