Paramount Television was an American television production/distribution company that was active from January 1, 1968 to August 27, 2006. Its successor is CBS Television Studios, formerly known as CBS Paramount Television. Its predecessor is Desilu Productions. The company was known for producing and distributing programs such as The Andy Griffith Show in the 1960s, Happy Days on ABC in the 1970s, Cheers and its spinoff Frasier on NBC in 1982 and 1993, the Star Trek franchise, Girlfriends in 2000 on UPN , Duckman in 1994 on USA Network, and the daily Paramount staple Entertainment Tonight in... 1981, among others. The predecessor company, Desilu Productions, was originally founded in 1950 by Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz for the purpose of producing their sitcom, I Love Lucy, for the CBS network. It later produced Ball's follow-up series, The Lucy Show, as well as such other shows as Our Miss Brooks, The Untouchables, Mission: Impossible, Mannix, and Star Trek .
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