Mark Goodson
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Mark Goodson (January 14, 1915 – December 18, 1992) was an accomplished American television producer. He was born in Sacramento, California.
Goodson and long-time partner Bill Todman produced some of the longest-running game shows in television history. The long list of Goodson-Todman productions includes Beat the Clock, Family Feud, Match Game, Password, The Price is Right, To Tell the Truth, and What's My Line?.
Many of these games have been exported to countries outside of the United States — Family Feud, for instance, has run in the United Kingdom as Family Fortunes and in Mexico under the name of Cien Mexicanos Dijeron.
In the 1965-1966 season, G-T also produced the Chuck Connors TV Western Branded, one of the few Goodson-Todman productions that was not a game show.
Goodson-Todman were involved with the 1969 pilot of The Joker's Wild along with creator Jack Barry, hosted by Allen Ludden. G-T severed ties with Barry by the time he hosted the series in 1972.
Many of the actual formats were devised by producers working for Goodson-Todman. For example, Bob Bach co-created What's My Line?, Allan Sherman created I've Got a Secret, and Bob Stewart created Password, The Price is Right and To Tell the Truth.
But the shows flourished, many over multiple runs, because of Goodson's sharp eye for production and presentation. While Todman primarily handled the company's business affairs in the early days, Goodson oversaw the creative end of the company.
His knowledge of what made a successful game show in terms of both format and presentation was pivotal to the longevity of the shows he produced.
Originally based in New York, most of the company's production moved to Hollywood in the early seventies (as have other major production companies such as Barry & Enright and Merv Griffin, with Bob Stewart being the last of these producers to move to California, occurring in 1980).
Goodson acquired Todman's share of the company following Todman's death in 1979 and the company was renamed Mark Goodson Productions in 1982.By 1984, all announcers, from all shows would sign off each show as "a Mark Goodson television production" instead of "a Mark Goodson-Bill Todman production." Announcers Johnny Olson and Gene Wood were frequently heard on Goodson-Todman shows.
Many of the Goodson-Todman game shows were produced internationally, some under different titles, and were distributed by Reg Grundy Productions.
Many of the themes after 1960 were either composed by Score Productions or by Edd Kalehoff.
Mark Goodson died of pancreatic cancer, aged 77, in Los Angeles.
Mark Goodson Productions, along with Reg Grundy Productions, are now a part of Fremantle Media.
Post Mark Goodson
Fremantle Media now owns the rights to the Goodson-Todman library of game shows. While The Price is Right and Family Feud continue production to this day, the other classic Goodson-Todman shows have found a new life and a new audience in reruns on cable TV's Game Show Network.
Goodson's son, Jonathan, has continued the new game show concepts, as he joined the firm in 1973 as a legal counsel, but began production work with the company's shows, including producing the 1990 version of Match Game, and stayed through corporate takeovers until 1998.
He left to begin his own procution company, Jonathan Goodson Productions, which produces both state lottery game shows and original game show concepts, with 2003's Dirty Rotten Cheater being the newest Goodson game, and already has been sold internationally.
List of Mark Goodson-Bill Todman productions
- Winner Take All
- What's My Line? (1950-1967, 1968-75)
- To Tell The Truth (1952-68, 1969-78, 1980, 1990-91, 2000-2002)
- I've Got a Secret (1952-67, 1972-73, 1976, 2000, 2006- )
- Beat the Clock (1950-1958, 1969-1974, 1979-80, 2002)
- The Name's the Same
- The Price Is Right (original version, 1956-1965)
- Password (1960-1967, 1971-1975)
- Say When!! (1961-1965)
- The Match Game (1962-1969, 1973-1982, 1990-1991)
- ''Branded (1965-1966) Note: This is a western and is probably the only non-game-show that G-T produced.
- Match Game PM (1975-1981)
- He Said, She Said (1969-1970)
- The (New) Price Is Right (1972-present)
- Concentration (1973-1978)
- Now You See It (1974-1975; 1989)
- Tattletales (1974-1978, 1982-1984)
- Double Dare (1976-1977)
- Family Feud (1976-1985, 1988-1995, 1999-present)
- The Better Sex (1977-1978)
- Card Sharks (1978-1981, 1986-1989, 2001)
- Mindreaders (1979-1980)
- Password Plus (1979-1982)
- Blockbusters (1980-1982; 1987)
- Child's Play (1982-1983)
- Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour (1983-1984)
- Super Password (1984-1989)
- Trivia Trap (1984-1985)
- Body Language (1984-1986)
- The Nighttime Price is Right (1985-1986)
- Classic Concentration (1987 - 1991)
External links
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