Compilated by Sean Beard
Logo captures by mr3urious, Shadeed A. Kelly and Bob Fish
Editions by Shadeed A. Kelly and V of Doom


Background: The two individuals named are Merrill Heatter and Bob Quigley, two former television writers, who started the company in 1960 as a joint venture between the mentioned TV writers. It was sold to Filmways in 1966 soon after creating their biggest hit The Hollywood Squares. They also co-produced the Hanna-Barbera cartoon series Wacky Races in 1968. Heatter and Quigley dissolved their partnership just as Orion was buying Filmways in 1982. After Bob Quigley retired, Heatter continued producing game shows with markedly mixed success until 1990. But in 1999, Heatter sold the worldwide rights to his solo-developed game show formats to KingWorld (now CBS Television Distribution). CBS Enterprises (KingWorld's former parent company) licensed the rights to Heatter's shows worldwide for a period of time.


Heatter-Quigley Productions

(1960-1982)

Nickname: "HQ"

Logo: Superimposed on the screen is the message arranged thusly:


Between their names is a strange conjoined "HQ" symbol consisting of a lowercase "h" in its upper half and a capital "Q" on the bottom. As this appears on screen, announcer Kenny Williams (who performed those duties for all H-Q shows [except for a 1967 ABC program called Temptation, which had Carl King as announcer, and NBC's The Magnificent Marble Machine; that one had Johnny Gilbert as announcer]) would read this as part of the end-credit announcements. By the early '70s, a Filmways byline and copyright date was added to this ID (with the parent company's logo added in 1977).

Variants:

• On some episodes of Hollywood Squares and High Rollers, the logo is not shown, and instead has the announcer's spiel over Heatter and Quigley's executive producer credits.
• On Wacky Waces, it appears as:

FX: Often superimposed but occasionally seen scrolling into place as the program ends.

Cheesy Factor: The rather bizarre "HQ" symbol.

Music/Sounds: The closing theme of the show.

Availiability: Quite rare; can seen on Hanna-Barbera cartoon Wacky Races (as an in-credit mention) on Boomerang. As for the original, it's near extinction and has been seen on the original edition of The Hollywood Squares on GSN (whenever they decide to re-broadcast it). The original Hollywood Squares (along with whatever is left of Video Village, The Magnificent Marble Machine and the original editions of Gambit and High Rollers among others due to pre-1978 network videotape archive destruction) is now owned by MGM International Television Distribution.

Scare Factor: None.
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Merrill Heatter Productions

(1982-1990)

Nickname: "mh"

Logo: After the credit roll finishes, this is abruptly superimposed on the screen: A stylized, conjoined lowercase "mh" (in the same bimini font as the Heatter-Quigley "H-Q" logo, this time thicker with another "mh" centered inside), in gold or in white, with MERRILL HEATTER PRODUCTIONS, INC. (or just "MERRILL HEATTER PRODUCTIONS"), in white or gold, centered under it. A copyright date may be shown underneath.

Variants:

• As with the H-Q shows, an announcer usually read the pronouncement "[show title] is a Merrill Heatter Production!" when the logo appeared.
• On The New Battlestars, this logo had a tacky flipping effect over the ending scene.
• On Bargin Hunters and the 1988 revival of High Rollers, two small gold "mh" logos come zooming together in a residue-trailing effect from the top right and bottom left, flash, and zoom up.

FX/Cheesy Factor: The effects are very tacky, even for the '80s.

Music/Sounds: The closing theme of the show.

Availability: Was seen on All-Star Blitz, Battlestars, and the 1987 revival of High Rollers (for Orion Television Syndication) among others. Unless Heatter's solo efforts are picked up for Game Show Network's schedule, you'll only see this on off-air tapes.

Scare Factor: Low, because of its sudden appearance. Elevated to medium for the animated variants.