Philly Phriday: Flashback Friday, Banyan Productions

I didn't forget this Friday! YAY.

I am 95% sure that Banyan Productions has since dissolved (their imdb page hasn't seen any additions since 2011), but they were pretty potent in the cable world in the early 2000s. Case in point: TRADING SPACES. The show that put TLC on the map. The show my family tried to get on for years. The most amazing home makeover show ever. Let us never forget Hildi the most insane designer on the face of the earth.

Trading Spaces ran for eight seasons, a total of 362 episodes, between 2000 and 2008. It was a a huge success, especially after Banyan took over as the show's production company in the second season (it also bombed once Bayan ended it's involvement in 2007). It was the top cable show on Saturday nights and get this- they aired a special in October 2003 on a Sunday night and it drew 9.1 million viewers. NINE POINT ONE. It rated higher than NBC and ABC that night, which blows my mind. Things started to go south, though, when other networks caught onto the format. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition stole carpenter Ty Peddington from the show and took over the home makeover space.

Before Trading Spaces came into the picture, Banyan and TLC combined to produce Wedding Story. Over 480 episodes aired and the 2003 Emmy for Outstanding Achievement in Single Camera Editing.  All I remember is watching this show on repeat. It was like makeover story, baby story, wedding story all day every day. And apparently I wasn't the only one that loved it.

The combined success of Trading Spaces and Wedding Story gave Banyan major credit in the cable industry, which landed them a spot on Real Screen Magazine's Top 100 Production Companies Worldwide list in 2006 and 2007.

Unfortunately, Banyan's fallen off the grid and I'm almost certain that they've combined with another company or moved elsewhere under a different name. The internet offers no clarification, but my last internship manager mentioned that they weren't around anymore when I asked about companies I should apply to for the spring semester.