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Goodson-Todman Productions

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Goodson-Todman Productions
Founded 1946
President Syd Vinnedge (under current banner FremantleMedia)
Notable Works What's My Line?,
To Tell the Truth,
I've Got a Secret,
The Price Is Right,
Password,
The Match Game,
Family Feud

Goodson-Todman Productions was a television production company founded by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman. Their specialty was game and panel shows.

Mark Goodson started out in radio, creating a show called Pop the Question for a San Francisco station. He later met Bill Todman and they hammered out their first joint show, Hit the Jackpot for radio. Mark developed the format while Bill applied the rules and handled the business side. When TV made in-roads, they created Winner Take All. It was the first show that used two contestants competing against each other, lock-out buzzers and returning champions.

Throughout the 1950s, Goodson and Todman flaunted conventions of standard quizzes which were dull and stodgy by making them visually and aurally stimulating. While games were their specialty, they also dabbled in other genres: Jefferson Drum, The Rebel and Branded were westerns, The Web was an anthology, and Philip Marlowe was a detective show.

Goodson-Todman mastered such panel shows such as What's My Line?, I've Got a Secret, To Tell the Truth and The Name's the Same. They optioned The Price Is Right from independent producer Bob Stewart, and it has been running since it started in 1956. They successfully turned The Match Game from a humorous panel show in the 1960s to a raucous comedy in the 1970s--it became the top-rated daytime network show by 1974. Match Game would beget Family Feud.

Bill Todman died in 1979. By the end of 1982, the G-T shows would be branded with the Mark Goodson Productions tag. Mark Goodson died in 1992. In 1999, Pearson Television took over production, but the shows still bore the Mark Goodson tag. FremantleMedia assumed control of the G-T library and existing shows, and in 2009, The Price Is Right bore the FremantleMedia North America tag at the end. Family Feud is now under a new production company (Wanderlust Productions) and distributor (Debmar-Mercury).

Goodson-Todman TV Shows

Show Network, run Notes
Winner Take All NBC, 1948-51; CBS, 1951-52
The Web CBS, 1950 Anthology series
What's My Line? CBS, 1950-67; Syndicated, 1968-75 Spawned later series That's My Line
Beat the Clock CBS, 1950-58, 1979-80; ABC, 1958-61; Syndicated, 1969-74; PAX, 2002-03; Discovery Family, 2018- 2002-03 series under Paxson Communications production banner; 2018 series under FremantleMedia
Rate Your Mate CBS, 1951 Unsold pilot
It's News to Me CBS, 1951-54
The Name's the Same ABC, 1951-55
I've Got a Secret CBS, 1952-66, 1976; Syndicated, 1972-73; Oxygen, 1999-2000; GSN, 2006-07 1999 show co-produced with Oxygen Networks
Judge for Yourself NBC, 1953-54
Two for the Money NBC, 1953-56; CBS, 1953-57
Take Your Choice NBC, 1954 Unsold pilot
What's Going On? CBS, 1954
Play for Keeps! CBS, 1955 Unsold pilot
Make the Connection NBC, 1955
The Price Is Right NBC, 1956-63; ABC, 1963-65; CBS, 1972-present; syndicated, 1972-80, 1985-86, 1994-95 FremantleMedia assumes production 2008
Choose Up Sides NBC, 1956-57 Kids' game for Saturday mornings
To Tell the Truth CBS, 1956-68; Syndicated, 1969-78, 1980-81, 2000-02; NBC, 1990-91; ABC, 2016 ABC show under FremantleMedia production, co-produced with Gaspin Media and A2 Productions
Goodyear Theatre NBC, 1957-60 Drama anthology; co-produced with Screen Gems
Jefferson Drum NBC, 1958 Western
Play Your Hunch ABC, 1958-59; CBS, 1959; NBC, 1959-63
Philip Marlowe ABC, 1959-60 Detective Drama
Split Personality NBC, 1959-60
The Rebel ABC, 1959-61 Western
Password CBS, 1961-67; ABC, 1971-75; NBC, 2022 As Password All-Stars, 1974-75; 2022 show co-production of Fremantle, Electric Hot Dog, Universal Television and Alternative Studio
Number Please ABC, 1961
One Happy Family NBC, 1961 Situation Comedy
Say When!! NBC, 1961-65
The Match Game NBC, 1962-69; CBS, 1973-79; Syndicated, 1975-82, 1998-99; ABC, 1990-91, 2016 As Match Game '73...'74, etc. on CBS and as Match Game PM during 1975-81 syndication run at night; 2016 ABC show under FremantleMedia productions, co-produced with Entertain The Brutes and El Dorado Pictures
Missing Links NBC, 1963-64; ABC, 1964
Get the Message ABC, 1964
The Richard Boone Show NBC, 1963-64 Anthology Drama
Branded NBC, 1965-67 Western
Call My Bluff NBC, 1965
It Had to Be You NBC, 1966 Unsold pilot; redeveloped in 1969 as He Said, She Said
Snap Judgment NBC, 1967-69
He Said, She Said Syndicated, 1969-70
It's Predictable Syndicated, 1970 Unsold pilot
Celebrity Match Mates CBS, 1973 Pilot; revival of He Said, She Said, redeveloped as Tattletales
Concentration Syndicated, 1973-78 Licensed by NBC; subcontracted from Jim Victory Television
Tattletales CBS, 1974-78, 1982-84
Now You See It CBS, 1974-75, 1989
Showoffs ABC, 1975
Family Feud ABC, 1976-85, 2015, 2016; Syndicated, 1977-85, 1988-95, 1999-present; CBS, 1988-92); NBC, 2008 As Family Feud Challenge, 1992-93 on CBS; Wanderlust Productions assumes co-production with Fremantle 2008
Double Dare CBS, 1976-77
The Better Sex ABC, 1977-78
Card Sharks NBC, 1978-81; CBS, 1986-89; syndicated, 1986-87, 2001-02; ABC, 2019 2019 show co-produced by Fremantle and Entertain The Brutes
Spell Binders NBC, 1978 Unsold pilot
Password Plus NBC, 1979-82
Mindreaders NBC, 1979
Puzzlers NBC, 1980 Unsold pilot
That’s My Line CBS, 1980-81 Human interest show
Blockbusters NBC, 1980-82, 1987
Child's Play CBS, 1982-83
Star Words CBS, 1983 Unsold pilot
The Match Game/Hollywood Squares Hour NBC, 1983-84 Co-produced with Orion Television
Body Language CBS, 1984-86 Revival of Showoffs
Super Password NBC, 1984-89
Trivia Trap ABC, 1984-85
On a Roll CBS, 1986 Unsold pilot
Oddball NBC, 1986 Unsold pilot
Classic Concentration NBC, 1987-91 Licensed by NBC; subcontracted from Jim Victory Television
TKO ABC, 1989 Unsold pilot
Body Talk ABC, 1990 Unsold pilot
Cash Tornado local originations, 1993 Unsold pilot
MG2 Syndication, 1996 Pilot for what would become the 1998 Match Game
What the Blank! Fox, 2004 Unsold pilot for Match Game revival
About Last Night HBO Max, 2021 Revival of Tattletales; co-production of FremantleMedia, Sweet July Productions and Unanimous Media