As TV began to eclipse radio around 1950, it transformed the quiz-show into an entirely new brand of theatre, with an ever-changing cast of unlikely folk-heroes, acquiring unheard-of wealth in one climactic moment, as millions watched. And the sponsors quickly realised that the climax was everything. If the contestants could not answer enough questions, there was no show. So they had to be given a little discreet help.
It started small, when one early whistleblower came across a list of answers left lying around in the Green Room. But as the ratings grew, so did the incentives to falsify. One producer introduced elements of soap-opera, presenting the contestants as particular human types, with suitable costume and makeover (to get the audience siding with the winner, who would reflect the sponsor's brand-values).
A landmark was reached when Time Magazine featured one of the winners on its front cover - an astonishing first. And then another landmark, when President Eisenhower commented on the quiz-shows in public... but not in order to praise them. A new whistleblower had been able to prove that a contest had been rigged, by mailing a set of answers to himself in advance, with the date confirmed by postmark. And the old president issued a stinging rebuke to the TV channels about their shameful betrayal of public trust - just as the courts were declaring that rigging was not actually illegal! A storm of protest ensured that the law was changed, but then suddenly it was the sixties and quiz-shows had become yesterday's fare.
This makes a less-usual topic for 'Mysteries and Scandals', but A.J. Benza reassures us that next week, we'll be back in that 'state of mind called Hollywood'.
It started small, when one early whistleblower came across a list of answers left lying around in the Green Room. But as the ratings grew, so did the incentives to falsify. One producer introduced elements of soap-opera, presenting the contestants as particular human types, with suitable costume and makeover (to get the audience siding with the winner, who would reflect the sponsor's brand-values).
A landmark was reached when Time Magazine featured one of the winners on its front cover - an astonishing first. And then another landmark, when President Eisenhower commented on the quiz-shows in public... but not in order to praise them. A new whistleblower had been able to prove that a contest had been rigged, by mailing a set of answers to himself in advance, with the date confirmed by postmark. And the old president issued a stinging rebuke to the TV channels about their shameful betrayal of public trust - just as the courts were declaring that rigging was not actually illegal! A storm of protest ensured that the law was changed, but then suddenly it was the sixties and quiz-shows had become yesterday's fare.
This makes a less-usual topic for 'Mysteries and Scandals', but A.J. Benza reassures us that next week, we'll be back in that 'state of mind called Hollywood'.