Merrill Heatter Productions

Credits

Descriptions by
Sean Beard, Shadeed A. Kelly, and bmasters9

Captures by
Shadeed A. Kelly, Ben Masters, V of Doom, and Gilblitz112

Editions by
Shadeed A. Kelly, V of Doom and bmasters9

Video captures courtesy of
mikek1975 and catnap1972

Background

After Merrill Heatter ended his partnership with Bob Quigley in 1981 and Heatter-Quigley Productions closed its doors and folded into Filmways Television, he formed his own production company under the name of "Merrill Heatter Productions, Inc." producing game shows with markedly mixed success until 1990. On September 28, 1998, Heatter sold the worldwide rights to his solo-developed game show formats to King World (now "CBS Media Ventures"). CBS Enterprises (King World's former parent company) licensed the rights to Heatter's shows worldwide for a period of time. Currently, most of the Merrill Heatter library is handled by several companies such as the following: Fantasy and High Rollers are owned by Sony Pictures Television, and those distributed by Orion Television Syndication are owned by MGM Television. On July 21, 2008, Heatter returned to television and created Catch 21, the revival of Gambit for GSN. However, Heatter retired again in 2011 after Catch 21 was cancelled that same year.

1st Logo (October 26, 1981-January 5, 1990)

Visuals: After the credit roll finishes, this is abruptly superimposed on the screen: A stylized, conjoined lowercase "mh" (in the same Bimini font as the Heatter-Quigley "H-Q" logo, this time thicker with another "mh" centered inside), in gold or in white, with MERRILL HEATTER PRODUCTIONS, INC. (or just "MERRILL HEATTER PRODUCTIONS"), in white or gold, centered under it. A copyright stamp may be shown underneath.

Variants:

• On The New Battlestars, this logo had a flipping effect over the ending scene.
• On the 1983 un-aired game show pilot Malcolm, the logo slides in from the left. Also, an "S" is tacked onto the wording, which originally read "MERRILL HEATTER PRODUCTION".
  
• On Bargin Hunters and the 1988 revival of High Rollers, two small gold "mh" logos come zooming together in a residue-trailing effect from the top right and bottom left, flash, and zoom up.
• On Fantasy, a short-lived 1982-83 NBC game w/Peter Marshall that was from Merrill Heatter, Earl Greenburg, and CPT, there was an in-credit card that read, "Fantasy is a Merrill Heatter Production and Earl Greenburg Production in association with...," then CPT's 80's Coke Lady (or on GSN's rebroadcast of one show as presented above, the Columbia TriStar Television logo). All of this was preceded by a 1982 or '83 CPT copyright.

Technique: A still superimposed graphic.

Audio: The closing theme of the show, usually accompanied by an announcer who says: "[show title] is a Merrill Heatter Production!". There was no voice-over for the ending of Fantasy or the pilot of Malcolm.

Availability: It was seen on All-Star Blitz, Battlestars, and the 1987 revival of High Rollers (for Orion Television Syndication) among others. Unless Heatter's solo efforts are picked up for Game Show Network's schedule, you'll only see this on off-air tapes.

2nd Logo (1993)

Visuals: The text "Merrill Heatter Productions, Inc." is seen in a "casual" white font, displayed over a blue-ish "paint streak" (resembling "Mh"), which is in turn superimposed over a studio background.

Technique: A still computer graphic.

Audio: Just the end theme of the Hollywood Teasers pilot, with Charlie Tuna announcing "Hollywood Teasers is a Merrill Heatter Production!"

Availability: Only seen on the failed Hollywood Teasers pilot.

3rd Logo (1999-July 1, 2011)

Visuals: Over a black background is "MERRILL HEATTER" stacked on top of each other in a big gold font aligned left and lighting up word by word once with the phrase "PRODUCTIONS, INC". in white below.

Variant: Starting on season 3 of Catch 21, the logo appears superimposed and in-credit.

Technique: Computer animation.

Audio: The end theme of the show.

Availability: Seen on reruns of Catch 21 on GSN and Bounce TV. Was recently spotted on a sales tape to Bedroom Fantasies.