Same Show, Different Host: "To Tell the Truth" with Joe Garagiola

[okpapereat]

wheres anderson cooper?

[wmbrown6]

UPDATE: The syndicated "TTTT" moved back to WPIX for the 1978-79 season to run the Garagiola-hosted episodes that had not been aired in the New York market up to that point. It was one of three or four shows aired in one big block in place of "The Eight O'Clock Movie" at that time (a block which also included such programs as "Tic Tac Dough" and "You Don't Say").

[cutterTML]

Garagiola was a top announcer after he played several years in the MLB, notably with the Cardinals.

[joebradio]

I thought Steve Douglas was the dad on My Three Sons.. oh well.

[novelman2]

Fred MacMurray played the role of Steve Douglas, the father on "My Three Sons."

[wmbrown6]

Alas, by the time Garagiola became permanent host, Mr. Wendell was replaced as "TTTT" announcer by Alan Kalter - the same chap who later replaced Mr. Wendell on David Letterman's "Late Show."

[EarlSnohomish]

Was this airing on WCBS by the time Garagiola started hosting it? I know "To Tell the Truth" aired on WNEW and WPIX in NYC before Channel 2 started running the program, but I don't remember exactly what years each station ran this fine game show.

[wmbrown6]

WCBS certainly had "TTTT" by 1976, in Garry Moore's last months as host (an 11 Alive "Next" bumper for "TTTT" notwithstanding). But there was one other station that ran the syndie "TTTT": WNBC-TV, on Saturday evenings, in 1972-73, just before WPIX got it. This was most ironic, given that by then "TTTT" was taped at NBC studios.

[EarlSnohomish]

I don't remember it on Saturday nights back then. I guess they were watching something else at the time. We always watched "The Price is Right" with Dennis James before "Emergency" came on, however.

[tomkes100douchebag]

@wmbrown6 I don't ever remember WNBC running TTTT. I thought it was on WNEW 5. There is nothing ironic about the show being on any station, network or otherwise, because GT only rented the NBC facilities during those years, where TTTT was taped mostly on Tuesdays and WML on Thursdays.

[wmbrown6]

@tomkes100douchebag - WNEW was the first station to run "TTTT" in its syndicated incarnation. WNBC was the next to have a go, followed by WPIX (in 1973-75), then WCBS, and back to WPIX as was seen in the 1978-79 season with the final Garagiola-hosted episodes.

[tomkes100douchebag]

@wmbrown6 Now you are surprising me even more. I know about NEW and PIX, but when did Channel 2 run it? As I recall, they totally disrespected WML by putting it on weekdays at 1PM, so I can't imagine where they would have slotted TTTT.

[wmbrown6]

@tomkes100douchebag - From what I could tell, WCBS ran "TTTT" from about 1976 to '78 in the mornings, towards the end of the Garry Moore era. While the syndie "WML?" ran at 1 P.M. for most of its run there, in its last months on the air (up to early '76, when they reached the end of the run of episodes prior to its 1975 cancellation), "WML?", I.I.N.M., aired at 9 or 9:30 A.M.  I think they put "TTTT" on there after "WML?" finally ended.

[tomkes100douchebag]

I think you are correct in that for a brief period right at the end of its run Channel 2 did broadcast WML in the 9 AM hour BUT I am still not convinced TTTT was on Channel 2. I am almost certain that the show continued to serve as Merv Griffin's NEW lead-in through the final '78 year. You might be interested to know that within a week or two of Art Carney's '75 Oscar win for '74 WCBS actually did a one time only 7:30 PM fill in with him as the mystery guest. Other than that, they neglected it.

[tomkes100douchebag]

@wmbrown6 BTW, this is all rather esoteric material we are discussing. Mind if I ask what your source(s) is? Are you a tv history fanatic? Are/were you in the biz? I can reveal to you I actually had a personal connection to WML and was actually present for most of the final two years' tapings in 73 and 4.

[wmbrown6]

@tomkes100douchebag - Actually, it was old New York Times listings cached in Google News Archive. That, and on the TV Production Music Museum website, there are slides of "TTTT" with Garry Moore and the panel, with the title set in Serif Gothic Bold - the font used by Channel 2 for many years starting in 1973, and in the same layout as the "Channel 2 News" slide on an 'eyeh8nbc' video from 1978 of one of the late night news updates read by staff announcers.

[tomkes100douchebag]

@wmbrown6 Thank you, these sound like interesting resources, I hope I can access them. I must have been sleeping on TTTT at the time. Fact is WML was my obsession and I only went to see two TTTT tapings which were in a much smaller studio than WML's 8H, I think it was on the 6th floor. These many years later, only the anticipation of the mystery guest makes WML more appealing than TTTT. Now I can appreciate, overall, TTTT was a much more intriguing concept hands down. Let me share this CTD

[tomkes100douchebag]

ctd to wmbrowne6/ with you. Of all the MG's I saw many who I was able to meet, I actually was not present during a week in which both Sammy Davis Jr and Milton Berle appeared in '74. I wish folks who have those and many other syndicated MG appearances would post them. I can also tell you that Arlene Francis was the real deal. An absolutely genuine class act all the way. Got to know her personally. Loved her and still do! Blyden was reserved but nice, Sales not so much.

[wmbrown6]

@tomkes100douchebag - Also, it seems that for a time in 1974, WPIX ran newer "TTTT" episodes weeknights, while WNBC had pre-1972 episodes on Saturdays.

[tomkes100douchebag]

@wmbrown6 Saturdays at what time?

[wmbrown6]

@tomkes100douchebag - From what I recall, 7 P.M. after the "NBC Saturday News" with Garrick Utley.

[tomkes100douchebag]

@wmbrown6 What did they do with the other four shows? Overnight? Not air at all? Eat those costs?

[wmbrown6]

@tomkes100douchebag - Again, WNBC had the earlier syndie episodes from the circa 1972 period, stretched out over a few years since they only aired it once a week, while WPIX ran the newer episodes on weeknights.

[tomkes100douchebag]

@wmbrown6 Oh, so that's what you meant!! That's amazing! Now if I'm WPIX am I gonna go along with that? Since I bought the show, aren't I supposed to have an exclusive within the same market? Plus, why would Channel 4 do that, why not just do an extra showing of something they already had or even yield the slot to a public affairs program, wasn't Arlene doing Prime of Your Life, and didn't they also have one of the early roundtable political shows back then?

[wmbrown6]

@tomkes100douchebag - Ms. Francis co-hosted "The Prime of Your Life" in the early to mid-1980's, in what was her final major TV gig; she replaced, of all people, Pia Lindstrom (a former "WML?" guest panelist on one of the 1966-67 CBS shows as well as two different weeks on the syndicated version in its first season) as co-host with Joe Michaels (famous for his Channel 4 editorials). As for public affairs shows, they usually aired on Sunday mornings/early afternoons.

[tomkes100douchebag]

@wmbrown6 I thought Dr. Frank Field was her co-host. Plus, didn't channel 4 air the early McLaughlin Report on Saturdays at 7:30 PM during the early 80's, that's what I was getting at. 7 to 8 on Saturdays was pretty much dead air. I thought another local station put Agronsky and Company on during that time period as well.

[wmbrown6]

@tomkes100douchebag - Channel 4 was home to "The McLaughlin Group" all right. "Agronsky & Company" aired on WOR-TV. This was one of the things RKO put on Channel 9 while it was fighting for its license for the station.

[tomkes100douchebag]

@wmbrown6 It looks like Frank Field was a co-host on Not for Women Only even though I still think he was a contributor to Arlene's show. I remember them sitting together on screen. Plus, I remember Joe Michaels, he was bald or balding. Pia Lindstom, of course spent several years as a feture reporter for WNBC, so she was already in-house.

[zymaymyn]

Is that Bill Wendell (Late Night with David Letterman) as the announcer?

[AdamNedeff]

Yes. And this is Dave's NBC studio, actually.