United Media Productions

Credits

Descriptions by
Eddie Hawkins

Editions by
mr3urious

1st Logo (October 25, 1982-October 26, 1984)

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Visuals: On a white background, a large cote-out of an abstract "u" is shown taking up almost the entire screen, designed in a abstract rounded font with lines coming off of the top left and bottom right of it. Surrounding the "u" are a blue and red section to form a large square. Below is the red text "United Media Productions" in a sleek font, and also a Scripps-Howard byline in a blue Arial font, scaled to fit the width of "United Media Productions".

Variants:

• An in-credit version appears in the end credits of Here Comes Garfield.
• On Garfield in the Rough, the logo is bigger, almost taking up the whole screen, while the byline is much smaller.

Technique: A still, hand-painted graphic.

Audio: Just the end theme of the show.

Availability: Seen on Here Comes Garfield, Garfield on the Town, and Garfield in the Rough.

2nd Logo (October 30, 1985-May 8, 1987)

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Visuals: On a blue background, a large white line draws itself across the screen at the bottom. As the line ends, the camera starts to zoom out as lines go upward to form something that resembles the Washington Monument. As the screen zooms out, it's revealed that the blue background is a square on a silver, blue, or black background with the words "SCRIPPS HOWARD" (in a embossed effect) in the company's then-corporate typeface Glypha, repeating over and over again. The top of the lighthouse then fills in and sends lines out in three directions (top diagonal, middle horizontal, downward diagonal) on both sides and make it resemble a stylized drawing of a lighthouse shining it's light. As a matter of fact, it's the famous Scripps-Howard lighthouse, the logo of Scripps-Howard, who owned United Media at the time. The finished logo finishes zooming out to show the words "UNITED MEDIA PRODUCTIONS", in all caps and the same typeface as the Scripps Howard logo, underneath.

Variants:

• There is a variant in which the logo is filmed and tinted. It's tinted red on Garfield in Paradise and blue on Garfield Goes Hollywood.
• The logo is shortened to the box zooming out on Robotman & Friends.

Technique: 2D animation.

Audio: None or the end theme. Garfield's Halloween Adventure has a quaint 4-note synth tune (which was done on the Roland JX-8P synthesizer); later airings in the late '90s on CBS used a generic theme due to split screen credits.

Availability: Seen on Garfield's Halloween Adventure (a.k.a. Garfield in Disguise), Garfield Goes Hollywood, Garfield in Paradise. It is retained on Pluto TV and on all VHS and DVD releases. Also seen on the 1985 TV movie Robotman & Friends.

3rd Logo (January 25, 1999-July 25, 2000)

Visuals: On a white background is the then-current logo for United Media. It consists of a black half-moon shape, the outline of which continues going counter-clockwise until stopping halfway through, forming a symmetrical white half-moon shape mirroring it to form a circle. "United" and "Media" are respectively put over the white and black halves, being colored a light cornflower blue and yellow respectively. Below is the URL "WWW.DILBERT.COM".

Technique: A still, digital graphic.

Audio: None.

Availability: It can be seen on Dilbert (1999), which is on Crackle with the logo intact.

Final Note

In 2011, United Media and its most prominent subsidiary United Features Syndicate was brought wholesale by their rival Universal Uclick (now Andrews McMeel Syndication), shortly following the latter company's purchase of Peanuts from them a few months prior. The TV/film adaptions of their properties since (The Garfield Show, season 4 of The Boondocks, and The Peanuts Movie) have little more than an in-credit notice.