Paramount Television was an American television production/distribution company that was active from January 1, 1968 to August 27, 2006.

Its successor is CBS Television Studios, formerly known as CBS Paramount Television. Its predecessor is Desilu Productions.

Background[link]

The company was known for producing and distributing programs such as The Andy Griffith Show in the 1960s, Happy Days on ABC in the 1970s, Cheers and its spinoff Frasier on NBC in 1982 and 1993, the Star Trek franchise, Girlfriends in 2000 (with Grammnet Productions, 2006-2008 episodes by CBS Paramount Network Television) on UPN (later CW), Duckman in 1994 (with Klasky Csupo) on USA Network, and the daily Paramount staple Entertainment Tonight in 1981, among others.

Origins[link]

The predecessor company, Desilu Productions, was originally founded in 1950 by Lucille Ball (1911–1989) and Desi Arnaz (1917-1986) for the purpose of producing their sitcom, I Love Lucy, for the CBS network. It later produced Ball's follow-up series, The Lucy Show, as well as such other shows as Our Miss Brooks, The Untouchables, Mission: Impossible, Mannix, and Star Trek (the latter three would be continued under Paramount Television).

Paramount Pictures had made a couple of attempts in the mid-1950s to produce series themselves under the Telemount (Television + Paramount) 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. Before that, Paramount owned a de facto television network, the Paramount Television Network, and had a stake in a full-fledged network, the DuMont Television Network; alongside outright ownership of two TV stations: KTLA in Los Angeles and WBKB (now WBBM-TV) in Chicago.

Another attempt by Paramount was known as Paramount Pictures Television. One of the series was Destination Space, a pilot to a proposed series that never got off the ground, produced in association with the CBS Television Network in 1959.

Sale and re-incorporation[link]

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. By that point, Paramount had pretty much distanced itself from television, having stopped production of its early shows, closed down its networks, and sold off the stations they owned.

They also sold off most of their early theatrical library (before 1950, for the most part) to such companies as EMKA, Ltd. (pre-1950 theatrical live-action sound features; now part of Universal Studios), U.M.&M. T.V. Corp. (most short subjects released through September 1950; now part of Paramount-owned Republic Pictures), Associated Artists Productions - also called a.a.p. [sic] for short (Popeye cartoons; now part of Time Warner's Turner Entertainment and Warner Bros. units), Harvey Films (most short subjects released between September 1950 and March 1962; now part of Classic Media), and National Comics (Superman theatrical cartoons; later DC Comics, now owned by Time Warner).

The first PTV production to premiere after the re-incorporation was Here's Lucy. Paramount only produced the first season however, selling their stake in the show to Ball after the season finale. The rights were later sold to Telepictures (owned by Warner Bros. Television).

Failed network plans[link]

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.

Relationship with ABC[link]

In the past, the network which Paramount Television had the most success on was ABC^{[citation needed]}. Every year between 1969-1992, at least one long-running Paramount Television production was on the ABC lineup. The most successful PTV shows on the network were The Brady Bunch, Love, American Style (both from 1969-74), The Odd Couple (1970-75), Happy Days (1974-84), Laverne & Shirley (1976-83), Mork & Mindy (1978-82), Taxi (1978-82 on ABC, 1982-83 on NBC), Webster (1983-87 on ABC, 1987-89 in syndication), and MacGyver (1985-92). These were but a few of the Paramount Television productions to air on ABC. However, from 1992 on Paramount did not have much luck with ABC; despite several attempts, their ABC-mounted efforts were either short lived (The Marshal, Philly, Blind Justice) or found success on other networks (Clueless, Sister, Sister) after their original cancellations.

In contrast, for years Paramount Television had been relatively unsuccessful on the other two "Big 3" networks. After 2 long-running PTV shows on CBS (Mission: Impossible and Mannix, both of which were inherited from Desilu) ended in the mid-1970s, the company did not have another hit on the network until JAG moved over from NBC in the 1996-97 season and lasted 9 additional seasons on CBS. PTV also assumed production of the cult hit Star Trek on NBC from Desilu, but lasted only one full season under the Paramount Television banner on NBC and the studio did not have another hit on that network until Cheers and Family Ties premiered in 1982. From 1992 onward, as Paramount saw its success on ABC decrease, the studio found some more success on NBC, with such series as Wings and Cheers spin-off Frasier (this relationship was helped when Paramount sold its original TV station in Philadelphia, Fox affiliate WTXF-TV, to that network, allowing NBC to purchase former CBS O&O WCAU). Cheers, Frasier, and Wings shared some of the same key people, and there were even some crossovers.

The relations between ABC and Paramount were far more than just the line of successful television series. Paramount's old theater chain, United Paramount Theaters purchased the ABC network in 1953 and helped turn it into a major player. In 1974, Paramount sold its record label holdings, the Famous Music Group (which by that time included Paramount Records, Dot Records, and Blue Thumb Records, along with distribution of now Warner-owned Sire Records), to ABC (MCA, already the owner of Paramount's pre-1950 sound feature films, would acquire ABC Records in 1979, and the Paramount record holdings are now owned by Universal Music Group).

Between 1986 and 1995, three different Paramount series served as lead-ins to ABC's Monday Night Football, a weekly showcase of National Football League games. By far the most successful of these was MacGyver, which led in to MNF from 1986 through 1991. The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, which aired during the 1992 season, and The Marshal, during the 1995 season, were not nearly as successful as MacGyver had been.

Ownership changes and library expansion[link]

In 1989, Gulf+Western was re-incorporated as Paramount Communications, named after the company's prime asset, Paramount Pictures (the name of which was also used for the company as a whole). That firm was sold to Viacom in 1994. Then, in January 1995, 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).

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 a former NBC production and Nash Bridges, having acquired the latter from Rysher), including such hits as JAG spin-off NCIS and Criminal Minds (with ABC Studios).

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, formerly part-owned by Paramount), 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.

The fall and re-rise of Paramount Television[link]

The end of Paramount Television[link]

At the end of 2005, Viacom split into two completely separate companies, one of which was called CBS Corporation, the other retaining the Viacom name. Despite Paramount Pictures being owned by the new Viacom, the Paramount TV library was inherited by CBS, and Paramount Television was merged with CBS Productions on January 17, 2006, forming CBS Paramount Television. Paramount's final series was South Beach for UPN.

Because National Amusements retains majority control of both CBS Corporation and the new Viacom, CBS programs (both before and after the split) are still distributed by Paramount Home Entertainment.

UPN also became part of CBS Corporation, and a week after CPT 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] The end of the Paramount name on television

The company survived as CBS Paramount Television for three years. However, CBS began phasing out the Paramount name as early as 2007, when the American distribution arm was merged with King World Productions (bought by CBS just prior to the Viacom merger) to form CBS Television Distribution. The international distribution arm at first took up the CTD name as well, but later became CBS Studios International.

In 2009, CBS quietly announced that the Paramount name would be stripped from both the main company (CBS Paramount Television) and its production arm (CBS Paramount Network Television), with the latter being renamed CBS Television Studios, however Rules of Engagement (a co-production with Sony Pictures Television) is currently the last show on the air to bear the CBS Paramount Television banner..

With these transactions, Paramount's involvement in television - at least in name only since 2006 - came to an end after 70 years (when the experimental TV stations that later became KTLA and WBBM were founded). Paramount had been the first major Hollywood studio to be involved in television.

The return of Paramount in television[link]

When CBS Paramount Television was renamed to CBS Television Studios, Paramount Pictures joined forces with Trifecta Entertainment & Media in distributing the Paramount and Republic film libraries on television. Paramount is a co-owner (with MGM and Lionsgate) of Epix, a premium television network launched in October 2009. Thus, Paramount gained some involvement in television for the first time since 1959.

See also[link]

• Desilu Productions
• CBS Paramount Television
• CBS Paramount Domestic Television
• List of Paramount executives
• Paramount Domestic Television
• Viacom Productions
• Paramount Pictures
• List of television series produced by Paramount Television

External links[link]

• Paramount Television at the Internet Movie Database