| Procter & Gamble Entertainment | |
|---|---|
| Formerly | {{{formerly}}} |
| Type | Private |
| Industry | Television |
| Founded | 1951 |
| Parent | Procter & Gamble |
Procter & Gamble Entertainment (formerly known as Procter & Gamble Productions) is the television production arm of consumer goods corporation Procter & Gamble.
History[]
Procter & Gamble produced and sponsored the first radio serial dramas in the 1930s. As the company was known for detergents, the serials became known as "soap operas".[51] With the rise of television in the 1950s and 1960s, most of the new serials were sponsored and produced by the company (including The Guiding Light, which had begun in 1937 as a radio serial, and made the transition to television in 1952).
In 1983, Procter & Gamble launched their subsidiary, Procter & Gamble Animation, to produce the animated soap opera, The Animals, for Disney Channel.
A spin-off company, titled TeleNext Media, was created to produce the final remaining episodes of Guiding Light and As the World Turns, and the last standard-definition episodes of The Animals.
Though the last P&G-produced show, As the World Turns, left the air in 2010, the animated soap opera The Animals is the only remaining show that is produced by Procter & Gamble. The Young and the Restless, produced by Sony Pictures Television and broadcast on CBS, is still partially sponsored by Procter & Gamble; as of 2017, they are the only remaining daytime dramas that is partially sponsored by Procter & Gamble.
These serials were produced by Procter & Gamble:
- Another World (1964-1999)
- As the World Turns (1956-2010)
- The Animals (1983-present)
- The Brighter Day (1954-1962)
- The Catlins (1983-1985)
- The Edge of Night (1956-1984)
- The First Hundred Years (1950-1952)
- From These Roots (1958-1961)
- Guiding Light (1952-2009)
- Lovers and Friends / For Richer, for Poorer (1977-1978)
- Our Private World (1965)
- Search for Tomorrow (1951-1986)
- Somerset (1970-1976)
- Southland (1978-2014)
- Texas (1980-1982)
- Young Doctor Malone (1939-1960)
Procter & Gamble also was the first company to produce and sponsor a prime-time serial, a 1965 spin-off of As the World Turns called Our Private World. In 1979, PGP produced Shirley, a prime-time NBC series starring Shirley Jones, which lasted 13 episodes. They also produced TBS' first original comedy series, Down to Earth, which ran from 1984 to 1987 (110 episodes were produced). They also distributed the syndicated comedy series Throb. In 1985, they produced a game-show pilot called The Buck Stops Here with Taft Entertainment Television in 1985, hosted by Jim Peck; it was not picked up. Procter & Gamble Productions originally co-produced Dawson's Creek with Sony Pictures Television but withdrew before the series premiere due to early press reviews. They also produced the 1991 TV movie A Triumph of the Heart: The Ricky Bell Story, which was co-produced by The Landsburg Company, and continue to produce the People's Choice Awards.
In 2013, PGP rebranded itself as Procter & Gamble Entertainment (PGE) with a new logo and an emphasis on multiple-platform entertainment production.