Goodson-Todman Productions

Goodson-Todman Productions
Founded	1946
President	Syd Vinnedge (under current banner FremantleMedia)
Notable Works	What's My Line?, To Tell the Truth, I've Got a Secret, The Price Is Right, Password, The Match Game, Family Feud

Goodson-Todman Productions was a television production company founded by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman. Their specialty was game and panel shows.

Mark Goodson started out in radio, creating a show called Pop the Question for a San Francisco station. He later met Bill Todman and they hammered out their first joint show, Hit the Jackpot for radio. Mark developed the format while Bill applied the rules and handled the business side. When TV made in-roads, they created Winner Take All. It was the first show that used two contestants competing against each other, lock-out buzzers and returning champions.

Throughout the 1950s, Goodson and Todman flaunted conventions of standard quizzes which were dull and stodgy by making them visually and aurally stimulating. While games were their specialty, they also dabbled in other genres: Jefferson Drum, The Rebel and Branded were westerns, The Web was an anthology, and Philip Marlowe was a detective show.

Goodson-Todman mastered such panel shows such as What's My Line?, I've Got a Secret, To Tell the Truth and The Name's the Same. They optioned The Price Is Right from independent producer Bob Stewart, and it has been running since it started in 1956. They successfully turned The Match Game from a humorous panel show in the 1960s to a raucous comedy in the 1970s--it became the top-rated daytime network show by 1974. Match Game would beget Family Feud.

Bill Todman died in 1979. By the end of 1982, the G-T shows would be branded with the Mark Goodson Productions tag. Mark Goodson died in 1992. In 1999, Pearson Television took over production, but the shows still bore the Mark Goodson tag. FremantleMedia assumed control of the G-T library and existing shows, and in 2009, The Price Is Right bore the FremantleMedia North America tag at the end. Family Feud is now under a new production company (Wanderlust Productions) and distributor (Debmar-Mercury).

Goodson-Todman TV Shows

Show	Network, run	Notes
Winner Take All	NBC, 1948-51; CBS, 1951-52
The Web	CBS, 1950	Anthology series
What's My Line?	CBS, 1950-67; Syndicated, 1968-75	Spawned later series That's My Line
Beat the Clock	CBS, 1950-58, 1979-80; ABC, 1958-61; Syndicated, 1969-74; PAX, 2002-03; Discovery Family, 2018-	2002-03 series under Paxson Communications production banner; 2018 series under FremantleMedia
Rate Your Mate	CBS, 1951	Unsold pilot
It's News to Me	CBS, 1951-54
The Name's the Same	ABC, 1951-55
I've Got a Secret	CBS, 1952-66, 1976; Syndicated, 1972-73; Oxygen, 1999-2000; GSN, 2006-07	1999 show co-produced with Oxygen Networks
Judge for Yourself	NBC, 1953-54
Two for the Money	NBC, 1953-56; CBS, 1953-57
Take Your Choice	NBC, 1954	Unsold pilot
What's Going On?	CBS, 1954
Play for Keeps!	CBS, 1955	Unsold pilot
Make the Connection	NBC, 1955
The Price Is Right	NBC, 1956-63; ABC, 1963-65; CBS, 1972-present; syndicated, 1972-80, 1985-86, 1994-95	FremantleMedia assumes production 2008
Choose Up Sides	NBC, 1956-57	Kids' game for Saturday mornings
To Tell the Truth	CBS, 1956-68; Syndicated, 1969-78, 1980-81, 2000-02; NBC, 1990-91; ABC, 2016	ABC show under FremantleMedia production, co-produced with Gaspin Media and A2 Productions
Goodyear Theatre	NBC, 1957-60	Drama anthology; co-produced with Screen Gems
Jefferson Drum	NBC, 1958	Western
Play Your Hunch	ABC, 1958-59; CBS, 1959; NBC, 1959-63
Philip Marlowe	ABC, 1959-60	Detective Drama
Split Personality	NBC, 1959-60
The Rebel	ABC, 1959-61	Western
Password	CBS, 1961-67; ABC, 1971-75; NBC, 2022	As Password All-Stars, 1974-75; 2022 show co-production of Fremantle, Electric Hot Dog, Universal Television and Alternative Studio
Number Please	ABC, 1961
One Happy Family	NBC, 1961	Situation Comedy
Say When!!	NBC, 1961-65
The Match Game	NBC, 1962-69; CBS, 1973-79; Syndicated, 1975-82, 1998-99; ABC, 1990-91, 2016	As Match Game '73...'74, etc. on CBS and as Match Game PM during 1975-81 syndication run at night; 2016 ABC show under FremantleMedia productions, co-produced with Entertain The Brutes and El Dorado Pictures
Missing Links	NBC, 1963-64; ABC, 1964
Get the Message	ABC, 1964
The Richard Boone Show	NBC, 1963-64	Anthology Drama
Branded	NBC, 1965-67	Western
Call My Bluff	NBC, 1965
It Had to Be You	NBC, 1966	Unsold pilot; redeveloped in 1969 as He Said, She Said
Snap Judgment	NBC, 1967-69
He Said, She Said	Syndicated, 1969-70
It's Predictable	Syndicated, 1970	Unsold pilot
Celebrity Match Mates	CBS, 1973	Pilot; revival of He Said, She Said, redeveloped as Tattletales
Concentration	Syndicated, 1973-78	Licensed by NBC; subcontracted from Jim Victory Television
Tattletales	CBS, 1974-78, 1982-84
Now You See It	CBS, 1974-75, 1989
Showoffs	ABC, 1975
Family Feud	ABC, 1976-85, 2015, 2016; Syndicated, 1977-85, 1988-95, 1999-present; CBS, 1988-92); NBC, 2008	As Family Feud Challenge, 1992-93 on CBS; Wanderlust Productions assumes co-production with Fremantle 2008
Double Dare	CBS, 1976-77
The Better Sex	ABC, 1977-78
Card Sharks	NBC, 1978-81; CBS, 1986-89; syndicated, 1986-87, 2001-02; ABC, 2019	2019 show co-produced by Fremantle and Entertain The Brutes
Spell Binders	NBC, 1978	Unsold pilot
Password Plus	NBC, 1979-82
Mindreaders	NBC, 1979
Puzzlers	NBC, 1980	Unsold pilot
That’s My Line	CBS, 1980-81	Human interest show
Blockbusters	NBC, 1980-82, 1987
Child's Play	CBS, 1982-83
Star Words	CBS, 1983	Unsold pilot
The Match Game/Hollywood Squares Hour	NBC, 1983-84	Co-produced with Orion Television
Body Language	CBS, 1984-86	Revival of Showoffs
Super Password	NBC, 1984-89
Trivia Trap	ABC, 1984-85
On a Roll	CBS, 1986	Unsold pilot
Oddball	NBC, 1986	Unsold pilot
Classic Concentration	NBC, 1987-91	Licensed by NBC; subcontracted from Jim Victory Television
TKO	ABC, 1989	Unsold pilot
Body Talk	ABC, 1990	Unsold pilot
Cash Tornado	local originations, 1993	Unsold pilot
MG2	Syndication, 1996	Pilot for what would become the 1998 Match Game
What the Blank!	Fox, 2004	Unsold pilot for Match Game revival
About Last Night	HBO Max, 2021	Revival of Tattletales; co-production of FremantleMedia, Sweet July Productions and Unanimous Media