Columbia Pictures Television
Encyclopedia
Columbia Pictures Television (CPT) was the second name of the Columbia Pictures
television division Screen Gems
(SG). The studio changed its name on September 4, 1974.
and The Young and the Restless
. During the 1970s and '80s, CPT made many co-productions with Spelling-Goldberg Productions
, including S.W.A.T.
, Starsky & Hutch, Charlie's Angels
, Fantasy Island
, Hart to Hart
, and T.J. Hooker. It also acquired the syndication rights to several independently produced series: Barney Miller
from Danny Arnold
, What's Happening! from Bud Yorkin
, and Soap
and Benson
from Witt
/Thomas/Harris
Productions.
bought Columbia Pictures
. In 1984, CPT joined forces with Lexington Broadcast Services Company
by creating a joint venture between the two companies called Colex Enterprises
to distribute library shows such as Father Knows Best
and The Monkees
, while throughout the 1980s and 1990s other shows such as Bewitched
, I Dream of Jeannie
, and The Partridge Family
were licensed to The Program Exchange
.
On June 18 1985, Norman Lear
and Jerry Perenchio
sold their company, Embassy Pictures
including Embassy Television
and Tandem Productions
to Coca-Cola. The company gained the rights to such shows as All in the Family
, Sanford and Son
, The Jeffersons
, Good Times
, Maude
, Diff'rent Strokes
, The Facts of Life
, One Day At A Time
, Who's The Boss?
, and Silver Spoons
, among others. Coke also made plans to spin-off Embassy Pictures and Embassy Home Entertainment. Under Coca-Cola's ownership, Embassy saw success with 227
and Married with Children. The same year, Columbia and LBS Communications launched What's Happening Now!!
in first-run syndication. The show was a sequel to the 1970s ABC sitcom What's Happening!!
, which they had acquired from Bud Yorkin
's production company; TOY Productions.
Major changes took place in 1986. On May 6, Coke acquired Merv Griffin Enterprises
, producer of the popular game shows, Jeopardy!
and Wheel of Fortune
; (the nighttime versions were distributed by King World
, which is now handled by successor CBS Television Distribution
. However, Sony Pictures Television
handles off-net syndication reruns by broadcasting them on GSN
, while sister company Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
owns DVD rights, though, as game shows, are unlikely to get a proper release). Also in 1986, the former Lear units (Embassy Television, Embassy Telecommunications, and Tandem Productions) were merged to become Embassy Communications; the Tandem unit ceased production to be used after the cancellation of Diff'rent Strokes but remained in-name-only, while the Columbia and Embassy units continued to exist separately until 1988. Also on the same year on August 28, CPT acquired Danny Arnold's Four D Productions, Inc. for $50 million. In November, the studio formed a new first-run syndication unit; Coca-Cola Telecommunications
due to Coca-Cola merging the distribution unit of Columbia Pictures Television and The Television Program Source (a syndicator that was a joint venture between Alan Bennett, former King World president Robert King, and CPT that was created on October 15, 1984, which Coca-Cola had a small investment in originally, and notably distributed the 1985-1986 nighttime syndicated version of The Price is Right
and was slated to distribute a new version of The Match Game for syndication in 1987). Coca-Cola Telecommunications also took some programs that were or slated to be distributed under the Columbia Pictures Television banner including What's Happening Now, The Real Ghostbusters
, Dinosaucers
, and Punky Brewster
as well as taking the US distribution rights of Hardcastle and McCormick
from Colex. Punky Brewster, a former NBC in-house production, Columbia acquired the rights to Punky from NBC because fin-syn
regulations prevented the network from producing more episodes for syndication after they cancelled it. During the fall of 1986, the sitcom Designing Women
began a successful seven-year run on CBS. The same year, Tri-Star Pictures
formed Tri-Star Television and produced the short-lived series Downtown. Tri-Star produced more series in 1987, Take Five, Nothing in Common, My Two Dads
, and Werewolf
.
In late 1987, Coca-Cola spun-off their entertainment holdings to a separate company (which they partially owned) called Columbia Pictures Entertainment after a film Ishtar
turned out to be a notorious failure. On February 8, 1988, Columbia/Embassy Television and Tri-Star Television formed the new Columbia Pictures Television and Embassy Communications was renamed to ELP Communications. Meanwhile, Colex Enterprises, Coca-Cola Telecommunications, and Embassy Communications (the distributor arm) were merged into the new Columbia Pictures Television Distribution. All shows now ended with the Columbia logo between 1988 and 1991.
bought Columbia Pictures Entertainment for $3.4 billion and the next day, Sony acquired the Guber-Peters Entertainment Company (formerly game show production company Barris Industries with the library of game shows including The Newlywed Game
, The Dating Game
, and The Gong Show
) for $200 million after hiring film producers Peter Guber
and Jon Peters
to run the company. In August 1991, CPE changed its name to Sony Pictures Entertainment
and TriStar Television was relaunched that same year. Throughout the 1990s the studio launched such successful shows as Beakman's World
on TLC and CBS in 1992, Mad About You
on NBC in 1992, Ricki Lake
, The Nanny
on CBS in 1993, Party of Five
, NewsRadio
, Malcolm & Eddie
on UPN in 1996, and the short-lived cult animated series The Critic
on ABC and FOX in 1994. One of the most successful by far was Seinfeld
, a Castle Rock Entertainment
production which Columbia distributed in syndication.
During this time company acquired a vast back catalog of independently produced game shows with the acquisition of Stewart Tele Enterprises and Barry & Enright Productions
. Along with the Chuck Barris and Merv Griffin game shows they already owned, these were part of the basis of the Game Show Network
, launched on December 1, 1994. The same year when SPE formed Columbia TriStar Television
and its global arm Columbia TriStar Television Distribution in 1995. In 1998, the name ELP Communications was folded entirely into Columbia TriStar Television and now only operates as an in-name unit. On January 1, 2001, Columbia Pictures Television was retired for good and was folded into Columbia TriStar Television. On September 16, 2002, Sony Pictures changed the name of its TV subsidiary to Sony Pictures Television
.
Other than its own series Designing Women and its daytime
drama The Young and the Restless, the company holds What's Happening!!, The Joker's Wild, incarnations from Pyramid, The Dating Game, The Newlywed Game, and 3's a Crowd
.
During the years of Columbia Pictures Television, the company identified itself in the credits as Columbia Pictures Television, CPT Holdings, Inc., Columbia Pictures Television, Inc. and Columbia Pictures Television Distribution. Many series such as the remastered version of Bewitched
uses the CPT Holdings, Inc. copyright replacing the original Screen Gems copyright.
was created in 1984 as a partnership between CPT and Lexington Broadcast Services Co. The venture ended in 1988 and was succeeded by CPTD, which was succeeded in 1995 by CTTD, then in 2001 by CTDT which is now known as SPT since 2002.
Colex was most popularly known for distributing classic shows from the libraries of Screen Gems, CPT, and the later films of Bob Hope
(The Seven Little Foys
, The Lemon Drop Kid
, etc.).
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
television division Screen Gems
Screen Gems
Screen Gems is an American movie production company and subsidiary company of Sony Pictures Entertainment's Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group that has served several different purposes for its parent companies over the decades since its incorporation....
(SG). The studio changed its name on September 4, 1974.
1974-1982
As the successor in interest to Screen Gems, it assumed productions of the daytime soap operas Days of our LivesDays of our Lives
Days of our Lives is a long running daytime soap opera broadcast on the NBC television network. It is one of the longest-running scripted television programs in the world, airing nearly every weekday in the United States since November 8, 1965. It has since been syndicated to many countries around...
and The Young and the Restless
The Young and the Restless
The Young and the Restless is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. The show is set in a fictional Wisconsin town called Genoa City, which is unlike and unrelated to the real life village of the same name, Genoa City, Wisconsin...
. During the 1970s and '80s, CPT made many co-productions with Spelling-Goldberg Productions
Spelling-Goldberg Productions
Spelling-Goldberg Productions was a television production company established in 1972 by Aaron Spelling and Leonard Goldberg. Together, they've produced such shows as Starsky & Hutch, T. J. Hooker, S.W.A.T., Charlie's Angels, Fantasy Island and Hart To Hart...
, including S.W.A.T.
S.W.A.T. (TV series)
----S.W.A.T. is a 1970s American television series about the adventures of the WCPD's Olympic Division Special Weapons And Tactics team operating in an unidentified California city....
, Starsky & Hutch, Charlie's Angels
Charlie's Angels
Charlie's Angels is a television series about three women who work for a private investigation agency, and is one of the first shows to showcase women in roles traditionally reserved for men...
, Fantasy Island
Fantasy Island
Fantasy Island is the title of two separate but related American fantasy television series, both originally airing on the ABC television network.-Original series:...
, Hart to Hart
Hart to Hart
Hart to Hart is an American television series, starring Robert Wagner and Stefanie Powers as Jonathan and Jennifer Hart, a wealthy couple who also moonlighted as amateur detectives. The series was created by writer Sidney Sheldon and produced by Aaron Spelling and Leonard Goldberg...
, and T.J. Hooker. It also acquired the syndication rights to several independently produced series: Barney Miller
Barney Miller
Barney Miller is a situation comedy television series set in a New York City police station in Greenwich Village. The series originally was broadcast from January 23, 1975 to May 20, 1982 on ABC. It was created by Danny Arnold and Theodore J. Flicker...
from Danny Arnold
Danny Arnold
Danny Arnold was an American producer, writer, comedian, actor and director known for producing Barney Miller, That Girl and Bewitched.-Life and career:...
, What's Happening! from Bud Yorkin
Bud Yorkin
Bud Yorkin is an American film and television producer, director, writer and actor.Yorkin was born Alan David Yorkin in Washington, Pennsylvania. He earned a degree in engineering from Carnegie Tech, now Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsbugh, Pennsylvania...
, and Soap
Soap (TV series)
Soap is an American sitcom that originally ran on ABC from 1977 to 1981.The show was created as a parody of daytime soap operas, presented as a weekly half-hour prime time comedy. Similar to a soap opera, the show's story was presented in a serial format and included melodramatic plot elements such...
and Benson
Benson (TV series)
Benson is an American television sitcom which aired from September 13, 1979, to April 19, 1986, on ABC. The series was a spin-off from the soap opera parody Soap ; however, Benson discarded the...
from Witt
Paul Junger Witt
Paul Junger Witt is an American film and television producer. He, with his partners Tony Thomas and Susan Harris , produced such hit TV shows as Here Come the Brides, The Partridge Family, The Golden Girls, Soap, Benson, Empty Nest and Blossom...
/Thomas/Harris
Susan Harris
Susan Harris is an American television comedy writer and producer.Harris created numerous TV series: Soap, Benson, The Golden Girls, Empty Nest, Nurses, and The Golden Palace....
Productions.
The Coca-Cola years and Columbia Pictures Entertainment
The 1980s brought significant changes to CPT. On June 22, 1982, The Coca-Cola CompanyThe Coca-Cola Company
The Coca-Cola Company is an American multinational beverage corporation and manufacturer, retailer and marketer of non-alcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups. The company is best known for its flagship product Coca-Cola, invented in 1886 by pharmacist John Stith Pemberton in Columbus, Georgia...
bought Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
. In 1984, CPT joined forces with Lexington Broadcast Services Company
Lexington Broadcast Services Company
Lexington Broadcast Services Company was a television production and syndication company founded in 1976 by advertising pioneer Henry Siegel...
by creating a joint venture between the two companies called Colex Enterprises
Colex Enterprises
Colex Enterprises was a joint venture company between Columbia Pictures Television and LBS Communications, Inc., active from 1984 to 1988. The joint venture's name was a combination of the two companies' names .The company was responsible for distributing the Screen Gems...
to distribute library shows such as Father Knows Best
Father Knows Best
Father Knows Best is an American radio and television comedy series which portrayed a middle class family life in the Midwest. It was created by writer Ed James in the 1940s.-Radio:...
and The Monkees
The Monkees (TV series)
The Monkees is an American situation comedy that aired on NBC from September 1966 to March 1968. The series follows the adventures of four young men trying to make a name for themselves as rock 'n roll singers. The show introduced a number of innovative new-wave film techniques to series...
, while throughout the 1980s and 1990s other shows such as Bewitched
Bewitched
Bewitched is an American situation comedy originally broadcast for eight seasons on ABC from 1964 to 1972, starring Elizabeth Montgomery, Dick York and Dick Sargent , Agnes Moorehead, and David White. The show is about a witch who marries a mortal and tries to lead the life of a typical suburban...
, I Dream of Jeannie
I Dream of Jeannie
I Dream of Jeannie is a 1960s American sitcom with a fantasy premise. The show starred Barbara Eden as a 2,000-year-old genie, and Larry Hagman as an astronaut who becomes her master, with whom she falls in love and eventually marries...
, and The Partridge Family
The Partridge Family
The Partridge Family is an American television sitcom about a widowed mother and her five children who embark on a music career. The series originally ran from September 25, 1970 until August 31, 1974, the last new episode airing on March 23, 1974, on the ABC network, as part of a Friday-night lineup...
were licensed to The Program Exchange
The Program Exchange
The Program Exchange is a syndicator of television programs. It was originally founded as Program Syndication Services Inc. in 1973 and later launched the DFS Program Exchange in 1979, which became the DFS-Dorland Program Exchange from 1986 to 1987...
.
On June 18 1985, Norman Lear
Norman Lear
Norman Milton Lear is an American television writer and producer who produced such 1970s sitcoms as All in the Family, Sanford and Son, One Day at a Time, The Jeffersons, Good Times and Maude...
and Jerry Perenchio
Jerry Perenchio
Andrew Jerrold "Jerry" Perenchio was the former chairman and CEO of Univision, the largest Spanish-language company in the United States.-Early life:...
sold their company, Embassy Pictures
Embassy Pictures
Embassy Pictures Corporation was an independent studio and distributor responsible for such films as The Graduate, The Lion in Winter, This Is Spinal Tap and Escape from New York.-Founding:The company was founded in 1942 by producer Joseph E...
including Embassy Television
Embassy Television
...
and Tandem Productions
Tandem Productions
Tandem Productions, Inc. was a film and television production company that was founded in 1958 by Bud Yorkin and Norman Lear.-Tandem Productions:...
to Coca-Cola. The company gained the rights to such shows as All in the Family
All in the Family
All in the Family is an American sitcom that was originally broadcast on the CBS television network from January 12, 1971, to April 8, 1979. In September 1979, a new show, Archie Bunker's Place, picked up where All in the Family had ended...
, Sanford and Son
Sanford and Son
Sanford and Son is an American sitcom, based on the BBC's Steptoe and Son, that ran on the NBC television network from January 14, 1972, to March 25, 1977....
, The Jeffersons
The Jeffersons
The Jeffersons is an American sitcom that was broadcast on CBS from January 18, 1975, through June 25, 1985, lasting 11 seasons and a total of 253 episodes. The show was produced by the T.A.T. Communications Company from 1975–1982 and by Embassy Television from 1982-1985...
, Good Times
Good Times
Good Times is an American sitcom that originally aired from February 8, 1974, until August 1, 1979, on the CBS television network. It was created by Eric Monte and Michael Evans, and developed by Norman Lear, the series' primary executive producer...
, Maude
Maude (TV series)
Maude was an American television sitcom that was originally broadcast on the CBS network from September 12, 1972 until April 22, 1978.Maude starred Beatrice Arthur as Maude Findlay, an outspoken, middle-aged, politically liberal woman living in suburban Tuckahoe, Westchester County, New York with...
, Diff'rent Strokes
Diff'rent Strokes
Diff'rent Strokes is an American television sitcom that aired on NBC from November 3, 1978 to May 4, 1985, and on ABC from September 27, 1985 to March 7, 1986...
, The Facts of Life
The Facts of Life (TV series)
The Facts of Life is an American sitcom that originally ran on the NBC television network from August 24, 1979 to May 7, 1988. A spin-off of the sitcom Diff'rent Strokes, the series' premise focused on Edna Garrett as she becomes a housemother at the fictional Eastland School, a prestigious...
, One Day At A Time
One Day at a Time
One Day at a Time is an American situation comedy on the CBS network that aired from December 16, 1975 until May 28, 1984. It portrays Ann Romano, a divorced mother, played by Bonnie Franklin, her two teenage daughters Julie and Barbara Cooper and Schneider, their building superintendent .The show...
, Who's The Boss?
Who's the Boss?
Who's the Boss? is an American sitcom created by Martin Cohan and Blake Hunter, which aired on ABC from September 20, 1984 to April 25, 1992...
, and Silver Spoons
Silver Spoons
Silver Spoons is an American sitcom that aired on NBC from September 25, 1982 to May 11, 1986 and in first-run syndication from September 15, 1986 to March 4, 1987...
, among others. Coke also made plans to spin-off Embassy Pictures and Embassy Home Entertainment. Under Coca-Cola's ownership, Embassy saw success with 227
227 (TV series)
227 is an American situation comedy that originally aired on NBC from September 14, 1985, until May 6, 1990. The series starred Marla Gibbs as a sharp-tongued, inner-city resident gossip and housewife, Mary Jenkins...
and Married with Children. The same year, Columbia and LBS Communications launched What's Happening Now!!
What's Happening Now!!
What's Happening Now!! is an American television sitcom spinoff of What's Happening!!. It ran in syndication from 1985 to 1988. Like the previous series, What's Happening Now!! is loosely based on the motion picture Cooley High...
in first-run syndication. The show was a sequel to the 1970s ABC sitcom What's Happening!!
What's Happening!!
What's Happening!! is an American television sitcom that aired on ABC from August 5, 1976 to April 28, 1979. The show premiered as a summer series. With good ratings and reviews, and after the failure of several other shows on the network, What's Happening!! returned in November 1976 as a weekly...
, which they had acquired from Bud Yorkin
Bud Yorkin
Bud Yorkin is an American film and television producer, director, writer and actor.Yorkin was born Alan David Yorkin in Washington, Pennsylvania. He earned a degree in engineering from Carnegie Tech, now Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsbugh, Pennsylvania...
's production company; TOY Productions.
Major changes took place in 1986. On May 6, Coke acquired Merv Griffin Enterprises
Merv Griffin Enterprises
Merv Griffin Enterprises was a television production company founded by Merv Griffin, in business from 1964 to 1994.-History:The company was first established as Merv Griffin Productions in 1964 and Griffin's first production was Jeopardy! In 1965, his talk show The Merv Griffin Show returned to...
, producer of the popular game shows, Jeopardy!
Jeopardy!
Griffin's first conception of the game used a board comprising ten categories with ten clues each, but after finding that this board could not be shown on camera easily, he reduced it to two rounds of thirty clues each, with five clues in each of six categories...
and Wheel of Fortune
Wheel of Fortune (U.S. game show)
Wheel of Fortune is an American television game show created by Merv Griffin, which premiered in 1975. Contestants compete to solve word puzzles, similar to those used in Hangman, to win cash and prizes determined by spinning a large wheel. The title refers to the show's giant carnival wheel that...
; (the nighttime versions were distributed by King World
King World Productions
King World Productions, Inc. was a production company and a syndicator of television programming in the United States until its eventual 2007 incorporation into CBS Television Distribution...
, which is now handled by successor CBS Television Distribution
CBS Television Distribution
CBS Television Distribution is a global television distribution company, formed from the merger of CBS Corporation's two domestic television distribution arms CBS Paramount Domestic Television and King World Productions, including its home entertainment arm CBS Home Entertainment...
. However, Sony Pictures Television
Sony Pictures Television
Sony Pictures Television, Inc. is an American and global television production/distribution subsidiary of Sony Pictures Entertainment. In turn, the latter is part of the Japanese conglomerate Sony.-Background:...
handles off-net syndication reruns by broadcasting them on GSN
Game Show Network
The Game Show Network is an American cable television and direct broadcast satellite channel dedicated to game shows and casino game shows. The channel was launched on December 1, 1994. Its current slogan is "The World Needs More Winners"...
, while sister company Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment is the home video distribution arm of Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation. It was established in November 1979 as Columbia Pictures Home Entertainment, releasing 20 titles: The Anderson Tapes, Bell, Book and Candle, Born Free, Breakout,...
owns DVD rights, though, as game shows, are unlikely to get a proper release). Also in 1986, the former Lear units (Embassy Television, Embassy Telecommunications, and Tandem Productions) were merged to become Embassy Communications; the Tandem unit ceased production to be used after the cancellation of Diff'rent Strokes but remained in-name-only, while the Columbia and Embassy units continued to exist separately until 1988. Also on the same year on August 28, CPT acquired Danny Arnold's Four D Productions, Inc. for $50 million. In November, the studio formed a new first-run syndication unit; Coca-Cola Telecommunications
Coca-Cola Telecommunications
Coca-Cola Telecommunications was a short-lived first-run syndication unit of Columbia Pictures Television created in 1986 that was a merger between CPT's first-run syndication department and The Television Program Source...
due to Coca-Cola merging the distribution unit of Columbia Pictures Television and The Television Program Source (a syndicator that was a joint venture between Alan Bennett, former King World president Robert King, and CPT that was created on October 15, 1984, which Coca-Cola had a small investment in originally, and notably distributed the 1985-1986 nighttime syndicated version of The Price is Right
The Price Is Right
The Price Is Right is a television game show franchise originally produced by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman, and created by Bob Stewart, and is currently produced and owned by FremantleMedia. The franchise centers on television game shows, but also includes merchandise such as video games, printed...
and was slated to distribute a new version of The Match Game for syndication in 1987). Coca-Cola Telecommunications also took some programs that were or slated to be distributed under the Columbia Pictures Television banner including What's Happening Now, The Real Ghostbusters
The Real Ghostbusters
The Real Ghostbusters is an American animated television series based on the 1984 film Ghostbusters. The series ran from 1986 to 1991, and was produced by Columbia Pictures Television, DiC Enterprises, and Coca-Cola Telecommunications. "The Real" was added to the title after a dispute with...
, Dinosaucers
Dinosaucers
Dinosaucers Dinosaucers Dinosaucers (known in Japan as: is an animated television series co-produced in the United States, Canada and Japan. It was created by DIC Entertainment and Madhouse which has done the overseas animation and in association with Ellipse Programmé and Nelvana. This animated...
, and Punky Brewster
Punky Brewster
Punky Brewster was an American sitcom about a girl named Punky Brewster being raised by her foster parent...
as well as taking the US distribution rights of Hardcastle and McCormick
Hardcastle and McCormick
Hardcastle and McCormick is a 1980s action/drama television series from Stephen J. Cannell Productions, shown on ABC from 1983–1986, starring Brian Keith as Judge Milton C. Hardcastle and Daniel Hugh Kelly as ex-con and race car driver Mark "Skid" McCormick.The show's premise involves the...
from Colex. Punky Brewster, a former NBC in-house production, Columbia acquired the rights to Punky from NBC because fin-syn
Fin-syn
The Financial Interest and Syndication Rules, widely known as fin-syn rules, were a set of rules imposed by the Federal Communications Commission of the U.S. in 1970. The FCC sought to prevent the Big Three television networks from monopolizing the broadcast landscape by preventing them from owning...
regulations prevented the network from producing more episodes for syndication after they cancelled it. During the fall of 1986, the sitcom Designing Women
Designing Women
Designing Women is an American television sitcom that centered on the working and personal lives of four Southern women and one man in an interior design firm in Atlanta, Georgia. It aired on the CBS television network from September 29, 1986 until May 24, 1993. The show was created by head writer...
began a successful seven-year run on CBS. The same year, Tri-Star Pictures
TriStar Pictures
TriStar Pictures, Inc. is an American film production/distribution studio and subsidiary of Columbia Pictures, itself a subdivision of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, which is owned by Sony Pictures...
formed Tri-Star Television and produced the short-lived series Downtown. Tri-Star produced more series in 1987, Take Five, Nothing in Common, My Two Dads
My Two Dads
My Two Dads is an American sitcom that starred Staci Keanan, Paul Reiser and Greg Evigan. It aired on NBC from 1987 to 1990 and was produced by Michael Jacobs Productions in association with TriStar Television and distributed by TeleVentures.-Show synopsis:The show begins when Marcy Bradford , the...
, and Werewolf
Werewolf (TV series)
Werewolf is an American horror series, and one of the original shows in the Fox network's broadcast line-up during its inaugural season of 1987–1988.The show follows the adventures of Eric Cord Werewolf is an American horror series, and one of the original shows in the Fox network's broadcast...
.
In late 1987, Coca-Cola spun-off their entertainment holdings to a separate company (which they partially owned) called Columbia Pictures Entertainment after a film Ishtar
Ishtar (film)
Ishtar is a 1987 American comedy film directed by Elaine May and starring Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman as "Rogers and Clarke" – a duo of incredibly untalented lounge singers who travel to Morocco looking for work, and stumble into a four-party Cold War standoff.It also starred Isabelle Adjani...
turned out to be a notorious failure. On February 8, 1988, Columbia/Embassy Television and Tri-Star Television formed the new Columbia Pictures Television and Embassy Communications was renamed to ELP Communications. Meanwhile, Colex Enterprises, Coca-Cola Telecommunications, and Embassy Communications (the distributor arm) were merged into the new Columbia Pictures Television Distribution. All shows now ended with the Columbia logo between 1988 and 1991.
The Sony years to the end
On November 8, 1989, Sony CorporationSony
, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....
bought Columbia Pictures Entertainment for $3.4 billion and the next day, Sony acquired the Guber-Peters Entertainment Company (formerly game show production company Barris Industries with the library of game shows including The Newlywed Game
The Newlywed Game
The Newlywed Game is an American television game show that pits newly married couples against each other in a series of revealing question rounds to determine how well the spouses know each other. The program, originally created by Nick Nicholson and E. Roger Muir The Newlywed Game is an American...
, The Dating Game
The Dating Game
The Dating Game is an ABC television show that first aired on December 20, 1965 and was the first of many shows created and packaged by Chuck Barris from the 1960s through the 1980s...
, and The Gong Show
The Gong Show
The Gong Show is an amateur talent contest franchised by Sony Pictures Television to many countries. It was broadcast on NBC's daytime schedule from June 14, 1976 through July 21, 1978, and in first-run syndication from 1976–1980 and 1988–1989. The show was produced by Chuck Barris, who also served...
) for $200 million after hiring film producers Peter Guber
Peter Guber
Howard Peter Guber is an American film producer and executive and Chairman and CEO of Mandalay Entertainment...
and Jon Peters
Jon Peters
Jon Peters is an American movie producer.-Early life:Peters was born John H. Peters in Van Nuys, California, the son of Helen , a receptionist, and Jack Peters, a cook...
to run the company. In August 1991, CPE changed its name to Sony Pictures Entertainment
Sony Pictures Entertainment
Sony Pictures Entertainment, Inc. is the television and film production/distribution unit of Japanese multinational technology and media conglomerate Sony...
and TriStar Television was relaunched that same year. Throughout the 1990s the studio launched such successful shows as Beakman's World
Beakman's World
Beakman's World is an educational children's television show produced by ELP Communications, Columbia Pictures Television, Universal Belo Productions, and Columbia TriStar Television Distribution....
on TLC and CBS in 1992, Mad About You
Mad About You
Mad About You is an American sitcom that aired on NBC from September 23, 1992 to May 24, 1999. The show starred Paul Reiser and Helen Hunt as a newly married couple in New York City. Reiser played Paul Buchman, a documentary film maker. Hunt played Jamie Stemple Buchman, a public relations specialist...
on NBC in 1992, Ricki Lake
Ricki Lake (talk show)
Ricki Lake was the first daytime tabloid talk show hosted by American actress Ricki Lake.The show specialized in sensationalist topics involving invited guests and incorporated questions and comments from a studio audience...
, The Nanny
The Nanny (TV series)
The Nanny is an American television sitcom co-produced by Sternin & Fraser Ink, Inc., and Fran Drescher in association with TriStar Television for the CBS network...
on CBS in 1993, Party of Five
Party of Five
Party of Five is an American teen drama television series that aired on Fox for six seasons, from September 12, 1994, until May 3, 2000.Critically acclaimed, the show suffered from low ratings and after its first season was slated for cancellation...
, NewsRadio
NewsRadio
NewsRadio is an American television situation comedy that aired on NBC from 1995 to 1999. The series was created by executive producer Paul Simms, and was filmed in front of a studio audience at CBS Studio Center and Sunset Gower Studios...
, Malcolm & Eddie
Malcolm & Eddie
Malcolm & Eddie is an American television sitcom that premiered August 26, 1996 on the UPN Network, and ran for four seasons. This series starred Malcolm-Jamal Warner and Eddie Griffin in the lead roles. This show was canceled after its fourth season, and aired its final episode on May 22, 2000...
on UPN in 1996, and the short-lived cult animated series The Critic
The Critic
The Critic is an American prime time animated series revolving around the life of film critic Jay Sherman, voiced by actor Jon Lovitz. It was created by Al Jean and Mike Reiss, both of whom had worked as writers on The Simpsons. The Critic had 23 episodes produced, first broadcast on ABC in 1994,...
on ABC and FOX in 1994. One of the most successful by far was Seinfeld
Seinfeld
Seinfeld is an American television sitcom that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, lasting nine seasons, and is now in syndication. It was created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld, the latter starring as a fictionalized version of himself...
, a Castle Rock Entertainment
Castle Rock Entertainment
Castle Rock Entertainment is a film and television production company founded in 1987 by Martin Shafer, director Rob Reiner, Andrew Scheinman, Glenn Padnick and Alan Horn. It is a subsidiary of Warner Bros...
production which Columbia distributed in syndication.
During this time company acquired a vast back catalog of independently produced game shows with the acquisition of Stewart Tele Enterprises and Barry & Enright Productions
Barry & Enright Productions
Barry & Enright Productions , was a United States television production company that was formed in 1947 by Jack Barry and Dan Enright.-History:Jack Barry and Dan Enright first met at radio station WOR in New York, where...
. Along with the Chuck Barris and Merv Griffin game shows they already owned, these were part of the basis of the Game Show Network
Game Show Network
The Game Show Network is an American cable television and direct broadcast satellite channel dedicated to game shows and casino game shows. The channel was launched on December 1, 1994. Its current slogan is "The World Needs More Winners"...
, launched on December 1, 1994. The same year when SPE formed Columbia TriStar Television
Columbia TriStar Television
Columbia TriStar Television was the third name of the television studio Screen Gems, named after its then-current 1991 home video division....
and its global arm Columbia TriStar Television Distribution in 1995. In 1998, the name ELP Communications was folded entirely into Columbia TriStar Television and now only operates as an in-name unit. On January 1, 2001, Columbia Pictures Television was retired for good and was folded into Columbia TriStar Television. On September 16, 2002, Sony Pictures changed the name of its TV subsidiary to Sony Pictures Television
Sony Pictures Television
Sony Pictures Television, Inc. is an American and global television production/distribution subsidiary of Sony Pictures Entertainment. In turn, the latter is part of the Japanese conglomerate Sony.-Background:...
.
CPT Holdings, Inc.
CPT Holdings, Inc. was introduced in 1988 as a copyrighting name and the holder for classic shows for Columbia Pictures Television from recent buyouts. It is currently a service mark of Sony Pictures TelevisionOther than its own series Designing Women and its daytime
Daytime television
Daytime television is the general term for television shows produced that are intended to air during the daytime hours on weekdays. This article is about American daytime television, for information about international daytime television see Daytime television....
drama The Young and the Restless, the company holds What's Happening!!, The Joker's Wild, incarnations from Pyramid, The Dating Game, The Newlywed Game, and 3's a Crowd
Three's a Crowd (game show)
Three's a Crowd was an American game show originally packaged by Chuck Barris Productions. The first version aired in syndication from September 17, 1979 to February 1, 1980...
.
During the years of Columbia Pictures Television, the company identified itself in the credits as Columbia Pictures Television, CPT Holdings, Inc., Columbia Pictures Television, Inc. and Columbia Pictures Television Distribution. Many series such as the remastered version of Bewitched
Bewitched
Bewitched is an American situation comedy originally broadcast for eight seasons on ABC from 1964 to 1972, starring Elizabeth Montgomery, Dick York and Dick Sargent , Agnes Moorehead, and David White. The show is about a witch who marries a mortal and tries to lead the life of a typical suburban...
uses the CPT Holdings, Inc. copyright replacing the original Screen Gems copyright.
Colex Enterprises
Colex EnterprisesColex Enterprises
Colex Enterprises was a joint venture company between Columbia Pictures Television and LBS Communications, Inc., active from 1984 to 1988. The joint venture's name was a combination of the two companies' names .The company was responsible for distributing the Screen Gems...
was created in 1984 as a partnership between CPT and Lexington Broadcast Services Co. The venture ended in 1988 and was succeeded by CPTD, which was succeeded in 1995 by CTTD, then in 2001 by CTDT which is now known as SPT since 2002.
Colex was most popularly known for distributing classic shows from the libraries of Screen Gems, CPT, and the later films of Bob Hope
Bob Hope
Bob Hope, KBE, KCSG, KSS was a British-born American comedian and actor who appeared in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in radio, television and movies. He was also noted for his work with the US Armed Forces and his numerous USO shows entertaining American military personnel...
(The Seven Little Foys
The Seven Little Foys
The Seven Little Foys is a 1955 film starring Bob Hope as Eddie Foy. James Cagney reprises his role as George M. Cohan for an energetic tabletop dance showdown sequence. In addition to the famous film, the story of Eddie Foy, Sr...
, The Lemon Drop Kid
The Lemon Drop Kid
The Lemon Drop Kid is a 1951 comedy film based on the short story of the same name by Damon Runyon, starring Bob Hope and Marilyn Maxwell, and directed by Sidney Lanfield.The song "Silver Bells," sung by Hope and Maxwell, was introduced in the film...
, etc.).
See also
- Columbia TriStar TelevisionColumbia TriStar TelevisionColumbia TriStar Television was the third name of the television studio Screen Gems, named after its then-current 1991 home video division....
- TriStar TelevisionTriStar TelevisionTriStar Television was an American television production company that was launched in 1986 by TriStar Pictures . The same year, Tri-Star Television joined forces with Stephen J...
- Columbia PicturesColumbia PicturesColumbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
- TriStar PicturesTriStar PicturesTriStar Pictures, Inc. is an American film production/distribution studio and subsidiary of Columbia Pictures, itself a subdivision of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, which is owned by Sony Pictures...