Filmways Television/Summary

Logo descriptions by James Fabiano, Jude Cormier and Stephen Cezar Logo captures by Eric S., Shadeed A. Kelly, V of Doom, and snelfu Editions by Shadeed A. Kelly, Bob Fish, Stephen Cezar and Indycar Video captures courtesy of Phasicblu, The JAM Man and Indycar

Background: Filmways, Inc. was originally founded in 1958 by Martin Ransohoff. It was acquired by The Orion Pictures Company in 1982. The same year, Filmways Television was folded into Orion Television and Filmways Pictures was reincorporated as "Orion Pictures Corporation" in June. Currently, all of the Filmways library except The Beverly Hillbillies and Petticoat Junction (both were distributed by Viacom Enterprises, now "CBS Television Distribution", while Orion Television retains the copyright on all episodes that have not went into the public domain), Thundarr: The Barbarian and Fangface (both owned by Warner Bros. Television after Turner Entertainment Co. acquired the pre-1991 Ruby-Spears Productions library), and Eye Guess, The Face is Familiar, and Personality (all three owned by Sony Pictures Television via Stewart Television) is currently owned by MGM Television with Orion Pictures owning the copyright.

1st Logo (1958, 1960-1973)

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Nickname: "Filmways Globe"

Logo: We start with a small globe of Earth, horizontally stretched out in the center of the screen. The globe has longitude (left to right) lines on it, and the equator extends beyond the globe, with little Richter-scale like lines on part of it. The globe is on a blue, starry background, with most of the stars clumped in the upper left and right hand corners. From behind the globe, the text "A FILMWAYS", in a 3D font and arched to match the globe's position, zoom-in a north-forward direction. Shortly after, the text "TELEVISION PRESENTATION" fades-in below the globe. Sometimes, the Seal of Good Practice appears below. You can see clouds in the background flying to the right.

Variants: •On the 1962 to 1964 seasons of The Beverly Hillbillies and Petticoat Junction, the Filmways logo would fade to the text "Produced in association with the CBS TELEVISION NETWORK" and has the Seal of Good Practice near the text. The clouds are flying to the left direction. •On the 1964-1965 season of the shows mentioned above, the logo is still with the Filmways on the top left of the background, and the CBS mention on the bottom right. •There is an extremely rare in-credit variant with "VIDEO LTD. PRESENTATION" just below and the standard CBS notice at the bottom right. This was seen only on The Face is Familiar. •Another variant, contains both color and another still version. Similar to the second variant above, but however, on the bottom right of the screen, the text "In Association With PhilDil Productions" is seen. This was seen only on The Pruitts Of Southampton. •On the pilot episode of Mister Ed titled "The Wonderful World of Wilber Pope" from 1958 the logo was superimposed in the credits, without animation. Other than that, everything else (the usual text "A Filmways Television Presentation", the globe, etc.) is the same as usual. •On Eye Guess, the logo was seen as an in-credit on the game board all in white. Also features both latitude and longitude lines. However, the continents nor the long radar equator line weren't featured. The in-credit also appeared on the game show Personality. •For the color version in 1965, the stars are sparkling while the animation takes place. The clouds remains still.

FX/SFX: The waves, the zooming-up of "FILMWAYS" with the rest of the text.

Music/Sounds/Voice-over: At least on Filmways' more successful shows, there would be a voice over saying "This has been a Filmways (television) presentation". Those who uttered the phrase are listed below. The in-credit variant uses the end theme of the show, obviously. Several voice-overs who said the phrase on this logo on the shows they appeared on: •Petticoat Junction: Kate Bradley (played by Bea Benaderet). There was a male announcer's voice-over on season one. • Green Acres: Lisa Douglas (played by Eva Gabor) says it with "Dahhling". • Beverly Hillbillies: Bill Baldwin (announcer of the show's sponsors, seasons 1 to 3) and Ellie May Clampett (played by Donna Douglas, seasons 4 to 9,). • Mister Ed:Roger Addison (played by Larry Keating, seasons 1 to 3) and Mister Ed (voice of Alan "Rocky" Lane, seasons 4 to 6). • Addams Family: It usually had it silent, but on a few episodes, the usual phrase was said in a deep baritone voice. Sometimes, it was Ted "Lurch" Cassidy, but he used his normal speaking voice. • On the second episode of The Beverly Hillbillies, the same voice-over says "This has been a Filmways production".

Availability: Common. It's seen on Beverly Hillbillies (although some 1970's prints of the show plastered this logo with the 1971 or 1976 Viacom Enterprises logos, but have since restored the logo) on Me-TV (usually with either the 1986 or 1990 Viacom logos following this logo), Green Acres on World Harvest Television, The Addams Family last aired on Hallmark Channel around the Halloween season and Mister Ed on ThisTV and AntennaTV. The in-credit variant is extinct and was last seen on Eye Guess and Personality on GSN. The logo is also seen on the Shout! Factory DVD releases of Mister Ed.

Scare Factor: Minimal. The announcer might catch you off guard.

2nd Logo (1973-1977)

Nicknames: "Boring Filmways", "Effortless Filmways"

Filmways (1973-1977)Logo: On a black background, "FILMWAYS", colored blue and in a rounded font called Bauhaus 93, fades in and out.

Variant: The logo may appear in credit on some programs.

FX/SFX/Cheesy Factor: The fading in and out, which is just lazy.

Music/Sounds: Silent or the closing theme of the program.

Availability: Rare, as it appears on programs from the era, and since Filmways focused on co-producing films for Universal Studios, Paramount Pictures and Columbia Pictures its television output in this era was very limited. It appears on the DVD release of the television film 21 Hours at Munich.

Scare Factor: None. It's just boring.

3rd Logo (1977-1981)

Filmways (1978)Filmways Television (1980)

Nickname: "Filmways Trail"

Logo: On a black screen, many differently-colored "FILMWAYS" zoom up from the bottom of the screen toward a white "FILMWAYS". All the multicolored "FILMWAYS" merge into the white "FILMWAYS". They are all in the same font as above.

Later Variant: In 1980 the registered trademark symbol appears next to the name.

FX/SFX/Cheesy Factor: The "merging" of the "Filmways" is somewhat reminiscent of the 1975 Filmation Associates logo.

Music/Sounds: A six-note synthesized orchestrated tune with descending bells or the closing theme of the show.

Music/Sounds Variant: There is a softer variant without the synth orchestra, just the descending bells and the tune.

Availability: Fairly common. It can be seen on Fangface (with the end title theme finishing over it), and the first season of Thundarr the Barbarian (with the logo theme) both on Boomerang. Also appeared after the original Hollywood Squares (with theme music played over it). The Netflix Instant streaming release of the 1979 television film Disaster on the Coastliner has this logo intact (the 1982 version of the 1980 Orion Pictures logo opens the film).

Scare Factor: Minimal, unless you've never seen it before.

4th Logo (1981-1983)

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Nickname: "Abstract F"

Logo: A shortened version of the theatrical version but reads as "FILMWAYS TELEVISION" instead.

Trivia: By this time, the company was also known as Filmways Enterprises.

Early Variant: There is a stand alone variant where it only says "FILMWAYS" in the beginning.

FX/SFX: Same as the 1981 Filmways Pictures logo.

Music/Sounds: An orchestrated tune, the end-title theme from any show or television film, or none.

Availability: Extremely rare. It was used until it was folded into Orion Television in 1983. Was seen on The Best of Saturday Night reruns (60 minute syndicated cut downs) and on the first season of Cagney & Lacey. However, on reruns of the latter shown a few years ago on TNN, the 1982 Orion Television logo was plastered over all the first season episodes except one episode (which in turn had the Orion logo right after this logo). It appears on the Season 1 DVD release of Cagney & Lacey by VEI under license from MGM and 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. Also appeared on the television film Return of the Rebels.

Scare Factor: Low.