| Bob Stewart Productions | |
|---|---|
| Also Known As | See "Company Names" below |
| Founded | 1964 |
| Founder | Bob Stewart |
| Defunct | 1994 |
| Fate | Sold to Sony Corporation |
Bob Stewart Productions was a television production company formed in 1964 by Bob Stewart.
History[]
Stewart found a job and started creating game shows for Goodson-Todman Productions in 1956. One of the first game shows he created was The Price is Right aired on NBC and was hosted by Bill Cullen. The second game show Stewart created was To Tell the Truth the same year. The third was Password in 1961. In 1964, Stewart left Goodson-Todman and formed his production company, Bob Stewart Productions as Pyramid Game Show The New Chain Reaction
His first production for his independent company was the game show Eye Guess that aired in 1966 and was co-produced by Filmways and lasted until 1969. In 1973, he created the successful Pyramid game show series starting with The $10,000 Pyramid with his son Sande Stewart who joined his father the same year and produced the series and also formed another production company Basada, Inc. on February 23, which was named after his sons: Barry, Sande, and David Stewart. As years went by, the series changed its name from The $10,000 Pyramid all the way to The $100,000 Pyramid.
In 1978, Bob Stewart Productions was relocated to Los Angeles, California, with its first syndicated program at its new location, The Love Experts. Programs already on air in the meantime were still taped in New York, mainly The $20,000 Pyramid and Pass the Buck. In 1982, Stewart revived The $25,000 Pyramid, but to keep the name and the game show confused with Cullen's version, the format was renamed as The New $25,000 Pyramid with Dick Clark as host. The show was taped at CBS Television City in Hollywood, California. The same year, Bob and his son Sande created the unsold game show Twisters. It would be the first game show credited by Bob Stewart & Sande Stewart Productions (which would officially exist starting in 1987). Another game show was Go, that was based on the bonus round of Chain Reaction produced alongside with his son, Sande one year later. In 1985, Bob Stewart formed another production company called Bob Stewart Cable, Inc. for game show programs produced for cable. There were only two game shows and were taped in two Canadian cities and produced for the USA Network. The first game show was Jackpot!, that was revived from its 1974 incarnation and was taped in Toronto, Ontario. The other was Chain Reaction and was revived from its 1980 incarnation in 1986 and taped in Montreal. By 1987, Bob Stewart semi-retired and his son took over operations. In 1990, the company was renamed again as Stewart Tele Enterprises. Under the new name, the cable production company was renamed as Stewart Cable TV, Inc. and The $100,000 Pyramid was revived in 1991 hosted by John Davidson and was canceled in 1992 after its second season and Bob Stewart fully retired the same year. Sony as Hollywood Showdown 2000 on GSN From 1998 Present
In 1994, Bob Stewart sold his company to Sony Corporation. Sande produced more game shows with his own independent company Sande Stewart Television. A majority of Bob Stewart's game shows Sony owns has been aired on GSN. Two of Bob Stewart's game show formats have been revived into new incarnations. They were Pyramid and was hosted by Donny Osmond in 2002 for syndication and Chain Reaction in 2005 produced by British television producer Michael Davies' production company Embassy Row in association with and distributed by Sony Pictures Television aired on GSN and was hosted by Dylan Lane. Ironically, Embassy Row would be acquired by Sony Pictures on January 14, 2009.
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Company Names[]
- Bob Stewart Productions (original name of the production company)
- Bob Stewart & Sande Stewart Productions (1982–1984 and 1987–1991)
- Bob Stewart Cable (for cable broadcast productions), renamed as Stewart Cable TV, Inc. in 1990
- Basada, Inc. (was used as the copyright production for the Pyramid incarnations, Go, Double Talk, and the Money in the Blank unsold pilot)
- Stewart Tele Enterprises