Embassy Television
Encyclopedia
ELP Communications (formerly known as Embassy Television, Embassy Telecommunications, and Embassy Communications) is an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
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 began in 1982. The company was folded into Columbia TriStar Television
Columbia TriStar Television
Columbia TriStar Television was the third name of the television studio Screen Gems, named after its then-current 1991 home video division....
in 1998. However, the company remains as an in-name only unit of Sony Pictures Television.
As Embassy Television/Embassy Telecommunications
The company was formerly known as T.A.T. Communications CompanyTandem Productions
Tandem Productions, Inc. was a film and television production company that was founded in 1958 by Bud Yorkin and Norman Lear.-Tandem Productions:...
. Television producer Norman Lear
Norman Lear
Norman Milton Lear is an American television writer and producer who produced such 1970s sitcoms as All in the Family, Sanford and Son, One Day at a Time, The Jeffersons, Good Times and Maude...
bought Avco Embassy Pictures Corporation in 1982 and decided to drop the name "Avco" from the name to bring back the name Embassy Pictures.
Lear decided to launch Embassy Television, a subsidiary name for his shows by the former T.A.T. Communications such as The Jeffersons
The Jeffersons
The Jeffersons is an American sitcom that was broadcast on CBS from January 18, 1975, through June 25, 1985, lasting 11 seasons and a total of 253 episodes. The show was produced by the T.A.T. Communications Company from 1975–1982 and by Embassy Television from 1982-1985...
, One Day at a Time
One Day at a Time
One Day at a Time is an American situation comedy on the CBS network that aired from December 16, 1975 until May 28, 1984. It portrays Ann Romano, a divorced mother, played by Bonnie Franklin, her two teenage daughters Julie and Barbara Cooper and Schneider, their building superintendent .The show...
, and The Facts of Life
The Facts of Life (TV series)
The Facts of Life is an American sitcom that originally ran on the NBC television network from August 24, 1979 to May 7, 1988. A spin-off of the sitcom Diff'rent Strokes, the series' premise focused on Edna Garrett as she becomes a housemother at the fictional Eastland School, a prestigious...
. More shows were produced by Embassy Television such as the first two under the name: Square Pegs
Square Pegs
Square Pegs is an American comedy series that aired on CBS during the 1982–1983 season. The series follows Patty Greene and Lauren Hutchinson , two awkward teenage girls desperate to fit in at Weemawee High School....
and Silver Spoons
Silver Spoons
Silver Spoons is an American sitcom that aired on NBC from September 25, 1982 to May 11, 1986 and in first-run syndication from September 15, 1986 to March 4, 1987...
. The latter show ran five seasons, while the former ran one but developed a cult following. Who's the Boss?
Who's the Boss?
Who's the Boss? is an American sitcom created by Martin Cohan and Blake Hunter, which aired on ABC from September 20, 1984 to April 25, 1992...
was piloted later in 1983 until airing in 1984. Embassy Television also produced Diff'rent Strokes
Diff'rent Strokes
Diff'rent Strokes is an American television sitcom that aired on NBC from November 3, 1978 to May 4, 1985, and on ABC from September 27, 1985 to March 7, 1986...
's final season from Tandem.
Embassy Television also held the TV rights to a majority of the Embassy theatrical library (see Embassy Pictures
Embassy Pictures
Embassy Pictures Corporation was an independent studio and distributor responsible for such films as The Graduate, The Lion in Winter, This Is Spinal Tap and Escape from New York.-Founding:The company was founded in 1942 by producer Joseph E...
for more information). Embassy Telecommunications (formerly P*I*T*S Films
Tandem Productions
Tandem Productions, Inc. was a film and television production company that was founded in 1958 by Bud Yorkin and Norman Lear.-Tandem Productions:...
), was the television distribution arm of Embassy Television. They distributed off syndicated shows by Embassy Television and those by Tandem Productions
Tandem Productions
Tandem Productions, Inc. was a film and television production company that was founded in 1958 by Bud Yorkin and Norman Lear.-Tandem Productions:...
, T.A.T. Communications, and TOY Productions.
In 1985, CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
canceled The Jeffersons and 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...
canceled Diff'rent Strokes, the latter of which then moved to 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...
. Embassy Television and Tandem Productions were sold to The Coca-Cola Company
The Coca-Cola Company
The Coca-Cola Company is an American multinational beverage corporation and manufacturer, retailer and marketer of non-alcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups. The company is best known for its flagship product Coca-Cola, invented in 1886 by pharmacist John Stith Pemberton in Columbus, Georgia...
(then-current owners of Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
) for $485 million and a new sitcom, 227
227 (TV series)
227 is an American situation comedy that originally aired on NBC from September 14, 1985, until May 6, 1990. The series starred Marla Gibbs as a sharp-tongued, inner-city resident gossip and housewife, Mary Jenkins...
, debuted on NBC.
As Embassy Communications
A year later, the television brand name was renamed to Embassy Communications as a television production and distribution banner of Embassy by producing the shows by Embassy Television and distributing those by Tandem Productions, TAT Communications, and TOY Productions, except for What's Happening!!What's Happening!!
What's Happening!! is an American television sitcom that aired on ABC from August 5, 1976 to April 28, 1979. The show premiered as a summer series. With good ratings and reviews, and after the failure of several other shows on the network, What's Happening!! returned in November 1976 as a weekly...
, which had been sold to Columbia Pictures Television
Columbia Pictures Television
Columbia Pictures Television was the second name of the Columbia Pictures television division Screen Gems . The studio changed its name on September 4, 1974.-1974-1982:...
(CPT), and revived as What's Happening Now!!
What's Happening Now!!
What's Happening Now!! is an American television sitcom spinoff of What's Happening!!. It ran in syndication from 1985 to 1988. Like the previous series, What's Happening Now!! is loosely based on the motion picture Cooley High...
. When ABC canceled, Diff'rent Strokes, the brand name Tandem Productions
Tandem Productions
Tandem Productions, Inc. was a film and television production company that was founded in 1958 by Bud Yorkin and Norman Lear.-Tandem Productions:...
was abandoned and was merged with Embassy Television and Embassy Telecommunications to become Embassy Communications. In 1986, Coca-Cola fused Embassy's operations with Columbia Pictures Television; the combined company became Columbia/Embassy Television, though Columbia and Embassy continued to produce programs under their separate names. Married with Children was the next successful sitcom by Embassy Communications in 1987.
In December 1987, Coca-Cola decided to merge the theatrical divisions Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
and Tri-Star Pictures
TriStar Pictures
TriStar Pictures, Inc. is an American film production/distribution studio and subsidiary of Columbia Pictures, itself a subdivision of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, which is owned by Sony Pictures...
into Columbia Pictures Entertainment and merging their other units Triumph Releasing Corporation
Triumph Films
Triumph Films is a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment geared towards theatre and direct-to-video film production and distribution....
, Embassy Communications, and Merv Griffin Enterprises
Merv Griffin Enterprises
Merv Griffin Enterprises was a television production company founded by Merv Griffin, in business from 1964 to 1994.-History:The company was first established as Merv Griffin Productions in 1964 and Griffin's first production was Jeopardy! In 1965, his talk show The Merv Griffin Show returned to...
under that banner. Still-running Embassy shows would bear the Columbia Pictures Television logo for the rest of their runs.
As ELP Communications and beyond
Embassy Communications then became ELP (Embassy Limited Partnership) Communications in 1988 under the banner of Columbia Pictures Television. The television distribution arm was then folded into Columbia Pictures Television Distribution. On September 28, 1989, Columbia Pictures Entertainment was sold to Sony CorporationSony
, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....
and reincorporated as Sony Pictures Entertainment
Sony Pictures Entertainment
Sony Pictures Entertainment, Inc. is the television and film production/distribution unit of Japanese multinational technology and media conglomerate Sony...
in August 1991.
The final surviving show to be produced by Embassy Television was Beakman's World
Beakman's World
Beakman's World is an educational children's television show produced by ELP Communications, Columbia Pictures Television, Universal Belo Productions, and Columbia TriStar Television Distribution....
in 1992. When SPE launched Columbia TriStar Television in 1994, Beakman's World
Beakman's World
Beakman's World is an educational children's television show produced by ELP Communications, Columbia Pictures Television, Universal Belo Productions, and Columbia TriStar Television Distribution....
and Married with Children were produced under the banner. However, Married with Children was still under bearing by CPT. Beakman's World was cancelled in 1998 and SPE decided to fold ELP Communications into Columbia TriStar Television, retiring Embassy Television for good but remaining as an in-name only unit.
Today, television distribution rights to both Embassy's television and theatrical libraries are now owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment's television division
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:...
. Also, all shows from TAT Communications Company to ELP Communications are all copyrighted by ELP Communications on DVD releases by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment is the home video distribution arm of Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation. It was established in November 1979 as Columbia Pictures Home Entertainment, releasing 20 titles: The Anderson Tapes, Bell, Book and Candle, Born Free, Breakout,...
, with the exception of the first season of 227
227 (TV series)
227 is an American situation comedy that originally aired on NBC from September 14, 1985, until May 6, 1990. The series starred Marla Gibbs as a sharp-tongued, inner-city resident gossip and housewife, Mary Jenkins...
.
Studios and tapings by ELP Communications
- 227 at Metromedia SquareMetromedia SquareMetromedia Square was a radio and television studio facility located at 5746 Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, on the southeastern corner of Sunset and Van Ness Avenue. For decades it was recognizable by the white, ladder-like snake on the building's roof...
(1985-1986); renamed Fox Television CenterFox Television CenterFox Television Center is a television studio facility located at 1999 South Bundy Drive in West Los Angeles in Los Angeles, California, in the United States....
(1986-1990) - a.k.a. PabloA.k.a. Pabloa.k.a. Pablo is an American sitcom that aired on ABC from March to April 1984.-Synopsis:Produced by Norman Lear, it focuses on struggling Hispanic stand-up comic Paul Rivera and his large Mexican American family, who still called him by his given name Pablo...
at Universal Studios by Compact Video (1984) - Diff'rent Strokes at Metromedia Square (1978-1982), Universal StudiosUniversal Studios HollywoodUniversal Studios Hollywood is a movie studio and theme park in the unincorporated Universal City community of Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is one of the oldest and most famous Hollywood movie studios still in use...
By Compact Video (1982-1985) and ABC Television Center (1985-1986) - Silver Spoons at Metromedia Square for pilot and Universal Studios By Compact Video thereafter until 1985 (1982-1987)
- The Facts of Life at Metromedia Square (1979-1982), Universal Studios By Compact Video (1982-1985) and Sunset-Gower Studios (1985-1988)
- The Jeffersons at CBS Television CityCBS Television CityCBS Television City is a television studio complex located in the Fairfax District of Los Angeles at 7800 Beverly Boulevard, at the corner of North Fairfax Avenue...
(1975), Metromedia Square (1975-1982) and Universal Studios by Compact Video (1982-1985) - Who's the Boss?Who's the Boss?Who's the Boss? is an American sitcom created by Martin Cohan and Blake Hunter, which aired on ABC from September 20, 1984 to April 25, 1992...
at Universal Studios by Compact Video (1983-1985) and ABC Television Center (1985-1992)
In Charge of Production for Embassy Television
- Ken Stump (1982-1988) former associate producer for Tandem Productions and T.A.T. Communications from 1978-1980 (Embassy Television-ELP Communications) (died in 1990)
- Ed Lammi (1988-1998) for ELP Communications (Was the Executive Vice President for SPT's Production)