EW decodes this season's crop of TV sign-offs

Whether it’s ”thirtysomething”’s Bedford Falls sing-along, ”…and dance by the light of the moon,” or MTM’s kitty, those nanosecond-long audiovisual signatures at the end of a show (known as vanity cards) can be just as memorable as the series themselves. This season offers several creative contenders for ”Sit, Ubu, Sit” status, so let’s take a look.

LIFE WITH BONNIE (ABC) Company Bob & Alice Productions Image A snapshot of beaming newlyweds Meaning ”I am a Bob and Alice production,” explains star-exec producer Bonnie Hunt, who chose this picture of her parents because it makes her smile. (It did, however, make her mom misty the first time she saw it.) ”This is a nice reminder that I know where I came from.”

HALF AND HALF (UPN) Company SisterLee Productions Image A determined damsel hangs on to a whirling windmill panel, crying ”Woo hoo!” Meaning TV vet Yvette Lee Bowser (”Living Single”) identified with the idea of a woman hanging on for dear life, though she added a tiny image of a Don Quixote-like man on horseback in the background to stay inspired. ”People thought he didn’t know what he was doing,” says Bowser, ”and he showed them.”

AMERICAN DREAMS (NBC) Company Once a Frog, Inc. Image A mopey-looking frog trying to catch the words ”once a frog” with his tongue Meaning ”In this industry, people blow so much hot air up you that you can become a Macy’s Day balloon of yourself, over-stuffed and bloated,” says series creator Jonathan Prince, who picked the animated amphibian to keep his ego in check. ”I wanted to remind myself that if I was ever important enough to get a vanity card, I should remember I’m still just a frog.”

HACK (CBS) Company Pariah Television Image In a foreboding cartoon, a grisly, bearded ragamuffin emerges from a jagged landscape. Meaning Exec producer Gavin Polone says he often imagines himself being ”chased by a bunch of crappy journalists from crappy entertainment magazines” and that he wanted that predicament — as well as his ”vanity” — represented in the logo. Well, we’d be bitter too if we were the brains behind the remake of ”Family Affair.”