Medstar Television

Last updated
Medstar Television Inc.
Company type Production company
Industry Television
Founded1981
FoundersPaul Dowling
William Ferretti [1]
Headquarters,
United States
Website Medstar Television

Medstar Television Inc. is a television production company based in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

Contents

History and founding

Medstar was incorporated in Pennsylvania in 1981 by Paul Dowling and William Ferretti to produce medical news and health information. [2] Medstar financed, produced, and distributed all of its own productions. [3]

Productions

One of its first was Health Matters, a program on health and lifestyle issues, produced in cooperation with hospitals throughout the United States, which sponsor the program in their local areas with local and national content, along the same lines as PM Magazine . Health Matters was syndicated to various commercial and PBS stations during the 1980s. [4]

Medstar later expanded to produce two medical news products, "MedstarSource" and "MedstarAdvances" syndicated to commercial television stations in the United States. Production of these segments ended in August 2011.

In 1990, Medstar began to produce programming for cable television including the Discovery Channel, HBO, and TLC.

In 1995, the company created the Medical Detectives series on forensic science, which premiered on TLC in April 1995. [5] It was the first reality-based forensic series on television and used a 'murder mystery' approach to documentary storytelling. In 2000 the Medical Detectives series moved to the CourtTV network, now named TruTV, where it was re-titled Forensic Files and quickly became the network's highest rated television series.

Internationally, the series was sold to stations and networks in over 142 countries, where it remains popular. Peter Thomas narrated the series, with more than 400 episodes.

In 2002, Forensic Files appeared as a summer replacement series on NBC, the first prime time television series originally produced for cable to air on a commercial network.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TLC (TV network)</span> American multinational pay television channel

TLC is an American multinational cable and satellite television network owned by the Networks division of Warner Bros. Discovery. First established in 1980 as The Learning Channel, it initially focused on educational and instructional programming. By the late 1990s, after an acquisition by Discovery, Inc. earlier in the decade, the network began to pivot towards reality television programming — predominantly focusing on programming involving lifestyles and personal stories — to the point that the previous name with "The Learning Channel" spelled out was phased out in favor of its initialism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Television in the United States</span>

Television is one of the major mass media outlets in the United States. In 2011, 96.7% of households owned television sets; about 114,200,000 American households owned at least one television set each in August 2013. Most households have more than one set. The percentage of households owning at least one television set peaked at 98.4%, in the 1996–1997 season. In 1948, 1 percent of U.S. households owned at least one television; in 1955, 75 percent did. In 1992, 60 percent of all U.S. households had cable television subscriptions. However, this number has fallen to 40% in 2024.

Forensic Files, originally known as Medical Detectives, is an American documentary television program that reveals how forensic science is used to solve violent crimes, mysterious accidents, and outbreaks of illness. The show was originally broadcast on TLC. It is narrated by Peter Thomas, produced by Medstar Television, and distributed by FilmRise, in association with truTV Original Productions. It broadcast 406 episodes from its debut on TLC in 1996 until its final episode in 2011. Reruns shown on HLN were initially retitled Mystery Detectives before settling on the main title of the show in 2014.

A weekday cartoon is the colloquial term for the animated series programming that was typically scheduled on weekday mornings and afternoons in the United States on many major television networks and in broadcast syndication since the 1960s.

Forensic Files is an American documentary-style series which reveals how forensic science is used to solve violent crimes, mysterious accidents, and even outbreaks of illness. The show is broadcast on truTV, narrated by Peter Thomas, and produced by Medstar Television, in association with truTV Original Productions. It has broadcast 406 episodes since its debut on TLC in 1996 as Medical Detectives.

Forensic Files is an American documentary-style series which reveals how forensic science is used to solve violent crimes, mysterious accidents, and outbreaks of illness. The show is broadcast on truTV, narrated by Peter Thomas, and produced by Medstar Television, in association with truTV Original Productions. It has broadcast 406 episodes since its debut on TLC in 1996 as Medical Detectives.

Forensic Files is an American documentary-style series which reveals how forensic science is used to solve violent crimes, mysterious accidents, and even outbreaks of illness. The series was broadcast on Court TV, before its rebrand in the middle of the season as TruTV in January 2008, narrated by Peter Thomas, and produced by Medstar Television, in association with TruTV Original Productions. It has broadcast 406 episodes since its debut on TLC in 1996 as Medical Detectives.

Forensic Files is an American documentary-style series which reveals how forensic science is used to solve violent crimes, mysterious accidents, and even outbreaks of illness. The series was broadcast on Court TV, narrated by Peter Thomas, and produced by Medstar Television, in association with Court TV Original Productions. It has broadcast 406 episodes since its debut on TLC in 1996 as Medical Detectives.

Forensic Files is an American documentary-style series which reveals how forensic science is used to solve violent crimes, mysterious accidents, and even outbreaks of illness. The series was broadcast on Court TV, narrated by Peter Thomas, and produced by Medstar Television, in association with Court TV Original Productions. It has broadcast 406 episodes since its debut on TLC in 1996 as Medical Detectives.

Forensic Files is an American documentary-style series which reveals how forensic science is used to solve violent crimes, mysterious accidents, and even outbreaks of illness. The series was broadcast on Court TV, narrated by Peter Thomas, and produced by Medstar Television, in association with Court TV Original Productions. It has broadcast 406 episodes since its debut on TLC in 1996 as Medical Detectives.

Forensic Files is an American documentary-style series which reveals how forensic science is used to solve violent crimes, mysterious accidents, and even outbreaks of illness. The series was broadcast on Court TV, narrated by Peter Thomas, and produced by Medstar Television, in association with Court TV Original Productions. It has broadcast 406 episodes since its debut on TLC in 1996 as Medical Detectives.

Forensic Files is an American documentary-style series which reveals how forensic science is used to solve violent crimes, mysterious accidents, and even outbreaks of illness. The series was broadcast on Court TV, narrated by Peter Thomas, and produced by Medstar Television, in association with Court TV Original Productions. It has broadcast 406 episodes since its debut on TLC in 1996 as Medical Detectives.

Forensic Files is an American documentary-style series which reveals how forensic science is used to solve violent crimes, mysterious accidents, and even outbreaks of illness. The series was broadcast on Court TV, narrated by Peter Thomas, and produced by Medstar Television, in association with Court TV Original Productions. It has broadcast 406 episodes since its debut on TLC in 1996 as Medical Detectives.

Forensic Files is an American documentary-style series which reveals how forensic science is used to solve violent crimes, mysterious accidents, and even outbreaks of illness. The series was broadcast on Court TV, narrated by Peter Thomas, and produced by Medstar Television, in association with Court TV Original Productions. It has broadcast 406 episodes since its debut on TLC in 1996 as Medical Detectives.

Forensic Files is an American documentary series which reveals how forensic science is used to solve violent crimes, mysterious accidents, and even outbreaks of illness. The show is broadcast on truTV, narrated by Peter Thomas, and produced by Medstar Television, in association with truTV Original Productions. It has broadcast 406 episodes since its debut on TLC in 1996 as Medical Detectives. The HLN channel broadcasts new episodes once a week.

Forensic Files is an American documentary-style series which reveals how forensic science is used to solve violent crimes, mysterious accidents, and even outbreaks of illness. The show was broadcast on truTV, narrated by Peter Thomas, and produced by Medstar Television, in association with truTV Original Productions. It has broadcast 406 episodes since its debut on TLC in 1996 as Medical Detectives.

Forensic Files is an American documentary-style series which reveals how forensic science is used to solve violent crimes, mysterious accidents, and even outbreaks of illness. The show was broadcast originally on truTV, in reruns on HLN, was narrated by Peter Thomas, and produced by Medstar Television, in association with truTV Original Productions. It has broadcast 406 episodes since its debut on TLC in 1996 as Medical Detectives.

<i>The Dr. Oz Show</i> American daytime television talk show

The Dr. Oz Show is an American syndicated daytime television talk show, hosted by Mehmet Oz, that aired between September 14, 2009, and January 14, 2022. Each episode features segments on health, wellness, and medical information, sometimes including true crime stories and celebrity interviews. It was co-produced by Oprah Winfrey's Harpo Productions/Harpo Studios and OzWorks LLC/Oz Media in association with Sony Pictures Television.

References

  1. "Paul Dowling". IMDb .
  2. "'Health Matters': Independents' Prescription Works". 12 February 1985.
  3. Health Matters: Independents Prescription Works
  4. "Medical News Puts Medstar in Good Health".
  5. IMDB program listing