20th Television Animation

From the Audiovisual Identity Database, the motion graphics museum



Background

20th Television Animation (formerly known as Fox Television Animation) is an American animation studio that creates, develops and produces adult animated television series and specials, most notably The Simpsons, King of the Hill, Futurama, Family Guy, American Dad!, The Cleveland Show, Bob's Burgers, and Duncanville, among many others. It is a standalone unit from 20th Television, a unit of Disney Television Studios, a subsidiary of Walt Disney Television, which is part of the Disney General Entertainment Content division of The Walt Disney Company.

The studio was launched on May 19, 1999, as Fox Television Animation. In September 2020, it was renamed to 20th Television Animation; this served as their overall removal of the "Fox" name off of properties Disney inherited from 21st Century Fox. They didn't use a proper on-screen logo until late September 2021, the only mention they had before the studio rebranded was just an end-credit notice.



1st Logo (July 25, 2021)

Visuals: Just the 20th Television Animation print logo (which is a crudely-drawn version of 20th Television's print logo with "ANIMATION" underneath) in gold on a black background.

Technique: A still, digital graphic.

Audio: None.

Availability: Only seen on the 2021 Comic-Con@Home panel of season 33 of The Simpsons.

2nd Logo (September 26, 2021-)

Visuals: Same as the current 20th Television logo, except with the text "ANIMATION" replacing the simple gold rectangle below "TELEVISION". The whole logo also appears to have been redone, with brighter searchlights and slightly different lighting.

Variants:

  • On the first two episodes of season 3 of Central Park, the colors are in a slightly different tint.
  • Beginning with season 11 of Futurama (albeit using a variant), the camera and searchlight animations are slightly updated, with the two left searchlights leaning back further than usual and the zoom out being faster and slowing down at the end.

Technique: CGI.

Audio:

  • September 26, 2021-November 18, 2022: The 2005 TCFTV logo theme.
  • September 26, 2021-: The 2008 20th Television logo theme. Sometimes, it is shortened.
  • January 24, 2022-: The 2015 TCFTV logo theme, sometimes at warp speed.

Audio Variants:

  • Sometimes, the ending theme of the show plays over the logo instead.
  • Original Fox airings of Family Guy use a generic theme and a voiceover.

Availability: This logo made its debut on the season 33 premiere episode of The Simpsons, titled "The Star of Backstage", and later appeared on The Great North starting with season 2, Bob's Burgers starting with season 12, Family Guy starting with season 20, Solar Opposites starting with its holiday special, American Dad! starting with season 19, and Duncanville and Central Park both starting with the third and final season, replacing the existing 20th Television logo.

  • Also seen on The Paloni Show! Halloween Special!, Koala Man, and Praise Petey.

Legacy: This logo has seen mixed reviews. On one hand, some see it positively for it being the first official onscreen logo for the division. Detractors (especially during the logo's first days) have seen it as a cheaply done recreation of the 20th Television logo.

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