In honor of ‘Quiz Lady’: Revisiting one of TV’s most infamous game shows
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In the new Hulu comedy-drama “Quiz Lady,” the shy Anne (Awkwafina) has found solace since childhood from her irresponsible mother, MIA father and her boring job watching a “Jeopardy”-esque game show every weeknight. And she even envisions the host (Will Ferrell) as a father figure. Though game show fans don’t usually have such high drama in their lives, most of the contestants on “Jeopardy!” and “Wheel of Fortune” are literally lifelong aficionados. But not every quiz or game show is a “Jeopardy!” “Wheel of Fortune” or even a “Family Feud.”
There have been a lot of quiz and game show series that were offbeat, short-lived or downright hideous, like CBS’ “You’re in the Picture,” which premiered Jan. 20, 1961, the same night as President John F. Kennedy’s inauguration. The show was hosted by none other than Jackie Gleason, who was one of the biggest stars on the Tiffany Network thanks to the “The Jackie Gleason Show” and the landmark “The Honeymooners,” which is still seen in syndication. And Gleason was riding high when he took on the hosting duties of “You’re in the Picture.” He had starred on Broadway in 1959-60 in “Take Me Along,” the musical version of Eugene O’Neill’s “Ah! Wilderness,” winning the Tony for best actor in a musical.
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“You’re in the Picture,” created by Don Lipp and Bob Synes, was supposed to demonstrate Gleason’s versatility beyond Ralph Kramden. Johnny Olson was the announcer; game show vet Dennis James did the commercials for Kellogg’s. Check out clips on YouTube, you can watch Gleason lose patience and smoke one too many cigarettes as the episode progresses.
Pat Harrington Jr., Pat Carroll, Jan Sterling and Arthur Treacher were the panelists situated behind a gigantic comic cutout that resembled those puzzles on “Concentration.” They stuck their heads and sometimes their hands through the picture and attempted to guess what the picture was by asking Gleason questions. The strange thing is the studio audience was laughing. But no one was laughing at home, especially the critics.
The following week announcer Olson declared “Jackie Gleason! In…what will probably prove to be a very unusual program!” He was right. The sound stage was stripped down to the bricks save for the orchestra and Gleason, sitting in a chair smoking cigarette after cigarette and drinking “coffee”- at one point he says, “I’m drinking this new coffee called Chock Full O’ Booze.” Save for commercials for L & M cigarettes-the brand he was smoking-and Kellogg’s, the Great One spent the next half hour apologizing for the show.
“There’s nothing here, except the orchestra and myself…We have a creed tonight, and the creed is honesty…Last week we did a show that laid the biggest bomb-it would make the H-bomb look like a two-inch salute.”
Time declared it “an inspiring post-mortem” on “how it was possible for a group of trained people to put on so big a flop.” The magazine would later say “You’re in the Picture” was one of the main reasons why the 1960-61 season was the worst in television history. And in 2002, TV Guide ranked it No. 9 in its 50 worst TV series.
Kellogg’s pulled out after the apology show. And because Gleason was committed to doing a half-hour series, he turned “You’re in the Picture” into a talk/interview series aptly titled “The Jackie Gleason Show,” which ended on March 24, 1961.
“You’re in the Picture” certainly didn’t hurt the Great One’s career. After “The Jackie Gleason Show” ended he went to work on the masterpiece “The Hustler,” for which he received an Oscar nomination for supporting actor for his memorable dramatic turn as Minnesota Fats. The following year, he headlined the comedy-variety series “Jackie Gleason: American Scene Magazine,” which ran until 1966; a new “The Jackie Gleason Show” ran from 1966-70.
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