Tandem Productions
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Tandem Productions, Inc. (a.k.a. Tandem Enterprises, Inc.) was a film and television production company that started in 1963 by Bud Yorkin and Norman Lear.
[edit] Tandem Productions
In the early years, Yorkin and Lear originally produced theatrical films by Warner Bros. Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Columbia Pictures, and United Artists.
In 1971, Yorkin and Lear decided to take on television. The first sitcom was All in the Family and it was based on a British sitcom Till Death Us Do Part.
[edit] Norbud Productions
Norbud Productions, Inc. is a crediting company name for Tandem Productions by the first names of Bud Yorkin and Norman Lear that was formed in 1970.
[edit] TAT Communications Company
TAT Communications Company (Also spelled T.A.T.) was formed in 1975 when Norman Lear joined up with Jerry Perenchio after Lear's split with Yorkin. T.A.T. stood for a Yiddish phrase pronounced "Tokas-adamn-tokin," which meant "Putting one's butt on the line".
The first sitcom to be produced by TAT Communications was The Jeffersons, that was spun off from the groundbreaking sitcom All in the Family. Today, TAT Communications Company is now know as ELP Communications.
[edit] Bud Yorkin Productions and TOY Productions
After Yorkin ended his partnership with Lear in 1975, he joined forces with writers and producers Saul Turteltaub and Bernie Orenstein (who wrote some episodes and produced Sanford and Son from 1974-1977) and established Bud Yorkin Productions, Inc. He still remained as the executive producer of the series.
The first sitcom was Grady and it was spun-off from Sanford and Son starring Whitman Mayo. The series was cancelled because of bad ratings for three months.
In 1976, Yorkin, Turteltaub, and Orenstein established TOY Productions, and the first sitcom for the company was What's Happening!!. The series was suggested by an American International Picture Cooley High written by Eric Monte.
TOY Productions ended in 1982 after the final film One of the Boys was produced.
[edit] P*I*T*S Films
PITS Films was a television distribution arm of Tandem Productions launched in 1978 to distribute Sanford and Son, Maude, and Good Times. PITS films was reincorporated as Embassy Telecommunications in 1982.
[edit] The Embassy years
After Norman Lear bought Avco Embassy Pictures, he dropped the name "Avco" and reincorporated TAT Communications to Embassy Television. All series that were still produced by TAT Communications such as The Facts of Life, The Jeffersons, Gloria (Also a Norman Lear Tandem production), and One Day at a Time including the remaining series by Tandem Productions: Archie Bunker's Place and Diff'rent Strokes were produced by Embassy Television.
All shows by Tandem Productions that were off the air including by Bud Yorkin Productions and TOY Productions were distributed by Embassy Telecommunications.
[edit] The Embassy Split, Other companies and the productions
1980 - TOY Productions had an early connection with Columbia Pictures Television when the company co-produced the sitcom One in a Million.
1985 - Norman Lear split Embassy Pictures Corporation into three parts: Embassy Pictures (sold Orion Pictures Corporation), Embassy Television (sold to Columbia Pictures Television (CPT, under Coca-Cola)and Tandem Productions (sold to CPT).
[edit] Embassy Pictures/Embassy Filmed Associates
- Lear sold Embassy Pictures to Orion Pictures Corporation. When Orion was going bankrupt, it was later sold to Dino De Laurentiis.
- Majority of the motion picture holdings are currently licensed to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and StudioCanal. However, Columbia Pictures still retains Crimewave and Saving Grace (both co-distributed by Embassy Pictures).
[edit] Tandem Productions/Embassy Television
1985 - Lear sold Embassy Television and Tandem Productions to CPT for $500 million.
1986 - Embassy Television merged with Embassy Telecommunications to become Embassy Communications (or Columbia/Embassy Television). CPT also has the television rights to those Embassy movies by Joseph E. Levine, Avco Embassy Pictures, and Norman Lear's Embassy Pictures.
1986 - Diff'rent Strokes was cancelled from ABC and Tandem Productions was abandoned and was folded into Embassy Communications. CPT also produced the sitcom What's Happening Now!! in 1985 and made What's Happening!! as their own.
[edit] Embassy Home Entertainment
1987 - Embassy Home Entertainment was a company absorbed into Nelson Entertainment as a joint venture between Orion Pictures, Columbia Pictures, Castle Rock Entertainment and New Line Cinema Corporation.
[edit] Tandem Productions reestablished
Around fall 2001 when SPE promoted the name Columbia TriStar Home Video to Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment, the company decided to revive Tandem Productions by renewing and licensing their television programs on DVD. The brand is now called Tandem Licensing Corp.
[edit] Theatrical movies produced by companies
Motion pictures produced by Tandem Productions, Inc. and other companies.
- Come Blow Your Horn (1963, distributed by Paramount Pictures);
- Never Too Late (1965, distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures);
- Divorce American Style (1967, as Tandem Enterprises, Inc. and distributed by Columbia Pictures);
- The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968, distributed by United Artists);
- Start the Revolution Without Me (1970, as Norbud Productions and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures);
- Cold Turkey (1971, distributed by United Artists).
[edit] Notable TV programs
[edit] Tandem Productions
- All in the Family (1971-1979)/Archie Bunker's Place (1979-1983)
- Maude (1972-1979)
- Sanford and Son (1972-1977)
- Good Times (1974-1979)
- Sanford Arms (1977)
- Diff'rent Strokes (1978-1986) (Embassy TV logo appeared on final season)
- Sanford (1980-1981)
[edit] TOY Productions
- Grady (1975)
- What's Happening!! (1976-1979)
- Carter Country (1977-1979)
- One in a Million (1980)
- One of The Boys (1982) (television film)
[edit] TAT Communications
Some by TAT Communications were later produced by Embassy Television from 1982-1986 and by Embassy Communications from 1986-1988.
- The Jeffersons (1975-1985)
- One Day At a Time (1975-1984)
- All's Fair (1976-1977)
- Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman (1976-1978)
- Fernwood 2Night (1977-1978)
- Hello, Larry (1979)
- The Baxters (1979-1981)
- The Facts of Life (1979-1988)
- Gloria (1982-1983) (co-produced by Tandem Productions and later by Embassy Television)
