Classic Television - Weekdays

To Tell the Truth

Original channel

Syndicated (1969–78, 1980–1, 2000–2)

Original run

December 18, 1956 – March 15, 2002

Presented by

Garry Moore (1969–77)

Joe Garagiola (1977–8)

Robin Ward (1980–1)

Gordon Elliott (1990)

Lynn Swann (1990–1)

Alex Trebek (1991)

John O'Hurley (2000–2)

To Tell the Truth is an American television panel game show created by Bob Stewart and produced by Goodson-Todman Productions that has aired in various forms since 1956 both on networks and in syndication. Along with The Price Is Right, Let's Make a Deal, The Newlywed Game, and Jeopardy!, it is one of five game shows in the United States to have aired at least one new episode in at least six consecutive decades. A total of 25 seasons of the various versions of To Tell The Truth have been produced, tying that of What's My Line? and surpassing the 20 of I've Got a Secret.

The show features a panel of four celebrities attempting to correctly identify a described contestant who has an unusual occupation or experience. This central character is accompanied by two impostors who pretend to be the central character. The celebrity panelists question the three contestants; the impostors are allowed to lie but the central character is sworn "to tell the truth". After questioning, the panel attempts to identify which of the three challengers is telling the truth and is thus the central character.

1969–1978, Syndication

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To Tell The Truth returned only a year later, in autumn of 1969, in first-run syndication. During the early years of its run, the syndicated Truth became a highly-rated component of stations' early-evening schedules after the Federal Communications Commission imposed the Prime Time Access Rule in 1971, opening up at least a half hour (a full hour, usually, on Eastern Time Zone stations) to fill with non-network fare between either the local or network evening newscast and the start of the network's prime time schedule for the evening. Still other stations found success running the program in place of a daytime network game or soap opera, or in the afternoon "fringe" time period between the end of network daytime programming at 4:30/3:30 Central and the evening newscasts. This edition of the show was again based at the New York CBS-TV Studio 50 until 1971, when it moved to NBC Studio 6-A in Rockefeller Center.

Each wrong vote in this version was worth $50 to the challengers. Fooling the entire panel won the challengers a total of $500. There were two games per episode, and there was often a live demonstration or video to illustrate the contestant's story after many of the games.

The show was first released to local stations on September 8, 1969, on the same day original emcee Bud Collyer died of complications from a circulatory disorder. A total of 1,715 episodes of this version were produced, with the series ending on September 7, 1978. Some markets that added the series after its 1969 release opted to carry the show for another season or two in order to catch up on the episodes that had not aired in their viewing area.

According to Garry Moore, the first choice of producers Mark Goodson and Bill Todman was the host of the original version of the show, Bud Collyer. He declined due to his ailing health, saying "I'm just not up to it." Garry Moore was then called, and he came out of retirement to host the show until 1977. Regular panelists included Orson Bean during the first year, Peggy Cass, Kitty Carlisle and Bill Cullen, who substituted for Moore when needed. Many regulars from the original run appeared, including Tom Poston and Bert Convy.

In late 1976, Moore was diagnosed with throat cancer. His place was taken originally by Bill Cullen. However, Mark Goodson noted how Cullen being the host and not a panelist hurt the chemistry he had with Cass and Carlisle. Joe Garagiola was then hired and took over on an interim basis, stating that he was "pinch-hitting" for Moore. At the beginning of the 1977–1978 season, Moore appeared for one final time to explain his sudden absence, banter with the panel after the first game, and formally hand the show over permanently to Garagiola. Moore's introduction that day prompted a loud applause and standing ovation. After this episode, Garagiola hosted the program for the remaining season of its run.

Johnny Olson stayed with To Tell The Truth when it moved to syndication. He left in 1972, when he moved to Los Angeles to announce the Goodson-Todman revivals of The Price Is Right and I've Got a Secret. NBC staff announcer Bill Wendell replaced Olson from 1972–1977, with Alan Kalter taking over during the final season. Don Pardo, also an NBC staff announcer, served as backup announcer to Wendell and Kalter.

To Tell The Truth used three distinctive sets throughout its nine-year syndicated run. The first, designed by Theodore Cooper and dubbed by some as the "psychedelic" set was used for the first two seasons and the first four weeks of the third; with one man on the door a toned-down set with two additional men added on the door was used from the fifth week of the third season through the first 30 weeks of the fourth. The longest-lived set — a blue-hued, gold-accented, block-motif set — was used for the remainder of the run, also designed by Cooper. The show was the only edition of Truth to feature a theme song with lyrics. The theme was written and composed by Score Productions chief Robert A. Israel and Truth producer Paul Alter, along with veteran theme composer Charles Fox. The bulk of this version is intact. However, the current status of the first season is unknown, and is presumed to be lost to wiping. GSN has never rerun the first season of the show, and had always begun with the second season. One episode from the first season exists in the UCLA Television and Film Archive.