1. Quiz shows and westerns 1955-1960
RTV 3007 • Intro to Television

2. The rise and fall of the quiz show
Radio quiz shows like The $64 Question popular in the 1930s and 1940s.
The FCC ruled that TV game shows with prizes were a kind of gambling, and banned them.
the Supreme Court ruled that TV game shows with prizes should be allowed,
the first high-stakes Quiz show was created: the $64,000 Question.
it was the highest-rated TV show ever

3. Revlon’s $64,000 Question
The $64,000 Question made the Revlon Cosmetics Company. om/watch?v=dl8h6GtF 5Qg

4. The rise and fall of the quiz show
Many new quiz shows were created after the success of The $64,000 Question: 21, High-Low, Tic-Tac-Dough
Most shows were rigged. Sponsors, like Revlon, would tell the producers which contestant should win.
When it was revealed that the shows were rigged, the presidents of CBS and NBC were asked to testify before Congress
Trailer of Quiz Show Documentary
In 1960, Congress amended the Communications Act to ban the practice of fixing TV game shows.

5. Fallout from the quiz show scandals
Popularity of Quiz shows tanked. The $64,000 Question went from No. 1 to No. 20 overa few weeks.
Networks were anxious to prevent shows being perceived as “staged” or“fixed.”
Murrow’s show Person to Person was cancelled because some of the interviews were rehearsed and some of the shots staged.
Panel game shows replaced quiz shows: Password, What’s My Line.
Producer Merv Griffin created a new game show where contestants were given the answers and had to guess the question.

6. Fallout from the quiz show scandals
Short clip of 1964 Jeopardy pilot with host Art Fleming
Jeopardy Jeopardy Think Music
Jeopardy Think Music

7. Television goes Western
Cheyenne showed a romanticized image of an earlier America, and becomes a big hit and is quickly followed by other Westerns: P7OX3Ri_5IgfwHMJ3s
Gunsmoke 1955 pilot
Bonanza 1959 pilot
Westerns were one of the first most popular US TV exports. Raised issues of “US cultural hegemony” around the world.