Games - To Tell the Truth

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	Games - To Tell the Truth

To Tell the Truth is an American television game show that has been seen in various forms on and off since 1956.

The basic premise consists of three contestants, each of whom claims to be the same person, being interrogated by a panel of four celebrities in an attempt to identify who is the real one and who is bluffing. The contestant in question usually holds an unusual occupation or has done something noteworthy. After each celebrity has had a turn to question the guests, they each vote as to who they think is the real person.

When this is finished, the moderator says, "Will the real ________ please stand up?" The real person stands, the other two then reveal who they really are, and money is awarded to the players based on how many incorrect votes were placed.

First edition (1956-1968, CBS)

To Tell the Truth (or TTTT), created by Bob Stewart and produced by Goodson-Todman Productions, premiered on Tuesday,December 18, 1956 on CBS in prime time (as Nothing But the Truth, but changed its name to To Tell the Truth the following week), and a daytime edition was introduced on Monday, June 18, 1962.

Bud Collyer was the host of this version; major panelists by the 1960s included Tom Poston, Peggy Cass, Orson Bean and Kitty Carlisle. Earlier regular panelists had included Johnny Carson, Polly Bergen, Don Ameche, columnist Hy Gardner and Ralph Bellamy.

The daytime show featured a separate panel its first three years with actress Phyllis Newman as the only regular. The evening panel took over the afternoon show in 1965 and in early 1968 Bert Convy replaced Poston in the first chair. In the prime time version, three panel games were played per show; that reduced to two games for the daytime show. Typically (but not always) one of the games would be played for laughs while the other two had more serious subjects. Each incorrect guess from the panel paid the challengers $250 on the primetime run for a possible $1000. But if the entire panel was correct, the challengers split $150.

On the daytime run, each wrong vote paid the team $100. During the show's last year-and-a-half, the studio audience also voted, but the majority vote counted. If two or all three challengers tied for highest vote from the audience, that counted as an incorrect vote and a guaranteed $100 for the contestants.

Bern Bennett, Collyer's announcer on Beat the Clock
, was the lead voice of To Tell the Truth in the 1950s. Johnny Olson signed onto the show in 1960 and stayed with it through the end of its CBS runs. Other CBS staff announcers filled in as the show's voices during various times.

Second edition (1969-1978, syndicated)

This first version of the show was cancelled on September 6, 1968, but returned only a year later in fall 1969, again based in New York. It called CBS-TV Studio 50 (the Ed Sullivan Theater) home from late in its CBS network run until 1971, when it moved to the NBC studios in Rockefeller Center.

Garry Moore hosted until 1977. Regular panelists included Orson Bean the first year (he would reappear as a guest panelist into the 1990-91 edition) and for the entire 1969-78 run, Peggy Cass, Kitty Carlisle and Bill Cullen, who subbed for Moore when needed.

Many of the earlier regulars appeared including Tom Poston and Bert Convy. Other quiz-show hosts, including Tom Kennedy, Kennedy's brother Jack Narz, Hugh Downs, Allen Ludden, Gene Wood, Joe Garagiola and Goodson-Todman stalwarts Larry Blyden and Gene Rayburn, appeared as occasional guest panelists and proved themselves to be inquisitive, well-read cross-examiners. (Cullen, Rayburn and Garagiola were interviewer/presenters on the NBC radio show Monitor at the time as Downs was on The Today Show.)

Each incorrect vote was worth $50 to the challengers. Fooling the entire panel won the challengers a total of $500.

In late 1976, Moore went to the hospital with what was diagnosed as throat cancer. His place was taken by Bill Cullen until Joe Garagiola took over on an interim basis. At the beginning of the 1977-78 season, Moore appeared for one last time to explain his sudden absence, banter with the panel after the first game and to formally hand the show over to Garagiola. (Moore's introduction that day prompted one of the longest, loudest segments of audience applause in daytime TV history.)

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for To Tell the Truth ]

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Games - To Tell the Truth

First edition (1956-1968, CBS)

Second edition (1969-1978, syndicated)

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