Heatter-Quigley Productions

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Heatter-Quigley Productions was an American television production company that was launched in 1960 by two former television writers, Merrill Heatter (b:December 16, 1926) and Bob Quigley (b:March 13, 1912
d:November 27, 1989).

In 1966, they created the classic game show The Hollywood Squares, and they sold their company to Filmways.

On many of H-Q's most popular game shows, beginning with Video Village, a key element of the game itself was magnified, in some cases to larger than life. Hollywood Squares fit into that category as it featured a gigantic tic-tac-toe board, but there was also High Rollers, which featured an extra large pair of dice, Gambit, which utilized an oversized deck of playing cards in a game of Blackjack, and the shorter-lived The Magnificent Marble Machine, which featured an enormous pinball machine.

Kenny Williams was the announcer on all of Heatter-Quigley's game shows except for two: Temptation (announced by Carl King) and The Magnificent Marble Machine (announced by Johnny Gilbert).

In 1981 Quigley retired and ended his partnership with Merrill Heatter, just before Filmways was bought by Orion Pictures. Heatter continued going solo and produced new game shows such as: The New Battlestars, All-Star Blitz, Bargain Hunters, and the 1980s version of High Rollers. In 1998, Heatter leased the worldwide rights to his solo-developed game shows to King World for a limited time. That option has now expired.

MGM Television acquired the rights retained by Orion Television to the Heatter-Quigley shows. Today, with the exception of Wacky Races (now owned by Warner Bros. Entertainment) and High Rollers and Fantasy (distributed by Sony Pictures Television), the remaining of the series of the Heatter-Quigley library are owned by MGM Television, which was co-distributed by Sony for a short time.

[edit] Titles by Heatter-Quigley Productions

• Video Village/Video Village, Jr. (1960-1962)
• Double Exposure (1961)
• People Will Talk (1963)
• The Celebrity Game (1964)
• Shenanigans (1964-1965)
• PDQ (1966-1969)
• Showdown (1966)
• Hollywood Squares/Storybook Squares (1966-1981 version)
• Temptation (1967-1968)
• Funny You Should Ask (1968-1969)
• Wacky Races (1968-1970, co-produced with Hanna-Barbera, rights owned by Warner Bros.; the only non-game show produced by the company, although it was intended to have a game show element)
• Name Droppers (1969)
• Gambit (1972-1976)
• Runaround (1972-1973)
• Amateur's Guide to Love (1972)
• Baffle (1973), a revival of PDQ.
• All-Star Baffle (1974), Baffle with no "civilian" contestants.
• High Rollers (1974-1976; 1978-1980)
• The Magnificent Marble Machine (1975-1976)
• Hot Seat (1976)
• To Say the Least (1977-1978)
• Bedtime Stories (1979)
• Las Vegas Gambit (1980-1981)

[edit] Titles by Merrill Heatter Productions

• Battlestars (1981-1982)
• Fantasy (1982-1983) (co-produced by Columbia Pictures Television)
• The New Battlestars (1983)
• All Star Blitz (1985)
• Bargain Hunters (1987)
• High Rollers (1987-1988) (co-produced by Century Towers Productions)
• The Last Word (1989-1990)