Attractions
CBS Television City, located in Los Angeles right across the street from the Farmers Daughter Hotel, opened on November 16, 1952. It was built on the site of a former football field and race track, Gilmore Stadium. Before the stadium, it was an oil field.
The stark modern architecture at CBS Television City consists of black and white planes meeting at razor-sharp corners, with accents of dazzling red, the work of Pereira & Luckman of Los Angeles. The studio facility was built to handle the larger production needs for the network.
Studio 43, located inside Television City was equipped with RCA TK-40A color cameras in 1954, with cables allowing any of the original four studios to use those cameras. In 1956, Studio 41 was equipped with RCA TK-41s. However, CBS color broadcasts decreased in frequency until the following decade, when the 1964 production of Rogers and Hammerstein's "Cinderella" was recorded. CBS programs were generally in black-and-white until Norelco PC-60s were installed starting in 1964.
Its most famous soundstage is Studio 33 (the Bob Barker Studio), which is the current home of the long-running CBS game show, The Price is Right and the HBO late night series, Real Time With Bill Maher. The Barker Studio on the winter of 2007 (July) broadcast an episode of the Australian chat show Rove Live live via satellite to Australia.
This soundstage was also the home of The Carol Burnett Show in the 1960s and 1970s, as well as notable game shows, Match Game (the 1973-82 Gene Rayburn hosted version, and the 1998 version), Hollywood Squares (hosted by Tom Bergeron), Bullseye, the daytime and nighttime versions of Wheel of Fortune, and the 1986 revival of Card Sharks. In March 1998, on the 5000th episode of The Price is Right (actually number 5133), CBS named Studio 33 as the Bob Barker Studio in honor of the show's longtime host and executive producer.
When sitcoms were taped in front of a studio audience in the 1970s, many shows were recorded on soundstages at CBS Television City, such as All in the Family, Maude, and Good Times. The ABC sitcoms Three's Company and Welcome Back, Kotter were also taped at CBS Television City.
Some of the other shows that film at CBS Television City are - American Idol, Dancing with the Stars, The Bold and The Beautiful, and the Late Late Show just to name a few.
CBS Television City is also home to CBS' visual effects studio, CBS Digital. "Television City" is a registered trademark of CBS for its TV production facilities.
Be sure to ask us how you can get tickets to some of these shows on your next trip to Los Angeles or Hollywood.