Background: This production company formerly known as "Goodson-Todman Productions" (a.k.a. "Goodson-Todman Associates" and "Goodson-Todman Telecasts") was founded in 1948, as a partnership between the television producers Mark Goodson and Bill Todman. A few decades after Bill Todman's death in 1979, Mark Goodson acquired the Todman estate's shares of Goodson-Todman Productions, giving him full control. The first show to carry the Mark Goodson Television Productions name was Child's Play in 1982, Family Feud began using the logo the same year, and the remaining productions would carry the logo by late 1984. After Mark Goodson's death in 1992, his son Jonathan Goodson would control the company until 1995, when 50% of the company was acquired by All American Television (which became "Pearson Television" after Pearson, plc acquired All American Communications, now "FremantleMedia"). In April 1996, All American Communications acquired the remaining 50% of Mark Goodson Productions. In 2002, the Mark Goodson Productions name was phased out starting from the Richard Karn version of Family Feud and other new versions of Goodson library titles, but it was retained on The Price is Right until Bob Barker's retirement in 2007, and was folded into FremantleMedia after that.
Mark Goodson-Bill Todman Productions
(July 1, 1948-1984)
Logo: There is usually no production logo shown on television; many shows simply ended with the following words shown on the screen (usually superimposed):
A
--MARK--------------------------BILL--
GOODSON------------TODMAN
PRODUCTION
The names may be separated by either a bullet or a hyphen.
Trivia: One thing you might not have known about Goodson-Todman/Mark Goodson Productions is that, like Aaron Spelling, various vanity labels were used to copyright their shows in the end credits. Examples of those under G-T include:
- Card Sharks: "Suzanne Productions" (later credited to "MG Productions" (towards the end of the Jim Perry run of Card Sharks))
- Password Plus: "The Password Company"
- The Price is Right: "Price Productions" (TPIR also used this under Mark Goodson Productions)
- The Better Sex: "Strong Productions, Inc."
- Family Feud: "The Family Company" (FF also used this under Mark Goodson Productions until the end of the Dawson run)
- Mindreaders: "The Mindreaders Co."
- Tattletales (1982): "The Tattletale Company" (This was also used under Mark Goodson Productions until the end of that version's run)
Variants:
- On some shows, such as The Price is Right, Match Game, What's My Line?, Tattletales, the 1973-78 edition of Concentration, the short-lived 1979-80 version of Beat the Clock, That's My Line!, and the original 1980-1982 run of Blockbusters, the words would be accompanied by "asterisks" (one on top and one on the bottom) to capitalize on the success of The (New) Price is Right, which featured these asterisks around its set. Though in the case of Blockbusters, the asterisks will sometimes have no gap in them, other times they have a gap in them. On the pilot for Child's Play, there was only one asterisk, which was located on top.
- Some shows like Now You See It would only have the names "MARK GOODSON BILL TODMAN" stacked on one another.
- On various early episodes of The Price is Right, the text is written in the same font as the show's logo, which is known as "Pricedown".
- On 73-75 episodes of Price and Match Game, "MARK GOODSON BILL TODMAN" is displayed on a row horizontally, instead of the names being displayed separately next to each other.
- On episodes of the 1971-75 ABC edition of Password/Password All-Stars and the 1976 edition of I've Got a Secret, there is an additional copyright underneath the company's name.
- The short-lived 1975 ABC game Showoffs had its Goodson-Todman card against a full audience shot, which also included a full set shot that disappeared in front of a curtain.
- On the short-lived 1976-77 game show Double Dare (not to be confused with the more familiar 1980s-90s Nickelodeon game show and its 2010s revival), the names Mark Goodson/Bill Todman were etched inside the big main game board on a mini black background in either a white or yellow font.
- The in-credit text would sometimes be shown a second time in the 1970s before showing the in-credit title name with the copyright stamp on the long credits. Seen on several Family Feud episodes.
- On the short-lived game show The Better Sex, there is a cartoon sketch of a man and woman tugging against each other on the word "Production".
- On the very early episodes of Family Feud from 1976, the logo is either colored in red or yellow-orange in the same font as the show's title, while the remainder of the run would be in white until some point in 1982. This font is known as "Needlepoint".
- On the 1980-81 syndicated version of To Tell The Truth, the G-T card is in a stacked formation and in a disco-type font.
FX/SFX: None.
Music/Sounds/Voice-over: Usually the closing theme from whatever show that was using it, along with an announcer who says:
- 1950s-1967: This has been a Mark Goodson-Bill Todman Production ([NAME] speaking). However some shows will have the show's title preceding before the usual spiel is read. This can be heard on some episodes of the 1971-75 ABC edition of Password (briefly Password All-Stars from very late 1974-early 1975) with the spiel saying: "Password/Password All-Stars is a Mark Goodson-Bill Todman Production! John Harlan speaking!"
- 1967-Late 1984: "This is [NAME] speaking for [SHOW], a Mark Goodson-Bill Todman Production".
- Gene Wood did not use "speaking" in his closing announcement on Showoffs, rather saying "This is Gene Wood for Showoffs...a Mark Goodson-Bill Todman Production".
On That's My Line!, Johnny Olson says, "This is Johnny Olson speaking. I'm your announcer, That's My Line! A Mark Goodson-Bill Todman Production". On some series such as The Rebel, it's the end-title theme of the show. There is no closing announcement.
Availability: Common. This is still retained on many G-T shows of the era airing on the Game Show Network/GSN (though they may be somewhat obscured by split-screen credit "crunches" or cut off completely) and Buzzr. The only show to remain uncompressed on GSN was Password Plus. Can also be found on many DVD releases of Match Game, Family Feud, and The Price is Right.
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Mark Goodson Television Productions
(1982-June 15, 2007)
Nicknames: "TV Tube", "Mark Goodson-on-TV"
Logo: In a television-like shape are the words:
A
MARK
GOODSON
PRODUCTION
"A" and "Production" are along the box's border.
Trivia: Under Mark Goodson Productions, just like with G-T, vanity labels/in-credit cards were used to copyright their shows; however, these oftentimes used the name of the show itself. Examples include:
- Child's Play: "The Child's Play Company"
- Super Password: "The Super Password Company"
- Trivia Trap: "The Trivia Trap Company"
- Card Sharks: "The Card Sharks Company" (CBS CS with Bob Eubanks)
- Blockbusters: "The B.B Company" (NBC Bill Rafferty run)
- Body Language: "The Body Language Company"
- Family Feud: (Combs/Dawson '94 versions) "The New Family Company"
Variants: Though an in-credit logo, it has had a few animated (and also still) variations:
- On Super Password, it flies upwards. During the first few months, there were no sound effects accompanying the logo. However, by December 1984, the sound effects were added to the logo. First was a lower-pitched "WOOOSH" that sounds very little like an airplane was used. Soon after, a louder jet airplane "WOOOSH" sound was incorporated around February 1985.
- On TV's Funniest Game Show Moments and the failed pilots of On a Roll, the logo is colored gold, rendered in 3D and zooms in.
- On the Ray Combs pilot for Family Feud, it zooms in around from the left.
- It spins on the 1989 version of Now You See It. It also has a three-dimensional look.
- On several episodes of the 1990-1991 version of To Tell the Truth, it zooms up.
The box is sometimes colored inside, usually red on the '80s versions of Card Sharks and the 1988-1989 season of Family Feud and blue on the 1989-1990 season of Family Feud.
- Sometimes, the logo just reads "MARK GOODSON", like 1993 episodes of The New Family Feud filmed in Opryland in Nashville, TN having it written in a different font.
- The 1994 version of Family Feud hosted by Richard Dawson, the 1998 version of Match Game, the 2001 revival of Card Sharks, the 1999-2002 Louie Anderson era of Family Feud, and the 2000 revival of To Tell the Truth with John O'Hurley, used a yellow logo.
- On season one of Illinois Instant Riches, the TV tube is in a different shape, like in the same shape as the Ziv Television Programs logo, inside it says "MARK GOODSON PRODUCTIONS" with a long line separating below it and under the line says "NEW YORK" and below it says "HOLLYWOOD".
- On season two of Illinois Instant Riches, the logo reads "MARK GOODSON PRODUCTIONS" and appears via a "wipe" effect.
- On Bonus Bonanza, the logo is applied with a gold texture.
- On the 1st week of the 1990-1991 revival of Match Game with Ross Shafer, the MGP logo is encased in the small circle on a black background. Subsequent shows had the MGP logo colored teal blue or sometimes purple.
- One episode of the 1990 revival of Match Game had a unique in-studio variant: panelist Charles Nelson Reilly wearing a red sweatshirt with this logo emblazoned on it in white. He claimed this was because he had been working for Mark Goodson for 30 years (obviously it was less time than that).
- On the 1998 pitch film for Match Game, the logo is presented austerly over a black background and is colored dark blue.
FX/SFX: Usually none.
Music/Sounds/Voice-over: The end theme of the show's accompanied by an announcer who says: "This is [NAME] speaking for [SHOW], a Mark Goodson Television Production," although when Charlie O'Donnell announced on one week of shows on Trivia Trap, instead of him announcing his name he just says "This is Trivia Trap!" before he says the usual "A Mark Goodson Television Production!" line. On Illinois Instant Riches, Bill Barber (the announcer) said "This is Bill Barber speaking for Illinois Instant Riches, a Mark Goodson Television Lottery Production". The "Television" text is added to keep the length/rhythm of the phrase just like the original. In 1998, during the revival of Match Game, this became "This has been a Mark Goodson Production for...", after which the Pearson logo would appear. There was no announcement when the logo appeared on 1999-2002 episodes of Family Feud and To Tell the Truth (however, the cruddy 2001 revival of Card Sharks with Pat Bullard did have an announcement from Gary Kroeger), but the original spiel continued to be used on The Price is Right until June 2007; currently, "FremantleMedia" takes the place of "Mark Goodson Television" in the "Production" phrase on that series.
Voice-over Variant: For some shows in the mid-to late-1980s and 1990s taped at CBS Television City and aired on CBS like Family Feud with Ray Combs and the short-lived 1989 version of Now You See It, the announcers would say: "From Television City in Hollywood" first before they would say their name speaking for what game show.
Availability: Can be seen on shows of the era on Game Show Network/GSN (though they might be obscured somewhat by the split screen credits or in most cases, cut off completely) and Buzzr. Sometimes seen uncompressed on 1982-85 episodes of Family Feud hosted by Richard Dawson. Also found on The Best of The Price is Right DVD set.
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Closing Announcements/Sign-offs: Here are a few examples of the many sign-offs that announcers have made for game shows under Mark Goodson Productions:
- "This is Gene Wood/Bob Hilton speaking for Trivia Trap...a Mark Goodson Television Production"
- "This is Rich Jeffries/Gene Wood/Bob Hilton speaking for Super Password...a Mark Goodson Television Production"
- "This is Johnny Olson/Rod Roddy/Rich Fields speaking for The Price Is Right...a Mark Goodson Television Production"
- "This is Gene Wood speaking for Family Feud...a Mark Goodson Television Production"
- "This is Johnny Olson/Gene Wood/Bob Hilton speaking for Body Language...a Mark Goodson Television Production"