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Truth or Consequences

Game Shows

About This Show

Truth or Consequences, an American quiz show, was originally hosted on NBC radio by Ralph Edwards (1940-57) and later on television by Edwards (1950-54), Jack Bailey (1954-55), Bob Barker (1956-75), Bob Hilton (1975-78) and Larry Anderson (1987-88). The television show ran on CBS, NBC and also in syndication. The premise of the show was to mix the original quiz element of game shows with wacky stunts.

The daily syndicated show was produced by Ralph Edwards Productions (later Ralph Edwards/Stu Billett Productions), in associated with and distributed by Metromedia Television (1966-78) and Lorimar-Telepictures (1987-88).

 The syndicated Truth or Consequences became the first successful first-run daily game show (as opposed to reruns) to not air on a network, having ended its NBC run in 1965.

Truth or Consequences was the first game show to air on commercially-licensed television, airing on the first day of WNBT's program schedule in 1941. This was a one-time experiment; Truth or Consequences did not appear on TV again until 1950, when the medium had caught on commercially.

On Truth or Consequences, Barker's signoff ended with the phrase, "Hoping all your consequences are happy ones."

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People Who Talked About This Show

  • Bob Barker
  • Irving Fein
  • Mort Lachman
  • Stanley Frazen

Featured Content

Video clip: 1966 segment of Truth or Consequences hosted by Bob Barker

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People Talking About This Show

  • Bob Barker
    • Bob Barker on getting the job hosting Truth or Consequences and how the show was structured
    • Bob Barker on hosting the gameshow Truth or Consequences
    • Bob Barker on Truth or Consequences being the first show produced for syndication (00m 47s)
    • Bob Barker in an early publicity photo taken for Truth or Consequences (00m 22s)
    • Bob Barker in a photo taken for Truth or Consequences
      (00m 29s)
  • Irving Fein
    • Manager Irving Fein on the contest done on Truth or Consequences to identify the "walking man," which became a national obsession (the "walking man" turned out to be Jack Benny) (02m 16s)
  • Stanley Frazen
    • Stanley Frazen on editing Truth or Consequences on CBS
  • Mort Lachman
    • Writer Mort Lachman on doing warmup on Truth or Consequences hosted by Ralph Edwards (01m 51s)
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  • Game Show Genres

    For more on TV GAME SHOWS, visit the Archive's Game Show Series reference page.

     

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