When Turner Classic Movies started in 1994, they started with a very strong logo. It was designed by the Minneapolis firm, Charles S. Anderson Design Co. It had a main version, with a gangster. But it also had other versions where other heads representing movie cliches were swapped in and out.
These heads were really fun. Any of them could be slotted in to suggest a wide range of classic movies, from comedy to drama to musical to adventure.
They kept this basic logo and its variants for almost 20 years. They stripped off the flag bits, but the heads were still in use on the website and in the program guide they published.
They finally dumped the heads but kept the original lettering in 2013, introducing the "Let's Movie" tag line.
This logo was used for eight years or so — until today, when TCM introduced an entirely new logo. But it sorta-kinda harkens back to the original in its use of the flexible image. Instead of using a cowboy or a glamor girl or a boxer, seemingly random stylized versions of the letter "C" are swapped in and out.
These rely on lots of wacky onscreen movement look lively. While it's nice to have that variety, all the life and personality of the original design has been drained away.
I found much of the historical info here in an article on LogoPedia.
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