Truth or Consequences
Encyclopedia
Truth or Consequences is an American quiz show
originally hosted on NBC
radio
by Ralph Edwards
(1940-57) and later on television by Edwards (1950-54), Jack Bailey (1954-55), Bob Barker
(1956-75), Bob Hilton
(1977-78) and Larry Anderson (1987-88). The television show ran on CBS
, NBC
and also in syndication
. The premise of the show was to mix the original quiz element of game shows with wacky stunts.
The daily syndicated show was produced by Ralph Edwards Productions (later Ralph Edwards/Stu Billett Productions), in associated with and distributed by Metromedia Producers Corporation
(1966-78) and Lorimar-Telepictures
(1987-88).
The format is distributed internationally by DRG.
Truth or Consequences was the first game show to air on broadcast television, airing on the first day of WNBT
's program schedule in 1941. This was a one-time experiment; Truth or Consequences did not appear on TV again until 1950, when the medium had caught on commercially.
In 1966
, the syndicated Truth or Consequences became the first successful first-run daily game show (as opposed to reruns) to not air on a network, having ended its NBC run one year earlier
.
If the contestant could not complete the "Truth" portion, there would be "Consequences," usually a zany and embarrassing stunt. From the start, most contestants preferred to answer the question wrong in order to perform the stunt. Said Edwards, "Most of the American people are darned good sports."
During Barker's run as host, a side game, "Barker's Box", was played at the end of the show. Barker's Box was a box with four drawers in it -- if a contestant pick all three drawers with money in it, they won a bonus prize; however, if a contestant chose a pop-up "surprise" before choosing all three cash drawers, the game ends and the contestant leaves with the cash won at that point.
In many broadcasts, the stunts on Truth or Consequences included a popular, but emotional, heart-rending surprise for a contestant, that being the reunion with a long-lost relative or with an enlisted son or daughter returning from military duty overseas, particularly Vietnam. Sometimes, if that military person was based in California, his or her spouse or parents were flown in for that reunion.
On Truth or Consequences, Barker's signoff ended with the phrase, "Hoping all your consequences are happy ones."
#127 (December 1948), Superman
was a contestant on Truth or Consequences (http://www.comics.org/graphics/covers/97/400/97_4_0000127.jpg).
The town of Hot Springs, New Mexico
was renamed Truth or Consequences
after the game show in 1950, when Ralph Edwards announced that he would do the program from the first town so renamed. Edwards himself continued to make appearances at the town's annual fiesta every May until his death.
A 1950 Looney Tunes
cartoon
called The Ducksters
featured Daffy Duck
as the host of a radio game show called Truth or AAAAAHHHH!, with Porky Pig
as the contestant.
On January 22, 1957, the show, which was produced in Hollywood, became the first program to be broadcast in all time zones from a prerecorded videotape
; this technology, which had only been introduced the previous year, had been used only for time-delayed broadcasts to the West Coast.
On George Carlin
's 1969 debut album, Take-Offs and Put-Ons, the character Congolia Breckinridge appears on a similar show called Truth or Penalties (although at one point Carlin says the original show's name). Because she has too little time to buzz in, when she is invited to pull back the curtain, an empty stage is revealed. The host then announces, "We were going to reunite you with your sister, whom you haven't seen in 27 years, but you blew the question, so we sent your sister back to Maine
."
Game show
A game show is a type of radio or television program in which members of the public, television personalities or celebrities, sometimes as part of a team, play a game which involves answering questions or solving puzzles usually for money and/or prizes...
originally hosted on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
by Ralph Edwards
Ralph Edwards
Ralph Livingstone Edwards was an American radio and television host and television producer.-Early career:Born in Merino, Colorado , Edwards worked for KROW-AM in Oakland, California while he was still in high school...
(1940-57) and later on television by Edwards (1950-54), Jack Bailey (1954-55), Bob Barker
Bob Barker
Robert William "Bob" Barker is a former American television game show host. He is best known for hosting CBS's The Price Is Right from 1972 to 2007, making it the longest-running daytime game show in North American television history, and for hosting Truth or Consequences from 1956 to 1975.Born...
(1956-75), Bob Hilton
Bob Hilton
Robert "Bob" Wesley Hilton is an American television game show personality. He hosted The Guinness Game, a revival of Truth or Consequences and the 1990 revival of Let's Make a Deal, and announced on several other shows....
(1977-78) and Larry Anderson (1987-88). The television show ran on CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
, NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
and also in syndication
Television syndication
In broadcasting, syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast radio shows and television shows by multiple radio stations and television stations, without going through a broadcast network, though the process of syndication may conjure up structures like those of a network itself, by its very...
. The premise of the show was to mix the original quiz element of game shows with wacky stunts.
The daily syndicated show was produced by Ralph Edwards Productions (later Ralph Edwards/Stu Billett Productions), in associated with and distributed by Metromedia Producers Corporation
Metromedia
Metromedia was a media company that owned radio and television stations in the United States from 1956 to 1986 and owned Orion Pictures from 1986-1997.- Overview :...
(1966-78) and Lorimar-Telepictures
Lorimar-Telepictures
Lorimar-Telepictures was a production and television syndication firm established in 1986 with the merger of Lorimar and Telepictures until both TV divisions became separate in 1988...
(1987-88).
The format is distributed internationally by DRG.
History
Ralph Edwards would say later that he got the idea for a new radio program after playing the parlor game Forfeits. The show premiered on NBC radio in March, 1940 and was an instant hit with listeners.Truth or Consequences was the first game show to air on broadcast television, airing on the first day of WNBT
WNBC
WNBC, virtual channel 4 , is the flagship station of the NBC television network, located in New York City. WNBC's studios are co-located with NBC corporate headquarters at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in midtown Manhattan...
's program schedule in 1941. This was a one-time experiment; Truth or Consequences did not appear on TV again until 1950, when the medium had caught on commercially.
In 1966
1966 in television
The year 1966 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 1966.For the American TV schedule, see: 1966-67 American network television schedule.-Events:...
, the syndicated Truth or Consequences became the first successful first-run daily game show (as opposed to reruns) to not air on a network, having ended its NBC run one year earlier
1965 in television
The year 1965 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 1965.For the American TV schedule, see: 1965-66 American network television schedule.-Events:...
.
Game play
On the show, people had to answer a trivia question correctly (usually an off-the-wall question that no one would be able to answer correctly, or a bad joke) and had about two seconds to do so before "Beulah the Buzzer" was sounded (in the rare occasion that the contestant answered the question correctly before Beulah was heard, the question inevitably had two parts).If the contestant could not complete the "Truth" portion, there would be "Consequences," usually a zany and embarrassing stunt. From the start, most contestants preferred to answer the question wrong in order to perform the stunt. Said Edwards, "Most of the American people are darned good sports."
During Barker's run as host, a side game, "Barker's Box", was played at the end of the show. Barker's Box was a box with four drawers in it -- if a contestant pick all three drawers with money in it, they won a bonus prize; however, if a contestant chose a pop-up "surprise" before choosing all three cash drawers, the game ends and the contestant leaves with the cash won at that point.
In many broadcasts, the stunts on Truth or Consequences included a popular, but emotional, heart-rending surprise for a contestant, that being the reunion with a long-lost relative or with an enlisted son or daughter returning from military duty overseas, particularly Vietnam. Sometimes, if that military person was based in California, his or her spouse or parents were flown in for that reunion.
On Truth or Consequences, Barker's signoff ended with the phrase, "Hoping all your consequences are happy ones."
Cultural references
In Action ComicsAction Comics
Action Comics is an American comic book series that introduced Superman, the first major superhero character as the term is popularly defined...
#127 (December 1948), Superman
Superman
Superman is a fictional comic book superhero appearing in publications by DC Comics, widely considered to be an American cultural icon. Created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian-born American artist Joe Shuster in 1932 while both were living in Cleveland, Ohio, and sold to Detective...
was a contestant on Truth or Consequences (http://www.comics.org/graphics/covers/97/400/97_4_0000127.jpg).
The town of Hot Springs, New Mexico
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
was renamed Truth or Consequences
Truth or Consequences, New Mexico
Truth or Consequences is a spa city and the county seat of Sierra County, New Mexico, United States. As of the 2000 census, the population was 7,289. It is commonly known within New Mexico as T or C....
after the game show in 1950, when Ralph Edwards announced that he would do the program from the first town so renamed. Edwards himself continued to make appearances at the town's annual fiesta every May until his death.
A 1950 Looney Tunes
Looney Tunes
Looney Tunes is a Warner Bros. animated cartoon series. It preceded the Merrie Melodies series and was Warner Bros.'s first animated theatrical series. Since its first official release, 1930's Sinkin' in the Bathtub, the series has become a worldwide media franchise, spawning several television...
cartoon
Animated cartoon
An animated cartoon is a short, hand-drawn film for the cinema, television or computer screen, featuring some kind of story or plot...
called The Ducksters
The Ducksters
The Ducksters is a Warner Bros. Looney Tunes theatrical cartoon short animated in 1949 and released in 1950. It was directed by Chuck Jones and written by Michael Maltese...
featured Daffy Duck
Daffy Duck
Daffy Duck is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons, often running the gamut between being the best friend and sometimes arch-rival of Bugs Bunny...
as the host of a radio game show called Truth or AAAAAHHHH!, with Porky Pig
Porky Pig
Porky Pig is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons. He was the first character created by the studio to draw audiences based on his star power, and the animators created many critically acclaimed shorts using the fat little pig...
as the contestant.
On January 22, 1957, the show, which was produced in Hollywood, became the first program to be broadcast in all time zones from a prerecorded videotape
Videotape
A videotape is a recording of images and sounds on to magnetic tape as opposed to film stock or random access digital media. Videotapes are also used for storing scientific or medical data, such as the data produced by an electrocardiogram...
; this technology, which had only been introduced the previous year, had been used only for time-delayed broadcasts to the West Coast.
On George Carlin
George Carlin
George Denis Patrick Carlin was an American stand-up comedian, social critic, actor and author, who won five Grammy Awards for his comedy albums....
's 1969 debut album, Take-Offs and Put-Ons, the character Congolia Breckinridge appears on a similar show called Truth or Penalties (although at one point Carlin says the original show's name). Because she has too little time to buzz in, when she is invited to pull back the curtain, an empty stage is revealed. The host then announces, "We were going to reunite you with your sister, whom you haven't seen in 27 years, but you blew the question, so we sent your sister back to Maine
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
."
See also
- People Are FunnyPeople Are FunnyPeople are Funny is an American radio and television game show, created by John Guedel that remained popular throughout the 1940s. The program ran from 1942 to 1960. The program's stunts and audience participation were calculated to reveal the humorous side of human nature...
- CBS Television QuizCBS Television QuizCBS Television Quiz was the first live television game show ever to be broadcast regularly, running from July 2, 1941 to May 25, 1942 on the fledgling CBS Television network. Quiz was an in-house network production and broadcast in black and white...
(CBSCBSCBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
Television, 1941-1942) - Spelling BeeSpelling Bee (game show)Spelling Bee was a 15-minute UK radio and live television show that was the first ever television game show, hosted by Freddie Grisewood, and transmitted live from Alexandra Palace at 10pm on 31 May 1938....
(BBC game show, 1938)