Castle Rock Television

Background
Castle Rock Entertainment created a television unit when the company was formed in 1987, and produced its first program, an NBC pilot titled Heart and Soul, in 1988. Glenn Padnick, the company's co-founder and partner, previously ran Embassy Communications, and it was decided to operate a television branch for him to run. Although Castle Rock was folded in 2002 and relaunched in 2021 and has remained in operation since its relaunch, the television department has been dormant since The Seinfeld Story in 2004. It has possibly been dissolved into Warner Bros. Television. Although Warner Bros. owns their shows, the distribution rights to Seinfeld belong to Sony Pictures Television.

1st Logo (July 21, 1988-September 16, 1989)
Visuals: On a pink, and yellow morning sky, there is a silhouette of a lighthouse with the sun behind it over a blue sea, and the text "serif" below. A copyright stamp that says "Copyright © (YEAR) CASTLE ROCK ENTERTAINMENT All Rights Reserved" is below. This was likely a placeholder logo used before the animated logo was ready for use.

Trivia: Castle Rock was named after a Maine location in horror writer Stephen King's novels.

Variants:
 * An early version without the copyright stamp exists. This was seen on Heart and Soul . In this case, the copyright info is part of the end credits.
 * On the Homeroom pilot, the copyright stamp is purple as well as lower from the company's name.

Technique: None.

Audio: None or the closing soundtrack of the program.

Availability:
 * This appeared on Heart and Soul and Julie Brown: The Show, both pilots that aired on NBC and CBS, respectively, as well as the pilot of Homeroom.
 * This might have appeared on the 1989 CBS pilot The Ed Begley, Jr. Show and the original NBC airing of "The Seinfeld Chronicles" (considering Julie Brown aired two months after the Seinfeld pilot). The revised version aired on July 5, 1990 used the next logo.
 * The logo is preserved on the Julie Brown pilot as it's seen as a bonus feature on the DVD release of The Edge, which was sold on Julie Brown's website, but has since become out of print.

2nd Logo (September 24, 1989-November 17, 1994)
Visuals: Same as the 1989 Castle Rock Entertainment logo, but the logo is sped-up and shortened, and a copyright stamp appears under the company name.

Variants:
 * September 24-December 17, 1989: The first copyright stamp appears underneath the logo, then the logo fades out to black.
 * May 31, 1990-November 17, 1994: The second copyright stamp appears under the logo. This version also has the logo fade out later than the first variant.
 * Sometimes, the logo has no copyright stamp.
 * Some shows have the copyright stamp in a slightly different font and it fades out when the music ends. Also, before the light beams move past the screen, you can briefly see the company name in black. This appeared on Thea and the original broadcasts of Seinfeld episodes of the era and is preserved on the revised pilot of "The Seinfeld Chronicles" on the season 1-2 DVD set as well as the Dinkins version of "The Non-Fat Yogurt" from season 5 (the DVD and HD version is reconstructed, with the copyright info in a different font (similar to the one in the next logo); the reconstructed version has the logo fading out a second after the music ends).
 * The 1989 ABC sitcom Homeroom has the copyright info in a stylized font (same as the one used in the credits). Here, the copyright stamp is seen before the light beams move past the screen. The logo fades out slightly earlier than usual.
 * The 1992 Fox sitcom Great Scott! has a version with the copyright info in a different font.
 * On the 1994 prototype reel of NBC's split-screen credits (known as "NBC 2000") as well as original broadcasts of Seinfeld episodes on NBC during the 1994-1995 season, the logo is part of the split-screen credits and the company name and copyright stamp are very small to fit inside the logo.
 * A widescreen version cropped to 16:9 appears on remastered prints of Seinfeld in syndication.

Copyright Stamps:
 * (September 24-December 17, 1989) "Copyright © (year) CASTLE ROCK ENTERTAINMENT. All Rights Reserved."
 * (May 31, 1990-November 17, 1994) "Copyright © (year) CASTLE ROCK ENTERTAINMENT. Castle Rock Entertainment is the author of this program for the purpose of copyright and other laws. All Rights Reserved."

Technique: Traditional animation.

Audio: A sped-up rendition of the last five notes of the movie jingle.

Audio Variant: Sometimes, the closing theme is used.

Availability:
 * This logo appears on the first six seasons of Seinfeld (the first 94 episodes of the show) and appears on the DVD releases in high-res and in high quality (they were plastered over with the third logo in syndication until January 26, 2010, when the remastered HD widescreen version, which was seen exclusively on TBS HD beginning in 2008, premiered).
 * On the TV Land reruns, a frame of the logo (taken from the film division's logo) was shown on the network's on-screen credits, followed by the copyright stamp.
 * The earlier variant appears intact on the revised version of the Seinfeld pilot "The Seinfeld Chronicles" on DVD and during syndicated reruns; current digital prints replace it with the reconstructed version.
 * This also appeared on the comedy series Morton & Hayes, Homeroom, Thea and Great Scott! as well as the Fox comedy special The Please Watch the Jon Lovitz Special.
 * The version without the copyright stamp appeared on The Powers That Be, Ann Jillian, New Attitude and the 704 Hauser pilot episode "Meet the Cumberbatches".

3rd Logo (December 8, 1994-November 25, 2004)
Visuals: Same as the 1994 movie logo, but once again, the logo is sped-up and shortened, and a copyright stamp appears underneath the company name.

Bylines: One of the following three bylines appears below the logo:
 * December 8, 1994-October 3, 1996: "A TURNER COMPANY", with a copyright stamp underneath the byline.
 * September 25, 1997-December 19, 2000: "A TIME WARNER COMPANY", with a copyright stamp underneath the byline.
 * March 21, 2002-July 1, 2003: "An AOL Time Warner Company" (the copyright stamp is omitted).

Copyright Stamps:
 * "Copyright © (year) CASTLE ROCK ENTERTAINMENT Castle Rock Entertainment is the author of this program for the purpose of copyright and other laws. All Rights Reserved." (Regular version.)
 * "© (year) Castle Rock Entertainment and the National Broadcasting Company, Inc. are the authors of this program for the purpose of copyright and other laws. All rights reserved." (Used on The Single Guy, which Castle Rock co-produced with NBC Studios.)

Variants:
 * On the original broadcast of Seinfeld episodes on NBC during the sixth to ninth seasons, similar to the last logo, the entire logo is part of the split-screen credits and the company name and copyright stamp are very small to fit inside the logo.
 * On a Seven Network airing of one episode of Seinfeld, this logo has the last one or two seconds cut off by the 2002 Sony Pictures Television logo starting too early. This is probably due to the Seven Network's notoriously sloppy plastering habits.
 * The same also occurred on an early 2010s rerun of the same episode in the USA.
 * Sometimes, the logo has no byline when the copyright stamp appears. This is seen on most season 8 episodes of Seinfeld as well as pre-1995 episodes of that show in syndication (pre-2010 prints), season 2 of Boston Common , and the 2004 documentary The Seinfeld Story.
 * On Mission Hill, the byline and the copyright stamp were eliminated, while international airings of the show and prints on Adult Swim have the byline and the copyright stamp intact.
 * On original airings of the final season of Seinfeld, the web address "www.seinfeld.com" is seen above the lighthouse.
 * On the TV movie pilot of The Lazarus Man, the Turner byline and copyright stamp appear in a different font.
 * On the unaired pilot for Zero Effect, it has the "AOL Time Warner" byline fading in without the copyright info.
 * The FX TV series Lucky has an almost still version of the logo with AOL Time Warner byline with only the water shimmering.
 * On the Seinfeld episode "The Betrayal", the logo plays in reverse while the audio plays normally, tying with the backwards effect of the episode.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: Same as the last logo. This was eventually changed to an abridged version of the 1994 jingle in 1996.

Audio Variants:
 * A low tone version of the theme exists.
 * On the Seinfeld episode "The Blood", salsa music (itself playing in the scene where Kramer and Newman make sausages) continues from the West/Shapiro logo.
 * On the Seinfeld episode "The Pothole", Newman screaming is heard over it.
 * On the Seinfeld episode "The English Patient", a couple voices say "Manilow, Manilow!", continuing from the West/Shapiro logo (more than in the West/Shapiro logo).
 * On the Seinfeld episode "The Race", Fidel Castro (voiced by Michael Sorich), continuing from the West/Shapiro logo, tells George the story of when he was at a party ("Once, when I was at a party, I put my plate on someone's piano.").
 * On the Seinfeld S8 episode "The Millennium", the logo plays normally but ends with Newman quacking.
 * On the Seinfeld final season episode "The Merv Griffin Show", it's the classic jazzy theme of the show mentioned in the episode's title.
 * On one Seinfeld final season episode, electronic music continues from the West/Shapiro logo.
 * On a few episodes of Seinfeld, the unaired pilot for Zero Effect and the short-lived series Lucky , the end theme plays over the logo.
 * On at least one episode of Seinfeld, the logo is silent.

Availability:
 * This can be seen on Seinfeld episodes beginning with the sixth season episode "The Secretary".
 * The "Turner" version appears on the "Best of" Seinfeld 100th Episode VHS tape that was released in 1995 as part of a promotion with General Mills.
 * This also appears on Mission Hill, The Lazarus Man (the TV movie pilot is available on VHS from Turner Home Entertainment), Boston Common, Movie Stars and the short-lived series Lucky (found on the For Your Consideration Emmy DVD).