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Guide to the George A. Sunga Television Collection
MS-0493
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Collection Title: George A. Sunga Television Collection
Dates: 1964-1996
Identification: MS-0493
Creator:
Sunga, George, c. 1932-
Physical Description: 14.42 linear ft
Language of Materials:
English
Repository:
Special Collections & University Archives
5500 Campanile Dr. MC 8050
San Diego, CA, 92182-8050
URL: http://library.sdsu.edu/scua
Email: scref@rohan.sdsu.edu
Phone: 619-594-6791
George Sunga is a successful Filipino-American television producer known for his work on successful shows like
Three's Company,
Good Times,
The Jeffersons, and
All in the Family. His work received numerous accolades, including several People’s Choice Awards, an Emmy nomination, and honors from the
Academy for Television Arts and Sciences.
Sunga grew up in San Diego and attended San Diego State College in the early 1950s. He was a member of the Tau Kappa Epsilon
fraternity's Gamma-Lambda chapter, and in 1954-1955 he served as president of the Associated Students. As part of his studies
in television production at San Diego State, Sunga helped to compile the anthology series,
Climax, which exposed him to the directing techniques of John Frankenheimer. Sunga graduated in 1955 with an AB in Speech and Television
Production. Shortly thereafter, he began working in the mailroom of CBS Television City in Los Angeles. Over the next decade,
Sunga worked in various departments, eventually ascending to a position as the first official production supervisor for CBS
West Coast. In this position, he served as the liaison between CBS Television City and outside clients. The network promoted
him to associate producer of Carol Channing and Dick Van Dyke’s first television specials respectively.
In 1966, Sunga landed his first serial associate producer job for the controversial and satirical
Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
. In 1969, he was nominated for an Emmy for his work on the show. That same year the show was abruptly cancelled. During the
1970s, Sunga produced numerous successful series, specials, and pilot episodes, primarily for situational comedies (sitcoms)
including
Three’s Company,
The Jeffersons,
The Ropers,
All in the Family, and
Good Times. In 1986, he joined Paramount and produced a television adaptation of the film
Gung Ho, a show about the takeover of an American automobile manufacturing plant by a Japanese corporation. The show was one of
the first to feature a predominately Japanese-American cast. After the show’s director, Dick Martin, became ill, Sunga took
over as the show’s director, launching him into his first formal directorial role.
In 1989, Sunga became an officer of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. He also served on the Producers’ Guild of
America board for twenty years and became chairman of the Guild’s Diversity Committee. His commitment to diversity in television
led to the creation of an award in his honor distributed yearly at the Media Access Awards.
This collection is indexed under the following controlled access subject terms.
Television comedies
Television producers and directors -- California -- San Diego -- Biography -- Sources
Television programs -- United States
2012-006, 2013-013, 2012-015
Archive of American Television Interview with George Sunga: http://www.emmytvlegends.org/interviews/people/george-sunga">http://www.emmytvlegends.org/interviews/people/george-sunga
The copyright interests in these materials have not been transferred to San Diego State University. Copyright resides with
the creators of materials contained in the collection or their heirs. The nature of historical archival and manuscript collections
is such that copyright status may be difficult or even impossible to determine. Requests for permission to publish must be
submitted to the Head of Special Collections, San Diego State University, Library and Information Access. When granted, permission
is given on behalf of Special Collections as the owner of the physical item and is not intended to include or imply permission
of the copyright holder(s), which must also be obtained in order to publish. Materials from our collections are made available
for use in research, teaching, and private study. The user must assume full responsibility for any use of the materials, including
but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials.
This collection is open for research.
Identification of item, folder title, box number, George A. Sunga Television Collection, Special Collections and University Archives, Library and Information Access, San Diego
State University.
Drama Department Records
American Federation of <span class="highlight0 bold">Television</span> and Radio Artists (AFTRA), San Diego Chapter Records
Desi Arnaz Papers
Art Linkletter Collection
I. Production Files, 1964-1996
II. Photographs and Artwork, 1968-1990
III. Awards, 1966-1985
The
George A. Sunga Television Collection documents the evolution of Sunga’s four-decade career as a television producer at CBS, ABC, and Paramount. The collection
consists of production binders, scripts, production notes, correspondence with network executives, photographs, schedules,
invoices, awards, and other materials related to Sunga’s various producing credits, including
Dear John,
The Dick Van Dyke Special,
The Jeffersons,
The Ropers, and
Three’s Company, as well as others. The collection is arranged into three series:
Production Files,
Photographs and Artwork, and
Awards.
The
Production Files document the development and production of television series and specials produced by Sunga. Materials in this series span
from some of Sunga’s earliest producer projects in the 1960s to later series in the mid-1990s, with an emphasis on the production
of
Three’s Company during the mid-1970s through the early 1980s. Of particular interest are network feedback and concerns over broadcast regulations.
The notes from ABC’s Department of Broadcast Standards and Practices, for example, indicate that network executives sought
to limit gay stereotypes and homophobic jokes in
Three’s Company, as well as avoid dialogue and costumes which were deemed to be too sexually explicit. Elsewhere, as in the production binder
for
The Redd Foxx Show, the network expressed disapproval for racially-based jokes as well as for the potential glorification of gambling. Primarily
arranged alphabetically by show title, the
Production Files include scripts, production binders, correspondence, notes, as well as actual video footage from many of the series, including
Gung Ho,
Pacific Station,
The Good Life, and
Hardball. Please note that only footage transferred to DVD is available for research. U-matic and Betamax footage have not yet been
transferred due to limited resources.
The
Photographs and Artwork (1968-1990) series document the casts and logos of various television shows produced by Sunga. This series includes cast
photographs, photographic logos for the Smothers Brothers shows as well as a copy of a cartoon by Paul Conrad. Highlights
include a signed photograph of the
Three’s Company cast with personal inscriptions addressed to Sunga. This series is arranged alphabetically by production title.
Lastly, the
Awards (1966-1985) series contains plaques, certificates, and letters of appreciation for Sunga’s work on various television projects,
including the
Smothers Brothers,
Three’s Company, and
The Ropers.