Classic TV: Password (1961)

It is the simplest of games, a word association game that became the last of Goodson-Todman's "Big 4" game shows (along with What's My Line?, To Tell The Truth, & I've Got a Secret) to land on CBS, which was also home to Beat The Clock.

Password launched in 1961, with Allen Ludden (ex-GE College Bowl) as host. The format was simple, two contestants, each paired with a celebrity partner, competed for cash & prizes by guessing simple words. The series began on weekday afternoons, and spawned a nighttime version, which began as a mid-season replacement in January 1962.

However, a network decision in 1966 proved to be costly. When CBS decided to cover a Congressional hearing on the Vietnam War, while NBC & ABC didn't, it cost Password a large chunk of its fan base, which moved on to ABC's newly minted Newlywed Game. A year later, then-programming chief Fred Silverman, who wasn't a fan, cancelled the series as co-executive producer Mark Goodson opposed a permanent move to Hollywood, which the network wanted so they could continue to produce the show in full color, something they weren't able to do in New York at the time.

Four years later, after syndicated reruns of the series produced high ratings, ABC approached Goodson about reviving Password, which ran for four years, including a jump-the-shark moment in which the iconic series went to an all-celebrity format, rechristened Password All-Stars. Again, viewers turned away in droves. Another format change, whilst retaining the All-Stars set, only postponed the inevitable, and Password ended its 2nd daytime run in 1975.

We'll deal with the later revivals another time. Right now, let's take you back to 1964, as Lucille Ball & family play:



Announcer Jack Clark was one of a number of fill-in hosts for Ludden, who also had an opportunity to play the game himself while actress-wife Betty White took his place as MC during the ABC era, getting her first initiation as a game show host. Clark would later land a couple of hosting gigs of his own, including The Cross-Wits in 1975.

Of course, as everyone knows, Ludden guest-starred as himself on The Odd Couple as Felix (Tony Randall) & Oscar (Jack Klugman) played the game. It helped, obviously, that Randall & Klugman had both previously appeared on Password, and Klugman famously did a week during the ABC era with then-wife Brett Somers, later of Match Game.

Rating: A.