SFM Entertainment

Credits

Descriptions by
Argus Sventon, James Fabiano, Jess Williams, Dan DeCosta, Nicholas Aczel, Kris Starring and Cameron McCaffrey

Captures by
wisp2007, Eric S. and V of Doom

Editions by
V of Doom, Shadeed A. Kelly, TrickyMario7654, KramdenII and indycar

Video captures courtesy of
MachineryNoise, mcydodge919 and Dean Stewart Rumsey

Background

SFM Entertainment, LLC (formerly known as "SFM Media Service Corporation" and "SFM Media Corporation") is a television syndication company established on September 29, 1969 by Walter Staab, Robert Frank, and Stanley Moger (hence the initials of the company). SFM didn't use a logo until 1977. In 1998, media holding company Havas, owner of Vivendi purchased SFM, except for its SFM Entertainment division.

1st Logo (January 17, 1977-December 21, 2000)

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Visuals: On a black background, there are the white outlines of the letters "sfM" (in Optima medium font). Each letter is then filled with a rainbow pattern of colors. All but the "M" are filled from the top. The "M" is filled starting at its left.

Variants:

• The original version had the text "AN SFM MEDIA SERVICE CORPORATION PRESENTATION" fading-in below. This was seen on 1977-1978 prints of The New Mickey Mouse Club.
• A black and white version exists.
• Since 1998 onward, the word "ENTERTAINMENT" appears under the SFM logo. Sometimes, a copyright stamp is also seen below.
• Two main variants of the 1978 version exist. One is a filmed version and the other is a videotaped version.
• A shortened and sped-up version also exists that only shows the rainbow filling the letters.
• Another version had the SFM logo shifted downwards and featured the words "Distributed by" above it.
• An in-credit variant can be seen in the 1982 game show pilot The Origins Game.
• On Just the Facts: A Dragnet Case File, there is a Universal Studios copyright stamp.
• A squished variant of the 1998 version also exists, which appears at the end of an October 8, 2022 UK airing of the 1987 TV movie The Quick and the Dead on GREAT! Movies Action.

Technique: Cel animation.

Audio: A series of Morse code beeps typing out "SFM" in Morse code four times. Sometimes, the voice of SFM co-founder Stanley K. Moger was heard saying various announcements; these are seen below:

• 1977-1978: None.
• 1978-1980: The announcer's spiel was "An SFM Media Service Corporation Television Presentation".
• 1980-1998: The announcer's spiel was "Distributed by the SFM Entertainment Division of SFM Media Corporation", and the Morse code beeps were lower-pitched.
• 1998-2000: Just the beeping sound.

Audio Variants:

• On some shows such as Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors, it has a theme consisting of seven dreamy synthesized notes. This was composed by Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors composers Haim Saban and Shuki Levy, around eight years before Power Rangers came along.
• A special variant features an announcer saying "Developed and Produced in Association with the SFM Entertainment Division of SFM Media Corporation".
• Another special variant from SFM Holiday Network airings has the announcer saying "A Television Presentation from the SFM Entertainment Division of SFM Media Corporation".
• Another version has the announcer saying "A Presentation of SFM Entertainment Division of the SFM Media Corporation".
• On Just The Facts: A Dragnet Case File, an announcer says, "Distributed by the SFM Media Corporation".
• A silent variation of the 1998 logo was spotted on Encore Mystery's print of Cagney & Lacey: True Convictions and pre-split-screen airings of Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer on Cartoon Network, while The CW airings of the special feature the normal beeping sounds.
• The shortened and sped-up version is silent.
• The beeping sounds can sometimes vary in pitch and speed, as seen on The Joey Bishop Show on Antenna TV.
• Other times, it's the closing theme.

Availability:

• It was seen on Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In on the now-defunct Trio (later Cloo), The Flip Wilson Show on TV Land (in the mid-'90s when the network began) and later TV One, and before that in the 1990s after reruns of Care Bears on Disney Channel.
• The original version was seen on 1977-78 broadcasts of The New Mickey Mouse Club.
• The 1980 version with the announcer can be seen on The Care Bears Battle the Freeze Machine and on one episode of the Care Bears television series as a bonus feature on the MGM DVD 25th Anniversary release of The Care Bears Movie, and also appeared on an Antenna TV airing of The Joey Bishop Show S4 episode "Larry's Habit".
• The 1998 version has appeared on Make Room for Daddy/The Danny Thomas Show on MeTV, The Real McCoys on TNN (now Paramount Network), The Jerry Lewis Show and reruns of the NBC soap opera The Doctors on Retro TV, The Joey Bishop Show on Antenna TV, the Christmas special Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer on AMC and The CW, and The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp on Grit.
• The shortened version can be seen on Grit broadcasts of Death Valley Days.
• The 1998 version appears on two TV movies broadcast on GREAT! Movies Action in the UK, those being the The Last Days of Frank and Jesse James (1986) and The Quick and the Dead (1987).

2nd Logo (March 24, 2021)

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Visuals: It is an in-credit logo, consisting of a flat representation of the previous logo with a vibrant, diagonal-angled color palette and no outlines for the logo. "ENTERTAINMENT" is smaller and spaced out.

Technique: A still image.

Audio: The closing theme of the program.

Availability: So far, it was seen on The 24th Annual Family Film Awards.