Freeform 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.

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.

ABC Family was a family-oriented network owned by Disney-ABC Television Group, launched in 2001 after their acquisition of Fox Family. The company announced in October 2015 that ABC Family would be renamed Freeform, which took place in January 2016.

On January 12, 2016, ABC Family was rebranded as Freeform. This debunked earlier rumors that the network was in a contract that forced the term "Family" into its name no matter what they did and what they broadcast.

The Family Channel Originals
''This section is about the American channel formerly known as The Family Channel from 1990-1998. For the Canadian network of the same name, see Family Channel Originals (Canada).''

1st Logo (1990-1998)
TBA. Seen on Big Brother Jake.

2nd Logo (1991-1998)
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Logo: Depending on an background, we see a red ball with a big blue circle containing the words "Serif" and "Serif" 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.

Variant: There's a longer version of this logo that was used as a station ident.

FX/SFX: Nice CGI.

Music/Sounds: A 4-note horn fanfare, or the closing theme to the feature.

Availability: Uncommon. Preserved on Golden Book Video releases of Madeline, and Snowy River: The McGregor Saga.

Editor's Note: None.

3rd Logo (1993?-1998)
TBA. It's currently intact on the 1996 Christmas special The Angel of Pennsylvania Avenue when Hallmark Channel airs it.

4th Logo (1995?-1998)
TBA. Seen on Night of the Twisters.

1st Logo (1998-2000)
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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)
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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. The Digiview Productions DVD of Heaven' s Fire surprisingly retains this at the end, as does OutTV Canada reruns of The New Addams Family.

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 its corporate font, sideways, and in the small black part of the rectangle, and the word "Univers Bold" 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. The ending theme of the show may be also used.

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

Editor's Note: None.

4th Logo (2001)
Logo: On a black background, we see the 2000 Fox Family logo in light blue, with the text in it "cut out". A light shines through the text.

FX/SFX: The light shining.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Seen on The Amati Girls as well as the film's trailer.

Editor's Note: None.

1st Logo (2002-April 10, 2006)
Logo: On a green background, we see the ABC Family logo zoom in.

FX/SFX: The zoom-in of the logo.

Music/Sounds: The ending theme of the show.

Availability: Appeared on Falcon Beach and Wildfire.

Editor's Note: None.

2nd Logo (2003-2006?)
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Logo: On a green background, we see a asterisk rapidly flashing black and white. It then disappears to become the ABC logo, but slightly tilted. The logo moves slightly to the left so the words "family" like before can appear one by one also tilted.

Variant: On some of their TV movies, the logo is shortened to the point where the ABC logo appears on screen.

FX/SFX: The asterisk, the ABC logo, and the word "family" appearing.

Music/Sounds: Silence, or the end theme of the show/TV movie, or a guitar theme.

Music/Sounds Variant: On This Time Around, the WildRice Productions logo's audio (which consists of birds singing and chirping) plays over this logo.

Availability: Seen on the channel's original movies and series from the period like This Time Around, and Switched! (not to be confused with one of the channel's original series Switched at Birth).

Editor's Note: None.

3rd Logo (August 7, 2006-January 12, 2016)
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Logo: There is a white background. First, we see the orange words "a new", "kind", "of" and "family" writing themselves in letter by letter and taking four lines under each other. Then it is followed by close-up of the white letters "f", "a" and "m", while the background turns orange. The ABC logo pops up and "family" writes itself in at the right side, along with the byline "a new kind of family". There is a reflection underneath. The logo zooms out.

FX/SFX: CGI effects.

Music/Sounds: None, or an electric guitar with drums playing.

Availability: The logo with the aforementioned byline appears before self-produced shows on ABC Family, such as Kyle XY, The Secret Life of the American Teenager, Pretty Little Liars, and Switched at Birth. It also appears before ABC Family programming on demand. This appears on the Disney+ print of 12 Dates of Christmas.

Editor's Note: None.

1st Logo (January 12, 2016-January 18, 2018)
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Nicknames: "The Waves", "The Freeform Waves", "Wavy Freeform"

Logo: We see some light blue waves on a blue background as the Freeform logo is seen through it. The waves change color and all of a sudden change to a different view as the letters of the Freeform logo quickly stretch in. The background turns light blue as the waves briefly go into the Freeform logo as a burst happens in the background. Dark waves then briefly go into the logo. The logo ends with waves appearing in the Freeform logo for one final time.

FX/SFX: The fast-paced animation.

Music/Sounds: An electronic tune.

Availability: It can be seen on the VOD release of Shadowhunters.

Editor's Note: This logo is really poorly made, from the unnecessary flashing, to how its design screams style over substance.

2nd Logo (January 12, 2016-January 18, 2018)
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Nicknames: "The Waves II", "The Freeform Waves II", "Still Waves"

Logo: We see waves similar from the last logo, but we see: THIS HAS BEEN A FREEFORM ORIGINAL

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Seen on earlier episodes of Shadowhunters.

Editor's Note: None.

3rd Logo (January 18, 2018- )
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Nicknames: "The Circles", "A Little Forward"

Logo: On a black background, several circles quickly scroll down (in red, yellow, green, and blue, respectively). When it stops on the blue circle, a connected "ff" appears one by one, and "FREEFORM" also appears below in a very bold font.

FX/SFX: The very, very fast-paced animation.

Music/Sounds: A tune consisting of claps and a few beeps.

Availability: Current.

Editor's Note: A overall improvement from the first logo.