After the success of the revived What's My Line in syndication,in 1969 Mark Goodson and Bill Todman brought back two of the most popular shows, To Tell the Truth and Beat the Clock. Both had good, healthy runs, though TTTT ran for nine years and Clock five.
With Jack Narz taking over the hosting reins for the late Bud Collyer, the show still had stunts that were messy and a number of them had broken dishes but there were some new elements that made the show a hit. First, the addition of a celebrity guest to help the contestants as well the guest's solo stunt and the addition of the "Cash Board", which contained money amounts under each letter in the show's title. Also, if a couple completed a stunt in a short amount of time, they could also earn bonus money for repeating their feat in the time remaining. Later in the run, intuition contests replaced a stunt or two in several episodes.
As for some firsts, it was the first Goodson-Todman game to be produced in Canada. They did that to save money. Also, it was the first game show that Gene Wood announced, the stepping stone to a long, successful career at the mike. He would also replace Narz as host in 1972 and veteran Canadian announcer Nick Holenreich, who actually substituted for Wood when he was on camera as the week's celebrity guest would get the full-time announcing job. With Wood as host, and the title changed to the New Beat the Clock, the show did not miss a beat. The only changes were that each couple performed two stunts and both competed in the day's final stunt to determine the winner.
Beat the Clock, despite it's low budget look was really fun to watch. May Jack Narz rest in peace.
