Stephen J. Cannell Productions

Stephen J. Cannell Productions Nicknamed "The Angry Typewriter Man" is a logo where a man, Stephen J. Cannell, is typing on his IBM Selectric typewriter, surrounded by a room full of awards. The camera then pans clockwise from his face to his back. Once, the camera is towards Cannell's back. He throws the paper. He is typing on over his head. The paper becomes animated on a black background, and floats downwards towards a stack of animated papers below. The paper scoops up the top papers in the stack and forms a "C", while the text of the company is shown above.

Scare rank

1981-1982: Medium to high. The music is somewhat dramatic, the animation of the paper falling may be a bit creepy, and the look of Mr. Cannell doesn’t look nice with the smoke pipe (especially in the early years, that would change later on), which may frighten some people.

1982-1983: Medium. The dramatic music, the paper falling and Mr. Cannell is still here, but the guitar theme may lower the scare factor.

1983-1987: High, as the theme is more dramatic. Mr. Cannell and the paper falling doesn’t help either.

1985-1987: High to nightmare. It sounds startling with the music which is more dramatic, and it can give people the chills if they’re caught off-guard. Again, Mr. Cannell and the paper falling doesn’t help.

1987-1990, 1996-1999, 2004, 2010: Low to medium. The music and Mr. Cannell had definitely calmed down a bit (than the early variants).

1987, 1988-1999: Low to medium, due to the fading of the in-credit text. The music and Mr. Cannell is still here but calmed down a bit. Minimal without the music.

Silent/In-credit variant: None to low.

Scare Factors for other variants

Family guy: Minimal. The music may get to a few, but it’s tamer than the original variant.

YouTube Kid: None to minimal. It's a cute logo. However, the loud music may scare a few.

The Chaser: None to medium. The guy can get to some, but others would find it funny.

The Simpsons: Low. The air guitar music at the end is cool and Scratchy typing on a typewriter.

Additional Info

It might be good to know that Cannell died in 2010 surrounded by his family, a change of color to the skin. Early versions consisted of Cannell smoking his pipe while typing on the typewriter. In 1984, Cannell quit smoking his pipe, as he wears a black jacket and dark colored sweater over white collar shirt.

In the early years, we just see Cannell typing at the typewriter from the front. He throws the paper up into the air, and the animation sequence continues as normal. Shows with this logo were The A-Team, 21 Jump Street, The Greatest American Hero, and several other 1980s shows.

Parodies

On Family Guy, We see Peter typing on a typewriter, then he throws the paper.

On The Simpsons, at the end of an Itchy and Scratchy cartoon, the duo are shown typing on a typewriter and Scratchy throws the paper and a modified Stephen J. Cannell logo and instead, the paper is shaped saying I&S for Itchy and Scratchy followed by Bart and Lisa sighing.

On “The Chaser”, a guy typing on a typewriter. and then, he throws the paper. It goes into the regular paper animation. Then it‘s in reverse and the paper hits his face.

Outfit List 1981-2004

• 1981: Cannell wears a dark colored sweater with white collar shirt, plus he is smoking his pipe.

• 1983: Cannell wears a blue jean jacket and a white flannel shirt over a black turtleneck, plus he is smoking his pipe. This is also the last logo to have Cannell smoking his pipe, before Cannell quits smoking in 1984.

• 1984: Cannell wears a black jacket and dark colored sweater over a white collar shirt, and his office changed. He also didn't smoke his pipe anymore.

• 1985: Cannell wears a white and gray striped flannel shirt.

• 1987: Cannell wears a casual black polo shirt.

• 1989: Cannell wears a vermilion polo shirt, with the collar stuck up.

• 1996: Cannell wears a black shirt. Can be seen on the 6th, and the 7th and final season of Silk Stalkings.

• 1999 or 2004: Cannell wears a black jacket with a black turtleneck. It was seen on some shows.

• In "Punked" , the 1999/2004 logo is shown. The text on the top and bottom say “STEPHEN J. CANNELL" and "COLLEAGUE MENTOR, FRIEND“. He throws the paper, then it goes into the black background. The paper falls while another text says "WE'LL MISS YOU, PAL".