The $64,000 Question (1955 – 1968) Host: Hal March

COM308 Week 4 Notes—Quiz Show Scandal Purpose Today we are going to consider the formative years of TV and the quiz show scandal's impact on the TV business and a naive America. Background When CBS premiered "The $64,000 Question" in 1955, the show was more than a hit; it was a national phenomenon. No program in the short history of television had ever attracted so many viewers so quickly -- 47 million in ten weeks. Audiences loved the idea of watching people like themselves compete for huge sums of money by answering tough questions. "The common man as genius," one writer called it. More quiz shows followed, including "Twenty One" and "Tic Tac Dough." At the times these shows aired, the crime rate and movie theatre attendance actually dropped. What the viewing audience was to learn, but only much later, was that many of the TV quiz shows were fixed. Initially, popular contestants were favored with easier questions; they were "rehearsed" by the show's producers for hours before airtime. When producer Dan Enright saw ratings plummet for his show "Twenty One," he went even further, providing contestants with answers before air time. To make the charade convincing, Enright coached his hand-picked winners down to the smallest detail: when to stutter, mop their brow, bite their lip, even how to dress. The most famous of these contestants was Charles Van Doren. Young, intelligent, and handsome, Van Doren was "a bona fide egghead with enough sex appeal" to create a sensation. Slowly and painfully, the deceit unraveled. When a Congressional investigation revealed that wholesome Van Doren and the quiz shows were a fraud, Americans felt angry and betrayed. The $64,000 Question (1955 – 1968) Host: Hal March In this show, contestants entered an isolation booth and “struggled” to answer the most arcane questions in their personally chosen category. Unbeknownst to the viewers and (some of the players) the producers had already provided answers to the more charismatic contestants. If a contestant was likeable, the viewer was more apt to tune in next week to follow their progress. Interestingly, one contestant preselected by the producers to fail actually succeeded in going all the way to the big prize. Her name – Dr. Joyce Brothers. The subject – prize fighting. Needing the money, she studied for three months before the show and was unstoppable. If TV game show Twenty-One was fixed, then the $64,000 Question was “controlled.” If they liked a contestant and thought he/she was good for ratings, then they picked questions which played to the strength of the contestant’s expertise. And if they didn’t like you, they fielded you a hard ball. 1 Such is the case with Dr. Joyce Brothers, the only person to win both the $64,000 Question and the $64,000 Challenge. But that was far from the plan. The producers wanted to dump her early because they didn’t think she had star power. Partly influenced by Martin and Charles Revson, of Revlon, the show’s sponsors, producers attempted to stump Dr. Brothers. They loved contradictions. The mechanic who knew opera. In her case, the psychologist who knew boxing. Once she got to a certain level and they wanted rid of her, they threw her a question about referees, which they thought to be beyond her grasp. But the enterprising Dr. Brothers had been studying in between weekly shows, and surprised them all by answering correctly. What could they do but let her run on? Later she was on the sister show for winners, the $64,000 Challenge where she was challenged by a team of boxers and again she won the big prize. Twenty-One (1956-1958) Host: Jack Berry At the time he created the quiz show "Twenty-One," Dan Enright was one of the most successful game show producers in television. Beginning in radio, Enright had worked with Jack Barry to create and produce a series of successful quiz shows. Enright’s connection to Barry went back to the late 1940s, when they worked as partners creating and packaging programs for radio and television. One of their earliest television successes was "Juvenile Jury," which included a panel of young people who answered questions submitted by home viewers, studio audience members and celebrity guests. That success was followed by a similar show with older guests called "Life Begins at 80." With "Wisdom of the Ages," the partners combined the best of both shows, mixing a panel of youngsters and the elderly. "Tic Tac Dough" was based on the game of tic-tac- toe and broadcast weekdays on NBC. Later on, a prime-time and higher-stakes version aired. After Life Begins at Eighty was dropped and Can Do, a celebrity stunt show with host Robert Alda, failed, the producers searched for a new project. Twenty One, a television quiz show based on the blackjack, was the next game these independent producers would launch. "The show went on the air in 1956 and we felt that it had such great quality and content to it that we would not have to rig it," Enright recalls. "In fact, the first show of "Twenty-One" was not rigged and the first show of "Twenty-One" was a dismal failure. It was just plain dull." The next morning, the show’s sponsor, Pharmaceuticals, Inc., which produced Geritol, called Enright and Barry, telling them "in no uncertain terms that he never wanted to see a repeat of what happened the previous night," remembers Enright. "And from that moment on, we decided to rig 'Twenty-One.'" Rigging or no rigging, the show’s ratings were not impressive during the early weeks of its run. Viewers complained that its mid-week 10:30 P.M. time slot was too late. One pundit suggested that the show needed a good dose of the Geritol and Serutan sold by the show’s sponsors. Then 2 Enright seemed to make a move certain to doom the show: He placed it against NBC’s hit show "I Love Lucy." Enright and Barry believed they could attract more viewers if they could find guests that the audience would want to root for or against – and then choreograph these guests' involvement. The plan became reality with the appearance of an affable, 30-year old English professor from Columbia University named Charles Van Doren. Van Doren’s reign on the show would stretch for 14 weeks and his appeal would turn the show into one of the most-watched television game shows of the 1950s. "Twenty-One" became such a success that NBC bought it from Enright and Barry for $2.2 million. Discussion Questions: 1. How does reality relate to non-fiction TV? What are the goals of non-fiction programs such as talk shows, newscasts, magazine shows, game shows, documentaries, and so- called "real drama" or reality programming like "Cops"? Are such programs "show business"? What responsibilities do non-fiction television producers have to their audiences–must they be truthful? When, if ever, might they not? Is it ever ethical to present shades of truth? If yes, present some examples. Do you believe the non-fiction programs they see today? How would they feel if they learned certain scenarios were "rigged"? 2. "It couldn’t have happened in any other medium," said Joseph Cates, producer of The $64,000 Question, regarding the quiz show scandal. Why might seeing contestants in a quiz show influence the audience’s feelings about them? How do such signifiers as clothing, mannerisms, styles, age, and weight affect an audience’s perceptions? How might these perceptions influence drama, tension, and, ultimately, ratings? 3. After the scandal, Charles Van Doren noted that he now believed the difference between good and evil was "not cut and dried." What were the motives of the producers? Sponsor Charles Revson? Contestant Herb Stempel? Charles van Doren? What power did each have? What power did each believe he had? Do you think these people were good, bad, or both? 3 .

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