Mark Goodson Television Productions

Background

The 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 years 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 the British company 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

(September 1972-March 21, 1984)

I've Got a Secret (1972-1973)
Tattletales
Double Dare (early version, 1976)
Double Dare
The Price Is Right (Barker/James)
Match Game (early version, 1973)
Match Game (1975)
Match Game (yellow text, 1976)
Concentration (early variant, 1974)
Concentration (later variant, 1976)
Tattletales
Beat the Clock (1979)
Blockbusters (1980-1982)

Logo: We see 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. 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.

Technique: None.

Music/Sounds/Voice-over: Usually the closing theme from whatever show that was using it, along with an announcer who says the program name and the company name.

Availability: Most shows only used a simple in-credit notice; the asterisk was featured on some shows such as The Price Is Right, Match Game, What's My Line?, Tattletales, the 1973-78 edition of Concentration, the 1979-80 version of Beat the Clock, That's My Line!, and the original 1980-1982 run of Blockbusters.

Legacy: The classic announcer spiel and asterisk design are fondly remembered by fans of 1970s-80s game shows.

Mark Goodson Television Productions

(August 17, 1982-June 15, 2007)

Match Game Hollywood Squares Hour
Super Password
Body Language
Card Sharks (CBS/syndicated)
Classic Concentration
Family Feud (CBS/syndicated)
Family Feud (Syndicated)

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"
A version of this logo is engraved on Mark Goodson's headstone at Hillside Memorial Park in Culver City, California.
This logo made its first appearance on the August 17, 1982 episode of Family Feud on ABC, and its final appearance on the June 15, 2007 episode of The Price Is Right with Bob Barker on CBS. On Child's Play, this logo debuted on the September 20, 1982 premiere, while the May 1982 Pilots had the old logo. On The Price Is Right, this logo debuted on the March 22, 1984 episode.

Variants: Though it's 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, 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 wore a red sweatshirt with this logo emblazoned on it in white. He joked that this was because he had been working for Mark Goodson for 30 years.
On the 1998 pitch film for Match Game, the logo is presented simply over a black background and is colored dark blue.
The version engraved on Mark Goodson's headstone resembles the Illinois Instant Riches variant, in that the tube is a different shape with a line going through it. The text reads:

MARK

GOODSON
---

1915-1992

Technique: 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 1989 short-lived revival 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:

This 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.
It's sometimes seen uncompressed on 1982-1985 episodes of Family Feud hosted by Richard Dawson.
This is also found on The Best of The Price Is Right DVD set; and on Amazon Prime releases of Child's Play, Body Language, Super Password, the 1986 version of Card Sharks, and the 1988 and 1999 versions of Family Feud.
The last show to use this logo was The Price is Right, which used this logo until the Season 35 finale, which aired June 15, 2007. Starting with Season 36, an in-credit FremantleMedia (later Fremantle) logo is used.

Legacy: Like with its predecessor, the distinctive announcer signoff spiel that accompanies this logo is fondly remembered by fans of The Price Is Right and various 1980s-90s game shows.

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"