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 roots, 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 Dr. John C. 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. The company announced in October 2015 that ABC Family would be renamed Freeform, which took place on January 12, 2016. 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 (1991-1993)
Logo: On a blue/red gradient background, we see the Family Channel logo A red circle encased in a big blue circular outline, with "Times New Roman" and "Times New Roman" within separate ends of said outline, with "Family" set in a script font in the middle. A row of fourteen curved lines come down from the top corner of the screen and move toward the right.

Technique: Simple computer animation.

Music/Sounds: The closing theme of the show or none.

Availability: Seen on Big Brother Jake, Zorro and certain prints of The Adventures of the Black Stallion.

2nd Logo (1992-1995)
Logo: On a sky background, we see a ball with a big  circle containing the words "Times New Roman" and "Times New Roman" above and below circling it. Afterwards, the word "Family" in an 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.

Technique: CGI animation.

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. Can also be seen at the end of almost any MTM Enterprises program or filming during the 1992-1998 era along with later logos.

3rd Logo (1995-1996)
Logo: Against a fiery orange/yellow background with concentric spinning circles, we see pieces of the network's logo zoom back and fall into place, as "Family" fades in.

Technique: CGI animation.

Music/Sounds: An eight note theme.

Availability: Seen on Night of the Twisters and other programs.

4th Logo (1996-August 14, 1998)
Logo: On a dark cloudy background with moving red rays, we see the ball from the previous logo in orange. It gradually darkens as the outline moves upward. The "Family" text slides in from the top right corner, along with copyright information and a registered trademark symbol to the right of the logo.

Technique: CGI akin to the previous logo.

Music/Sounds: A four note somber fanfare.

Availability: It's currently intact on the 1996 Christmas special The Angel of Pennsylvania Avenue when Hallmark Channel airs it, and appeared at the end of Doomsday Rock.

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, with adding flower pots, bushes, and the stage as a garage. 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 -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.
 * Christmas and Halloween variants exist.
 * On a promo of Ohh Nooo! Mr. Bill Presents, Mr. Bill is being crushed by the structure.

Technique: 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-sounding 3-note tune (which was Fox Family's theme of the era), along with boomerang sounds for when the other Fox Family logo appears (similar to Shrek 2 's DVD menu when pressing the "Play" button).

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

Availability: Extinct.

Legacy: This bumper is quite nostalgic to those who grew up with it.

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.

Technique: CGI animation.

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 1996 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.

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.

Technique: Simple computer animation.

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.

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.

Technique: Simple computer animation.

Music/Sounds: None.

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

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

Technique: Simple computer animation.

Music/Sounds: The ending theme of the show.

Availability: Appeared on Falcon Beach and Wildfire.

2nd Logo (2003-August 7, 2006)
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.

Technique: Simple computer animation.

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).

3rd Logo (August 7, 2006-January 12, 2016)
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.

Variants:
 * At the end of ABC Family's original shows and TV movies, "a new kind of family" at the bottom is replaced by "an original presentation of" at the top of the logo.
 * A still version exists.

Technique: CGI effects.

Music/Sounds: None, the end theme of the show/TV movie, or an electric guitar with drums playing rock music.

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 as a home media logo on those DVDs released by Buena Vista Home Entertainment, in place of the latter's logo. It also appears before ABC Family programming on demand. This appears on the Disney+ print of 12 Dates of Christmas.

4th Logo (2015)
Logo: We cut in to a close-up of the ABC Family logo in, then cutting to "fam", closeups of the logo and at far away angles, then returns to the regular position.

Technique: Computer animation.

Music/Sounds: An EDM-like theme corresponding to the cutting.

Availability: Seen on Becoming Us.

1st Logo (January 12, 2016-January 18, 2018)
Logo: We see waves similar from the 2016 Freeform On Demand logo, but we see: THIS HAS BEEN A FREEFORM ORIGINAL

Technique: None.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Seen on all Freeform originals from the time, such as earlier episodes of Shadowhunters.

2nd Logo (January 18, 2018-)
Logo: We see a blue circle with "ff" in bold. Underneath is the text "FREEFORM original".

Variants:
 * Sometimes, "original" is replaced by "STUDIOS" in white.
 * A superimposed version of the logo exists, where "original" is white and in all caps.

Technique: None.

Music/Sounds: None or the closing theme.

Availability: Usually appears as an in-credit logo on Freeform original shows since 2018. With Freeform introducing a new logo in 2022, this logo's days are numbered.