Tattletales

Tattletales
Tattletales logo used in-show and on various merchandise.
Format	Game Show
Created by	Ira Skutch
Presented by	Bert Convy
Narrated by	Jack Clark (1974) Gene Wood (1974-1978) Johnny Olson (1982-1984)
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	1,075 (1974-1978, CBS)
Production
Running time	approx. 22-26 minutes
Production company(s)	Mark Goodson-Bill Todman Productions (1974-1978, 1982-1983) Mark Goodson Productions (1983-1984)
Distributor	Viacom Enterprises (1977-1978)
Broadcast
Original channel	CBS (1974-1978, 1982-1984) Syndicated (weekly, 1977-1978)
Original run	February 18, 1974 – June 1, 1984

Tattletales is a game show which first aired on the CBS daytime schedule on February 18, 1974. It was hosted by Bert Convy, with several announcers Jack Clark (for the first several weeks), Gene Wood (who served as main announcer, beginning in late 1974 onwards), Johnny Olson (who also served as main announcer on the 1982 version) and John Harlan providing the voiceover at various times. The show was based on a syndicated Goodson-Todman show aired during the 1969-1970 season, He Said, She Said.

The show's premise was based on questions asked about celebrity couples' personal and/or love lives.

Host

Bert Convy was awarded a Daytime Emmy for hosting the show in 1977. However, occasionally during the 1970s run, Bert Convy and his wife, Anne, would play the game. Most often they both played during weeks in which the panel was comprised entirely of other game show hosts and their spouses. Among the hosts who filled in for Convy during these episodes were Gene Rayburn, Bob Barker, Bobby Van, Jack Narz and Richard Dawson. All five hosts also participated in playing the game along with current and future hosts such as Allen Ludden, Bill Cullen, and Chuck Woolery.

Game play

The show went through two formats during its two stints on CBS, with the first featured only during the first month of the original run.

Format #1

Host Bert Convy.

In round one, while the husbands (sometimes the wives) are isolated in an enclosed room behind the main set, Convy asked their spouses two questions (usually they started with "It happened at..." and then Convy would complete the question). After each question was read, a wife/husband would buzz in to answer the question. Then after answering the question, the spouse who had buzzed in would then give a one- or two-word clue that her husband/his wife would recognize. Then the isolated spouses appeared on monitors in front of their wives/husbands. Host Convy would then ask the question to the husbands/wives, followed by the clue, after which the husband/wife who buzzed in first (with buzzers of their own in the isolation room) got the right to answer. Then if the husband's/wife's answer matched his wife's/her husband's, the couple won money for their rooting section, based on the length of the clue ($100 for a one-word clue and $50 for a two-word). After the questions, host Convy would then ask another question to the couples called a Tattletale Quickie (it was usually multiple-choice) in which all couples participated. On his/her turn, each wife/husband would answer the question, and then his/her spouse appeared and answered the same question. Each match on the quickie was worth $100. The roles were reversed in round two.

Format #2

By spring, Tattletales dropped the first part of the round in favor of all Tattletale Quickies for the entire half hour, thus no longer referring to them by that name. In addition, the scoring format changed; each question had a pot of $150. If two or all three couples matched, they split the pot ($75 for two couples & $50 for all three); but if only one couple matched, they got the whole pot. If nobody matched, the money was carried over to the next question, making the next question worth $300 (or $450). Again, the roles were reversed in round two. The final question was worth double, meaning $300 went to any one couple who matched, $150 to two and $100 to all three.

Money for Rooting Sections

In all versions, all three "rooting sections" (one-third of the studio audience, divided into the colors of red, yellow, and blue) divided the money their respective couples won for them. The couple with the most money at the end of the show won the game, earning their rooting section a bonus of $1,000. If the game ended in a tie between two or among all three couples, the bonus was split ($500 for two rooting sections, $334 for all three). In addition, one of the audience members in the winning section(s) was selected at random and received a set of prizes (which would usually be "consolation prizes" on shows where non-celebrity contestants competed).

Cash prizes on game shows are typically awarded to contestants in the form of a check, mailed weeks after a show has been taped. Because of the impracticality (e.g., postal costs) of doing this for an entire studio audience, Tattletales kept a check-cutting machine in the studio and distributed the money to the audience members on their way out immediately after the show.

Celebrities

The guest couples on the premiere episode of Tattletales were Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara, Bobby Van and Elaine Joyce, and Dick Gautier and Barbara Stuart. Among the other celebrities that played the game were Jay Leno and his wife, Michael J. Fox and his girlfriend, Leslie Nielsen and his wife, Tommy Lasorda and As the World Turns co-stars Meg Ryan and Frank Runyeon. The 1980s version did not always use married couples, occasionally featuring special weeks with teams consisting of TV couples, best friends, parent-child, and other combinations. Actor Dick Sargent and comedian/author Fannie Flagg appeared on the show as a couple, though both were gay. Flagg was not introduced as Sargent's wife or girlfriend, or even friend, but rather "his lady".

Broadcast history

CBS placed Tattletales at 4:00 PM Eastern (3:00 Central) on February 18, 1974, replacing the long-running serial The Secret Storm. It formed the last third of an afternoon game show block that also included The Price is Right and the ratings-leading Match Game '74.^[1]

The scores on a 1970s episode.

CBS later moved Tattletales to the 11:00 AM (10:00 Central) slot on June 16, 1975, and then to 3:30 PM (2:30 Central) on August 18, 1975, filling a gap left by Price's return to mornings. However, by Thanksgiving, TT had returned to its original timeslot.^[1]

Celebrities on the 1980s version.

On December 12, 1977 CBS moved Tattletales to the 10:00 AM (9:00 Central) slot in a scheduling shuffle with Price and Match Game '77. Despite airing before Price and airing opposite reruns of Sanford and Son on NBC, Tattletales gradually began to lose viewers and ran its 1,075th and final show on March 31, 1978, giving way to Pass the Buck. Goodson-Todman contracted with Viacom to distribute a weekly syndicated version beginning in September 1977. Few stations were interested in a nighttime Tattletales, however, and it only lasted one season.^[1]

In 1981, CBS asked Mark Goodson to bring Tattletales back, and it returned with host Convy on January 18, 1982. This time the network left the game alone, allowing it to hold the 4:00 PM (3:00 Central) slot until June 1, 1984, when Goodson tried another format, Body Language.

Pilot

In 1972, a TV pilot was produced for what eventually become Tattletales. The pilot was named Celebrity Matchmates and was emceed by Gene Rayburn, who at the time was hosting CBS's Amateur's Guide to Love. By the time the pilot was successfully sold to the network in early 1974, Rayburn was already hosting Match Game, which in the mid-1970s usually preceded Tattletales on the CBS afternoon lineup; Bert Convy got the job instead (although Rayburn and his wife were frequent guests on the show, and he even filled in as host during a 1974 week when Convy and his wife played the game).

Episode status

All three versions of Tattletales remain intact, but only a portion have been seen GSN: episodes of the CBS run from 1974 and 1975, and several months of the 1982-1984 run.

External links

• Curt Alliaume's Tattletales Page
• Tattletales (1974) at the Internet Movie Database
• Tattletales (1982) at the Internet Movie Database

References