I just read a couple of online posts about the possibility that CBS Television City may be torn down and replaced by condos and retail outlets. Folks were saying things like, "Los Angeles doesn't care about its heritage." I love that studio but let's remember…
- It's not definite that it's going away, merely likely.
- If it does, it's not "Los Angeles" deciding to tear it down. It's CBS deciding they'd rather have the $700 million than that building.
- And you can care deeply about something but decide you care more about $700 million. I care an awful lot about my house but, hell, I'd let it go for half that amount.
- Making TV shows is the kind of business where you have to keep upgrading your facilities, bringing in new equipment and technology. There can come a time when a new building would just plain be more practical.
- And if it does make more sense to do shows somewhere else, what are you going to do with that building and that parking lot and all that real estate? Just have it sit empty because it represents history to some of us? That wouldn't be very respectful of the facility.
Somewhere in this discussion, we oughta remember that TV production has changed a lot since Television City was built. It was basically erected to do variety shows and game shows — two forms that don't exist much these days. I don't know how it is currently but when I was over there a few years ago, there were several whole stages that were inactive. Bill Maher has been able to do Real Time for HBO there — and before that, Politically Incorrect for ABC — for many years now because CBS Television City has not been filled to capacity with CBS shows.
I've worked and/or poached in all the major network studios in this town and seen many of them go away. The most magical for me was NBC Burbank back in the seventies. I could wander around and slip into where they were taping or rehearsing Bob Hope specials, Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, The Dean Martin Show, The Flip Wilson Show, Hollywood Squares and a half-dozen other game shows, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and many others. Obviously, none of those are there anymore but the point is they weren't replaced by anything comparable.
NBC sold the place off and now it's a private rental facility…a largely vacant rental facility, I believe. The last time I was over there, the huge department where they once built sets was empty and being used for storage. I would say a good two-thirds of the studio was empty. Stage 1, where Mssrs. Hope and Carson taped, was being used to shoot an infomercial. Eventually, the right offer will come along and they'll tear that building down to build condos and/or a mall and by then, no one will care much. If that is to be the future of CBS Television City, you might as well bring in the wrecking ball now.
That would not be my first choice. My first choice would be to see revitalized TV production flourish there and my second would be to see it continue as some sort of TV museum or something relating to the entertainment industry. I'm just skeptical that anything of that sort can happen and I suspect Bob Barker may outlive The Bob Barker Studio there.
You and I may both miss that studio but if we owned it, I don't think we'd miss it enough to turn down the $700 million. Why, with your half of it, you could buy my house!