CBS Television City

CBS Television City is a television studio located in the Fairfax District of Los Angeles' West Side at 7800 Beverly Boulevard, at the corner of Beverly and Fairfax Avenue. It is one of three CBS studios in the area—the others are CBS Columbia Square in Hollywood, which houses the network's Los Angeles local television operations; and CBS Studio Center, located in the Studio City section of the San Fernando Valley and the future home of a new CBS local broadcast center for its Los Angeles TV stations.

Television City opened its doors on November 15, 1952; it was built on the site of a former racetrack (Gilmore Stadium), the former home of the Pacific Coast League baseball team Hollywood Stars (Gilmore Field), and before that, it was an oil field.

The stark modern architecture consists of black and white planes meeting at razor-sharp corners, with accents of dazzling red, the work of Pereira & Luckman of Los Angeles. The studio facility was built to handle the larger production needs for the network, most of which took place at the rather cramped Columbia Square.

The building initially held four soundstages (Studios 31, 33, 41 and 43), but a renovation in the late 1980s added four new soundstages plus additional office space and technical facilities such as editing rooms and storage.

CBS programs were generally in black and white until the fall of 1965, with the exception of a few specials produced at NBC studios and Red Skelton's weekly programs (which were taped at another Los Angeles studio that Skelton had purchased, during the early 1960s).

Television City finally began taping programs in RCA's compatible color in the fall of 1965 and by the following year all programs were in color.

Its most famous soundstage is Studio 33, which is the current home of the long-running CBS game show, The Price is Right and the HBO late night series, Real Time With Bill Maher.

This soundstage was also the home of The Carol Burnett Show in the 1960s and 1970s, as well as notable game shows, Match Game (the old 1970s - 1980s Gene Rayburn hosted version & 1998 version), Hollywood Squares (the recent version hosted by Tom Bergeron), Bullseye, Family Feud (the Ray Combs-hosted version) and the 1980s revival of Card Sharks. In March 1998, on the 5000th episode of The Price is Right after Studio 33, CBS re-dedicated the soundstage The Bob Barker Studio, in honor of the show's longtime host and executive producer.

When sitcoms were increasingly taped in front of a studio audience in the 1970s, many shows were recorded on soundstages at CBS Television City, such as All in the Family, Maude, and Good Times. The ABC sitcom Three's Company was also taped at CBS Television City.

CBS Television City is also home to CBS' visual effects studio, CBS Digital. "Television City" is a registered trademark of CBS for its TV production facilities.

"From Television City in Hollywood..."

These are shows that originated from this historic television studio. Almost every show taped here used the title line in the opening spiel. All shows aired on CBS unless noted:

• The ($10,000/$25,000/$100,000) Pyramid (1973; 1982-88; 1991-1992; taped at Studio 31 & 33)
• All in the Family (1971-79; first six seasons were taped here; remaining seasons taped at now-defunct Metromedia Square)
• American Idol (2002-present; airs on the Fox network)
• Archie Bunker's Place (1979-83)
• Art Linkletter's House Party (1952-69)
• The Bold and the Beautiful (1987-present)
• Body Language (1984-86; taped at Studio 33)
• Bullseye (1980-82 taped at Studio 33; first six months originated from NBC Studios in Burbank)
• The George Burns & Gracie Allen Show (1950-58)
• Card Sharks (1986-89 on CBS, 1986-87 on syndication, taped at Studio 33)
• Child's Play (1982-83; taped at Studio 33)
• Dancing with the Stars (2005-present; airs on ABC)
• Deal or No Deal (early episodes taped here, 2005, airs on NBC)
• Dennis Miller Live (1994-2002; aired on HBO)
• Dirty Rotten Cheater (2003; aired on PAX TV)
• The Ed Sullivan Show (West Coast shows)
• The Edsel Show (1957)
• Family Feud (taped here from 1988-95 at Studio 33 and 1999-2000 and aired on syndication; aired on CBS, 1988-93)
• Finders Keepers (aired on Nickelodeon) (taped its first season at WHYY in Philadelphia, and taped its second season and syndicated run here in 1988 in Studio 33 & 31)
• Gambit (1972-76 at Studio 41 and 43)
• Gameshow Marathon (2006 at Studio 46)
• Good Times (first two seasons, 1974-75, were taped here; aired on CBS, 1974-79)
• High Rollers (aired in syndication, 1987-88; taped at Studio 33)
• Hollywood Squares (1965 pilot, originally shot for CBS, was taped here; aired in syndication, 1998-2004; taped at the Bob Barker Studio)
• The Jack Benny Program (1950-65)
• The Jeffersons (first season, 1975, was taped here, taped at Metromedia from fall 1975-1982, and at Universal City Studios from 1982-1985; aired on CBS, 1975-85, did not use the opening spiel)
• The Joker's Wild (aired on CBS 1972-75; was taped here at Studio 31 1972-75 and again in 1990 at Studio 33)
• The Judy Garland Show (1963-64)
• The Larry Elder Show (aired in syndication, 2004-2005)
• Late Show with David Letterman (when the show tapes in Los Angeles)
• The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (1995-present)
• Masters Of The Maze (1994-96; aired on Family Channel)
• Match Game (1973-82 and 1998-99; aired on CBS 1973-79 and sydication 1979-1982; taped at Studio 33)
• Maude (1972-78)
• The Merv Griffin Show (1969-72)
• The Mike Douglas Show (aired in syndication, 1961-82; taped here from 1976-82)
• Password (West Coast shows while New York's set was remodeling to color)
• The Pat Sajak Show (1989-90 at Studio 41)
• Pet Star (aired on Animal Planet 2003-2005)
• Pictionary (aired in Syndication, 1997-98)
• Playhouse 90 (1956-61)
• Politically Incorrect (aired on Comedy Central 1994-97; and later ABC 1997-2002)
• Press Your Luck (1983-86; taped at Studio 41, select episodes at Studio 33)
• The Price is Right (1972-present aired on CBS, 1972-1980, 1985-1986 and 1994-1995 also aired in syndication; taped at Studio 33 since 1972, which was renamed the Bob Barker Studio in 1998)
• Real Time with Bill Maher (2003-present, airs on HBO)
• The Red Skelton Show (1953-70)
• Rock Star: INXS (2005), Rock Star: Supernova (2006)
• Rodeo Drive (aired on Lifetime, 1990)
• The Roseanne Show (1998-2000)
• Show Me the Money (2006; airs on ABC)
• The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour (1967-70)
• So You Think You Can Dance (2005-present; airs on the Fox network)
• The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour (1971-74)
• Survivor Finale (airs on the CBS network)
• Tattletales (1974-78 and 1982-84 at Studio 31)
• Three's Company (aired on ABC, 1977-84, second through sixth seasons [1977-1982] shot at CBS while the first, seventh and eighth seasons [1977, 1982-1984] were shot at Metromedia square, while the pilot was shot at ABC Television Center)
• Tic-Tac-Dough (Aired on CBS briefly in 1978; taped here from 1978-1980; remaining seasons from KCOP's Chris Craft Studios)
• The Twilight Zone (original version aired 1959-64; six episodes from the second season (1960-61) were produced here)
• The Tyra Banks Show (syndication; 2005-present)
• Wheel of Fortune (taped from 1989-95 at Studio 33; daytime version aired on CBS, 1989-91 and NBC 1991; also aired in syndication)
• Whew! (1979-1980 at Studio 33)
• Win, Lose or Draw (aired on NBC, 1987-89, and in syndication, 1987-90, taped at Studio 33)
• The Young & The Restless (1973-present)

References

• Behind the Scenes at CBS Television City
• CBS.com
• Internet Movie Database

Other usage

CBS Television City is also the name for a research facility and merchandise store, operated by CBS, located in the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada.

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