Warner Bros. Television

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Warner Bros. Television
Type Subsidiary of Time Warner
Founded 1955
Founder William T. Orr
Headquarters Burbank, California, Flag of the United States United States
Key people Barry M. Meyer, Chairman and CEO
Alan F. Horn, President and COO
Edward A. Romano EVP and CFO
Industry Television production
Products Television programs
Revenue ▲$11.7 billion USD (2007)[1]
Operating income ▲$845 million USD (2007)

Warner Bros. Television is the television production and distribution arm of Warner Bros. Entertainment, itself part of Time Warner. Alongside CBS Paramount Television, it serves as a television production arm of The CW Television Network (in which Time Warner has a 50% ownership stake).

Contents

[edit] History and production

The division was started in 1955 with its first and most successful head being Jack Warner's son-in-law William T. Orr. ABC television had major success against its competition with Walt Disney's Disneyland (TV series) and approached Warner Brothers initially with the idea of purchasing the Warner Brothers film library (Warner Brothers sold the rights to the negatives of 750 films and over 1500 shorts to Associated Artists Productions in 1956[2] with the premiere of its self-titled anthology series Warner Bros. Presents on ABC Television. The one hour weekly show featured rotating episodes of television series based on Warner Brothers films, Casablanca, King's Row, and Cheyenne. The last with Clint Walker was the first one hour television western and became a bit hit for the network and the studio.

The success of Cheyenne led Warner Brothers to produce many series for ABC such as Westerns (Maverick, Lawman, Colt .45, Bronco that was a spin off of Cheyenne, Sugarfoot, and The Alaskans), private detective shows (77 Sunset Strip, Hawaiian Eye, Bourbon Street Beat, and Surfside Six), and other shows such as The Gallant Men and The Roaring 20's using stock footage from Warner Brothers war films and gangster films respectively. Warner Brothers also produced Jack Webb's Red Nightmare for the U.S. Department of Defense that was later shown on American television on Jack Webb's General Electric True. All shows were made in the manner of Warner Brothers B pictures in the 30s and 40s;[3]fast paced, lots of stock footage from other films, stock music from the Warners music library and contracted stars working long hours for comparatively small salaries with restrictions on their career.

Two of the most popular stars, James Garner and Clint Walker quit over their conditions, though Garner never returned to the Warner's fold. Successful Warners television stars found themselves in leading roles of many of the studio's films with no increase in salary. Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. was simultaneously the lead of 77 Sunset Strip, in a recurring role on Maverick, and also headlined several films until exhaustion forced the studio to give him a rest.

WBTV exclusively produced shows for the ABC network until 1963, when Temple Houston premiered on NBC.

The streak of identifiable series subsided in 1963 with a halt of using stock company (acting) contract players and Jack Webb taking over Warner Brothers television and not being particularly successful. However, many series were still filmed at Warner Brothers such as F-Troop and The F.B.I. (TV series).[4]

In 1989, it acquired Lorimar-Telepictures. Telepictures was later absorbed into WBTV's distribution unit, and in the late 1990s, came back as a secondary syndication arm. In 1993, Lorimar Television was absorbed into WBTV.

In 2006, WBTV made its vast library of programs available for free viewing on the Internet (through sister company AOL's IN2TV service), with Welcome Back Kotter as its marquee offering. Some of these programs have not been seen publicly since their last syndicated release in the 1980s.

WBTV has had a number of affiliated production houses that have co-produced many of their shows with WBTV. These include but are not limited to: Bruce Helford's Mohawk Productions (The Drew Carey Show, The Norm Show, The Oblongs, George Lopez), John Wells Productions (ER, The West Wing, Third Watch), Jerry Bruckheimer Television (Without a Trace, Cold Case), Miller-Boyett Productions - which was inherited from Lorimar (Full House, Family Matters) and others.

[edit] Partial list of programs produced by WBTV

Live action

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Time Warner Inc. Reports Results for 2007 Full Year and Fourth Quarter.
  2. ^ Sperling, Cass Warner, Warner Jr, Jack, Millner Cork Hollywood Be They Name
  3. ^ p.88 Baughman, James L The Republic of Mass Culture" Journalism, Filmaking, and Broadcasting in Amereica since 1941 JHU Press 2006
  4. ^ Woolley, Lynn, Malsbar, Robert, Strange Jr, Robert G Warner Brothers Television: Every Show of the Fifties and Sixties Episode-By-Episode McFarland Company (1985)

Woolley, Lynn, Malsbar, Robert, Strange Jr, Robert G Warner Brothers Television: Every Show of the Fifties and Sixties Episode-By-Episode McFarland Company (1985)

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