"Twenty-One" (1956) TV series 1956-1958

User Rating:

8.6/10   

Release Date:

15 September 1956 (USA)

Genre:

Game-Show

Plot:

Two contestants were placed in separate isolation booths. Each player in turn would be given a category and asked how many points...

Plot Keywords:

Quiz Show | Non Fiction | Number In Title

Cast

Jack Barry	...	Host
Herb Stempel	...	Himself / Contestant (1956-1957)
Charles Van Doren	...	Himself / Contestant (1957-1958)

Runtime:

30 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:TV-G

Filming Locations:

NBC Studios - 30 Rockefeller Plaza, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Jack Barry-Dan Enright Productions

Trivia:

The scandal surrounding Charles Van Doren (he was given the answers and won several weeks in a row) was made into a movie: Quiz Show (1994)

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Mystery Science Theater 3000: Prince of Space (#9.16)" (1997)

The show that ended an era

In its heyday, Twenty-One was more than a game show. It was a cultural icon, a symbol of hope and inspiration for the millions who gathered around the TV to watch it. It thrust Professor Charles van Doren into the spotlight as a sort of intellectual Everyman, and he too became an icon of the values and morality of the 1950s.

Which made it all the more heartbreaking when it all came crashing down (as immortalized in Robert Redford's brilliant film 'Quiz Show'). The whole show was proven to be rigged and faked; the contestants frauds, van Doren included; the whole nation ended shocked and ultimately disappointed.

Twenty-One, which exists now mostly as a symbol, marked the demise of the era and the decline of morality.