The New ‘To Tell the Truth’ and the Roots of a TV Classic

Photo: ABC

A new version of the venerable TV game show To Tell the Truth premieres tonight on ABC. It’s hosted by black-ish’s Anthony Anderson, and is a direct descendant of the first incarnation of the show, which aired on CBS and in syndication for a long time: 1956 to 1977.

To Tell The Truth was such a success because, like all good game shows, it has a simple premise: Three contestants claim to be the same person. It’s up to a panel of celebrities to determine who’s lying, and which one is telling the truth. The show was originally produced by the great game-show team of Mark Goodson and Bill Todman, who also oversaw such early-TV classic game shows as The Price Is Right, What’s My Line?, and I’ve Got a Secret.

The pilot for To Tell the Truth was hosted by a pre-60 Minutes Mike Wallace, who then declined to continue the show when it was picked up as a series. Walter Cronkite was then offered the job, and he wanted to do it, but CBS wouldn’t let him. (It’s like I always say, kids: TV news anchors have always been entertainers, rarely real journalists.)

Truth’s most long-running host ended up being Budd Collyer, a popular announcer. (Fun fact: he was also the voice of Superman on the radio and in its cartoon version.) Regular panelists included the always elegant Kitty Carlisle, an impish Johnny Carson, and a lovely Betty White, who can be seen here in an episode in which the panel had to guess which little boy was America’s national marbles-shooting champion.

Those were more innocent times, weren’t they? It’s common to lament the decline in classiness among Celebrities These Days, and certainly there’s no regular TV personality around in 2016 to match Kitty Carlisle for finishing-school polish. But I’m not a nostalgist for that stuff, which is really a form of snobbism; no, I like the old game shows because at their best they featured spontaneous conversation between the panelists and the hosts, and the shows offer a vivid glimpse of the vast variety of American life more than half-a-century ago. The most glaring omission, of course, is a big one: diversity. The Steve Harveys and Anthony Andersons of a previous era would never have been allowed to host a game show in the ‘50s and ‘60s. The black man who should have done just that — Nipsey Russell — was one of the most popular game show guests of that era.

ABC hasn’t released advance screeners of the new To Tell the Truth to critics, but from the clips that are available, I fear this 21st century Truth will be a more sexed-up, risqué version, much like what has happened to Family Feud under the hosting duties of Steve Harvey. Just look at this Truth clip — featuring, once again, a lovely Betty White — which is all about (tee-hee! Oh my, aren’t we naughty?) sexting:

I confess to a fondness for going back in time occasionally to watch the old game shows from the 1950s and ’60s. The Game Show Network used to air a lot of them, but, alas, that channel has disowned its great past. Instead, see if your cable system has the Buzzr channel, a superb outlet that airs daily reruns of To Tell the Truth, What’s My Line?, and the prime years of The Match Game, when Charles Nelson Reilly, Richard Dawson, and Gene Rayburn and his pencil-thin microphone ruled the airways. Match Game is also getting an update later this summer, with Alec Baldwin as the host. If Baldwin brings the playfulness he deploys on his SNL hosting gigs, he’ll be great. In the meantime, here’s hoping the new To Tell the Truth is more than just a succession of smutty untruths.

To Tell the Truth airs Tuesday nights at 8 p.m. on ABC.