Logo Mysteries

Compiled by Logophile, Shadeed A. Kelly and James Fabiano

We, on behalf of the CLG Wiki team, need some help answering the many mysteries of logos and their exact days of usage and possibly more variants. If you have any old tapes or any recollections from old broadcasts, share in the threads. Here's the round-up.

20th Century Fox Television
The exact beginnings of the 1981 logo and the 1989 theme

First off, it was discovered that the 1981 logo debuted on The Fall Guy on November 4, 1981, then it was found that ''Trapper John, M.D. ''used it earlier, on October 25, 1981. What could really blow this open is finding original broadcasts (or at least pre-1992) of M*A*S*H. It could have debuted earlier. And as for the 1989 theme, it was long assumed the shortened version of the Fox fanfare debuted in 1988, but research into shows during the 1988-1989 season such as Mr. Belvedere and LA Law show that the 1965 theme was used, even in early 1989 such as The Tracey Ullman Show and the short-lived 1989 series ''Have Faith. Going into 1989-1990, still looking at Mr. Belvedere, LA Law and a new show that season, Alien Nation'', the 1965 theme was still used and the shortened Fox fanfare didn't begin use until November 1989. Even an episode of Sister Kate found on YouTube (which aired November 5, 1989) has the 1965 theme. More episodes of Sister Kate need to be found as well as Anything But Love and The Tracey Ullman Show episodes that aired between September-November 1989.

Castle Rock Entertainment Television
The uses of the first two Castle Rock TV logos and the AOL Time Warner version

For starters, we need to find some shows that aired in 1989 and find out if that one CR logo that was onJulie Brown: The Show and Heart and Soul. appeared anywhere else. Here is a list of what to find.


 * Past Imperfect, an unaired pilot (January 2, 1989) starring Howie Mandel
 * Heart and Soul, an NBC pilot that aired on July 21, 1988, starring Morris Day, Clark Johnson and Trisha Campbell (Note: the closing has been found, but there is no audio due to transferring problems. A version with audio still needs to be found.)
 * The Ed Begley, Jr. Show, a CBS pilot that aired August 7, 1989, starring Ed Begley, Jr., Wendie Mallick and Howard Duff
 * Homeroom, an ABC sitcom (September 16, 1989 - December 17, 1989, plus three unaired episodes) starring Darryl Sivad, Penny Johnson and Bill Cobbs
 * The original NBC broadcast of The Seinfeld Chronicles. The DVD version looks legitimate, but we just want to make sure. And it's interesting if the animated logo was used, since it aired two months before Julie Brown: The Show.

We also need to find the rest of these shows that aired between 1990-1994. Take a look at them and see if the Castle Rock logo has the copyright stamp or not. The version without the copyright info was seen on the 704 Hauser pilot, The Powers That Be and Ann Jillian.


 * New Attitude, an ABC sitcom (August 8, 1990-September 7, 1990, plus two unaired episodes), starring Morris Day, Karen Bankhead and Earl Billings.
 * Partners in Life, a CBS pilot that aired August 31, 1990, starring Kevin Pollack, Joe Guzaldo and Rob Reiner
 * My Old School, a 1991 CBS pilot starring Brendan Frasier, Stephen Mailer and Ward Saxton
 * Sessions, an HBO comedy series (October 6, 1991-November 10, 1991), starring Michael McKean and Elliott Gould
 * Please Watch the Jon Lovitz Special, a Fox special that aired on May 17, 1992
 * Great Scott!, a Fox sitcom (October 4, 1992-November 29, 1992, plus 7 unaired episodes), starring Tobey Maguire, Kevin Connolly and Nancy Lenehan
 * The Second Half, an NBC sticom (September 7, 1993-April 12, 1994), starring John Mendoza, Jessica Lundy and Joe Gulzado
 * Days Like This, an unsold pilot from 1994 starring Bryan Cranston, Lisa Amsterdam and Mo Gaffney

Also needs to be found are episodes of Lucky, an FX series airing April 1, 2003-July 1, 2003, starring John Corbett, Billy Gardell and Craig Robinson. Needs to be found so we can see another show with an AOL Time Warner byline and see if a copyright stamp is used.

Columbia Pictures Television
TV Movies

We would like some info on TV movies from CPT, particularly from the late 80s and early 90s. Some of the research on old movies had led to discoveries of variants, such as the open matte blue ivory CPE logo on Dark Avenger, another open matte torch lady and a purple hue torch lady on Switched at Birth and the 1991 open matte logo on Christmas on Division Street. It is possible that more could exist. Some of the following movies need to be found:


 * Freedom Fighter (1988), starring Tony Danza, Sid Caesar and Colette Stevenson
 * Maigret (1988), starring Richard Harris, Patrick O'Neal and Victoria Tennant
 * The Taking of Flight 847: The Uli Derickson Story (1988), starring Lindsey Wagner, Eli Danker and Sand McPeak
 * Out of Time (1988), starring Bruce Abbot, Bill Maher (from HBO's Real Time) and Rebecca Schaffer
 * Badlands 2005 (1988), starring Lewis Smith, Miguel Ferrer and Sharon Stone
 * Higher Ground (1988), starring John Denver, Meg Wittner and David Rennan
 * The People Across the Lake (1988), starring the late Valerie Harper, Gerald McRaney and Barry Corbin
 * Police Story: Gladiator School (1988), starring Robert Conrad, Ed O'Neill and Anthony LaPaglia
 * Police Story: The Watch Commander (1988), starring Jack Warden, Gregg Henry and John D'Aquino
 * Police Story: Burnout (1988), starring Lindsey Wagner, Julie Carmen and John Getz
 * Fair Game (1989), starring Bruce Weitz, Carlos Gómez and Richard Libertini
 * Mike Hammer: Murder Takes All (1989), starring Stacy Keach, Lynda Carter and Lindsay Bloom
 * Murder in Paradise (1990), starring Kevin Kilner, Maggie Han and Mako
 * The Whereabouts of Jenny (1991), starring Ed O'Neill, Debrah Farentino and Eve Gordon
 * And the Sea Will Tell (1991), starring Richard Crenna, Rachel Ward and Hart Bochner
 * Us (1991), starring Michael Landon, Barney Martin and Casey Peterson
 * One Stormy Night (1992), starring Matthew Ashford, Richard Biggs and Crystal Chappell
 * Doorways (1993), starring George Newbern, Anne Le Guernec and Robert Knepper

MTM Enterprises
The St. Elsewhere Series Finale Credits

The original broadcast of the series finale of St. Elsewhere "The Last One" had the MTM logo in the credits with Mimsie flat-lining. It is widely believed that it never made syndication. Clarification needed here. And was this episode re-ran on NBC and if so, was this retained?

TriStar Television
TV Movies and details of the 1986 logo

Like with CPT, more TriStar TV movies need to be found and see if there are any variants. Also a few details need to be filled on the 1986 logo such as the extended theme and an end date. The TV series Downtown, Nothing in Common and Buck James as well as NBC broadcasts of S1 of My Two Dads need to be found. According to IMDB, TriStar produced the TV movie Reed Down Under, starring Lee Majors, Rebecca Gilling and Martin Vaughn, which aired on NBC on March 14, 1988. So there is a possibility the logo ended on March of 1988.

Here are some TriStar TV movies


 * Three on a Match (1987), starring Joseph Adams, Diana Bellany and Patrick Cassidy
 * Running WIlde (1992), starring Pierce Brosnan and Jennifer Love Hewitt
 * Trial: The Price of Passion (1992), starring John Spencer, Beverly D'Angelo and Ned Beatty
 * Stormy Weathers (1992), starring Cybil Sheppard, Robert Beltran and Charlie Schlatter
 * From the Files of Joseph Wambaugh: A Jury of One (1992), starring John Spencer, Eddie Velez and Rachel Ticoton
 * Boy Meets Girl (1993), starring Jasmine Guy, Reed Diamond and Darnell Williams
 * Casualties of Love: The Long Island Lolita Story (1993), starring Jack Scalia, Alyssa Milano and Phyllis Lyons
 * Silent Cries (1993), starring Gena Rowlands, Annabeth Gish and Chloe Webb
 * Fugitive Nights: Danger in the Desert (1993), starring Sam Elliott, Teri Garr and Thomas Haden Church
 * Staying Afloat (1993), starring Larry Haggman, Greg Henry and Eric Christmas
 * The Disappearance of Vonnie (1994), starring Ann Jillian, Joe Penny and Kim Zimmer
 * Sahara (1995), starring James Belushi, Alan David Lee and Simon Westaway
 * Bermuda Triangle (1996), starring Sam Behrens, Susanna Thompson and Lisa Jakub
 * To Sir, with Love II (1996), starring Sidney Poitier, Christian Payton and Dana Eskelson
 * Home Invasion (1997), starring Veronica Hamel, Bonnie Root and Cress Williams
 * Black Jaq (1998), starring Nia Long, Dyan Cannon and Marcus Lyle Brown