A game show (or gameshow ) is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment where contestants compete in a game for rewards. The shows are typically directed by a host , who explains the rules of the program as well as commentating and narrating where necessary. The history of the game shows dates back to the late 1930s when both radio and television game shows were broadcast. The genre became popular in the United States in the 1950s, becoming a regular feature of daytime television.
186-475: You Bet Your Life is an American comedy quiz series that has aired on both radio and television. The original version was hosted by Groucho Marx of the Marx Brothers , with announcer and sidekick George Fenneman . The show debuted on ABC Radio on October 27, 1947, moved to CBS Radio debuting October 5, 1949, and went to NBC-TV and NBC Radio on October 4, 1950. Because of its simple format, it
372-400: A $ 1,000 bonus. A team can win up to $ 6,500 by answering all five questions correctly, answering the bonus question correctly, and saying the secret word. If time permits at the end of an episode, one audience member is asked a question and can win a prize for giving the correct answer. The opening comedy segments, including Headlines , were removed at the end of the first season; starting with
558-463: A 13-week comedy or variety series before the main series returned in the fall. The You Bet Your Life summer reruns were broadcast as The Best of Groucho , to make clear to viewers that these were repeat broadcasts. After the show went off the air, NBC prepared a syndicated version for local stations in 1961. Because the reruns were already established as The Best of Groucho , the syndicated version retained this title. NBC removed all references to
744-419: A 30 second period. If the players match on 5 answers and their matched answer is correct, the team won $ 5,000. If they don't reach five, they earn $ 200 per correct match. Another version hosted by Bill Cosby aired from September 7, 1992, to June 4, 1993 (with repeats airing until September 3 of that year), in syndication . Carsey-Werner syndicated the series, the first show they distributed themselves. Cosby
930-459: A 35 mm or 16 mm film camera to record the show from a television monitor. Although the pilot film shown to Philip Morris had been a kinescope, the sponsor did not want the lucrative East Coast market, accustomed to quality broadcasts, to see a low-quality kinescope film. Owing to the impending birth of their first child, both Ball and Arnaz insisted on staying in Hollywood and producing
1116-585: A Communist sympathizer, and Marx himself later wrote, "That I bowed to sponsors' demands is one of the greatest regrets of my life." The interviews were sometimes so memorable that the contestants became celebrities: "nature boy" health advocate Gypsy Boots ; Mexican-American entertainer Pedro Gonzalez-Gonzalez ; comedians Phyllis Diller and Ronnie Schell ; author Ray Bradbury ; virtuoso cellist Ennio Bolognini ; blues singer and pianist Gladys Bentley ; strongmen Jack LaLanne and Paul Anderson ; and actor John Barbour all appeared as contestants while working on
1302-667: A Cuban bandleader who had just come off a successful run in the 1939–40 Broadway show Too Many Girls . RKO, after purchasing film rights to the show, cast Ball as Arnaz's love interest in the picture. The duo began a whirlwind courtship, leading to their elopement in Connecticut in November 1940. Despite their marriage, however, their careers kept them separated, with Ball's film work keeping her anchored in Hollywood, while Arnaz's nightclub engagements with his orchestra kept him on
1488-490: A Louisiana state senator and medicine showman , demonstrated his winning style at giving campaign speeches in French, also confessing (in a rare moment of candor) the truth about his signature nostrum, Hadacol : when asked what Hadacol was good for, LeBlanc admitted "about five million dollars for me last year." General Omar Bradley was teamed with an army private, and Marx goaded the private into telling Bradley everything that
1674-510: A Secret , and To Tell the Truth , panels of celebrities would interview a guest in an effort to determine some fact about them; in others, celebrities would answer questions. Panel games had success in primetime until the late 1960s, when they were collectively dropped from television because of their perceived low budget nature. Panel games made a comeback in American daytime television (where
1860-463: A TV Commercial". Since the original sponsor references were no longer appropriate when the shows went into syndication, a new opening was needed, which resulted in the classic "heart on satin" opening. Other sponsors, whose products appeared during the original openings, were Procter & Gamble for Cheer and Lilt Home Permanent (1954–57), General Foods for Sanka (1955–57), and Ford Motor Company (1956–57). The later Lucille Ball–Desi Arnaz Show
2046-482: A blonde, dyed her hair red to complement the Technicolor features that MGM planned to use her in. MGM cast Ball in a variety of films, but it was her work with fellow comedian Red Skelton in the 1943 film DuBarry Was a Lady that brought Ball's physical comedy to the forefront, earning her the reputation as "that crazy redhead,” which Ricky would later call her on the show. Nonetheless, Ball's striking beauty
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#17327724305082232-538: A bonus round usually varies from the standard game play of the front game, and there are often borrowed or related elements of the main game in the bonus round to ensure the entire show has a unified premise. Though some end games are referred to as "bonus rounds", many are not specifically referred to as such in games but fit the same general role. There is no one formula for the format of a bonus round. There are differences in almost every bonus round, though there are many recurring elements from show to show. The bonus round
2418-433: A boy. Desi Arnaz agreed, telling Oppenheimer that Ball had already given him one girl, and might give him another—this might be his only chance to get a son. When the baby boy was born, Desi Arnaz immediately called Oppenheimer and told him, "Lucy followed your script. Ain't she something?", to which Oppenheimer replied "Terrific! That makes me the greatest writer in the world!" The opening familiar to most viewers, featuring
2604-468: A business manager by the name of Mr. Andrew Hickox, and in the first episode of season 4, called "The Business Manager" Ricky hires a man named Mr. Hickox. Lucille Ball came to Hollywood after a successful stint as a New York model. She was chosen by Samuel Goldwyn to be one of 16 Goldwyn Girls to co-star in the picture Roman Scandals (1933), with film star Eddie Cantor . Enthusiastic and hard-working, Ball had been able to secure film work briefly at
2790-465: A certain amount of money or a limit on how many episodes, usually five, on which a player could appear on a show. The introduction of syndicated games, particularly in the 1980s, eventually allowed for more valuable prizes and extended runs on a particular show. British television was under even stricter regulations on prizes until the 1990s, seriously restricting the value of prizes that could be given and disallowing games of chance to have an influence on
2976-556: A change in tone under host Steve Harvey to include more ribaldry . In 2009, actress and comedienne Kim Coles became the first black woman to host a prime time game show, Pay It Off . The rise of digital television in the United States opened up a large market for rerun programs. Buzzr was established by Fremantle , owners of numerous classic U.S. game shows, as a broadcast outlet for its archived holdings in June 2015. There
3162-463: A civil court judge. Gordon was a veteran from the classic radio days in which he perfected the role of the exasperated character, as in Fibber McGee and Molly and Our Miss Brooks . He would go on to co-star with Ball in all of her post– I Love Lucy series ( The Lucy Show , Here's Lucy and Life with Lucy ). Benaderet was a guest star in one episode as elderly Miss Lewis, a neighbor of
3348-453: A clean version of the previously rigged Tic-Tac-Dough in the 1970s. Wheel of Fortune debuted on NBC in 1975. The Prime Time Access Rule , which took effect in 1971, barred networks from broadcasting in the 7–8 p.m. time slot immediately preceding prime time , opening up time slots for syndicated programming. Most of the syndicated programs were "nighttime" adaptations of network daytime game shows. These game shows originally aired once
3534-428: A contestant would say the "secret word", a common word revealed to the audience at the outset of each episode. If one of the contestants said the word, a toy duck resembling Groucho—-with eyeglasses and a mustache —-descended from the ceiling to bring a $ 100 prize. It would then be divided equally between that segment's two-person team. A cartoon of a duck with a cigar was also used in the opening title sequence. The duck
3720-725: A contract producer William Hanna had secured privately. The program sponsor, Philip Morris cigarettes was incorporated into many of these sequences, so when I Love Lucy went into repeats, they were replaced by the now familiar heart logo. However Hazelton's original animation survives, and can be seen in the DVD boxed set as originally presented. Desilu Productions , jointly owned by Ball and Arnaz, would gradually expand to produce and lease studio space for many other shows. For seasons 1 and 2 (1951–1953), Desilu rented space and filmed I Love Lucy at General Service Studios, which eventually became known as Hollywood Center Studios . In 1953, it leased
3906-409: A correct answer doubles their total, while a miss forfeits it. The secret word (sponsored by CarGurus in the first season and Bingo Blitz and Slotomania in the second season), awards a $ 500 bonus as in the 1992-93 revival. Starting in the second season, if the contestants answer a random question correctly, a follow-up bonus question was asked where if answered correctly, the contestants are awarded
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#17327724305084092-504: A drinking problem like Frawley. Vivian Vance became a consideration on the recommendation of I Love Lucy director Marc Daniels. Daniels had worked with Vance in New York on Broadway in the early 1940s. Vance had already been a successful stage star performing on Broadway for nearly 20 years in a variety of plays, and in addition, after relocating to Hollywood in the late 1940s, had two film roles to her credit. Nonetheless, by 1951, she
4278-484: A fixture of US daytime television through the 1960s after the quiz show scandals. Lower-stakes games made a slight comeback in daytime in the early 1960s; examples include Jeopardy! which began in 1964 and the original version of The Match Game first aired in 1962. Let's Make a Deal began in 1963 and the 1960s also marked the debut of Hollywood Squares , Password , The Dating Game , and The Newlywed Game . Though CBS gave up on daytime game shows in 1968,
4464-401: A game show receives a subsidy from an advertiser in return for awarding that manufacturer's product as a prize or consolation prize . Some products supplied by manufacturers may not be intended to be awarded and are instead just used as part of the gameplay such as the low-priced items used in several The Price is Right pricing games . Although in this show the smaller items (sometimes even in
4650-543: A hole in the DeSoto logo and saying, "Friends...go in to see your DeSoto-Plymouth dealer tomorrow. And when you do, tell 'em Groucho sent you." Still later sponsors included the Toni Company (Prom home permanent, White Rain shampoo) with commercials featuring Harpo and Chico Marx, Lever Brothers (Lux liquid, Wisk detergent), Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ( Geritol ), and Lorillard Tobacco Co. ( Old Gold cigarettes). In 1953
4836-409: A new title, The Groucho Show . Gameplay on each episode of You Bet Your Life was generally secondary to Groucho's comedic interplay with contestants and often with Fenneman. The show was so popular that it was the first primetime series to be shown in reruns during the summer months. The common practice at the time was to have a series go on hiatus during the summer, being replaced temporarily by
5022-409: A new version produced by Hill- Eubanks Productions, and syndicated by MCA . Fenneman's announcer/sidekick role was taken over by nightclub entertainer Ron Husmann . The show would begin with Hackett performing a brief stand up routine followed by a brief chat with Husmann. Three individual contestants appeared on each episode, one at a time. The contestants were interviewed by Hackett and then played
5208-522: A number of original game concepts that appeared near the same time, including Awake , Deal or No Deal (which originally aired in 2005), Child Support , Hollywood Game Night , 1 vs. 100 , Minute to Win It (which originally aired in 2010), The Wall , and a string of music-themed games such as Don't Forget the Lyrics! , The Singing Bee , and Beat Shazam . The popularity of game shows in
5394-455: A performer, though she often feels excluded, as her industry involvement is limited, relative to that of Ricky, Fred, and Ethel. Though charismatic, throughout the series, she is depicted as having few marketable performance skills, and she is often portrayed as being tone deaf, struggling to sing anything other than off-key renditions of songs such as " Glow Worm " on the saxophone , and many of her performances end in disaster. However, to say she
5580-420: A pregnant woman. Later, during the second season, Ball was pregnant again with second child Desi Arnaz Jr. , and this time the pregnancy was incorporated into the series' storyline. (Contrary to popular belief, Ball's pregnancy was not television's first on-screen pregnancy, a distinction belonging to Mary Kay Stearns on the late 1940s sitcom Mary Kay and Johnny .) CBS would not allow I Love Lucy to use
5766-499: A previously underdeveloped market for game show reruns. General interest networks such as CBN Cable Network (forerunner to Freeform ) and USA Network had popular blocks for game show reruns from the mid-1980s to the mid-'90s before that niche market was overtaken by Game Show Network in 1994. In the United Kingdom , game shows have had a more steady and permanent place in the television lineup and never lost popularity in
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5952-428: A rapid rise in popularity. However, the rise of quiz shows proved to be short-lived. In 1959, many of the higher stakes game shows were exposed as being either biased or outright scripted in the 1950s quiz show scandals and ratings declines led to most of the primetime games being canceled. An early variant of the game show, the panel show , survived the quiz show scandals. On shows like What's My Line? , I've Got
6138-495: A result of the strike, the show was cancelled in August 2023. Most of the episodes still exist, with 1954–61 episodes syndicated by NBC as The Best Of Groucho . Also existing is the unaired pilot episode (TV version), which was produced for CBS on December 5, 1949. A handful of audio recordings from the radio show also exist dating as far back as 1947, as do a number of one-hour, uncut audio recordings, which were edited to create
6324-513: A studio audience, by cinematographer Karl Freund – won five Emmy Awards and received many nominations and honors. It was the first show to feature an ensemble cast . As such, it is often regarded as one of the most influential television programs in history. In 2012, it was voted the 'Best TV Show of All Time' in a survey conducted by ABC News and People magazine . In 2013, the Writers Guild of America ranked it #12 on their list of
6510-514: A studio party using a rubber Ricky dummy as her dancing partner. Little information was offered about Lucy's past. A few episodes mentioned that she was born in Jamestown, New York (Ball's real-life home town), later specified to be West Jamestown , that she graduated from Jamestown High School, that her maiden name was "McGillicuddy" (indicating a Scottish or Irish ethnicity, at least on her father's side, though she once mentioned her grandmother
6696-440: A top notch, first-rate comedian. They also highlighted her growing popularity with audiences, enticing CBS to further use her skills. In 1950, CBS asked Ball to take My Favorite Husband to television with co-star Richard Denning . Ball saw a television show as a great opportunity to work with Arnaz, however, and she insisted that he play her husband, much to the dismay of CBS, which was reluctant to cast Arnaz in that role, as he
6882-413: A traditional solo bonus round in 1978, but this version was not a success and the round was replaced by the original Final Jeopardy! when the show returned in 1984. The Price Is Right uses a knockout tournament format, in which the six contestants to make it onstage are narrowed to two in a "Showcase Showdown;" these two winners then move on to the final Showcase round to determine the day's winner. Until
7068-401: A true or false quiz of five questions in a particular category. The first correct answer to a question earned $ 25, and the amount doubled with each subsequent correct answer. After the fifth question, the contestant could opt to try to correctly answer a sixth question to triple their winnings; however, if the contestant was incorrect, their earnings were cut in half. Additionally, the secret word
7254-474: A week, but by the late 1970s and early 1980s most of the games had transitioned to five days a week. Many people were amazed at this and in the late 2000s, gameshows were aired 7 times a week, twice a day. Game shows were the lowest priority of television networks and were rotated out every thirteen weeks if unsuccessful. Most tapes were wiped until the early 1980s. Over the course of the 1980s and early 1990s, as fewer new hits (e.g. Press Your Luck , Sale of
7440-629: Is an up-and-coming Cuban American singer and bandleader with an excitable personality. His patience is frequently tested by his wife's antics trying to get into showbiz , along with her exorbitant spending on clothes and furniture. When exasperated, he often reverts to speaking rapidly in Spanish . As with Lucy, not much is revealed about his past or family. Ricky's mother (played by actress Mary Emery) appears in two episodes; in another, Lucy mentions that he has five brothers. Ricky also mentions that he had been "practically raised" by his Uncle Alberto (who
7626-475: Is both godfather and honorary "uncle." Fred can also sing and dance, and he often performs duets with Ethel. The Manhattan building they all lived in before their move to Westport, Connecticut during the sixth season, was addressed at a fictional 623 East 68th Street, at first in apartment 4A, then moving to the larger apartment 3B (subsequently re-designated 3D; the Mertzes’ apartment is then numbered 3B), on
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7812-569: Is completely without talent would be untrue, as on occasion, she is shown to be a good dancer and a competent singer. She is also at least twice offered contracts by television or film companies—first in the season 1 episode "The Audition", when she replaces an injured clown in Ricky's act at the Tropicana nightclub, and later in the season 5 episode "Lucy and the Dummy", when she dances in Hollywood for
7998-533: Is hired to be in Vallée's orchestra, thus allowing him to emigrate to the United States on the very ship on which Lucy and the Mertzes were returning. Lucy later states that Ricky played for Vallée only one night before being traded to Xavier Cugat 's orchestra. The extended flashback segment "Lucy Takes a Cruise to Havana" and the story of how Lucy and Ricky met is inconsistent with the season 4 episode "Don Juan and
8184-588: Is more inclined to include Ethel in performances at his nightclub because, unlike Lucy, she can sing and dance rather well. The show mentions that Ethel's husband, Fred, served in World War I , and lived through the Great Depression . As such, in the series, Fred is depicted as being very stingy with money and as being an irascible, no-nonsense type. However, he also reveals that he can be a soft touch, especially when it comes to Little Ricky, to whom Fred
8370-400: Is often played for the show's top prize. It is almost always played without an opponent; two notable exceptions to this are Jeopardy! and the current version of The Price Is Right . On Jeopardy! , the final round involves all remaining contestants with a positive score wagering strategically to win the game and be invited back the next day; Jeopardy! attempted to replace this round with
8556-483: Is portrayed by multiple actors throughout the seasons. His birth was timed to coincide with the real-life birth of Ball's son, Desi Arnaz Jr. Lucy is naïve and ambitious, with a hunger for stardom and a knack for getting both herself and her husband into trouble whenever she yearns to make it big in show business . The Ricardos' best friends, Fred and Ethel, are former vaudevillians . The Mertzes' history in entertainment only strengthens Lucy's resolve to prove herself as
8742-517: The Columbia Pictures film Miss Grant Takes Richmond (1949), to play Fred Mertz. However, Gleason wanted nearly $ 3,500 per episode to play the role, a price that was far too high to sustain. Sixty-four-year-old William Frawley , a seasoned vaudevillian and movie character actor with nearly 100 film credits to his name, was a long shot to play Fred Mertz and only came into consideration after he telephoned Ball personally to ask if there
8928-530: The Motion Picture Center at 846 Cahuenga Blvd. in Hollywood, renaming it Desilu Studios , to shoot seasons 3–6 (1953–1957) of I Love Lucy . After 1956, it became known as Desilu-Cahuenga Studios to avoid confusion with other acquired Desilu locations. In an effort to keep up with the studio's growth, and need for additional sound stages, Arnaz and Ball purchased RKO Radio Pictures from General Tire in 1957 for over $ 6 million, effectively owning
9114-614: The Samuel Goldwyn Studio and Columbia Pictures and then eventually at RKO Radio Pictures . It was at RKO that Ball received steady film work, first as an extra and bit player and eventually working her way up to co-starring roles in feature films and starring roles in second rate B pictures , collectively earning her the nickname "Queen of the B's". During her run at RKO, Ball gained the reputation for doing physical comedy and stunts that most other actresses avoided, keeping her steadily employed. In 1940, Ball met Desi Arnaz,
9300-649: The Upper East Side of Manhattan . In actuality, however, the addresses go up only to the 500s before the street terminates at the East River . Gale Gordon and Bea Benaderet , supporting cast members on My Favorite Husband , were originally approached for the roles of Fred and Ethel, but neither could accept, owing to previous commitments. Gordon did appear as a guest star in three episodes, playing Ricky's boss, Mr. Littlefield, in two episodes, and later in an episode of The Lucille Ball–Desi Arnaz Show as
9486-512: The 101 Best Written TV Series. Originally set in an apartment building in New York City , I Love Lucy centers on Lucy Ricardo ( Lucille Ball ) and her singer/bandleader husband, Ricky Ricardo ( Desi Arnaz ), along with their best friends and landlords , Fred Mertz ( William Frawley ) and Ethel Mertz ( Vivian Vance ). During the second season, Lucy and Ricky have a son named Ricky Ricardo Jr. , who often goes by "Little Ricky" and
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#17327724305089672-444: The 1952–53 season and a toddler from 1953 to 1956. However, for the 1956–57 season, Little Ricky suddenly aged by two years, becoming a young school-age boy from 1956 to 1960. Five actors played the role, two sets of twins and later Keith Thibodeaux, whose stage name when playing Ricky Ricardo Jr. was Richard Keith . (In " Lucy and Superman ", Little Ricky is mentioned as being five years old but it had been less than four years since
9858-520: The 1960s, most game shows did not offer a bonus round. In traditional two-player formats, the winner – if a game show's rules provided for this – became the champion and simply played a new challenger either on the next show or after the commercial break. One of the earliest forms of bonus rounds was the Jackpot Round of the original series Beat the Clock . After two rounds of performing stunts,
10044-599: The 1990s as they did in the United States, due in part to the fact that game shows were highly regulated by the Independent Broadcasting Authority in the 1980s and that those restrictions were lifted in the 1990s, allowing for higher-stakes games to be played. After the popularity of game shows hit a nadir in the mid-1990s United States (at which point The Price Is Right was the only game show still on daytime network television and numerous game shows designed for cable television were canceled),
10230-401: The 1990s was a major factor in the explosion of high-stakes game shows in the later part of that decade in both the U.S. and Britain and, subsequently, around the world. A bonus round (also known as a bonus game or an end game) usually follows a main game as a bonus to the winner of that game. In the bonus round, the stakes are higher and the game is considered to be tougher. The game play of
10416-464: The British game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? began distribution around the globe. Upon the show's American debut in 1999, it was a hit and became a regular part of ABC's primetime lineup until 2002; that show would eventually air in syndication for seventeen years afterward. Several shorter-lived high-stakes games were attempted around the time of the millennium , both in the United States and
10602-553: The Century , and Card Sharks ) were produced, game shows lost their permanent place in the daytime lineup. ABC transitioned out of the daytime game show format in the mid-1980s (briefly returning to the format for one season in 1990 with a Match Game revival). NBC's game block also lasted until 1991, but the network attempted to bring them back in 1993 before cancelling its game show block again in 1994. CBS phased out most of its game shows, except for The Price Is Right , by 1993. To
10788-618: The Circus ). The show ended two months later. Groucho also reluctantly appeared in two films with brothers Chico and Harpo Marx , A Night in Casablanca and the lackluster Love Happy . During a radio appearance with Bob Hope in March 1947, Marx ad-libbed most of his performance after being forced to stand by in a waiting room for 40 minutes before going live on the air. The audience found Marx's ad libs very funny. John Guedel ,
10974-464: The Hope program's producer, formed an idea for a quiz show and approached Marx about the subject. After initial reluctance on Marx's part, Guedel was able to convince him to host the program once Marx realized the quiz would be only a backdrop for his contestant interviews and the storm of ad-libbing that they would elicit. Guedel also convinced Marx to invest in 50% of the show, in part by saying that he
11160-541: The Hospital" was watched by more people than any other television program up to that time, with 71.7% of all American television sets tuned in, topping the 67.7 rating for the inauguration coverage the following morning. Unlike some programs that advance the age of a newborn over a short period , I Love Lucy at first allowed the Ricardos' son Little Ricky to grow up in real time. America saw Little Ricky as an infant in
11346-475: The Mertzes vacationed there in 1940. Despite his being a university graduate and proficient in English, Ricky is portrayed as a driver of a horse-drawn cab who waits for fares at a pier where tourists arrive by ship. Ricky is hired to serve as one of Lucy's tour guides, and the two fall in love. Having coincidentally also met popular singer, Rudy Vallée , on the cruise ship, Lucy arranges an audition for Ricky, who
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#173277243050811532-485: The Ricardos needed an older couple to play off of. While performing in Husband , veteran character actors Gale Gordon and Bea Benaderet had played Rudolph and Iris Atterbury, an older, more financially stable couple as Mr. Atterbury had been George Cooper's boss. Ball had initially wanted both actors to reprise their roles on television; however, both were unavailable at the time the show went into production as Benaderet
11718-435: The Ricardos. Barbara Pepper (later featured as Doris Ziffel in the series Green Acres ) was also considered to play Ethel, but Pepper had been drinking very heavily after the death of her husband, Craig W. Reynolds. Her friendship with Ball dated back to the film Roman Scandals (1933), in which both appeared as Goldwyn Girls . She did, however, turn up in at least nine episodes of I Love Lucy in bit parts. Many of
11904-617: The Starlets". At one point in that episode, Lucy, after finding out that she was not invited to join Ricky at a movie premiere, bemoans that she made a mistake fifteen years before when her friend Marion Strong asked her if she would like to go on a blind date with a Cuban drummer, to which she said "yes." Throughout the series, Lucy is usually found with her best friend, Ethel. A former singer and actress in Albuquerque, New Mexico , Ethel tries to relive her glory days in vaudeville . Ricky
12090-468: The United Kingdom, such as Winning Lines , The Chair , Greed , Paranoia , and Shafted , leading to some dubbing this period as "The Million-Dollar Game Show Craze". The boom quickly went bust, as by July 2000, almost all of the imitator million-dollar shows were canceled (one of those exceptions was Winning Lines , which continued to air in the United Kingdom until 2004 even though it
12276-532: The United States was closely paralleled around the world. Reg Grundy Organisation , for instance, would buy the international rights for American game shows and reproduce them in other countries, especially in Grundy's native Australia . Dutch producer Endemol ( later purchased by American companies Disney and Apollo Global Management , then resold to French company Banijay ) has created and released numerous game shows and reality television formats popular around
12462-425: The actual game began. Couples were allowed to choose from a list of 20 available categories before the show; then they tried to answer a series of questions within that category. From 1947 to 1956, couples were asked four questions. From 1947 to 1956, if a couple ended their quiz with $ 25 or less, Marx would ask a very easy question so they could receive consolation money of $ 25 (later $ 100), which did not count toward
12648-626: The airing of "Lucy Goes to the Hospital".) Jess Oppenheimer stated in his memoir, Laughs, Luck...and Lucy: How I Came to Create the Most Popular Sitcom of All Time , that the initial plan was to match the sex of the Ricardo's baby with Ball's real baby, inserting one of two alternate endings into the broadcast print at the last minute. When logistical difficulties convinced Oppenheimer to abandon this plan, he advised Desi Arnaz that as head writer, he would have Lucy Ricardo give birth to
12834-419: The attention of CBS, which, in 1948, enlisted her to star in one of two new half-hour situation comedies in development, Our Miss Brooks and My Favorite Husband . Choosing the latter, Ball portrayed Liz Cugat (later anglicized to Cooper), the frustrated and scheming housewife of a Minneapolis banker, played originally by actor Lee Bowman in the series pilot, and later by actor Richard Denning . Based on
13020-410: The background during scenes in which he did not perform, as well as Ball's mother, DeDe, whose distinctive "uh oh" could be heard in many of the episodes. In later years, CBS would devise a laugh track from several I Love Lucy audiences and use them for canned laughter on shows done without a live audience. I Love Lucy' s pioneering use of three cameras led to it becoming the standard technique for
13206-399: The benefit of the genre, the moves of Wheel of Fortune and a modernized revival of Jeopardy! to syndication in 1983 and 1984, respectively, was and remains highly successful; the two are, to this day, fixtures in the prime time "access period". During this "access" period, a contestant named Mark Anthony DiBello became and is still known to be the only person to win automobiles on two of
13392-461: The characters in the series were named after Ball's family members or close friends. For example, Marion Strong was one of her best friends and a roommate for a time in New York, and she also set Ball and Arnaz up on their first date. Lillian Appleby was a teacher of Ball's when she was in an amateur production on the stage. Additionally, Pauline Lopus was a childhood friend, while Fred was the name of both her brother and grandfather. Ball and Arnaz had
13578-423: The concept eventually became Family Feud , as whose inaugural host Dawson was hired. I Love Lucy I Love Lucy is an American television sitcom that originally aired on CBS from October 15, 1951, to May 6, 1957, with a total of 180 half-hour episodes spanning six seasons. The series starred Lucille Ball and her husband Desi Arnaz , along with Vivian Vance and William Frawley , and follows
13764-418: The contestants before they played the game. Replacing George Fenneman were two teenaged sidekicks, Jackson Wheeler and Patti Harmon. Both had appeared on You Bet Your Life as contestants during its final season (Harmon under her given name of Joy Harmon). You Bet Your Life was parodied on a live April 1955 episode of The Jack Benny Program . Benny pretended to be someone else ( Ronald Forsythe ) to get on
13950-405: The contrast. Freund also pioneered "flat lighting," in which everything is brightly lit to eliminate shadows and the need for endless relighting. Audience reactions were live, which created a more authentic laugh than the canned laughter used on most filmed sitcoms of the time. Regular audience members were sometimes heard from episode to episode, and Arnaz's distinctive laugh could be heard in
14136-418: The corporation that would produce the I Love Lucy shows. The company was named Desilu , from the combination of both their first names "Desi" and "Lucille". Though some television series were already being filmed in Hollywood, most used the single-camera format familiar from movies, with a laugh track added to comedies to simulate audience response. Ball wanted to work in front of a live audience to create
14322-506: The credits superimposed over a "heart on satin" image, was created specifically for the 1959–67 CBS daytime network rebroadcasts, and subsequent syndication. As originally broadcast, the episodes opened with animated matchstick figures of Arnaz and Ball making reference to whoever the particular episode's sponsor was. These sequences were created by the animation team of William Hanna and Joseph Barbera , who declined screen credit because they were technically under exclusive contract to MGM at
14508-493: The discontinuation of The Price Is Right $ 1,000,000 Spectacular series of prime-time specials. In April 2008, three of the contestants on The Price Is Right $ 1,000,000 Spectacular won the top prize in a five-episode span after fifteen episodes without a winner, due in large part to a change in the rules. The insurance companies had made it extremely difficult to get further insurance for the remaining episodes. A network or syndicator may also opt to distribute large cash prizes in
14694-507: The entire run of the show. In 1957, I Love Lucy was re-tailored into an hour-long show originally titled The Lucille Ball–Desi Arnaz Show that was to be part of an anthology series called the Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse . The hour-long Lucy–Desi show was to alternate on a monthly basis with other hour long Playhouse shows. The new series put a much heavier emphasis on big name guest stars as being part of
14880-403: The episodes. Ball and Arnaz enlisted the services of Karl Freund , a cinematographer who had worked on such films as Metropolis (1927), Dracula (1931), The Good Earth (1937) and DuBarry Was a Lady (1943) (which also starred Ball), as well as directing The Mummy (1932), to be the series cinematographer. Although at first Freund did not want anything to do with television, it
15066-460: The fact that Ricky never says this sentence exactly this way. An extended flashback segment in the 1957 episode "Lucy Takes a Cruise to Havana" of The Lucille Ball–Desi Arnaz Show filled in numerous details of how Lucy and Ricky met and how Ricky came to the United States. The story, at least insofar as related to newspaper columnist Hedda Hopper , is that the couple met in Havana when Lucy and
15252-421: The first major success in the game show genre was Dr. I.Q. , a radio quiz show that began in 1939. Truth or Consequences was the first game show to air on commercially licensed television; CBS Television Quiz followed shortly thereafter as the first to be regularly scheduled. The first episode of each aired in 1941 as an experimental broadcast. Over the course of the 1950s, as television began to pervade
15438-406: The form of an annuity , spreading the cost of the prize out over several years or decades. From about 1960 through the rest of the 20th century, American networks placed restrictions on the amount of money that could be given away on a game show, in an effort to avoid a repeat of the scandals of the 1950s. This usually took the form of an earnings cap that forced a player to retire once they had won
15624-597: The fringes of the entertainment industry. Harland Sanders , who talked about his "finger-lickin'" recipe for fried chicken that he parlayed into the Kentucky Fried Chicken chain of restaurants, once appeared as a contestant. A guest purporting to be a wealthy Arabian prince was really writer William Peter Blatty ; Groucho saw through the disguise, stating, "It was pretty obvious to me that you weren't an Arabian prince; I used to have an Arabian horse and I know what they look like." Blatty won $ 10,000 and used
15810-449: The game individually. After the couple was introduced, they spent time talking with Cosby. When the interview was done, the game began. Each couple was staked with $ 750 and were then asked three questions within a category presented at the start of the game. Before each question, the couple made a wager, which would be added to their winnings if they were correct or subtracted if they were incorrect. The secret word in this version, worth $ 500,
15996-408: The game show format in its rural purge . The Match Game became "Big Money" Match Game 73 , which proved popular enough to prompt a spin-off, Family Feud , on ABC in 1976. The $ 10,000 Pyramid and its numerous higher-stakes derivatives also debuted in 1973, while the 1970s also saw the return of formerly disgraced producer and game show host Jack Barry , who debuted The Joker's Wild and
16182-521: The goose. Two of the envelopes displayed the goose's face and would double the couple's money, while the third awarded an additional $ 10,000. As the 1992/93 season progressed, many stations carrying the show either moved it to overnight time slots or dropped it entirely due to low ratings. In September 2020, it was announced that Fox First Run would reboot the show in syndication, which premiered on September 13, 2021, with Jay Leno as host. Carsey-Werner's Tom Werner will return as executive producer. It
16368-409: The impetus for a completely new game show. The first part of Match Game ' s "Super-Match" bonus round, called the "Audience Match", asked contestants to guess how a studio audience responded to a question. In 1975, with then regular panelist Richard Dawson becoming restless and progressively less cooperative, Goodson decided that this line of questioning would make a good game show of its own, and
16554-560: The interim, with Fox First Run offering two other syndicated game shows, Person, Place or Thing (which entered national syndication that season following a six-week test run in the Summer of 2022 on selected Fox -owned stations) and Who the Bleep Is That (which was alternately offered to selected Fox O&Os as a substitute, following an initial six-week test run on Fox O&Os the previous Spring), to fill its vacated timeslots. As
16740-669: The kind of comic energy she had displayed on radio. The idea of a film studio that could accommodate an audience was a new one for the time, as fire safety regulations made it difficult to allow an audience in a studio. Arnaz and Oppenheimer found the financially struggling General Service Studios located on Las Palmas Avenue in Hollywood. Studio owner Jimmy Nasser was eager to accommodate the Desilu company and allowed them, with financial backing of CBS, to renovate two of his studios so that they could accommodate an audience and be in compliance with local fire laws. Another component to filming
16926-483: The life of Lucy Ricardo (Ball), a young, middle-class housewife living in New York City, who often concocts plans with her best friends and landlords, Ethel and Fred Mertz (Vance and Frawley), to appear alongside her bandleader husband, Ricky Ricardo (Arnaz), in his nightclub. Lucy is depicted trying numerous schemes to mingle with and be a part of show business. After the series ended in 1957, a modified version of
17112-428: The likelihood that someone would say the secret word. In November 1955, Groucho announced on the air that he had noticed the success of big-money quiz programs (referring to, but not naming, The $ 64,000 Challenge ) and declared that You Bet Your Life was itself going to raise its "Secret Word" bonus: from $ 100 to $ 101. This gimmick lasted until the end of the year. After the contestants' introduction and interview,
17298-633: The long-running Definition ). Unlike reality television franchises, international game show franchises generally only see Canadian adaptations in a series of specials, based heavily on the American versions but usually with a Canadian host to allow for Canadian content credits (one of those exceptions was Le Banquier , a Quebec French-language version of Deal or No Deal which aired on TVA from 2008 to 2015). The smaller markets and lower revenue opportunities for Canadian shows in general also affect game shows there, with Canadian games (especially Quebecois ones) often having very low budgets for prizes, unless
17484-510: The lower budgets were tolerated) in the 1970s through comedy-driven shows such as Match Game and Hollywood Squares . In the UK, commercial demographic pressures were not as prominent, and restrictions on game shows made in the wake of the scandals limited the style of games that could be played and the amount of money that could be awarded. Panel shows there were kept in primetime and have continued to thrive; they have transformed into showcases for
17670-463: The mid-2010s. In 2016, ABC packaged the existing Celebrity Family Feud , which had returned in 2015, with new versions of To Tell the Truth , The $ 100,000 Pyramid , and Match Game in 2016; new versions of Press Your Luck and Card Sharks would follow in 2019. TBS launched a cannabis -themed revival of The Joker's Wild , hosted by Snoop Dogg , in October 2017. This is in addition to
17856-427: The money, after quitting his job, to support himself while he focused on establishing a career as a writer. He would later go on to write The Exorcist in 1971. No one in the audience knew the identity of contestant Daws Butler until he began speaking in the voice of cartoon character Huckleberry Hound . He and his partner in the episode went on to win the top prize of $ 10,000. Cajun politician Dudley J. LeBlanc ,
18042-467: The most money at the end of this round went onto a bonus game. The secret word was around, but since it was never guessed, it's unknown whether the duck survived for this pilot, but Richard told one couple one the pilot "if you say the secret word you'll win $ 100 each" so based on that it's assumed the secret word was worth $ 200. In the bonus game, sidekick Steve Carlson read questions with either true or false answers. The players locked in their answers over
18228-410: The most popular game shows The Wheel of Fortune and The Price is Right , hosted by the longest-tenured American game show hosts, Pat Sajak and Bob Barker , respectively. Cable television also allowed for the debut of game shows such as Supermarket Sweep and Debt (Lifetime), Trivial Pursuit and Family Challenge (Family Channel), and Double Dare (Nickelodeon). It also opened up
18414-507: The most successful game show contestants in America would likely never be cast in a British or Australian game show for fear of having them dominate the game, according to Mark Labbett , who appeared in all three countries on the game show The Chase . The Japanese game show is a distinct format, borrowing heavily from variety formats, physical stunts and athletic competitions. The Japanese style has been adapted overseas (and at one point
18600-412: The music and played the piano for the show, while Wilbur Hatch was used to conduct the orchestra. Two problems arose after Philip Morris signed on to sponsor the show, that would ultimately change the fate of I Love Lucy . Ball and Arnaz had originally decided that the series would air on a biweekly basis, much like The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show . Philip Morris, however, was insistent that
18786-558: The name of a bonus prize, one of which was a car. Some episodes had celebrities, including George Fenneman , Phil Harris , and Greg Evigan appear as contestants; each played for a member of the studio audience. Richard Dawson hosted a pilot , which taped on August 3, 1988 for NBC. However, it was not picked up as a series. Teams of two unrelated players came out one team at a time and were asked three questions, either $ 100, $ 150 or $ 200. Later, both teams came out and played four questions each at either $ 200, $ 300 or $ 400. The team with
18972-489: The nation's top stand-up comedians on shows such as Have I Got News for You , Would I Lie to You? , Mock the Week , QI , and 8 Out of 10 Cats , all of which put a heavy emphasis on comedy, leaving the points as mere formalities. The focus on quick-witted comedians has resulted in strong ratings, which, combined with low costs of production, have only spurred growth in the UK panel show phenomenon. Game shows remained
19158-531: The novel, Mr. and Mrs. Cugat, by Isabel Scott Rorick , My Favorite Husband was produced by Jess Oppenheimer and written by Oppenheimer, plus scribes Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll Jr. Premiering on July 23, 1948, and sponsored by General Foods , Husband became a hit for CBS. During the run of the radio program, Ball also appeared in two feature films with Bob Hope, Sorrowful Jones in 1949, and Fancy Pants in 1950. Both films were box office and critical successes, further cementing Ball's reputation as
19344-478: The one, the only ..." by Fenneman, who would pause, inviting the audience to finish the sentence by shouting in unison "GROUCHO!" The show's band would then play a portion of the tune " Hooray for Captain Spaulding ", Marx's signature song. Groucho next would be introduced to the first two contestants and engage in humorous conversations in which he would improvise his responses or employ prepared lines written by
19530-502: The original series ended, the most recent being a version hosted by Jay Leno that aired in first-run syndication from 2021 to 2023. The mid-1940s were a lull in Groucho Marx's career. His radio show Blue Ribbon Town , sponsored by Pabst Blue Ribbon beer, had begun in March 1943 and had failed to catch on. Groucho left the program in June 1944 and was replaced by vocalist Kenny Baker (who appeared with Groucho in 1939's At
19716-463: The original sponsors by cropping the image whenever the sponsor's logo appeared, along with using a bright light to blur the "NBC" mark on Groucho's microphone. This is why some shots in the syndicated versions appear grainy and less focused. By deleting the sponsor's logo, the image zoomed in on what remained on the screen, sometimes cropping out a contestant while the screen showed only Groucho. You Bet Your Life has been revived three times since
19902-401: The other networks did not follow suit. Color television was introduced to the game show genre in the late 1960s on all three networks. The 1970s saw a renaissance of the game show as new games and massive upgrades to existing games made debuts on the major networks. The New Price Is Right , an update of the 1950s-era game show The Price Is Right , debuted in 1972 and marked CBS's return to
20088-408: The period between October and April of the following year. The rating number represents the percentage of homes tuned into that program. Nielsen also measured the radio version at tenth among radio shows in 1955. Despite not being involved with the quiz show scandals , the show's popularity waned and You Bet Your Life fell out of the top 25. NBC stopped making the show in 1961. The radio program
20274-473: The plot and although the Mertz characters continued into the new series, their roles became somewhat diminished. Although a lighter workload was welcomed by Frawley, Vance came to somewhat resent the change. Arnaz, in an effort to please Vance, for whom he had much respect, proposed doing a spin-off from I Love Lucy called The Mertzes . Seeing a lucrative opportunity and the chance to star in his own show, Frawley
20460-490: The popular culture, game shows quickly became a fixture. Daytime game shows would be played for lower stakes to target stay-at-home housewives. Higher-stakes programs would air in prime time . (One particular exception in this era was You Bet Your Life , ostensibly a game show, but the game show concept was largely a framework for a talk show moderated by its host, Groucho Marx .) During the late 1950s, high-stakes games such as Twenty-One and The $ 64,000 Question began
20646-418: The premise of the show and writing the series' first scripts. The trio chose to adapt many storylines for television using the backlog of episodes of My Favorite Husband . In addition, the series' ensemble cast and crew were assembled. Arnaz retained his orchestra, which was used in the series musical numbers and to score the show's background and transitional music. Arnaz's childhood friend Marco Rizo arranged
20832-531: The prime-time quiz shows, Jeopardy! doubled its question values in 2001 and lifted its winnings limit in 2003, which one year later allowed Ken Jennings to become the show's first multi-million dollar winner; it has also increased the stakes of its tournaments and put a larger focus on contestants with strong personalities. The show has since produced four more millionaires: tournament winner Brad Rutter and recent champions James Holzhauer , Matt Amodio , and Amy Schneider . Family Feud revived in popularity with
21018-487: The principal reason they were filmed was so that they could be produced in Hollywood before the advent of the "coaxial cable" that allowed live coast-to-coast broadcasts. They also produced clearer images for the West Coast than the fuzzy kinescope recordings that dominated network programming there in television's early days. Contestant teams usually consisted of one male and one female, most of whom were selected from
21204-411: The production of most sitcoms filmed in front of an audience. Single-camera setups remained the technique of choice for sitcoms that did not use audiences. This led to an unexpected benefit for Desilu during the series' second season when it was discovered that Ball was pregnant. Not being able to fulfill the show's 39-episode commitment, both Desi and Oppenheimer decided to rebroadcast popular episodes of
21390-535: The question "wrong" by answering "No one". As the contestant then pointed out, Grant's Tomb is an above-ground mausoleum . On another occasion, Marx and Fenneman were dumbfounded when a contestant answered "Me" when asked who was buried in Grant's tomb. In all formats, one of the two players on the team could keep their half of the winnings while the other risked their half. In this case, all amounts being played for were divided in half. Seasonal Nielsen ratings covered
21576-458: The quiz show (competing with a female contestant played by Irene Tedrow ), and continues to divulge information during an effort to say the secret word. In the skit, Benny is unable to answer the final question, which Groucho asks with a knowing chuckle and ironically is about Benny himself, simply because it asks his real age; as part of his comic persona, Benny would never give his age voluntarily, even for something he valued as much as money. After
21762-422: The radio version, mostly from spring 1949 and fall 1953. Game show On most game shows, contestants answer questions or solve puzzles, and win prizes such as cash, trips and goods and services . Game shows began to appear on radio and television in the late 1930s. The first television game show, Spelling Bee , as well as the first radio game show, Information Please , were both broadcast in 1938;
21948-496: The results of the game. (Thus, the British version of The Price Is Right at first did not include the American version's "Showcase Showdown", in which contestants spun a large wheel to determine who would advance to the Showcase bonus round.) In Canada, prizes were limited not by bureaucracy but necessity, as the much smaller population limited the audience of shows marketed toward that country. The lifting of these restrictions in
22134-459: The road. Despite steadily working in pictures, Ball's movie career never advanced to the level of a headlining feature-film actress. Nevertheless, she remained popular with film audiences. Ball came to the attention of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer after receiving critical acclaim for her starring role in the 1942 Damon Runyon film The Big Street , which bought out her contract. It was under contract with MGM, however, that Ball, who had previously been
22320-673: The role of Fred Mertz to be a less financially successful and more curmudgeonly (in contrast to Gordon's Mr. Atterbury) character to fit Frawley's persona. CBS relented only after Arnaz contractually bound Frawley to complete sobriety during the production of the show, and reportedly told the veteran actor that if he ever appeared on-set more than once in an intoxicated state he would be fired. Not once during I Love Lucy' s nine seasons did Frawley's drinking ever interfere with his performance, and over time Arnaz became one of Frawley's few close friends. The role of Ethel Mertz also took quite some time to cast. Since Lucy's Husband co-star Bea Benaderet
22506-429: The same time, rival networks NBC , ABC , and DuMont were showing interest in a Ball-Arnaz series, which Ackerman used to convince CBS to sign the duo. A pilot was ordered and kinescoped in Hollywood in March 1951, which coincided with Ball's first pregnancy, and the ending of Husband , which aired its last radio show on March 31, 1951. Ball and Arnaz used the same radio team of Oppenheimer, Pugh, and Carroll to create
22692-551: The scores. The question was often patently obvious so there was virtually no chance that departing contestants would answer it incorrectly. Some examples include the following: "Who is buried in Grant's Tomb ?", "When did the War of 1812 start?", "How long do you cook a three-minute egg ?", and "What color is an orange?" The question about Grant's Tomb became such a staple of the show that both Marx and Fenneman were shocked when one man got
22878-451: The second season, the program begins with Leno chatting with first set of contestants. Production of a planned third season was suspended after Writers Guild of America members went on strike in May 2023, as Leno refused to cross the picket line in solidarity. Instead of continuing to air reruns into the 2023–24 season, stations that carried the program replaced it with other syndicated fare in
23064-418: The secret word, Wakko would hit that contestant on the head with a mallet. The contestants were Mrs. Myra Puntridge and Aristotle . The secret word was "yes," and Aristotle said it three times. An episode of In Living Color had a skit called "You Bet Your Career". Jamie Foxx plays Bill Cosby , and it features washed-up celebrities competing for a walk-on role in sitcoms. In 1980, Buddy Hackett hosted
23250-483: The series is made for export. Canadian contestants are generally allowed to participate on American game shows, and there have been at least three Canadian game show hosts – Howie Mandel , Monty Hall and Alex Trebek – who have gone on to long careers hosting American series, while Jim Perry , an American host, was prominent as a host of Canadian shows. American game shows have a tendency to hire stronger contestants than their British or Australian counterparts. Many of
23436-588: The series' first season to help give Ball the necessary rest she needed after she gave birth, effectively allowing fewer episodes to be filmed that season. Unexpectedly, the rebroadcasts proved to be ratings winners, effectively giving birth to the rerun , which would later lead to the profitable development of the rerun syndication market. The show's original opening and commercial bumpers were animated caricatures of Ball and Arnaz. They were designed and animated by MGM character designer and future "Flintstones" cartoonist, Gene Hazelton (1917–2005) and were produced under
23622-413: The show evergreen . In this format, two teams of two contestants per show answer four questions in one category; some are multiple-choice, while others are open-ended. The first question is worth $ 250, and the value increases by $ 250 per question to a maximum of $ 1,000. After the fourth question, each member of the team may either end the game and keep their share of the winnings, or play a fifth question;
23808-501: The show air weekly, thus diminishing the possibility of Ball continuing her film career alongside a television show. Another problem lay in the fact that Philip Morris wanted the series to originate from New York rather than Hollywood. At the time, most television shows were produced from New York with live broadcasts of the show airing for eastern and Midwest audiences. West Coast viewers were able to view live programs only through low-quality kinescopes , which derived their images by using
23994-1502: The show and won $ 1,000 by successfully answering questions in a geography quiz. Arthur Godfrey 's mother Kathryn was a contestant on another episode and held her own with Marx. Edgar Bergen and his then 11-year-old daughter Candice also teamed up with Marx and his daughter Melinda to win $ 1,000 for the Girl Scouts of the USA , with Fenneman taking on the role of quizmaster for that segment. Other celebrity guests included Jayne Mansfield , Edith Head , Mickey Walker , Francis X. Bushman , Howard Hill , General Clarence A. Shoop , Louise Beavers , Irwin Allen , Frankie Avalon , Lord Buckley , Sammy Cahn , Ray Corrigan , Sam Coslow , Don Drysdale , Kenny Washington , Hoot Gibson , physicist and host of Exploring Albert Hibbs , Tor Johnson , Ward Kimball , Ernie Kovacs , Laura La Plante , Liberace , Joe Louis , Bob Mathias , Irish McCalla , screenwriter and author Mary Eunice McCarthy , Harry Ruby , Max Shulman , Fay Spain , Colonel John Paul Stapp , National Champion Football Coach Red Sanders , John Charles Thomas , Pinky Tomlin , Rocky Marciano and his mother, Charles Goren , and Johnny Weissmuller . In 1961 Groucho's brother Harpo appeared to promote his just-published autobiography, Harpo Speaks . The show's most notorious remark supposedly occurred as Groucho
24180-635: The show became embroiled in controversy when its musical director, Jerry Fielding, was called to appear before the House Committee on UnAmerican Activities and refused to testify, citing his Fifth Amendment privileges. The show's sponsor, the DeSoto-Plymouth Dealers of America, demanded that Marx fire Fielding, and he complied. Fielding later accused the House committee of calling him up to testify because they wanted him to name Marx as
24366-410: The show came when it was decided to use three 35 mm film cameras to simultaneously film the show. The idea had been pioneered by Jerry Fairbanks , and had been used on the live anthology series The Silver Theater, and on the game show Truth or Consequences , as well as subsequently Amos 'n' Andy as a way to save money, though Amos n' Andy did not use an audience. Edwards's assistant Al Simon
24552-457: The show continued for three more seasons, with 13 one-hour specials, which ran from 1957 to 1960. It was first known as The Lucille Ball–Desi Arnaz Show, and later, in reruns, as The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour . I Love Lucy became the most-watched show in the United States in four of its six seasons and it was the first to end its run at the top of the Nielsen ratings . As of 2011, episodes of
24738-412: The show have been syndicated in dozens of languages across the world and remain popular with an American audience of 40 million each year. A colorized version of its Christmas episode attracted more than eight million viewers when CBS aired it in prime time in 2013, 62 years after the show premiered. The show – which was the first scripted television program to be filmed on 35 mm film in front of
24924-435: The show never displayed episode titles on the air). The episode in which Lucy Ricardo gives birth, " Lucy Goes to the Hospital ", first aired on January 19, 1953, which was the day before the inauguration of Dwight Eisenhower as President of the United States . To increase the publicity of this episode, the original air date was chosen to coincide with Ball's real-life delivery of Desi Jr. by Caesarean section . "Lucy Goes to
25110-411: The show on film, however, would require that Ball and Arnaz become responsible for producing the series themselves. Union agreements at the time stipulated that any production filmed in a studio use film studio employees. CBS staff were television and radio employees and thus fell under different union agreements. Thus, Arnaz reorganized the company he created to manage his orchestra bookings and used it as
25296-498: The show on film, something a few Hollywood-based series had begun to do. Both CBS and Philip Morris initially balked at the idea, because of the higher cost that filming the show would incur, yet acquiesced only after the couple offered to take a $ 1,000 a week pay cut in order to cover the additional expense. In exchange, Ball and Arnaz demanded, and were given, 80% ownership in the I Love Lucy films (the other 20% went to Oppenheimer who then gave 5% to Pugh and 5% to Carroll). Shooting
25482-438: The show to be broadcast on television. The president of Film Craft Productions, Regina Lindenbaum (who did the subsequent filming), cited it as the first television show filmed before a live audience. Most television histories incorrectly credit I Love Lucy with that achievement, but Lucy premiered a year after Groucho's first filmed season. While filming both shows did indeed allow for greater control in post-production editing,
25668-469: The show's writers after conducting pre-show interviews. In this way, some of Groucho's supposed ad-libs were actually written ahead of time. The total number of contestants in each episode varied depending on the length of Groucho's conversations and the time taken for gameplay in each segment. Generally, the 30-minute format of the televised show provided time for two or three two-person teams to play in each episode. Some show tension revolved around whether
25854-409: The show, Ball and Arnaz learned that she was once again pregnant (after multiple miscarriages earlier in their marriage) with their first child, Lucie Arnaz . They filmed the original pilot while Lucy was "showing", but did not include any references to the pregnancy in the episode. This was because CBS thought that talk of pregnancy might be in bad taste and because an ad agency told Arnaz not to show
26040-413: The show. Frawley derisively described Vance's appearance as "a sack of doorknobs." It was reported that Vance, who was 22 years younger than Frawley, was not really keen on the idea that her character Ethel was married to a man that was old enough to be her father. Vance also complained that Frawley's song-and-dance skills were not what they once were. Frawley and Vance had an adversarial relationship during
26226-408: The single digits of dollars) are awarded as well when the price is correctly guessed, even when a contestant loses the major prize they were playing for. For high-stakes games, a network may purchase prize indemnity insurance to avoid paying the cost of a rare but expensive prize out of pocket. If the said prize is won too often, the insurance company may refuse to insure a show; this was a factor in
26412-474: The sketch Groucho asked him why he opted out of the 3,000-dollar prize. Benny then gave away his age, indirectly, by saying "Where else could I buy 22 years for 3,000 dollars?" After Marx's death this film appeared in the Unknown Marx Brothers documentary on DVD. A brief clip of the episode appeared in the 2009 PBS special Make 'Em Laugh: The Funny Business of America . The title of the show
26598-470: The studio audience. Occasionally, famous or otherwise interesting figures were invited to play (e.g., a Korean-American contestant who was a veteran and had been a prisoner of war during the Korean War ), or noteworthy sports figures like Joe Louis , Kenny Washington , Rocky Marciano , Don Drysdale and Coach Red Sanders , among others. Each episode began with the introduction "And now, here he is:
26784-718: The studio where they had started as contract players. Desilu acquired RKO's two studio complexes located on Gower Street in Hollywood, and in Culver City (now part of the Paramount lot and Culver Studios respectively), along with the Culver City back lot nicknamed " Forty Acres ". The sale was achieved by the duo selling their ownership of the once-thought-worthless I Love Lucy films back to CBS for over four million dollars. In 1962, two years after their marriage dissolved, Ball bought out Arnaz's shares of Desilu, becoming
26970-488: The studio's sole owner. She eventually sold off Desilu in 1967 to Gulf+Western , owners of Paramount Pictures . After the sale, Desilu-Cahuenga became a private production company and was known as Ren-Mar Studios until 2010, when it was acquired by the Red Digital Cinema Camera Company and renamed Red Studios – Hollywood. As with My Favorite Husband , I Love Lucy writers decided that
27156-542: The team who won the most money answering one final question for a jackpot which started at $ 1,000 and increased $ 500 each week until won. Another early example was the Lightning Round on the word game Password , starting in 1961. The contestant who won the front game played a quick-fire series of passwords within 60 seconds, netting $ 50 per correctly guessed word, for a maximum bonus prize of $ 250. The bonus round came about after game show producer Mark Goodson
27342-512: The television series that was named I Love Lucy . The couple's agent, Don Sharpe, brought the pilot to several advertising agencies with little luck but finally succeeded with the Milton H. Biow agency. Biow's agency presented the pilot to its clients and was able to convince cigarette giant Philip Morris to sponsor the show. During the spring and summer of 1951, I Love Lucy moved into production. Oppenheimer, Pugh, and Carroll began fine-tuning
27528-499: The time for things I never said," Marx told Roger Ebert , in 1972. "You know that line in You Bet Your Life ? The guy says he has seventeen kids and I say, 'I smoke a cigar, but I take it out of my mouth occasionally'? I never said that." Marx's 1976 memoir recounts the episode as fact, but co-writer Hector Arce relied mostly on sources other than Marx himself—who was by then in his late eighties and mentally compromised—and
27714-493: The time. The original sponsor was cigarette maker Philip Morris , so the program opened with a cartoon of Lucy and Ricky climbing down a pack of Philip Morris cigarettes. In the early episodes, Lucy and Ricky, as well as Ethel and Fred on occasion, were shown smoking Philip Morris cigarettes. Lucy even went so far as to parody Johnny Roventini 's image as the Philip Morris "bellhop" in the May 5, 1952, episode, "Lucy Does
27900-422: The wife of the contestant couple would perform at a jackpot board for a prize. The contestant was shown a famous quotation or common phrase, and the words were scrambled. To win the announced bonus, the contestant had to unscramble the words within 20 seconds. The contestant received a consolation gift worth over $ 200 if she was unsuccessful. Another early bonus round ended each episode of You Bet Your Life with
28086-421: The winter months of 1961 and the spring months of 1962. The game involved each of three celebrity pictures being flashed on a screen, each for a quarter of a second. The couple won $ 500 for each picture they identified. If the couple could not identify any of the three pictures, they were shown one picture and won $ 100 for a correct guess. As in You Bet Your Life , the focus of the show was on Marx's interviews with
28272-400: The word "pregnant", so "expecting" was used instead. In addition, sponsor Philip Morris made the request that Ball not be seen smoking during the pregnancy episodes. The episode "Lucy Is Enceinte" first aired on December 8, 1952 ("enceinte" being French for "expecting" or "pregnant"). One week later, on December 15, 1952, the episode titled "Pregnant Women Are Unpredictable" was aired (although
28458-587: The world. Most game show formats that are popular in one country are franchised to others. Game shows have had an inconsistent place in television in Canada , with most homegrown game shows there being made for the French-speaking Quebec market and the majority of English-language game shows in the country being rebroadcast from, or made with the express intent of export to, the United States. There have been exceptions to this (see, for instance,
28644-427: Was "untouchable" at ad-libbing, but not at following a script. As Marx and the contestants were ad-libbing, Guedel insisted that each show be filmed and edited before release to remove both the risqué and the less interesting material. The show for the studio audience ran longer than the broadcast version so some parts could be omitted. On December 28, 1949, episode #49-13 was filmed as a visual test in preparation for
28830-420: Was Cuban. CBS executives did not think audiences would buy into a marriage between an all-American girl and a Latin man. To prove CBS wrong, the couple developed a vaudeville act, written by Carroll and Pugh, that they performed at Newburgh NY's historic Ritz Theater with Arnaz's orchestra. The act was a hit and convinced CBS executive Harry Ackerman that a Ball-Arnaz pairing would be a worthwhile venture. At
29016-526: Was Swedish), and that she met Ricky on a cruise with her friend from an agency she once worked for. Her family was absent, other than occasional appearances by her scatter-brained mother Mrs. McGillicuddy ( Kathryn Card ), who could never get Ricky's name right. Lucy was also secretive about her age and true hair color, and tended to be careless with money, in addition to being somewhat materialistic, insisting on buying new dresses and hats for every occasion and telling old friends that she and Ricky were wealthy. She
29202-437: Was a role for him on her new show. Ball, who had only briefly known Frawley from her days at RKO , suggested him to both Arnaz and CBS. The network objected to the idea of casting Frawley, fearing that his excessive drinking—which was well known in Hollywood —would interfere with a commitment to a live show. Arnaz nonetheless liked Frawley and lobbied hard for him to have the role, even to the point of having Lucy scribes re-tailor
29388-521: Was already playing Blanche Morton on The Burns and Allen Show , and Gordon was under contract by CBS to play Mr. Conklin on both the radio and television versions of Our Miss Brooks . Casting the Mertzes, as they were now called (the surname taken from a doctor that I Love Lucy scriptwriter Madelyn Pugh knew as a child in Indianapolis), proved to be a challenge. Ball had initially wanted character actor James Gleason , with whom she appeared in
29574-766: Was also a rise of live game shows at festivals and public venues, where the general audience could participate in the show, such as the science-inspired Geek Out Game Show or the Yuck Show . Since the early 2000s, several game shows were conducted in a tournament format; examples included History IQ , Grand Slam , PokerFace (which never aired in North America), Duel , The Million Second Quiz , 500 Questions , The American Bible Challenge , and Mental Samurai . Most game shows conducted in this manner only lasted for one season. A boom in prime time revivals of classic daytime game shows began to emerge in
29760-414: Was also depicted as a devoted housewife, adept cook, and attentive mother. As part of Lucy's role was to care for her husband, she stayed at home and took care of the household chores, while her husband Ricky went to work. During the post war era, Lucy took jobs outside of the home, but in these jobs, the show portrayed her as being inept outside of her usual domestic duties. Lucy's husband, Ricky Ricardo,
29946-537: Was becoming interested in playing more glamorous roles rather than Ethel. During the thirteen-episode run of the Lucy–Desi hour-long shows, Vance was given a lot more latitude to look more attractive as Ethel, something she was denied during the run of the I Love Lucy episodes. Frawley's resentment of Vance intensified after she declined to do the spin-off show and the two rarely talked to each other outside of their characters' dialogue with one another. Just before filming
30132-522: Was canceled in the United States in early 2000); these higher stakes contests nevertheless opened the door to reality television contests such as Survivor and Big Brother , in which contestants win large sums of money for outlasting their peers in a given environment. Several game shows returned to daytime in syndication during this time as well, such as Family Feud , Hollywood Squares , and Millionaire . Wheel of Fortune , Jeopardy! and Family Feud have continued in syndication. To keep pace with
30318-444: Was delivered by a stuffed toy black goose dressed in a sweatshirt from Temple University , Cosby's alma mater; if one couple said it, a new word would be chosen when the next couple was introduced. The couple with the most money (independent of any secret word bonuses) advanced to the bonus round, in which they were asked one last question in any given subject. A correct answer won a choice of three envelopes, which were all attached to
30504-432: Was edited out before broadcast. Marion and Charlotte Story were indeed parents of 20 children and had appeared as contestants on the radio version of the show in 1950. Audio recordings of the interview exist, and a reference to cigars is made ("With each new kid, do you go around passing out cigars?"), but there is no evidence of the infamous line. Marx and Fenneman both denied that the incident took place. "I get credit all
30690-425: Was enthused. Vance, however, declined for a number of reasons, the biggest factor being that she felt she and Frawley could barely work together on the ensemble show they were doing at the time, so it would be much less likely the two could work together on their own series. Vance also felt that the Mertz characters would not be as successful without the Ricardos to play off of, and despite being her biggest success, she
30876-517: Was first presented Password , contending that it was not enough to merely guess passwords during the show. "We needed something more, and that's how the Lightning Round was invited," said Howard Felsher , who produced Password and Family Feud . "From that point on every game show had to have an end round. You'd bring a show to a network and they'd say, 'What's the endgame?' as if they had thought of it themselves." The end game of Match Game , hosted for most of its run by Gene Rayburn , served as
31062-516: Was hired by Desilu to help perfect the new technique for the series. The process lent itself to the Lucy production as it eliminated the problem of requiring an audience to view and react to a scene three or four times in order for all necessary shots to be filmed. Multiple cameras would also allow scenes to be performed in sequence, as a play would be, which was unusual at the time for filmed series. Retakes were rare and dialogue mistakes were often left in
31248-631: Was in sharp contrast to the physical antics she performed in her films. Throughout her career, MGM tried to utilize her in multiple different film genres that did little to highlight her skills. Given their difficulties in casting her, MGM chose not to renew her contract when it expired in 1946. Ball began working as a freelance artist in films and also began to explore other venues. Before and during World War II, Ball made several notable and successful guest appearances on several radio programs, including both Jack Haley 's radio show and bandleader Kay Kyser 's radio program. These appearances brought Ball to
31434-408: Was interviewing Charlotte Story, who had borne 20 children (the exact number varies in tellings of the urban legend). When Marx asked why she had chosen to raise such a large family, Mrs. Story is said to have replied, "I love my husband"; to which Marx responded, "I love my cigar, but I take it out of my mouth once in awhile." The remark was judged too risqué to be aired, according to the anecdote, and
31620-464: Was joined on this show by a female announcer and sidekick, Robbi Chong , who was referred to as "Renfield". Organist Shirley Scott contributed the jazzy theme music, and the program was taped in Philadelphia at the studios of public television station WHYY-TV (the former taping site of Nickelodeon 's Double Dare and Finders Keepers ). Three couples competed, with each couple playing
31806-504: Was no threat and was professional, Ball began to warm to her. In 1954, Vance became the first actress to win an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress . Vance and Ball developed a close, lifelong friendship with Ball frequently listening to Vance's input during episode productions. In 1962, after the end of I Love Lucy, Ball would ask Vance to co-star in her new series The Lucy Show . Vance and Frawley disliked each other. However, they were always professional while performing on
31992-483: Was not available, Mary Wickes , a longtime friend was offered the role, but declined because she did not want to strain her friendship with Ball. Actress Barbara Pepper , who was a close friend of Ball, was also considered for the role. The two had a long history together, as Pepper had been one of the Goldwyn Girls who came to Hollywood with Lucy in 1933. Pepper was ruled out by Ball and Arnaz because she too had
32178-436: Was occasionally replaced with various other things, for example a wooden Indian figure, carrying the required $ 100 prize to the lucky team. In one episode, Groucho's brother Harpo came down instead of the duck, and in another a female model attired in a tight bodice and very short skirt came down in a birdcage with the money. In his conversations with contestants, Marx would at times direct their exchanges in ways to increase
32364-481: Was parodied in the 1989 Weird Al Yankovic film UHF , on the U62 Fall Schedule as You Bet Your Pink Slip . A Bugs Bunny cartoon entitled Wideo Wabbit had a scene where Bugs Bunny impersonated Groucho to Elmer Fudd for the game show You Beat Your Wife , a takeoff on the name You Bet Your Life . An episode of Animaniacs had a segment called "You Risk Your Life" where, if a contestant said
32550-432: Was parodied with an American reality competition, I Survived a Japanese Game Show , which used a fake Japanese game show as its central conceit). Many of the prizes awarded on game shows are provided through product placement , but in some cases they are provided by private organizations or purchased at either the full price or at a discount by the show. There is the widespread use of "promotional consideration", in which
32736-421: Was possible to broadcast the show on both radio and television but not simultaneously. Many of the laughs on the television show were evoked by Groucho's facial reactions and other visual gimmicks. So the two versions were slightly different. The last episode in a radio format aired on June 10, 1960. The series continued on television for another year, recording the last season, beginning on September 22, 1960, with
32922-565: Was probably unaware that Marx had specifically denied speaking the legendary line. Snopes surmised the line may have been conflated with another exchange with a girl who had 16 siblings; in that episode, Groucho asked the girl how her father felt about having 17 children. She replied "my daddy loves children," and Groucho responded "Well, I like pancakes, but I haven't got a closet full of them!" Seven months after You Bet Your Life ended its 11-season run at NBC, Marx hosted another game show in prime time, Tell It to Groucho . It aired on CBS during
33108-555: Was seen during a family visit to Cuba ), and that he had attended the University of Havana . A catchphrase strongly associated with Ricky is " Lucy, you got some 'splaining to do" (sometimes "Lucy, you got a lotta splainin to do" ), whenever something Lucy had kept a secret from Ricky that turned into a complicated, problematic situation and was finally revealed to him. The line is still often mentioned in articles about I Love Lucy and even printed on official merchandise, despite
33294-414: Was sponsored by Allen Gellman , president of Elgin American, maker of watch cases and compacts, during its first two and a half seasons. Later, seasons of the television show (as well as the radio show, after January 1950) were sponsored by Chrysler , with advertisements for DeSoto automobiles incorporated into the opening credits and the show itself. Each show would end with Marx sticking his head through
33480-493: Was sponsored by Ford Motor Company (1957–58) and Westinghouse Electric Corporation (1958–60), as part of the Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse . The original openings, with the sponsor names edited out, were revived on TV Land showings, with a TV Land logo superimposed to obscure the original sponsor's logo. However, this has led some people to believe that the restored introduction was created specifically for TV Land as an example of kitsch . The animated openings, along with
33666-584: Was stated that the revival would also include bits carried over from Leno's tenure on The Tonight Show and The Jay Leno Show , such as Headlines , and that Kevin Eubanks , who had been Leno's bandleader on The Tonight Show from 1995 to 2009 and for a brief time in 2010, and The Jay Leno Show (as the Primetime band). and comic foil for much of his run on Tonight , would serve as sidekick; Leno plans on avoiding any political or topical humor to keep
33852-561: Was still a relatively unknown actress in Hollywood. Vance was performing in a revival of the play The Voice of the Turtle in La Jolla, California . Arnaz and Jess Oppenheimer went to see her in the play and hired her on the spot. Vance was reluctant about giving up her film and stage work for a television show, yet was convinced by Daniels that it would be a big break in her career. Ball, however, had many misgivings about hiring Vance, who
34038-434: Was still worth $ 100, and if anyone said it, each contestant on that episode won $ 100. The contestant with the most money returned at the end of the show to meet "Leonard", the prize duck (If there was a tie, they would be asked a question with a numeric answer, which they wrote down, and whoever was closest without going over won). The contestant then stopped a rotating device, causing a plastic egg to drop out which concealed
34224-440: Was the personal plea of the couple that convinced him to take the job. Freund was instrumental in developing a way to uniformly light the set so that each of the three cameras would pick up the same quality of image. Freund noted that a typical episode (20–22 min.) was shot in about 60 minutes, with one constant concern being the shades-of-gray contrast in the final print, as each stage of transmission and broadcast would exaggerate
34410-453: Was wrong with the army. Professional wrestler Wild Red Berry admitted that the outcomes of matches were determined in advance, but that the injuries were real; he revealed a long list of injuries he had sustained. Other celebrities, already famous, occasionally teamed up with their relatives to win money for themselves or for charities. On February 6, 1958, silent-film star Francis X. Bushman and his wife Iva Millicient Richardson appeared on
34596-489: Was younger and far more attractive than the concept of Ethel as an older, somewhat homely woman (Vance was two years older than Ball). Ball was also a believer in the Hollywood adage at the time that there should be only one pretty woman on the set and Ball, being the star of the show, would be it. Arnaz, however, was impressed by Vance's work and hired her. The decision was then made to dress Vance in frumpier clothing to tone down her attractiveness. Eventually realizing that Vance
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