Spelling Television
Encyclopedia
Spelling Television Inc. (first known as Aaron Spelling Productions, Spelling Entertainment Inc. later as Spelling Entertainment Group) was a television production company
Production company
A production company provides the physical basis for works in the realms of the performing arts, new media art, film, television, radio, and video.- Tasks and functions :...

 that produced popular shows such as Charmed
Charmed
Charmed is an American television series that originally aired from October 7, 1998, until May 21, 2006, on the now defunct The WB Television Network. The series was created in 1998 by writer Constance M...

, Beverly Hills, 90210
Beverly Hills, 90210
Beverly Hills, 90210 is an American drama series that originally aired from October 4, 1990 to May 17, 2000 on Fox and was produced by Spelling Television in the United States, and subsequently on various networks around the world. It is the first series in the Beverly Hills, 90210 franchise...

, 7th Heaven
7th Heaven
7th Heaven is an American family drama television series, created and produced by Brenda Hampton. The series premiered on August 26, 1996, on the WB, the first time that the network aired Monday night programming, and was originally broadcast from August 26, 1996 to May 13, 2007...

, Dynasty
Dynasty (TV series)
Dynasty is an American prime time television soap opera that aired on ABC from January 12, 1981 to May 11, 1989. It was created by Richard & Esther Shapiro and produced by Aaron Spelling, and revolved around the Carringtons, a wealthy oil family living in Denver, Colorado...

and Melrose Place. The company was founded by television producer Aaron Spelling
Aaron Spelling
Aaron Spelling was an American film and television producer. As of 2009, Spelling's eponymous production company Spelling Television holds the record as the most prolific television writer, with 218 producer and executive producer credits...

 in 1969. The company is currently an in-name-only unit of CBS Television Studios.

History

Aaron Spelling Productions went public in 1986 after raising $80 million. In 1988, Aaron Spelling Productions acquired Laurel Entertainment
George A. Romero
George Andrew Romero is a Canadian-American film director, screenwriter and editor, best known for his gruesome and satirical horror films about a hypothetical zombie apocalypse. He is nicknamed "Godfather of all Zombies." -Life and career:...

 and most of the Taft Entertainment Company
Taft Broadcasting
The Taft Broadcasting Company, also known as Taft Television and Radio Company, Incorporated, was an American media conglomerate based in Cincinnati, Ohio....

, including Worldvision Enterprises, Inc. All three companies became part of Spelling, Inc. - though Worldvision was the only Taft division to continue operating. The sale was completed on March 1, 1989. A share in the company was acquired by Blockbuster Entertainment (which was being sold to Viacom
Viacom
Viacom Inc. , short for "Video & Audio Communications", is an American media conglomerate with interests primarily in, but not limited to, cinema and cable television...

) in 1994. In 1993, Spelling Entertainment acquired Republic Pictures
Republic Pictures
Republic Pictures was an independent film production-distribution corporation with studio facilities, operating from 1934 through 1959, and was best known for specializing in westerns, movie serials and B films emphasizing mystery and action....

. On September 29, 1994, Blockbuster merged with Viacom. Blockbuster by then owned 67% of Spelling Entertainment. The remainder of Spelling Entertainment was then acquired by Paramount/Viacom in 1999, but the deal closed in 2000.

Before the merger with Viacom, most of Spelling's shows were distributed by Worldvision, with older Spelling shows distributed by several others including Warner Bros. Television
Warner Bros. Television
Warner Bros. Television is the television production arm of Warner Bros. Entertainment, itself part of Time Warner. Alongside CBS Television Studios, it serves as a television production arm of The CW Television Network , though it also produces shows for other networks, such as Shameless on...

, 20th Century Fox Television
20th Century Fox Television
20th Century Fox Television is the television production division of 20th Century Fox Film Corporation, and a production arm of the Fox Broadcasting Company...

 and Sony Pictures Television
Sony Pictures Television
Sony Pictures Television, Inc. is an American and global television production/distribution subsidiary of Sony Pictures Entertainment. In turn, the latter is part of the Japanese conglomerate Sony.-Background:...

.

After the merger, Spelling Entertainment integrated Worldvision into their Republic Pictures
Republic Pictures
Republic Pictures was an independent film production-distribution corporation with studio facilities, operating from 1934 through 1959, and was best known for specializing in westerns, movie serials and B films emphasizing mystery and action....

 unit, thus dismantling Worldvision as a production company. Worldvision distribution functions continued for a short time until Paramount Television
Paramount Television
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 CBS Paramount Television...

 assumed distribution functions (Viacom had bought Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...

 in 1994).

The company can be credited with helping several networks (ABC, Fox, the WB, and the CW) with successful shows.

In the 1970s/early 1980s at one point at ABC, Spelling-produced shows outweighed other production companies by a large margin. Aaron Spelling had so many shows on ABC, industry insiders dubbed ABC "Aaron's Broadcasting Company." Spelling himself was never amused with this name.

In the early 1990s Beverly Hills, 90210
Beverly Hills, 90210
Beverly Hills, 90210 is an American drama series that originally aired from October 4, 1990 to May 17, 2000 on Fox and was produced by Spelling Television in the United States, and subsequently on various networks around the world. It is the first series in the Beverly Hills, 90210 franchise...

and Melrose Place helped propel Fox even higher and reach a new generation of young teen viewers.

In the 1990s the WB was launched and their longest running, highest rated and most successful show during their time in operation was 7th Heaven
7th Heaven
7th Heaven is an American family drama television series, created and produced by Brenda Hampton. The series premiered on August 26, 1996, on the WB, the first time that the network aired Monday night programming, and was originally broadcast from August 26, 1996 to May 13, 2007...

for ten seasons. By 2006, another new network, the CW, used 7th Heaven
7th Heaven
7th Heaven is an American family drama television series, created and produced by Brenda Hampton. The series premiered on August 26, 1996, on the WB, the first time that the network aired Monday night programming, and was originally broadcast from August 26, 1996 to May 13, 2007...

in their first season in operation as the newest network.

Spelling's ABC, Fox, and WB shows were enormously successful for the company and they wasted no time entering into the world of merchandise in the 80's and 90's.

The company also was one of the first production companies to actively run a website for a show they produced when the internet was just taking off in the 1990s. The website was for Melrose Place.

The company's first home was a suite of offices on the old Warners lot in Hollywood. A newer base followed when the company was an original anchor tenant of the Wilshire Courtyard buildings in LA's revitalized Miracle Mile district. Aaron Spelling was said to have loved his old office's 1970s shag carpet so much that he had it removed piece by piece and installed in the new office. The company grew so large with so many different entities that at one point it leased all three top floors of the 5700 building and held additional office space across the street. Aaron Spelling had one of the largest offices in Hollywood for a single executive. Upon the company's exit, media companies from all over Los Angeles vied for the desirable office suites; the newly formed CW Network briefly looked at the offices when considering a location for the new start-up network. Spelling Television briefly moved to smaller offices in Santa Monica in 2006.

By 2000, Aaron Spelling
Aaron Spelling
Aaron Spelling was an American film and television producer. As of 2009, Spelling's eponymous production company Spelling Television holds the record as the most prolific television writer, with 218 producer and executive producer credits...

 remained active and involved as CEO until his death in 2006. Company president Jonathan Levin handled day to day operations and longtime Spelling producing partner, E. Duke Vincent
E. Duke Vincent
E. Duke Vincent is an American television producer. He is a former producing partner of Aaron Spelling and an executive at various Spelling production company entities...

 helped guide the successful production company.

Spelling Television was eventually downsized even further & became a small "production shingle" under CBS Paramount Television
CBS Paramount Television
CBS Television Studios is an American television production/distribution company that was formed on January 17, 2006 by CBS Corporation merging Paramount Television and CBS Productions...

 (now CBS Television Studios), a division of CBS Corporation
CBS Corporation
CBS Corporation is an American media conglomerate focused on commercial broadcasting, publishing, billboards and television production, with most of its operations in the United States. The President and CEO of the company is Leslie Moonves. Sumner Redstone, owner of National Amusements, is CBS's...

, with a small staff. The company became an in-name-only unit of CBS Television Studios after Aaron Spelling's death in 2006.

7th Heaven
7th Heaven
7th Heaven is an American family drama television series, created and produced by Brenda Hampton. The series premiered on August 26, 1996, on the WB, the first time that the network aired Monday night programming, and was originally broadcast from August 26, 1996 to May 13, 2007...

was the last series produced by Spelling Television broadcast on network television.

Spelling's library today

Currently, all television programs that were produced by Spelling Television are distributed by CBS Television Distribution
CBS Television Distribution
CBS Television Distribution is a global television distribution company, formed from the merger of CBS Corporation's two domestic television distribution arms CBS Paramount Domestic Television and King World Productions, including its home entertainment arm CBS Home Entertainment...

.

The Spelling Television company logo and series were seen on broadcast television for the last time during the rerun of the 7th Heaven
7th Heaven
7th Heaven is an American family drama television series, created and produced by Brenda Hampton. The series premiered on August 26, 1996, on the WB, the first time that the network aired Monday night programming, and was originally broadcast from August 26, 1996 to May 13, 2007...

series finale on September 16, 2007. Spelling's logo continues to appear on the covers of DVD releases of the Spelling library (except for Twin Peaks
Twin Peaks
Twin Peaks is an American television serial drama created by David Lynch and Mark Frost. The series follows the investigation headed by FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper , of the murder of a popular teenager and homecoming queen, Laura Palmer...

, and those shows owned by Sony Pictures Television
Sony Pictures Television
Sony Pictures Television, Inc. is an American and global television production/distribution subsidiary of Sony Pictures Entertainment. In turn, the latter is part of the Japanese conglomerate Sony.-Background:...

).

In late 2008, some of Spelling Television's productions, including Beverly Hills, 90210
Beverly Hills, 90210
Beverly Hills, 90210 is an American drama series that originally aired from October 4, 1990 to May 17, 2000 on Fox and was produced by Spelling Television in the United States, and subsequently on various networks around the world. It is the first series in the Beverly Hills, 90210 franchise...

,
Melrose Place, Twin Peaks
Twin Peaks
Twin Peaks is an American television serial drama created by David Lynch and Mark Frost. The series follows the investigation headed by FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper , of the murder of a popular teenager and homecoming queen, Laura Palmer...

, and The Love Boat
The Love Boat
The Love Boat is an American television series set on a cruise ship, which aired on the ABC Television Network from September 24,1977, until May 24,1986.The show starred Gavin MacLeod as the ship's captain...

began streaming full episodes live on CBS's website under the classic's page. Beverly Hills, 90210 for example streams at the following link: http://www.cbs.com/classics/beverly_hills_90210.
Aaron Spelling's television programming lives on through the internet albeit with the CBS Paramount Television, CBS Television Studios or CBS Television Distribution logos now firmly slapped on the end of every episode even though originally they had nothing to do with their production. It is interesting to note how in later years, CBS as a network lost interest in doing business with Aaron Spelling and Spelling Television while all other networks did not. It's ironic that CBS Corporation now controls Spelling's most successful series.

Spelling Entertainment Group

Before the full acquisition by Viacom, where only Spelling Television would be left standing as a separate operating unit after the acquisition, Spelling Entertainment Group's holdings consisted of the following:
  • Spelling Entertainment Group:
    • Spelling Television and most of the libraries of ancestor companies (excluding Spelling-Goldberg Productions properties which were sold off to Columbia Pictures Television)
      • Big Ticket Television
        Big Ticket Entertainment
        Big Ticket Television, Inc. is a production company that is a unit of CBS Television Studios , a division of CBS Corporation since the split of Viacom at the end of 2005.The company was launched in 1994 under the Spelling Entertainment Group, which was acquired by Viacom Big Ticket Television,...

         launched in 1994 (now a unit of CBS Television Studios)
      • Spelling Daytime Television launched as a separate dba for daytime production based at NBC.
      • Torand Productions
      • Laurel Entertainment, Inc.
    • Spelling Films
    • Republic Pictures
      Republic Pictures
      Republic Pictures was an independent film production-distribution corporation with studio facilities, operating from 1934 through 1959, and was best known for specializing in westerns, movie serials and B films emphasizing mystery and action....

       including:
      • much of its own library of films and in-house TV series
      • The inherited holdings of National Telefilm Associates
        National Telefilm Associates
        National Telefilm Associates was an independent distribution company that handled reissues of American film libraries, including much of Paramount Pictures' animated and short-subjects library.-History:...

         (NTA), which itself includes:
        • It's a Wonderful Life
          It's a Wonderful Life
          It's a Wonderful Life is a 1946 American Christmas drama film produced and directed by Frank Capra and based on the short story "The Greatest Gift" written by Philip Van Doren Stern....

        • Most of Paramount's own classic animated library
        • Some early United Artists
          United Artists
          United Artists Corporation is an American film studio. The original studio of that name was founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charles Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks....

           material (including High Noon
          High Noon
          High Noon is a 1952 American Western film directed by Fred Zinnemann and starring Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly. The film tells in real time the story of a town marshal forced to face a gang of killers by himself...

          )
        • Pre-1973 NBC
          NBC
          The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

           shows, such as Get Smart
          Get Smart
          Get Smart is an American comedy television series that satirizes the secret agent genre. Created by Mel Brooks with Buck Henry, the show starred Don Adams , Barbara Feldon , and Edward Platt...

          and Bonanza
          Bonanza
          Bonanza is an American western television series that both ran on and was a production of NBC from September 12, 1959 to January 16, 1973. Lasting 14 seasons and 430 episodes, it ranks as the second longest running western series and still continues to air in syndication. It centers on the...

    • Worldvision Enterprises acquired in 1988:
      • The Sunn Classic Pictures
        Sunn Classic Pictures
        Sunn Classic Pictures, also known as Schick Sunn Classic Pictures is an independent U.S.-based film distributor, founded in 1971. The company was notable for family films and documentaries, and was bought by Taft Broadcasting in 1980.-History:...

         and Titus Productions libraries
      • Majority of the Quinn Martin
        Quinn Martin
        Quinn Martin was one of the most successful American television producers. He had at least one television series running in prime time for 21 straight years , an industry record.-Early life:...

         library.
      • Pre-1973 ABC
        American Broadcasting Company
        The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

         shows, as well as US television rights to NBC
        NBC
        The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

        's Little House on the Prairie
        Little House on the Prairie (TV series)
        Little House on the Prairie is an American Western drama television series, starring Michael Landon and Melissa Gilbert, about a family living on a farm in Walnut Grove, Minnesota, in the 1870s and 1880s. The show was an adaptation of Laura Ingalls Wilder's best-selling series of Little House books...

        (premiered in 1974)
      • The Selznick International Pictures
        Selznick International Pictures
        -Origin:It was founded in 1935 by producer David O. Selznick and investor John Hay "Jock" Whitney after Selznick left Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and leased a section of the RKO Pictures lot in Culver City, California...

         library (excluding Gone with the Wind
        Gone with the Wind (film)
        Gone with the Wind is a 1939 American historical epic film adapted from Margaret Mitchell's Pulitzer-winning 1936 novel of the same name. It was produced by David O. Selznick and directed by Victor Fleming from a screenplay by Sidney Howard...

        , which was sold to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
        Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
        Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...

         in 1944, later to Turner Entertainment Co. in 1986; Turner merged with Time Warner
        Time Warner
        Time Warner is one of the world's largest media companies, headquartered in the Time Warner Center in New York City. Formerly two separate companies, Warner Communications, Inc...

         in 1996)
      • The television rights to most of the Carolco Pictures
        Carolco Pictures
        Carolco Pictures, Inc., Carolco International N.V., or Anabasis Investments was an American independent film production company that, within a decade, went from producing such blockbuster successes as Terminator 2: Judgment Day and the first three movies of the Rambo series to being bankrupted by...

         library


After the late 2005 corporate split between Viacom and CBS Corporation, some of the above have gone to each company. Films mostly went to Viacom's Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...

 unit and television with CBS Corporation's CBS Television Distribution
CBS Television Distribution
CBS Television Distribution is a global television distribution company, formed from the merger of CBS Corporation's two domestic television distribution arms CBS Paramount Domestic Television and King World Productions, including its home entertainment arm CBS Home Entertainment...

 unit, while the Selznick films went to the various territorial television syndication
Television syndication
In broadcasting, syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast radio shows and television shows by multiple radio stations and television stations, without going through a broadcast network, though the process of syndication may conjure up structures like those of a network itself, by its very...

 divisions of Disney
The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company is the largest media conglomerate in the world in terms of revenue. Founded on October 16, 1923, by Walt and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, Walt Disney Productions established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into...

/ABC, as ABC itself holds the rights to the Selznick films.

As for DVD rights, these are also split:
  • CBS Home Entertainment owns worldwide DVD rights to the television library, with distribution by Paramount (one exception being the UK rights to Twin Peaks
    Twin Peaks
    Twin Peaks is an American television serial drama created by David Lynch and Mark Frost. The series follows the investigation headed by FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper , of the murder of a popular teenager and homecoming queen, Laura Palmer...

    , which, due to prior contracts, are owned by Universal Studios Home Entertainment
    Universal Studios Home Entertainment
    Universal Studios Home Entertainment is the home video division of Universal Pictures...

     through its Universal Playback
    Universal Playback
    Playback is a label of Universal Studios Home Entertainment in the United Kingdom, which specialises in releasing Region 2 DVDs of classic and cult television programmes. In particular, it has the rights to a number of well-known BBC sitcoms.-DVD releases:...

     label; coincidentally, Universal had merged with CBS rival NBC
    NBC
    The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

     in 2004, while Twin Peaks itself originally aired on ABC
    American Broadcasting Company
    The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

    ). Another exception is Holocaust, a mini-series Spelling acquired in the Taft Entertainment acquisition - CBS has licensed DVD rights to various other companies outside the US, while Paramount owns the US rights.

  • In the US, a few of the films (most notably It's a Wonderful Life) have DVD rights owned by Paramount, but the rest are distributed by Lionsgate Home Entertainment
    Lionsgate Home Entertainment
    Lionsgate Home Entertainment is the home video and DVD distribution arm of Lions Gate Entertainment and most former Artisan Entertainment releases. Its library of more than 8000 films owes some of its size to output deals with other studios...

    , successor to previous Spelling/Republic video licensee Artisan Entertainment
    Artisan Entertainment
    Artisan Entertainment Inc. was a privately held independent American movie studio until it was purchased by a Canadian studio, Lionsgate, in 2003. At the time of its acquisition, Artisan had a library of thousands of films developed through acquisition, original production, and production and...

    . In the rest of the world, DVD rights to the films are owned by various other companies (for example, Universal in the UK, and Paramount themselves in France and Region 4).

See also

  • Aaron Spelling
    Aaron Spelling
    Aaron Spelling was an American film and television producer. As of 2009, Spelling's eponymous production company Spelling Television holds the record as the most prolific television writer, with 218 producer and executive producer credits...

  • Spelling-Goldberg Productions
    Spelling-Goldberg Productions
    Spelling-Goldberg Productions was a television production company established in 1972 by Aaron Spelling and Leonard Goldberg. Together, they've produced such shows as Starsky & Hutch, T. J. Hooker, S.W.A.T., Charlie's Angels, Fantasy Island and Hart To Hart...

  • Worldvision Enterprises
  • Republic Pictures
    Republic Pictures
    Republic Pictures was an independent film production-distribution corporation with studio facilities, operating from 1934 through 1959, and was best known for specializing in westerns, movie serials and B films emphasizing mystery and action....

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