To Tell the Truth 

Classic game show in which a person of some notoriety and two impostors try to match wits with a panel of four celebrities. The object of the game is to try to fool the celebrities into ... See full summary »

Stars:

Bud Collyer, Kitty Carlisle, Tom Poston

Nominated for 1 Primetime Emmy.

Cast

Series cast summary:
Bud Collyer	...	Himself - Host / ... 453 episodes, 1956-1968
Kitty Carlisle	...	Herself - Panelist 383 episodes, 1957-1968
Tom Poston	...	Himself - Panelist 317 episodes, 1959-1967

Storyline

Classic game show in which a person of some notoriety and two impostors try to match wits with a panel of four celebrities. The object of the game is to try to fool the celebrities into voting for the two impostors. Each wrong vote would be worth $250 ($100 in the daytime version).

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Plot Keywords:

celebrity | panel | deception | guessing game | quiz | 

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Genres:

Family | Game-Show

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Certificate:

TV-G

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

1956 (USA)

Filming Locations:

CBS Television City - 7800 Beverly Boulevard, Fairfax, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Mark Goodson-Bill Todman Productions, CBS Television Network

Technical Specs

Runtime:

25 min (1962-1968) 30 min (1956-1967)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White (1956-1966) Color (1967-1968)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

To Tell the Truth (1956) was missing from the CBS fall lineup in September 1966 after ten years on the air. The show returned on December 12, 1966, to the Monday lineup, where it had aired for six years. However, its time slot changed from 7:30 PM Eastern to 10:00 PM Eastern. It replaced the canceled The Jean Arthur Show (1966), a new sitcom which had lasted less than three months on the network.

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Quotes

[last lines spoken each episode]
Host Bud Collyer: [says goodnight to the panel, then faces the camera] Bud Collyer saying goodnight from >>name of sponsor<< and
[points right index finger at camera]
Host Bud Collyer: reminding you to tell the truth.
[waves at camera]
Host Bud Collyer: Good night, everybody.

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Alternate Versions

Also available in a computer colorized version.

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Connections

Referenced in The Dick Van Dyke Show: You're Under Arrest (1965)

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Soundtracks

To Tell The Truth 1967
(1967-1968)
(Theme 3)
Performed by The Score Production Band (In Vocals)

User Reviews

Classic

My rating of "eight" refers to the Bud Collyer-hosted version from the '60s which I've been watching lately on Buzzr. I haven't really kept up with the show in its recent permutations.

I watched the show back in the day and loved it. I really like the re-runs today of the old programs; they're irresistible in terms of audience participation. Collyer is one of the two or three greatest game show hosts ever IMO - good-natured, disciplined, absolutely real. I believe he was quite a spiritual man and wrote a book or two about his faith. The go-to panel for me was (from left) Tom Poston, Peggy Cass, Orson Bean (who veered in his lifetime from being a disciple of Wilhelm Reich to being a fundamentalist Christian), and Kitty Carlisle; this panel got locked into place at some point in about '65 after a fair amount of experimentation and quite a few not-so-good panelists. (Buzzr rarely plays a show from 1964-65-66 - is it because they have trouble getting clearances from companies who sponsored the show then but don't want their old-fashioned ads shown today?) Don Ameche was a frequent panelist circa 1962; he often became Mr. Inquisitor, with a harsh tone to his questioning - Don, baby, it's a game show! Polly Bergen made a bit too much of her ditziness (ironically, she later became a strong feminist). Johnny Carson was still mastering the art of being magnetic on camera; he literally never looks at the camera on TTTT and comes across as your basic leering smart-ass (which of course he was; he later learned to ameliorate the smart-ass thing with greater approachability). Tom Poston was superb much of the time but occasionally seemed Tommy Smothers-like in his inability to speak a coherent sentence; long, long seconds of air time would pass as Poston tried to think of something to say. The most drop-dead gorgeous panelist in the history of the show was Dina Merrill who virtually glowed. (And was fabulously rich.)

The quality of the guests - well, it varies, but I'd say seven out of ten are interesting. Lots of guests from the Kennedy Administration, like for example a kid who joined the Peace Corps - everyone on the show just has huge admiration for this guy and for the idea of the corps. This is fascinating, historically - hard to remember, now, just how treasured the Peace Corps concept was circa 1961-63. Ancel Keys made an appearance - in the early '60s he was a supremely confident (in fact arrogant) researcher on nutrition, a hugely influential guy, but his reputation has taken major hits since then around the topic of fat. Science marches on.

One thing I'm confused about is the truth-telling of guests. In very early shows, Bud tells us that only the real person needs to tell the truth. Later on, this caveat is dropped completely.