Sunday, September 8, 2019

Three Game Shows Debut and a Host Departs

September 8, 1969.  A significant day in game show history that's highlighted with the return of a game show classic and the death or its original host.  

Go back to the fall of 1968 when Mark Goodson and Bill Todman revived What's My Line in syndication as a five day a week show following the cancellation of the original John Daly version in 1967 along with I've Got a Secret, To Tell the Truth and Password.  The What's My Line revival became a syndicated success and saved the company from layoffs following the mass cancellations.  It also encouraged Goodson and Todman to revive more of their classic formats.  

The first to return was To Tell the Truth.  Initially, Goodson was planning to go the route of Password after it was axed by CBS in 1967 and rerun the final daytime season in syndication.  When What's My Line became a hit, Goodson decided to bring back To Tell the Truth in the fall of 1969 and abandon the reruns.  Bud Collyer, who hosted both the daytime and nighttime To Tell the Truth was offered the hosting job but due to declining health, he turned it down.  Instead, the new host would be Garry Moore, who would come out of retirement after a short-lived revival of his variety show was cancelled in 1967 and replaced by the popular but controversial Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour would occupy the host's chair.  

Peggy Cass, Kitty Carlisle and Orson Bean would return to their panel spots.  The only regular panelist who did not make the transition to the revival was Tom Poston.  His spot would be taken by Bill Cullen, who also subbed for Moore as host when he was on vacation.  Bean would be a regular the first season and after he no longer became a regular, a guest panelist such as Gene Rayburn would occupy his spot.  

On the same day that many stations aired the new To Tell the Truth for the first time, Collyer passed away from a circulatory ailment at the age of 61.  

Another show that was originally hosted by Collyer would debut the following week in syndication.  Beat the Clock would return with Jack Narz replacing Collyer as host.  Two couples would continue to perform stunts against the clock.  The major change was the addition of a celebrity guest that would help the couples on a stunt.  

Two firsts would occur for the Beat the Clock revival.  It was the first Goodson-Todman game show to be produced in Canada since production was moved from New York to Montreal the following season to cut costs and sell to Canadian television.  It would also be the first game show to utilize Gene Wood as an announcer. Wood would replace Narz as host in 1972 after he left due to his travel expenses commuting from California to Montreal.  It was the stepping stone to a successful career at the mike as he would announce Family Feud and Card Sharks as well as many other game shows.  

The third and last Goodson-Todman game to debut was He Said, She Said, the first game show hosted by former major league catcher Joe Garagiola.  The show would be sponsored by Holiday Inn and featured four celebrity couples who played for a member of the studio audience.  One spouse would be offstage while the other would guess how they would respond to a question.  A correct response earned 25 points and an incorrect match deducted 10.  The winning couple earned the audience member a week's day at a Holiday Inn.  

He Said, She Said would have the shortest run of the three, airing for only one season.  But the show would return in 1974 with a new title Tattletales and a new host Bert Convy.  The show, airing after CBS' top rated Match Game would run from 1974 to 1978 and returned in 1982 and ran for two more years.  

The fall of 1969 would be fruitful for Goodson-Todman as they would now have four shows on the air and three would have long and successful runs.  What's My Line would run for another five years, Beat the Clock would also have a five year run and To Tell the Truth air for nine years, with Garagiola replacing Moore for the final season in 1977.  The syndicated game show genre that began with Truth or Consequences in 1966 was in full force.  

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