Background: Four D Productions, Inc. was an independent television production company formed by producer Danny Arnold in 1974. In 1977, Columbia Pictures Television acquired worldwide distribution rights to Barney Miller and its spin-off Fish. On August 28, 1986, the CPT Group acquired Four D Productions including his other companies part of Danny Arnold Productions, Inc. for $50 million after Danny Arnold dismissed the Federal and State lawsuits against Columbia. Arnold then retired the same time.
(August 22, 1974; January 23, 1975-May 20, 1982)
Nicknames: "Four D", "4-D"
Logo: On a yellow background, we see "FOUR PRODUCTIONS, INC." in a black Clarendon Condensed font followed by the appearance of four overlapping "D" logos from smallest to largest. The D's form in the center in between "FOUR" and "PRODUCTIONS".
Variant: On the S8 episode "The Clown", the background is blue due to a tape error. This has been confirmed to appear on the 2011 Shout! Factory complete-series set, and is also retained on the 2015 individual S8 set.
FX/SFX: The appearance of the D's.
Music/Sounds: These logo themes were composed by Jack Elliott and Allyn Ferguson, who composed the themes for Arnold's productions and also the 1971 Lorimar Television jingle:
- August 22, 1974, January 23-February 20, March 20, 1975: A trumpet and a clarinet arrangement, with a drumbeat on the first note chime with in the appearance of the D's, followed by the same instruments for the last note when the logo fades out. This version debuted in the 1974 pilot The Life and Times of Captain Barney Miller.
- February 27, 1975-May 13, 1982: A muted trumpet with a piano arrangement for the ringing chimes in the appearance of the D's, followed by a timpani pound for the last note to close the logo out.
- November 13, 1975: The logo is silent at the end of the S2 episode "You Dirty Rat" on the 2008/11 DVD prints.
- On the Barney Miller finale, "Landmark: Part 3", an applauding audience is used.
Availability: Rare. It's seen at the end of Barney Miller on Antenna TV and FETV (Family Entertainment Television). On the DVD releases, this was retained beginning with the second season on both the original release from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment and the complete series release from Shout! Factory. The logo was omitted from the season 1 release, both the original 2004 Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment release and the Shout! Factory reissue (although the logo may have been intact, but separated from the episodes). Shout!'s release of season 4 (also as part of the complete series set, but released individually in 2014) omits this logo as well on all but two episodes, replacing them with the Sony Pictures Television International logo instead.