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Re: OT: Unbelievable Truth panel game

Messages in this topic: 5 View All
Robert TorresApr 19, 2009

I agree, from what I've read about people's general disdain for this panel game, it brings to my mind something that happened about 40 years ago on TV.

Jackie Gleason was enjoying doing movies for the most part, but was wondering if he could get back on TV by doing something easy, something that would be quick, and cheap, and not involve the rigorous type of schedules often attributed to sitcoms. In the early 60's, Game Shows seemed to be all the rage, so Jackie jumped on the bandwagon and created something called 'You're In the Picture'. It was an attempt to mirror the success of 'You Bet Your Life' a much more successful show hosted by the late Groucho Marx.

A four-member celebrity panel would stick their heads into a life-sized illustration of a famous scene or song lyric and then take turns asking yes/no questions to Gleason to try to figure out what scene they were a part of. If they were able to figure out the scene, 100 CARE Packages were donated in their name; if they were stumped, the packages were donated in Gleason's name.

To say that things went badly would be an understatement. The show was complete and utter crap, people seemed to have absolutely no grasp on how to play the game, people got confused, and things just fell apart so much that Gleason at one point threw up his hands in frustration and said 'How did I get mixed up in this?'

The show only ever had one airing, and basically was lambasted by critics across the board. The show was quickly scrapped, and the following week Gleason went on TV and delivered a half hour apology to the viewers, throughout which he rightly took the mickey out of the show he helped create.

I figured I'd bring this up to help illustrate the point that its definitely not easy to make a successful game show or a successful panel show.

--- On Sat, 4/18/09, Clitheroe Kid <clitheroekid@...> wrote:

From: Clitheroe Kid <clitheroekid@...>
Subject: [just-a-minute] OT: Unbelievable Truth panel game
To: just-a-minute@...
Date: Saturday, April 18, 2009, 8:08 PM

I'm an un-fan(?) of this new panel game.

You have to like the people who are on the panel, or like the chairman, in
order to stay with a show for 40 years, as we have with JAM. A format alone
is not enough.

I began listening to JAM simply because I liked Kenneth Williams. I enjoyed
"rooting for him" in the shows, and over a couple of years I gradually got
to know and like the other regular players.

Likewise, I enjoyed watching Call My Bluff because I liked Frank Muir. And I
enjoy Brain of Britain (which has *no* regular panellists) because I like
Robert Robinson.

I don't think you can like the format of a show, and follow it just because
of its format. The format is just the pretext for getting the people in the
show together. If the people are not interesting, the show won't capture the
involvement of the audience.

JAM worked because Kenneth Williams had lots of interesting things to say,
and was very witty with it. Derek Nimmo, Peter Jones & Clement Freud were
also people with a lot of experience, who could tell a good anecdote. Paul
Merton is a first class stand-up comedian.

If these people had been dull - if they had not had interesting
personalities in real life - it would not have mattered that they were great
actors when given someone else's script: the radio show would have failed.

You can't build a success out of a spontaneous panel game format, which
needs wit and improvisation and intelligence, without panellists who have
those qualities. That is why JAM and Clue have succeeded, and why other
panel games tend not to last.

Stephen

----- Original Message -----
From: "Dean Bedford" <dbedford@ihug. co.nz>
To: <just-a-minute@ yahoogroups. com>
Sent: Saturday, April 18, 2009 11:24 PM
Subject: [just-a-minute] unbelievable truth

> Just listening to this sort of update on Call My Bluff, with JAM-like
> buzzing.
>
> A very very strong cast but to me it's oddly lame and uninteresting. ..
>
> It's harder to get a panel game going than you might think, I guess.
>
> Anyone else a fan or un-fan of this show?
>
>
>
> ------------ --------- --------- ------
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>

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