Wednesday, December 26, 2018

What Might've Been: The Big Surprise (1955)

The late newsman Mike Wallace was long associated with CBS. He'd hosted a game show pilot that later became To Tell The Truth, and, of course, anchored 60 Minutes for several years. He also hosted and narrated the original, David Wolper-produced Biography.

The only time Wallace did anything for a network not named CBS came in 1956, when he took over as host of NBC's The Big Surprise, a knock-off of CBS' The $64,000 Question. Surprise was originally hosted by Jack Barry, and, mind you, this was before the game show scandals forced quizzers like these, and Barry, off the air.

Jack Clark is the announcer, and this represents some of his earliest work. This sample episode features movie legend Errol Flynn.



It was quizzers like these that were parodied by Jackie Gleason on The Honeymooners. No matter what, you can't go wrong just answering simple questions that get harder as the prizes get bigger.....

Rating: A.

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