Paramount Television
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Paramount Television was an American television production/distribution company that was active from December 1967 to May 28, 2006.
Its successor is CBS Paramount Television. Its predecessor is Desilu Productions.
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[edit] Background
The company was known for producing and distributing programs such as The Andy Griffith Show, Happy Days, Cheers, the Star Trek franchise, Girlfriends and the daily Paramount staple Entertainment Tonight, among others.
[edit] Origins
The predecessor company, Desilu Productions, was originally founded in 1951 by Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz for the purpose of producing their sitcom, I Love Lucy, for the CBS network. later produced other shows, such as Our Miss Brooks, The Untouchables, Mission: Impossible, The Andy Griffith Show, Mannix, and Star Trek: The Original Series (the latter 4 would be continued under Paramount Television).
Paramount Pictures had made a couple of attempts in the mid-50s to produce series themselves under the Telemount banner. The first, "Cowboy G-Men", was a joint effort with Mutual Broadcasting for syndication. The second, "Sally" starring Joan Caulfield, was a short-lived series on NBC during the 1957-58 season.
[edit] Sale and re-incorporation
In 1967, Ball, by then sole owner of Desilu, sold the company to Gulf+Western Industries. Desilu was merged with G+W's movie studio (and Desilu's next door neighbor) Paramount Pictures, resulting in Desilu's re-incorporation as Paramount Television in December of that year.
The first PTV production to premiere after the re-incorporation was Here's Lucy. Paramount only produced the first season however, and the rights were later sold to Telepictures (now Warner Bros. Television).
[edit] Failed network plans
Paramount Television had plans to launch a television network in the late 1970s, the Paramount Television Service, with a new Star Trek series as the cornerstone of the network. But these plans were scrapped, and Star Trek: Phase II was reworked into Star Trek: The Motion Picture.
Barry Diller, who came up with the 4th network idea, continued to pitch the idea to the board of directors. They continued to resist the idea until Diller left Paramount in 1984. He moved to 20th Century Fox, who agreed to launch a 4th network after Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation purchased the studio and several independent stations. The new network, the Fox Broadcasting Company, is now one of the top 4 major television networks in the United States.
[edit] Ownership changes and library expansion
In 1989, Gulf+Western was re-incorporated as Paramount Communications. That firm was sold to Viacom in 1994. Around that time, Paramount finally launched a TV network, the United Paramount Network, or UPN for short, co-owned with Chris-Craft Industries. PTV produced the bulk of the series airing on UPN, including the first program ever shown on the network, Star Trek: Voyager. UPN became 100% owned by Viacom in 2000 after Chris-Craft sold its share (its TV stations were sold to News Corporation).
The Viacom merger gave Paramount a larger TV show library as well, since Viacom had television production and distribution units as well prior to the Paramount acquisition (the distribution company, Viacom Enterprises, was merged into Paramount Domestic Television while the production company, Viacom Productions, continued as a PTV division until 2004). Viacom's logo continued to appear at the end of certain series however (like Matlock, except on prints airing on the Hallmark Channel). Paramount Television then distributed the Carsey-Werner Productions library for a couple years (inherited from Viacom Enterprises) until C-W formed its own distribution unit.
Paramount continued to build its TV library. In 1999, Viacom acquired full interest in Spelling Entertainment Group, and the rights to Rysher Entertainment's TV holdings. That same year, Viacom acquired CBS, which had actually spun off Viacom in 1971. PTV began to produce more shows airing on CBS (it already produced JAG and Nash Bridges, having acquired the latter from Rysher), including such hits as JAG spin-off NCIS and Criminal Minds.
In 2000, Paramount Television acquired syndication rights to the DreamWorks Television-produced sitcom Spin City, anticipating Viacom's acquisition of DreamWorks by 5 years.
In 2004, Viacom Productions was folded into Paramount Television, ceasing to exist after 30 years of television production. The last series produced by Viacom Productions to premiere was The 4400 (which aired on USA), the second season was then produced by PTV. It is also the last VP-produced show to be canceled, having suffered that fate in December 2007.
[edit] The end of Paramount Television
At the end of 2005, Viacom separated into two companies, one of which was called CBS Corporation, the other retaining the Viacom name. Paramount Television was made part of the former company, and was merged with CBS Productions on January 17, 2006, forming CBS Paramount Television. The company kept the Paramount Domestic Television logo intact on television until May 28, 2006. However, the network version was used until June 10, 2006.
UPN also became part of CBS Corporation, and a week after CBSPT was formed, CBS announced they were closing down UPN and merging it with The WB Television Network (owned by Time Warner) to form The CW Television Network, inheriting several series from both networks.
[edit] See also
- Desilu Productions
- CBS Paramount Television
- CBS Paramount Domestic Television
- Paramount Domestic Television
- DreamWorks Television
- Viacom Productions
