Miller-Boyett Productions
Miller-Boyett Productions (or simply Miller-Boyett) was an American television production company that mainly developed television sitcoms from the 1970s through the 1990s. It was responsible for family-oriented hit series such as Bosom Buddies, Happy Days, Full House, Perfect Strangers, Mork & Mindy, Laverne & Shirley, Family Matters and Step by Step.
History
It was originally founded on January 15, 1974 by program executive Thomas L. Miller and former film editor Edward K. Milkis as Miller-Milkis Productions, and, in 1980, became Miller-Milkis-Boyett Productions once Robert L. Boyett (who was a creative consultant of Happy Days at the time) joined the company, before adopting the Miller-Boyett name five years later (although Boyett joined the company in 1978), following Milkis' resignation.
Most of the series the company produced for ABC during the Miller-Boyett era aired on the network's Friday night lineup (known as TGIF from 1989 to 2000); in fact, during the 1990-91 season, all four Friday comedies on ABC were Miller-Boyett series: Perfect Strangers, Full House, Family Matters and the short-lived Going Places;[1] and the company had six sitcoms on the air during that same season, along with The Hogan Family (which had moved to CBS, after a five-season run on NBC) and the short-lived The Family Man. Around 1997, longtime Miller-Boyett associate and co-creator of Family Matters and Step by Step, Michael Warren broke his partnership with producer partner William Bickley after twenty-one years and joined Miller-Boyett Productions; the company was renamed Miller-Boyett-Warren Productions and produced their last shows, Two of a Kind and Meego. After both shows were cancelled, it was shut down.
Originally, the company was set up at Paramount Television. After Milkis left the company Miller and Boyett left Paramount to work for Lorimar Television[2], which was folded into Warner Bros. Television in 1993. Despite the fact that the company shut down as Miller-Boyett-Warren Productions, it was, and still is, referred to as "Miller-Boyett Productions" (or just simply "Miller-Boyett").
Trademarks
Many of Miller-Milkis/Miller-Milkis-Boyett/Miller-Boyett's sitcoms had common trademarks:
- Midwestern setting: many Miller-Milkis/Miller-Milkis-Boyett/Miller-Boyett sitcoms were set in the Midwestern United States (e.g.; Laverne and Shirley was set in Milwaukee, Step by Step was set in nearby Port Washington, Wisconsin, Family Matters, Perfect Strangers and Two of a Kind were all set in Chicago). There were some exceptions; for example, Full House was set in San Francisco, while Going Places was set in Los Angeles.
- Charles Fox: Most shows in the Miller-Milkis/Miller-Milkis-Boyett eras had the theme songs and scene changes composed by Fox, who was the same age as Tom Miller. However, Fox's last theme song he could compose was for The Hogan Family in the Miller-Boyett era. For that show's first two seasons, he composed the scene changes and bumper music for commercial breaks.
- Jesse Frederick and Bennett Salvay: Most series in the Miller-Boyett era had their theme songs, and in many cases scene change and bumper music, composed by Frederick and then-music partner Bennett Salvay. Frederick also performed the themes to Step by Step (with Theresa James), Full House and Family Matters. The main title theme songs composed by Frederick and Salvay had a common bond in that they utilized inspirational lyrics and an upbeat composition; however, the themes composed by Frederick and Salvay for The Family Man, Two of a Kind and Meego did not include lyrics and were strictly instrumentals. In later years, Gary Boren and/or Steven Chesne composed the scene change music for the remaining Miller-Boyett series.
- Flash credits: Most Miller-Milkis/Miller-Milkis-Boyett/Miller-Boyett series used a flash effect instead of a fade-in/fade-out effect for their credits. This usually applied to both the opening and in-show credits, though the in-show credits following the opening titles of Step by Step during its first two seasons and the final season used this, nor did Perfect Strangers and Family Matters at any point in their runs, other than in the closing credits (and in Perfect Strangers' case, the opening titles as well). All Miller-Milkis/Miller-Milkis-Boyett/Miller-Boyett series used the effect for their closing credits as well. The use of flash credits was, and to a certain extent, still is common for use in the closing credit sequences of television series since the 1980s.
- In-credit production logos: Miller-Milkis/Miller-Milkis-Boyett/Miller-Boyett's series commonly featured the production logos within the closing credits (though until 1990, the Lorimar Television logo was not shown within the closing credits and a separate animation was used, except on Family Matters, which always used the in-credit Lorimar logo).
- Syndicated voice-overs: The first five sitcoms in the Miller-Boyett era were put into syndication and each of them had syndicated voice-overs at the end of the closing credits, voiced by actors starring in the respective series. The actors who did the voice-overs are Jason Bateman (who portrayed David Hogan) for The Hogan Family, Mark Linn-Baker (who portrayed Larry Appleton) for Perfect Strangers, Dave Coulier (who portrayed Joey Gladstone) for Full House, Reginald VelJohnson (who portrayed Carl Winslow) for Family Matters, and Patrick Duffy (who portrayed Frank Lambert) for Step by Step.
- Character continuity: A common theme in many Miller-Boyett shows would be the disappearance of a major character, who is no longer needed on the show, without a final on-screen explanation of their whereabouts. This has jokingly been referred to as the Chuck Cunningham Syndrome after the name of the Cunningham's older son who mysteriously disappeared from Happy Days after its second season without any on-screen explanation. This was most evident with characters such as Donald Twinkacetti on Perfect Strangers, Judy Winslow and Rachel Crawford on Family Matters, Brendan Lambert on Step By Step and the aforementioned Chuck Cunningham from Happy Days.
Production team members
- Thomas Lee "Tom" Miller (born August 31, 1940 (1940-08-31) (age 71)) - He started his career as assistant to director Billy Wilder. Miller also previously served as a development executive at Paramount and 20th Century Fox. In 1970, a year after starting the company with Edward K. Milkis, he co-created Nanny and the Professor with the late producer AJ Carothers. Prior to then, he was a writer of The Year of the Horse in 1966, and in 1969 he was in charge of development for The Immortal and did the same job in the 1970s for Weekend of Terror and Assault on the Wayne. He later wrote episodes for Nanny and the Professor and Me and the Chimp and co-created that show with Garry Marshall. Miller co-produced the feature films Silver Streak (1976) and Foul Play (1978) with Edward Milkis.
- Robert Lee "Bob" Boyett (born 1942; age 67-68) - He grew up in Atlanta, and later on moved to New York City to become a development executive at ABC, then later became senior vice president at Paramount Television.[2] He later became a creative consultant to Happy Days on its mid-seasons before joining Miller and Milkis in 1978. Boyett however was not credited as an executive producer with Tom Miller and Ed Milkis on most series in the Miller/Milkis/Boyett era. Following the dissolution of the Miller-Boyett-Warren company, Boyett became a producer for Broadway theatre productions. He currently resides in Salisbury, Connecticut.
- Edward Kenneth "Eddie" Milkis (July 16, 1931 - December 14, 1996; age 65) - A life-long resident of Los Angeles, California, he became a film editor on such movies as North By Northwest. Next he signed on as the associate producer of Star Trek. Later on, he was involved in some of Tom Miller's early shows prior to the establishment of Miller-Boyett. He died on Saturday, December 14, 1996, at the age of 65, after a lengthy illness. His last production was Exit to Eden, which he produced alongside Garry Marshall.
- Michael Warren started his career the associate producer of The Partridge Family, where he met writer/Producer William S. Bickley. Then as an associate producer on Happy Days for its second season, later a story consultant with William Bickley, who was then a story editor. The two men produced Out of the Blue in 1979. Warren and Bickley later wrote for Happy Days and Perfect Strangers, before creating Family Matters, Getting By and Step by Step between 1989 and 1993, at that point Bickley and Warren became squarely producers instead of producer/writers, before officially ending their partnership around the time of the cancellation of Family Matters and Step by Step and joining the Miller-Boyett team.
Associates to Miller, Boyett, Milkis and Warren
- Garry Marshall (1974-1984)
- William Bickley & Michael Warren (1986-1997)
- Robert Griffard & Howard Adler (1987-1999)
List of shows produced by either production team
Miller/Milkis Productions
Television series
- Angie (1979–1980)
- Blansky's Beauties (1977)
- Happy Days (1974–1984, produced by Miller/Milkis, 1974–1981, produced by Miller/Milkis/Boyett, 1981–1984)
- Laverne and Shirley (1976–1983, produced by Miller/Milkis, 1976–1981, produced by Miller/Milkis/Boyett, 1981–1983)
- Makin' It (1979)
- Mork and Mindy (1978–1982, produced by Miller/Milkis, 1978–1981, produced by Miller/Milkis/Boyett, 1981–1982)
- Out of the Blue (1979)
- Petrocelli (1974–1976)
- $weepstake$ (1979)
Made-for-television films
- The Heist (1972)
- The Weekend Nun (1972)
- Walkin' Walter (1977)
Theatrically released films
Miller/Milkis/Boyett Productions
Television series
Theatrically released films
Miller/Boyett Productions
Miller/Boyett/Warren Productions
- Meego (1997; first series with Miller/Boyett/Warren production team)
- Two of a Kind (1998–1999; last series produced by the company in any of its forms)
See also
References
External links