president of CBS Productions, leading the development and production of programming owned by the network. He oversaw some of the most successful prime time shows of the decade, including Touched by an Angel; Caroline in the City; Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman; Walker, Texas Ranger; Dave's World; and Rescue 911. With other romantic comedy options in the works, CBS' programming department passed on Caroline in the City. However, Hill was convinced it was a hit program, and found a buyer for the show in NBC. It was the first series that NBC had bought from a rival network, as well as the first one that CBS had sold to a competitor. Hill called NBC's decision "the most important statement CBS Productions has ever made about our legitimacy in this business." In 1996, Hill asked to be released from his CBS contract to join MCA Inc., but his boss—CBS Entertainment President Les Moonves—refused. However, Hill left CBS the following year. In 1995, veteran producer Steven Bochco signed a deal with CBS in order to maintain the programming for five years, until 2000. In 1999, Maria Crenna joined the company as executive vice president of the studio. In 1998, although CBS retained production on the Ann-Margret drama, Columbia TriStar Television sold off its interest to Rysher Entertainment. Viacom and CBS rejoined in 1999 with Viacom's acquisition of CBS itself. In 2004, CBS Entertainment Productions merged with Paramount Network Television to become a new incarnation of Paramount Network Television. CBS Productions ceased to exist on September 7, 2004 by merging it completely into Paramount Network Television, though converting CBS Productions into an in-name only unit of the studio, while the CBS Productions logo was used on existing CBS-produced shows, newer CBS shows would use the Paramount logo. In January 2006, as a result of the splitting of CBS and Viacom back into separate companies, Paramount Television would later be renamed to CBS Paramount Television to reflect the split, whose main production division, CBS Paramount Network Television, continued to produce the former CBS Productions shows that are still running. Later on September 26, 2006, CBS Paramount Domestic Television, CBS Paramount International Television, CBS Home Entertainment, and King World (established 1964, acquired by CBS in 2000) were combined to form CBS Television Distribution. Even though most new shows carried the CBS Paramount or CBS TV Studios logos, the CBS Productions logo was continued to be used