Goodson-Todman Productions
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Added by Kingofgameshows800Goodson-Todman Productions was a long-running & long-serving television production company formed by Mark Goodson & his longtime partner Bill Todman. Together they produced & created some of the long-running & greatest game show formats ever in television history. They did manage to find time to produce other types of TV shows even though none of them was as successful: shows such as The Web, The Richard Boone Show and the Chuck Connors classic Branded. When Bill died in 1979, Mark ran his company solo; he even renamed his company to simply Mark Goodson Productions. The company slowly disbanded after Mark Goodson died in 1992. In 2007, just after Bob Barker's final show with The Price is Right, the company demised and was sold to FremantleMedia.
Some of the producers who worked on some of the Goodson-Todman shows went on to form their successful (and not-so-successful) game show companies. They were:
- Bob Stewart
- Robert "Bobby" Sherman
- Jay Wolpert
- Steve Ryan
- Merv Griffin
- Jonathan Goodson (Mark's Son)
Not all Goodson-Todman shows were created by Mark & Bill; some were created by the following producers working for Goodson-Todman:
| Creator | Shows |
|---|---|
| Bob Bach | What's My Line? |
| Allan Sherman | I've Got a Secret |
| Frank Wayne | Match Game, Beat the Clock, and Now You See It |
| Chester Feldman | Card Sharks and Family Feud |
| Bob Stewart | Password, The Price is Right (1st Version), and To Tell the Truth |
| Jay Wolpert | Double Dare (1) |
| Ira Skutch | TattleTales |
| Steve Ryan | Blockbusters |
At one time, then-blackballed producer Jack Barry worked for Goodson-Todman Productions and the company helped him create The Joker's Wild. Barry & Goodson-Todman broke contact with each other after Barry relaunched his TV career.
Two of Mark Goodson's children, Jonathan & Marjorie (née Cagle), worked on the company's shows in front of and behind the cameras.
Contents |
Shows Produced
Edit
Mark Goodson-Bill Todman Productions (1946–1982)Edit
- Beat the Clock (1950–1961, 1969–1974, 1979–1980)
- The Better Sex (1977–1978)
- Blockbusters (1980–1982, 1987)
- Call My Bluff (1965)
- Card Sharks (1978–1981, 1986–1989)
- Choose Up Sides (1956)
- Concentration (1973–1978, 1987–1991)
- Double Dare (1976–1977)
- Family Feud (1976–1985, 1988–1993, 1988–1995)
- Get the Message (1964)
- He Said She Said (1969–1970)
- It's News To Me (1951–1953, 1954)
- I've Got a Secret (1952–1967, 1972–1973, 1976)
- Judge for Yourself (1953–1954)
- Make the Connection (1955)
- Match Game (1962–1969, 1973–1979, 1975–1982, 1990–1991)
- Mindreaders (1979–1980)
- Missing Links (1963–1964)
- The Name's the Same (1951–1954, 1954–1955)
- Now You See It (1974–1975, 1989)
- Number Please (1961)
- Password (1961–1967, 1971–1975)
- Password Plus (1979–1982)
- Play Your Hunch (1958–1963)
- The Price is Right (1956–1965, 1972–2007)
- Say When!! (1961–1965)
- Showoffs (1975)
- Snap Judgment (1967–1969)
- Split Personality (1959–1960)
- TattleTales (1974–1978, 1982–1984)
- To Tell the Truth (1956–1968, 1969–1978, 1980–1981, 1990–1991)
- Two for the Money (1952–1956, 1957)
- What's Going On? (1954)
- What's My Line? (1950–1967, 1968–1975)
- Winner Take All (1948–1950, 1951, 1952)
Mark Goodson Television Productions (1982–2007)Edit
- Child's Play (1982–1983)
- Match Game Hollywood Squares Hour (1983–1984)
- Body Language (1984–1986)
- Trivia Trap (1984–1985)
- Super Password (1984-1989)
- Illinois Instant Riches (1994-1998)
- Bonus Bonanza (1995)
- Flamingo Fortune (1995)
LogosEdit
"A Mark Goodson-Bill Todman Production"Edit
Here's the variant from Jack Narz's run.
The variant from Gene Wood's run is seen in lowercase letters.
The logo with the asterisks from The All-New (All-Star) Beat the Clock over a shot of an audience on the set.
The early variant in the Pricedown font from 1972.
A variant with yellow G-T asterisks was used from after the earliest episodes up until 1975.
A variant with white asterisks from 1975 to April 6, 1984.
A variant seen on episodes with full credit roll from 1981 to April 1984.
The logo against a BG filled with lights from the game board.
The logo appeared while a family could be seen talking with host Richard Dawson during the credits.
The logo had also appeared over a shot of just one family member. It only happened very rarely in Richard's first run.
NOTE: On the 1970s versions, the logo and credits would appear over any episode's closing act inside an "Orange Popsicle" lighting prop, which would spin around to change from one camera shot to another during the credits.
An extremely rare variant with the word "Production" in green instead of the usual white, from Match Game 73
A variant in blue from a later episode of any other 70s version, with Charles Nelson Reilly.
Password 1964
Concentration 1973
Now You See It 1974
Showoffs 1975
Double Dare 1976
Card Sharks 1978
Mindreaders 1979
To Tell the Truth 1980
Blockbusters 1980
Password Plus 1982
- Password 1964 - A black-and-white version from Password in 1964. All episodes of the original show had the logo and credits in lowercase.
- Concentration 1973 - A variant as seen on Jack Narz's version of Concentration as announcer Johnny Olson signed off.
- Now You See It - A variant on Jack Narz's version of Now You See It in which Mark and Bill's names appear on the game board. Taken from the show's premiere.
- Double Dare 1976 - A variant from Double Dare in which the logo and credits would appear on the main game board in either yellow or white, depending on the episode. After the credits, the title would appear the same way as in the opening but with the two weird shapes coming together afterwards.
- Card Sharks 1978 - A variant from Card Sharks in 1978 over a shot of the set. The logo and credits appeared in either white or yellow, depending on the episode, but this is the white variant.
- Mindreaders 1979 - Mindreaders had the logo at the bottom of the screen in a different font.
- Blockbusters 1980 - A variant from Bill Cullen's version of Blockbusters in brown. The logo and credits were shown in either white, yellow, or brown, depending on the episode.
- Password Plus 1982 - A variant from Password Plus during Tom Kennedy's run. The logo and credits were shown in white or yellow, depending on the episode.
"A Mark Goodson Television Production"Edit
From March 18, 1987, the classic mechanical version used from 1984-1996.
A computerized variant from the 1990s.
From a 2004 episode, another computerized variant.
Taken from Bob Barker's final show in 2007. This is also Mark Goodson Television Productions’ final day before switching to FremantleMedia.
A computerized variant from Doug Davidson's nighttime version.
From 1985 at the end of Richard Dawson's final episode until 1994.
A computerized variant from Richard's return in 1994.
Another computerized version from Louie Anderson's run. The name and logo was dropped from Feud in 2002.
A green version from the 1990-91 ABC run.
The logo from the 1998 syndicated version, as seen on WGN cable (now WGN America).
The logo appears over a shot of the pilot set.
In the series, it appeared over a shot of the set with four rings worth of lights.
The mechanical variant as seen over a shot of the Turnabout prop, with four kids, as seen on GSN in 1997.
On the series finale, it appeared over a shot of an audience with kids.
A rather different version of the logo.
Here's the real logo as seen on other episodes.
Star Words Pilot 1983
Body Language 1984
Super Password 1984
Trivia Trap 1985
Card Sharks 1986
Blockbusters 1987
Now You See It 1989
To Tell the Truth 1990
Bonus Bonanza 1995
Flamingo Fortune
- 1983 Star Words Pilot - A variant from the 1983 pilot Star Words.
- Body Language 1984 - The mechanical variant from Body Language.
- Super Password 1984 - A yellow computerized variant on Super Password in which the logo flies out of view (with the sound of a jet) after either Rich Jeffries, Gene Wood, or Bob Hilton signed off.
- Card Sharks 1986 - The early variant from the CBS run of Card Sharks in 1986. Also used on the nighttime syndicated version from 1986-1987.
- Blockbusters 1987 - The variant from Blockbusters with Bill Rafferty. On episodes with a full credit roll, the staff credits scroll up until the scrolling stops at this logo, which scrolls up to reveal the closing card. The credits and logo appear over a shot of the big blue hexagon (different from the ones on the set). Sometimes, the hexagon zooms out after the credits to reveal a shot of the entire set which by that time went dark.
- Now You See It 1989 - A variant from Chuck Henry's Now You See It in 1989.
- Bonus Bonanza 1995 - Bonus Bonanza (1995) had a giant gold variant.
- Flamingo Fortune - Flamingo Fortune had the logo over a shot of its own set.
Red - Card Sharks 1986
Blue - Family Feud 1988
- Card Sharks 1986 - Taken from 1989 CBS daytime Card Sharks finale.
- Family Feud 1988 - Shown on the CBS daytime and nighttime syndicated versions of Family Feud with Ray Combs. Early episodes used the red variant, while later episodes used the standard version.
