The Bedford Falls Company

Background

The Bedford Falls Company is the production company of Marshall Herskovitz and Edward Zwick, founded in 1985.

Logo (July 3, 1987-July 26, 2018)

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Visuals: The logo starts with a black-and-white sketch of a 19th century two-story house connected on the left to a black filmstrip with a white shadow: it's snowing outside. The text "THE BEDFORD FALLS COMPANY" fades in underneath the text. A light goes on in the top left window of the house. The text "in association with" fades in at the bottom of the logo.

Trivia: This logo is a homage to the movie It's a Wonderful Life. Bedford Falls was the name of the town in that movie, and the house belongs to the main character, George Bailey. The logo's music is also a homage to the movie; George and Mary sing the song while arriving home from their high school reunion party as at one point in the movie.

Early Variant: The logo is still and everything is in cyan. Seen on the unsold pilot of Sawdust.

Later Variant: The logo is sped-up with the house being smaller and the text (without the "in association with") in a bolder typeface of the same font. Seen on seasons 5 and 6 of Nashville.

Technique: Cel animation.

Audio: A man and woman (George and Mary) slowly singing the last line of the traditional song "Buffalo Gals" ("And dance by the light of the moon!") under a short piano instrumental (based on the same song); or none. NBC airings use a generic theme.

Audio Variant: The early version had a different piano ditty (based on the theme song of Thirtysomething).

Availability: Seen on Once and Again, Thirtysomething, My So-Called Life and Quarterlife. The early version was seen on the unsold pilot of Sawdust when CBS aired it as part of the CBS Summer Playhouse in 1987. The later version was seen on seasons 5 and 6 of Nashville.