20th Century Fox Television (1994-2020)

Main Logo Variations

Credits

Descriptions by
Jess Williams, James Stanley Barr, Nicholas Aczel, Eric S., and Logophile

Captures by
Bob Fish, V of Doom, Eric S., mr3urious, Mr. Logo Lord, WizardDuck, EnormousRat, Logoboy95, phasicblu, James Stanley Barr, Shadeed A. Kelly, Logophile, Stephen Cezar, Sagan Blob, Pygmalion X, originalsboy11, TrickyMario7654, ClosingLogosHD, TheEriccorpinc, and bdalbor

Editions by
V of Doom, mr3urious, Mr. Logo Lord, Logophile, Shadeed A. Kelly, Donny Pearson, KirbyGuy2001, DaBigLogoCollector, KramdenII, CNViewer2006, Unnepad, Mario9000seven, Michael Kenchington, CrazySpruiker2001, and MJ2003

Video captures courtesy of
Broken Saw, ClosingLogosHD, mcydodge919, Mike Stidham, BenIsRandom, and Eric S.

Background

On December 5, 1994, the 20th Television unit was restructured, and 20th Television became refocused on syndication and non-traditional programming, and network television production was shifted back to 20th Century Fox, where it became 20th Century Fox Television again and hired Peter Fairman to serve as president of the studio. Between 1997 and 1998, the company's library expanded by acquiring New World Communications and MTM Enterprises. In 2012, it was reorganized as a separate unit of News Corporation, and two years later, the operations of Fox Broadcasting and 20th Century Fox Television merged into the Fox Television Group. On August 10, 2020, TCFTV was renamed "20th Television" (the name of the company's former syndication unit, which was folded into Disney Media Distribution), as part of a corporate restructuring, similar to the movie distribution siblings being renamed 20th Century Studios and Searchlight Pictures on January 17, 2020. Today, the former TCFTV library is owned by the Walt Disney Company. TCFTV also produced cable television shows under the Fox 21 name.

(April 28, 1995-December 22, 2020)

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  Early 1995 logo

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  1995 logo

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  Widescreen variant

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  Corporate version

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  Banner version

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  Label version

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  1998 4:3 enhanced logo

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  1998 16:9 enhanced logo

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  1998 abridged logo

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  1998 16:9 abridged logo

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  Squished 4:3 enhanced logo

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  Video game variant

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  "In association with" variant

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  One of two variants seen on a News Corporation global warming video

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  The second variant from the video

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  2007 logo (byline)

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  2007 4:3 logo (byline)

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  2013 logo (no byline)

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  2013 4:3 logo (no byline). Seen on 4:3 prints of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Malcolm in the Middle, when plastering older logos.

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  French version

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  Super rare version

Logo: Same as the standard 20th Television logo, but now the stack of words has been modified to resemble the standard Fox stack, with "TELEVISION" added to the bottom. The taller structure now reads "20th CENTURY FOX TELEVISION". When the logo is finished zooming out, the registered trademark "®" symbol and the News Corporation byline (on pre-2013 episodes) fade in at the same time.

Trivia: On both Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of The Simpsons Game, if your console's video setting is set to 480i and the aspect ratio is set to 4:3, the 1998 version of the logo plays, albeit letterboxed. Otherwise, setting it to 16:9 and/or have the video set to 720p or 1080i/p will play the 2007 version instead.

Variants:

• An early variant from 1995-1997 features a slightly darker structure.
• On the sitcom Andy Richter Controls the Universe, the text "IN ASSOCIATION WITH" below the News Corporation byline fades in at the same time as the News Corporation byline and there's a black banner at the bottom. This would be followed by the 1995, 2002 or 2003 Paramount Television logos. On the region 1 DVD release of the series from CBS Home Entertainment and Paramount Home Entertainment, this logo and the Paramount Television logos are plastered by the CBS Television Distribution logo, although both the Fox and Paramount logos were retained when the show aired on Universal HD and HDNet a few years ago. It is presumed that international releases of the series on DVD will retain the original end logos since Fox (now Disney) owns the international rights.
• September 26, 1998-May 24, 2010: On shows featured/produced in widescreen/high definition, the sky background is more blue, with less realistic searchlights. Debuted on Martial Law with the already formed logo squished to 4:3, then cropped to 4:3 in season 2, while most shows began using the widescreen variant in 1999. Also, the registered trademark "®" symbol is already there and the News Corporation byline fades in once the logo completely finishes zooming out.
  • On 24: The Video Game, Family Guy Video Game!, the Nintendo DS port of The Simpsons Game, and the series The Winner, the trademark "TM" symbol is seen instead of the registered trademark "®" symbol.
• On Titus, the pilot episode of Reba, Method & Red and seasons 1-2 of The Bernie Mac Show, the logo plays in reverse.
• On The Big House, we see the already formed 1998 logo, but it stays on-screen longer for a few more seconds before fading out.
• On seasons 3-5 of Soul Food, there is a still version of this logo. On The Simpsons Arcade Game, downloadable on Xbox Live and PSN, a still version of the enhanced logo is used.
• On April 13, 2007, starting with Drive, the logo was given a more "enhanced" look with more realistic effects. Like the 1998 variant, the registered trademark "®" symbol is already there and the News Corp. byline fades in later. However, some shows still used the 1995 or 1998 variants, such as King of the Hill (until November 18, 2007), American Dad! (until May 4, 2008, however this occured again on February 8, 2009), The Simpsons (until January 25, 2009), Family Guy (until May 17, 2009), and 24 (until its series finale on May 24, 2010).
• On the 2009 animated sitcom Sit Down, Shut Up, there was a shortened version of the 2007 logo.
• Starting with the 9th season of Bones on September 16, 2013, the logo is bylineless. This was due to the split of News Corporation which occurred back at the end of June (with Fox and all of the former company's entertainment divisions going to the then-newly-formed 21st Century Fox). The Simpsons, Bob's Burgers, Family Guy, and American Dad! still used the byline until November 10, 2013. The Simpsons and Family Guy started using the byline-less version on November 17, 2013, while Bob's Burgers and American Dad! started using it on November 24, 2013.
• On current prints of Buffy the Vampire Slayer starting with season 6 with no English audio option, there was a shortened version of the 2013 bylineless logo. Also, the shortened 1997 fanfare is heard, carrying it from the Kuzui Enterprises and Sandollar Television logos.
• On the pre-broadcast pilot of the series A.U.S.A., the logo is slightly extended, starting off with a close-up of the structure, then easing into the normal animation. The standard version was used when it hit broadcast.
• On old AMC broadcasts of Young Frankenstein and The Longest Day, a B&W version of the 1998 logo appears.
• On the fourth season of The Simple Life, the logo cuts off when the byline fades in.
• On seasons 1-7 episodes of Family Guy and direct-to-DVD film, Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story, the logo fades out.
• On the first eight episodes of season 1 of Central Park, the logo is in a slightly different tint. On the last two episodes of the same season, the logo is in its regular tint.

Technique: CGI by Studio Productions (now Flip Your Lid Animation) for the 1995 and 1998 versions.

Music/Sounds: Here are the main versions:

• April 28, 1995-March 21, 2018: A re-arranged and re-recorded variant of the 1989 jingle, which is based on the 1994 20th Century Fox fanfare by Bruce Broughton. It is slightly different from the 1994/1995 20th Television fanfare. It's the 2nd alternate theme that was first used for 20th Television in 1994.
• 1995-July 14, 2014: The 1994/1995 20th Television fanfare.
• October 19, 1997-September 14, 2020: A re-arranged, re-recorded, faster variant of the 1961 jingle conducted by David Newman.
• August 29, 2005-October 4, 2012: A truncated variant of the 1997 film jingle (presumably heard on Something's Got to Give, the Fox En Español logo and the 1997 and 1999 Fox Sports logos). Used on the first season of Prison Break, the first four seasons of Glee and the first season of American Horror Story.
• September 14, 2005-July 24, 2020: A re-orchestrated and another truncated/altered version of the 1997 film jingle, albeit edited to resemble the 1995-2018 jingle.
• September 4, 2012-August 21, 2020: The 2008 20th Television fanfare. Sometimes, this fanfare can be slightly rearranged with more trumpets.
• August 26, 2015-December 22, 2020: The last 4 notes of the 1997 20th Century Fox fanfare, which was used earlier on the 2013 bylineless variant of the Fox Television Studios logo with a thunder sound; the last note is cut short. Used only on the short variant. A warp-speed version of it also exists. It was the only theme left when all of the above retired.

Music/Sounds Variants:

• Starting in the 1997-1998 TV season, Fox commonly uses their own fanfare over the logos (also known as generic themes).
  • Some series such as The Simpsons had retired using these generic themes as early as 2011, while Family Guy keeps using them to this day. Most other animated shows have no generic theme at all.
  • On the CTV Throwback prints of the Sit Down, Shut Up episodes "Pilot" and "Miracles Are Real", this generic theme variant of this logo is kept.
• In exceptional cases, it used the closing theme of the show, the generic network theme on Fox, ABC, CBS, NBC or The WB (later The CW), or silence.
• A warp speed version of the 1995-2018 theme exists and was used on seasons 5-7 of 24, the failed pilot of Company Man, CHAOS, and S1 episodes of Lie to Me.
• Sometimes, only the second half of the fanfare will play.
• There are many abridged variations of the 1997 jingle such as American Dad! and The Cleveland Show that used it.
• There is also a long version of the theme.
• On 1995-1997 and some post-1997 episodes of The Simpsons, the 1989 TCFTV logo theme is played.
• On Seth & Alex's Almost Live Comedy Show and the first two episodes of Bob's Burgers, the 1989 TCFTV logo theme is played, except the pitch is a bit higher.
• On the Network Ten and Sky One airings of 24: Live Another Day in Australia and the United Kingdom, a warp speed version of the 1994/1995 20th Television fanfare was used on the 2013 bylineless variant.
• On older Sky One airings of The Simpsons season 10 episode "Monty Can't Buy Me Love", the 1995 fanfare is used.
• On Quintuplets, the 1998 enhanced TCFTV tower features the 1994/1995 20th Television fanfare.
• HITS airing of The X-Files has the 2007 revision with the 1994/1995 20th Television fanfare.
• On The Simpsons season 7 episode "The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular", the fanfare comes in roughly half a second to one second after the logo starts animating. For the reason, given Sky One's prints of older episodes freeze at the end transitioning into commercial breaks, the last note of the fanfare is abruptly cut off.
• The American Dad! season 9 episode "Da Flippity Flop" uses the 2012 TCFTV fanfare, rather than the usual abridged version of the '97 fanfare. As such, given how short this variant of the logo normally is, the last few notes of the fanfare play over a black screen. ITV2's broadcast of the episode fixes this in a way by freezing the logo before the cut to black, so the fanfare finishes over the static image.
• The American Dad! season 9 episode "The Full Cognitive Redaction of Avery Bullock by the Coward Stan Smith" uses an abridged version of the 2012 TCFTV fanfare, consisting of the first two notes and the last four notes of the standard fanfare. This fanfare isn't present on any other episode, despite fitting the length of the logo as opposed to the example directly above.
• On international PAL prints of The Simpsons episode "Marge Gamer", the fanfare is double pitched. Certain dubbings thereof on Disney+ (and TV airings in those languages), however, have the logo in a regular PAL pitch.
• On select St. Elsewhere episodes on Hulu, the end theme plays as the logo appears (credits were adjusted to fit in the logo as the theme song ends). However, at least one instance forgets to cut out and thusly you can hear the meow sound effect from the MTM Enterprises logo even though it is plastered with this one.
• On the US DVD release of season 5 of Ally McBeal, if you select the French audio track, the logo (alongside the David E. Kelley Productions logo before it and the episodes as well) plays in a low pitch. This is also the case on select dubbings of seasons 12-20 episodes of The Simpsons on Disney+.
• On Over There, a unique abridged version of the 1997 TCF theme (heard on Anastasia and some dubs of X2: X-Men United) is used, which begins with the first 10 notes and ends with the final holding note, which would continue over the 2005 FX Networks logo.
• On the Modern Family episode "Fizbo", the audio channel changes occur in the 1997 TCFTV fanfare.
• On seasons 1-2 of The Bernie Mac Show and Method & Red as well as current prints of Malcolm in the Middle with no English audio option, the Fox Television Studios theme is used.
• On 2009-12 episodes of The Simpsons as well as 2009-13 episodes of Family Guy, the 1997 theme is used on the 2007 logo (despite season 8 using the 4:3 version on the latter).
• On 2013-20 episodes of Family Guy as well as current prints of Buffy the Vampire Slayer starting with the season 2 episode "Halloween" with no English audio option, the 1997 theme is used on the 2013 bylineless logo, shortened to 8 notes on the last 2 seasons of the latter, due to plastering older logos.
• On The Preston Episodes, the 1995-2018 jingle is low-pitched.

Availability: While no longer in use as of December 2020, it's still ultra common.

• The first show to use it was The X-Files episode "F. Emasculata", which first aired on April 28, 1995.
• Until 2020, this logo was commonly found on a majority of network programming from Fox. Also seen on some CBS (Yes, Dear, Martial Law, and Still Standing, etc), NBC (The Pretender, 1997-2000 seasons and the two TV movies, etc), or ABC (The Practice and Boston Legal, etc.) shows.
• Also appears on its then-new shows produced for other networks and streaming services such as Star and Hoops.
• In the U.S., this may or may not be present in syndicated repeats of network programs, as the 20th Television logo may follow or plaster it.
• When Laff airs How I Met Your Mother, the logo is intact, instead of plastered by 20th TV's logo, and not followed by 20th TV's logo at all.
• The still shot version of this logo can be found on Soul Food: The Series, starting with S3, DVD's (released by CBS) retain it.
• The version with the edited 1997 theme can be seen on reruns of American Dad! and Family Guy reruns on Adult Swim, the latter left the block in September 2021, among others.
• Many DVD releases of The Simpsons, seasons 15-17 replace the 1995 logo with the 2007 logo. However, seasons 18 and 19 have the 1995 logo reinstated. Sky 1 (now Sky Showcase) in the UK has recently been airing upscaled HD 'remasters' of The Simpsons season 8 episodes, replacing the 1995 logo with the 2007 logo. Disney+ prints of pre-2009 episodes of The Simpsons also replace the original logos with the 2007 logo (however, the first nine episodes of season 20 in 4:3 may retain the 1995 logo).
• Also seen on some international prints of FX shows such as It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and Fargo.
• It can be also sometimes spotted on some movie airings on channels like AMC, Fox, and all those owned by TCFTV's parent company.
• The bylineless 2013 variant plasters the Fox Television Studios logo on most current prints of Malcolm in the Middle.
• After its Disney acquisition, this was used on shows during the 2019-2020 season, like for example, the first seasons of Bless the Harts and Duncanville.
• Despite the rebranding to its current name (20th Television) on August 10, 2020, this logo was still in use until the end of the year. Disney had also stated that episodes produced prior to the rebranding will not be plastered, with the exception of the shows on the Animation Domination block, as they use the 20th Television logo on by the beginning of the 2020-2021 TV season, then switched to the new 20th Television Animation logo in 2021 for the new seasons of the animated shows.
• With the renaming, this logo had made its final appearance as a whole on the series finale of NeXt which aired on December 22, 2020, but this logo made a surprise appearance on episode 8 of season 3 of Duncanville which aired on June 12, 2022, instead of the 20th Television Animation logo. It's very likely because of an editing mistake.
• On current prints of Family Guy: Blue Harvest, the 1995 logo is replaced by the 2007 logo, the 1995 logo is still intact on the 2008 DVD release of the aforementioned title.
• This is cut-off from Hallmark Channel airings of Reba. However, CMT and UP airings still retain it.
• Most TV airings of Fox shows in French territories (Canada, France, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Belgium, Vietnam) from the late '90s up until the mid-2000s usually opened with the 1995 logo, albeit with a slightly dark/brownish taint and a computer generated fade-in/fade-out. '90s shows used the 1995 theme, while later shows/airings in the 2000s era used the 1997 Fox theme. Airings of widescreen/letterboxed/HD shows like Bones also used this practice back in the day, but with the 1998 enhanced logo (and no fade-in/fade-out). Recent shows no longer use this practice nowadays.
• The 1995 logo was seen at the start of a late 90s French TV airing of Asterix in America (Asterix et les Indiens).
• When the Sci-Fi Channel (now Syfy) reran Batman in the late 90s/early 2000s, the 1998 version plastered the 1965 logo.
• The 1998 enhanced version (in 4:3) made a surprise appearance on the American Dad! episode "Stan Time" instead of the 2007 logo, due to an editing mistake.

Legacy: Due to its long period of usage, this logo is considered almost as iconic as its film counterpart.

Copyright Stamps

Here is some information about the copyright stamps on TCFTV series:

• 1995-2020: Copyright © [YEAR] Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

◄ 20th Century Fox Television (1958-1989)

20th Century Fox Television (1994-2020)

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