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.

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. Some episodes were originally taped in 1970. More successful shows were also produced by Tandem; they were Maude (1972-1978), Good Times (1974-1979), and finally Sanford and Son (1972-1977). All four of those shows had the in-credit notice displayed at the end A Bud Yorkin-Norman Lear Tandem Production. In 1976, Viacom Enterprises assumed television syndication for All in the Family until 1982 when Embassy took over distribution. In 1978, Tandem produced Diff'rent Strokes, which was the only show not to be produced by Yorkin nor Lear. In 1980, Sanford was the final series to be produced by Tandem since not many more shows were produced under that name, but many other shows were being produced under TAT Communications Company during the early 1980s.

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. This name lasted until 1973 on Sanford and Son.

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 "Tuchus Affen Tisch", which meant "Putting one's butt on the line" (ass on the table).

The first sitcom to be produced by TAT Communications was The Jeffersons, that was spun off from the groundbreaking sitcom All in the Family.

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 to 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 episode of the sitcom One of the Boys was produced.

P*I*T*S Films

PITS (an acronym which stands for Pie In The Sky) Films was a television distribution arm of Tandem Productions launched in 1978 to distribute Sanford and Son, Maude, and Good Times, all of which were produced by Norman Lear. PITS films was reincorporated as Embassy Telecommunications in 1982.

The 1980s

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, and One Day at a Time were produced under the Embassy name. All shows by Tandem Productions that were off the air including by Bud Yorkin Productions and TOY Productions were distributed by Embassy Telecommunications. In 1983, Ken Stump, the former associate producer for Tandem Productions and TAT Communications was made in charge of production for Tandem Productions and Embassy Television.

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, Embassy Television and Tandem Productions to Columbia Pictures Television (under Coca-Cola).

Embassy Pictures/Embassy Filmed Associates

• Lear sold Embassy Pictures to Dino De Laurentiis since De Laurentiis didn't want to release his movies through a major studio anymore.

• 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). SPE also has the television rights to the Avco Embassy Film The Fog (1980) since the revival in 2005.

Tandem Productions and Embassy Television

1985 - Lear and Perenchio bought Lear's other company Tandem Productions, and sold both Embassy Television and Tandem Productions to Coca-Cola for $485 million.

1985 - CPT also produced the sitcom What's Happening Now!! along with LBS Communications (Colex) and began syndicating What's Happening!! as their own.

1986 - Diff'rent Strokes was cancelled from ABC and Tandem Productions was abandoned. Embassy Television merged with Embassy Telecommunications and Tandem Productions to form 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.

Embassy Home Entertainment

1987 - Embassy Home Entertainment was a company absorbed into Nelson Entertainment.

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.

Theatrical movies produced by companies

Motion pictures produced by Tandem Productions, Inc. and other companies.

• Come Blow Your Horn (1963, distributed by Paramount Pictures); (Essex-Tandem)
• 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).

About theme songs

Norman Lear wanted his theme songs to be sung by a choir. But for All in the Family, Carrol O'Connor and Jean Stapleton decided to sing the theme. Until 1972, the theme song for Maude was sung by the choir. As years passed, the remaining series by Lear were led by choirs. They were Good Times, The Jeffersons, and One Day At a Time.

Notable actors and actresses

Tandem, TOY, and ELP Communications used the same actors and actresses to appear on different television programs.

• John Amos (Tandem)
• Marla Gibbs (ELP)
• Esther Rolle (Tandem)
• Demond Wilson (Tandem)
• Carroll O'Connor (Tandem)
• Ernest Lee Thomas (TOY)
• Todd Bridges (Tandem, TOY, ELP)
• LaWanda Page (Tandem, ELP)
• Kim Fields (Tandem, ELP)
• Gary Coleman (Tandem, ELP)
• Charlotte Rae (Tandem, ELP)
• Nathaniel Taylor, Jr. (Tandem, TOY)
• Whitman Mayo (Tandem, ELP)
• Hal Williams (Tandem, TOY, ELP)
• Helen Martin (Tandem, TOY, ELP)
• Isabel Sanford (Tandem, ELP)
• Sherman Hemsley (Tandem, ELP)
• Michael Evans (Tandem, ELP)
• Jean Stapleton (Tandem, ELP)
• Sally Struthers (Tandem, ELP)

Notable TV programs

Note: From 1971-1975, all of the series by Tandem/T.A.T. were taped at CBS Television City, 1975-1982 at Metromedia Square, and Diff'rent Strokes including those remaining TAT series, (which became Embassy Television) at Universal City by Compact Video from 1982-1986 until otherwise noted.

Tandem Productions

• All in the Family (1971-1979)/Archie Bunker's Place (1979-1983)
• Maude (1972-1978)
• 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)

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)

TAT Communications

Some by TAT Communications were later produced by Embassy Television from 1982-1986, Embassy Communications from 1986-1988 and ELP in 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)