Lorimar Television

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Lorimar Television, originally Lorimar Productions, was an American TV and film company founded on February 1, 1969 by Irwin Molasky, Merv Adelson, and Lee Rich. The name combined Lori (Adelson’s wife) and Palomar Airport in San Diego. It started by making TV movies for ABC, and its first big hit was The Homecoming: A Christmas Story (1971), which led to The Waltons (1972). In the 1970s it produced hits like Dallas and Eight Is Enough; in the 1980s it added Knots Landing and Falcon Crest.

In 1985 Lorimar entered first‑run syndication by buying Syndivision and merged with Telepictures to form Lorimar-Telepictures (soon called Lorimar Television). They bought the MGM lot in 1986 and grew into a larger media company, while cofounder Lee Rich left the company around that time. In 1989 Lorimar was purchased by Warner Communications (which became Time Warner in 1990). Lorimar’s TV distribution became part of Warner Bros. Television Distribution, and many assets were folded into Warner properties. The MGM lot was sold to Sony to become Columbia Studios (Sony Pictures Studios).

Lorimar continued as a production company until September 1993, when it was merged into Warner Bros. Television. The last new show to debut under the Lorimar name was Time Trax on Prime Time Entertainment Network. Its library, including films from Allied Artists and the Rankin/Bass animation library, is now mostly owned by Warner Bros. Lorimar also ran Lorimar Motion Pictures (films), Karl-Lorimar Home Video, Lorimar Records, and advertising agencies that later became Bozell Worldwide. Some Lorimar projects and rights remain with other distributors.