Queen for a Day was an American radio and television game show that helped to usher in American listeners' and viewers' fascination with big-prize giveaway shows. Queen for a Day originated on the Mutual Radio Network on April 30, 1945 in New York City before moving to Los Angeles a few months later, and running until 1957. The show then ran on NBC Television from 1956 to 1964.
The series is considered a forerunner of modern-day "reality television". The show became popular enough that NBC increased its running time from 30 to 45 minutes to sell more commercials, at a then-premium rate of $4,000 per minute.
Winner Take All, an American radio-television game show, ran from 1946-1952 on CBS and NBC. It was the first game show produced by the Mark Goodson-Bill Todman partnership. The series was originally hosted by Ward Wilson, but is best known for being the first game hosted by Bill Cullen.
Although the game format was very simple, Winner Take All served as the genesis for many future game-show formats. It was the first game to use lockout devices, and the first to use returning champions.
Face to Face is an early American television game show running 15 minutes. It began broadcasting on the NBC Television network on June 9, 1946 and ran until January 26, 1947 on Sundays at 8:00 pm EST, immediately before Geographically Speaking.
Americana is a weekly game show which ran on NBC from December 8, 1947 to July 4, 1949. The series was originally hosted by literary critic John Mason Brown and produced by Martin Stone Productions with NBC Television. Each week's show was sponsored by Encyclopedia Americana. The 30-minute show aired Mondays at 8:10pm ET in the 1947-48 television season, and Mondays at 8:30pm ET in the 1948-49 season.
Break the Bank is an American quiz show which aired variously on Mutual Radio and ABC, CBS and NBC television from 1945 to 1957.
Celebrity Time was an American game and audience participation television series which aired originally aired on CBS and ABC from November 1948 to September 1952. The original host was Douglas Edwards.
Who Said That? is a 1947-55 NBC radio-television game show, in which a panel of celebrities attempts to determine the speaker of a quotation from recent news reports. The series was first proposed and edited by Fred W. Friendly, later of CBS News.
Four panelists must determine guests' occupations - and, in the case of famous guests, while blindfolded, their identity - by asking only "yes" or "no" questions.
Beat the Clock is a game show hosted by Bud Collyer that ran on CBS from 1950 to 1958 and ABC from 1958 to 1961.
Truth or Consequences is an American television show originally hosted on NBC radio by Ralph Edwards and later on television by Edwards, Jack Bailey, Bob Barker, Bob Hilton and Larry Anderson. 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, in associated with and distributed by Metromedia Producers Corporation and Lorimar-Telepictures.
You Bet Your Life is an American quiz show that aired on both radio and television. The original and best-known version was hosted by Groucho Marx of the Marx Brothers, with announcer and assistant George Fenneman. The show debuted on ABC Radio in October 1947, then moved to CBS Radio in September 1949 before making the transition to NBC-TV in October 1950. Because of its simple format, it was possible to broadcast the show simultaneously on the radio and on television. In 1960, the show was renamed The Groucho Show and ran a further year. Most episodes are in the public domain.
The play of the game, however, was secondary to the interplay between Groucho, the contestants, and occasionally Fenneman. The program was rerun into the 1970s, and later in syndication as The Best of Groucho. As such, it was the first game show to have its reruns syndicated.
Remmember This Date is an American game show that aired on NBC from November 14, 1950 to June 28, 1951. The program is most notable for being the first daytime game show.
Down You Go is an American television game show originally broadcast on the DuMont Television Network. The Emmy Award-nominated series ran from 1951–1956 as a prime time series hosted by Dr. Bergen Evans. The program aired in eleven different timeslots during its five-year run.
Down You Go is one of only six series — along with The Arthur Murray Party; Pantomime Quiz; Tom Corbett, Space Cadet; The Ernie Kovacs Show; and The Original Amateur Hour — shown on all four major television networks of the Golden Age of Television: ABC, NBC, CBS, and DuMont.
The Big Payoff was a daytime and primetime game show that premiered on NBC in 1951, and ended its network run on CBS in 1959. It had a brief syndication revival in 1962. NBC used The Big Payoff to replace the 15-minute show Miss Susan starring Susan Peters, which had gone off the air in December 1951.
Contestants were selected from men who mailed in letters explaining why the women in their lives deserved prizes. The men were asked four questions in order to win prizes like a mink coat or a vacation. Late in the network run, the format changed to three competing couples. For the 1962 revival, there were only two couples.
On Tuesdays, the format changed to the "Little Big Payoff" in which children sent in a letter in which they voiced the reason that they should appear. Four questions were asked, and prizes awarded for each correct answer.
It was called the "Big Payoff" because when a contestant won they had the opportunity to answer one final question. Getting this question correct, the individual was awarded a "Mink Coat" and/or a trip to Europe. Bess Meyerson modeled the mink coat and escorted the contestants on stage. After all - this was live TV The theme song was "A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody" by Irving Berlin, and the sponsor was Revlon.
A panel tries to determine a contestant's secret: something that is unusual, amazing, embarrassing, or humorous about that person.
Two for the Money is an American game show television program which ran from 1952 to 1957. The show ran for one season on NBC, and four seasons on CBS. It was a Mark Goodson-Bill Todman production, and was initially sponsored by Old Gold cigarettes. Humorist Herb Shriner was the host for most of the show's run, with fellow humorist Sam Levenson hosting the last season.
Wheel of Fortune is an American game show hosted by Todd Russell which ran from 1952-1953 on CBS in both daytime and nighttime versions.
Name That Tune is an American television game show that put two contestants against each other to test their knowledge of songs. Premiering in the United States on NBC Radio in 1952, the show was created and produced by Harry Salter and his wife Roberta.
Name That Tune ran from 1953–1959 on NBC and CBS in prime time. The first hosts were Red Benson and later Bill Cullen, but George DeWitt became most identified with the show.
Richard Hayes also emceed a local edition from 1970–1971, which ran for 26 weeks in a small number of markets. However, the best-remembered syndicated Name That Tune aired once a week from 1974–1981 with host Tom Kennedy. The series was revived for daily syndication in 1984, and its lone season was hosted by Jim Lange. For the last two of these series, John Harlan served as announcer.
The centerpiece of each Name That Tune series was an orchestra, which would play the songs for the contestants to guess. The syndicated series' orchestras were conducted by Bob Alberti, Tommy Oliver, and Stan Worth. A second band, Dan Sawyer and the Sound System, was also featured from 1978–1981. Beginning in 1976 and continuing for the remainder of the weekly syndicated series, as well as for the entire 1984 run, the show's title became The $100,000 Name That Tune.
Judge for Yourself, at first subtitled The Fred Allen Show, is a Mark Goodson and Bill Todman nontraditional court show/quiz show, with comedian Fred Allen as the emcee. It aired on NBC from August 18, 1953 to May 11, 1954. Dennis James was the series announcer but took over as host in January 1954.
Each week three performers – singers, dancers, musicians, or comedians – were judged by two panels, one of professional entertainers and the other from the studio audience. If one of the amateur judges rated the acts 1, 2, or 3 in the same order as the celebrities, that individual would win a $1,000 prize. Two instrumental jazz groups that appeared on Judge for Yourself had considerable success thereafter, vibraphonist Terry Gibbs and the Marian McPartland Trio.
The original intent of the series was to allow Allen to interact with guests, much as Groucho Marx did on his own NBC series, You Bet Your Life. The complicated format first employed, however, was revamped in the middle of the season. On the episode which aired on January 5, 1954, the professional judges were dropped, and the studio audience panel rated new songs to predict future hits, the comparable format of ABC's Jukebox Jury, which also aired in the 1953–1954 season.
Back That Fact is a short-lived American game show that aired on ABC from October 22 to November 26, 1953. This was the first TV game show for creator/producers Jack Barry and Dan Enright. Borscht Belt comedian and syndicated columnist Joey Adams was the emcee, with actress Hope Lange and actor Al Kelly as his assistants and Carl Caruso as the announcer.
Back That Fact was broadcast from New York City.