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Revision as of 04:03, 20 March 2006 by 205.188.117.13 (talk) (→Notes)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Tattletales was a game show which first aired on the CBS daytime schedule on February 18, 1974, replacing long-running soap opera The Secret Storm.
The show revolved around the emcee, Bert Convy, asking celebrity couples personal questions about their personal or love lives.
Gameplay
The show went through two formats throughout its run.
Format 1
In round one while the husbands (sometimes the wives) are isolated, their wives were asked two questions (usually they started with "It happened at..." and then Convy would complete the question). After each question was read, a wife would buzz in to answer the question. Then after answering the question, the wife who had buzzed in would then give a one- or two-word clue that her husband would recognize. Then the isolated husbands appeared on monitors in front of their wives. Host Convy would then ask the question of the husbands followed by the clue after which the husband who buzzed in first (with buzzers of their own) got to answer. Then if the husband's answer matched his wife's they won money for their rooting section based on how long the clue is ($100 for a one-word clue and $50 for a two-word). After the questions, host Convy would then ask another question of 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
Later in the run, they changed formats to have all Tattletale Quickies in one half hour (because of this they didn't need to call them Tattletale Quickies anymore). In addition, the scoring format changed; each question had a pot of $150. If two or all three matched they split the pot ($75 for two couples & $50 for all three); but if only one matched, they got the whole pot. Again the roles were reversed in round two. The final question was worth double meaning $300 went to the one couple who matched, $150 for two and $100 for all three.
In all versions all rooting sections got to divide the money the couple won for them. The couple with the most money won the game and the rooting section got a bonus of $1000. If the game ended in a tie between two or all three couples, the bonus was split ($500 for two rooting sections, $334 for all three).
Notes
The show was based on another Goodson-Todman show, He Said, She Said.
Tattletales was very lucrative for the network and ran for 1075 episodes until it ended on March 31, 1978. Convy was awarded a Daytime Emmy for his work in 1977.
A syndicated version of the show ran from 1977 to 1978. A revival of the show in daytime started broadcasts on January 18, 1982 and ran until June 1, 1984.
Occasionally during the 70s run, Bert Convy and his wife, Anne, would play the game, most often during weeks in which the panel was comprised entirely of other game show hosts and their spouses; among the hosts who filled in for Bert during these episodes were Gene Rayburn, Bob Barker, Bobby Van, Jack Narz and Richard Dawson.
The 80s version didn't always use couples, occasionally having special weeks with teams consisting of best friends, parent-child, etc.
For the first few years, Tattletales was occassionally sponsored by products from American Home Products (owners of American Home Foods, Boyle-Midway, and Whitehall Labratories), which previously sponsored the soap opera The Secret Storm that was in the 4 PM time slot taken over by Tattletales.
The show was rerun on the Game Show Network for many years.