Screen Gems

Screen Gems Television (identified on-air in its closing logos simply as ) was the first incarnation of the television production company now known as Sony Pictures Television (a unit of Sony Pictures Entertainment).

Screen Gems had its pre-television origins in 1939 when Columbia Pictures purchased the Charles Mintz animation studio, which had been notable for producing animated theatrical short series such as Krazy Kat, The Fox and the Crow and Color Rhapsodies. The newly-renamed Screen Gems continued production of its animated shorts until Columbia closed the studio in 1946, although Screen Gems had produced enough output to allow continued new releases until 1949.

Screen Gems was subsequently revived by Columbia when it acquired Pioneer Telefilms, a company which specialized in the production of television commercials, in 1948 and renamed and repurposed it to serve as Columbia's television production and distribution unit. It became a prominent studio beginning with the Golden Age of Television in the 1950s as it produced shows like Father Knows Best, Dennis the Menace, Route 66, Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie and The Partridge Family for the American networks.

Screen Gems also formed a partnership with Hanna-Barbera Productions where Screen Gems provided working capital to the animation studio to produce its television cartoons in exchange for the distribution rights. Hanna-Barbera became independent of Screen Gems in 1967.

The Screen Gems name was retired in 1974 by Columbia, which then renamed its television division as Columbia Pictures Television. The Screen Gems name and logo were revived in 1999 and are currently used by the genre film unit of Sony Pictures.

Source
Screen Gems Television on The TV IV. Retrieved on February 9, 2020.