CBS Studio Center

CBS Studio Center is a television and film studio located in the Studio City district of Los Angeles in the San Fernando Valley. It is located at 4024 Radford Avenue and takes up a triangular piece of land, with the Los Angeles River bisecting the site. The lot, which is not open to the public for tours, has 18 sound stages from 7,000 to convert|25000|sqft|m2|-2; convert|220000|sqft|m2|-3 of office space; and 223 dressing rooms.

It is one of two studio facilities owned by CBS in Los Angeles, California; the other is Television City. The company also previously had ownership of two other studios: Columbia Square and the Paramount Pictures lot.

History

Mack Sennett, a silent film producer and director, came to the San Fernando Valley and opened his new movie studio at this location (at what's now Ventura Boulevard and Radford Avenue) in May 1928. He previously operated a smaller studio on Glendale Boulevard in Echo Park (then called Edendale) where he produced films featuring the Keystone Kops, Charlie Chaplin, W.C. Fields, and Fatty Arbuckle.

After creating the Studio City lot, Sennett in five years was forced to file bankruptcy and the studio lot was sold off to another film company, Mascot Pictures. Mascot renamed the newly-acquired studio after itself, and the film company specialized in the format of the Saturday Afternoon Matinee, which were serials. By 1935, another film company, Monogram Pictures, along with Mascot and Consolidated Film Corporation merged together to form Republic Pictures Corporation. The studio lot was renamed Republic Studios. The new studio specialized in B-movies, including many Westerns starring the likes of Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, and John Wayne, all of whom get their first breaks with Republic.

In 1963, CBS Television came into the picture, where it signed a lease with Republic to become the primary lessee of the studio lot, and almost immediately began to place their network-produced filmed shows such as the long-running "Gunsmoke" and "Rawhide" in production there, and later, the classic comedy, "Gilligan's Island". The piece of land at the northwestern edge of the lot where the lagoon scenes were filmed for Gilligan's Island were paved over in the mid-1990s to make room for a new parking structure.

The studio lot was renamed the CBS Studio Center. CBS purchased the studio lot outright in April 1967, nearly 39 years to the day after it first opened. CBS invested money to build new soundstages, office buildings, and technical facilities. To make up for these investments, CBS began to rent out its studio lot for independent producers, and the newly-created MTM Enterprises (headed by actress Mary Tyler Moore and her then-husband, Grant Tinker) became the Studio Center's primary tenant, beginning in 1971.

Moore's memorable sitcom, "The Mary Tyler Moore Show", began filming here in 1971, along with its spinoffs, "Rhoda", "Phyllis", and "Lou Grant". In July 1982, CBS formed a partnership with 20th Century Fox to share ownership of the Studio Center, thus once again renaming, this time as CBS/Fox Studios. However, that relationship was short-lived as Fox sold its interest of the Studio Center to MTM, and it became CBS-MTM Studios. In March 1992, the studio once again became CBS Studio Center, when MTM (which was later bought by 20th Century Fox's parent company, News Corporation, which also owns the Fox network and several Fox affiliates, a number which were formerly affiliated with CBS) sold back its interest in the studio lot to CBS.

From 1991 to 1996, American Gladiators was filmed at CBS Studio Center. The original "Gladiator Arena" remains preserved in its original form in its original location, with tours and group events available.

Today, the studio is one of the most active in the city for filming sitcoms. It is also the base for " [http://www.filmatcolumbia.com/LA.html: Semester in L.A.] ", a six-week course by Columbia College Chicago.

Since 2007, The Studio Center serves as the home to CBS's Los Angeles flagship TV station, KCBS-TV, along with sister station KCAL-TV, as they vacated Columbia Square to move into a newly-built, digitally-enhanced office and studio facility located where the house for the hit CBS reality series, "Big Brother", once stood. It enables the stations to broadcast their local news in High Definition. In 2008, "Entertainment Tonight" and "The Insider" moved from the Paramount Pictures studios to the Studio Center; both shows are now in High Definition.

Television shows

* 3rd Rock from the Sun
* A Different World
* According to Jim
* American Gladiators
* Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? (first 10 episodes)
* Big Brother
* The Bernie Mac Show
* The Big Valley
* The Bill Engvall Show
* The Bob Newhart Show
* Boston Common
* Cane
* Caroline in the City
* Celebrity Circus
* The Class
*
* Combat!
* Dave's World
* Entertainment Tonight (2008-present)
* Evening Shade
* Falcon Crest
* Gilligan's Island
* Girlfriends
* Grace Under Fire
* Greek
* Grounded for Life
* Gunsmoke
* Hill Street Blues
* Hole in the Wall
* The Insider (2008-present)
* The Jeff Foxworthy Show
* Just Shoot Me
* The Larry Sanders Show
* Leave It to Beaver (1957-59)
* Less Than Perfect
* Lou Grant
* The Mary Tyler Moore Show
* Million Dollar Password - (from second season, 2008-)
* The Moment of Truth
* My Three Sons
* The New WKRP in Cincinnati
* Newhart
* News Radio
* On the Lot (Adrianna Costa-hosted shows)
* Passions
* Phyllis
* Rawhide
* Rhoda
* Rodney
* Remington Steele
* Roseanne
* Roundhouse
* Samantha Who
* Seinfeld
* Spin City
* St. Elsewhere
* Still Standing
* Survivor
* That '70s Show
* That '80s Show
* Thirtysomething
* Titus
* The White Shadow
* The Wild Wild West
* Will & Grace
* WKRP in Cincinnati
* Yes, Dear

Theatrical films

* The Addams Family
* April Fools
* Boys on the Side
* Dr. Dolittle
* Dr. Dolittle 2
* Father of the Bride
* I Love Trouble
* Le Mans
* Little Big Man
* Mr. Wrong
* Scream 3
* Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back

References

* [http://www.cbssc.com CBS Studio Center]
* [http://www.seeing-stars.com/TVstudios/CBSstudioCenter.shtml Seeing Stars: CBS Studio Center]
* [http://www.invisiblela.com/75/cbs-studios-fairfax-and-beverly/ CBS Studios, Fairfax and Beverly]