To Tell The Truth - General Discussion

[Meredith Quill]

Discuss the episodes here. 

[Kromm]

First up we'll be getting Episodes 1x01 and 1x02, on Tuesday, June 14 

from ABC.com's press releases on the episodes.

Quote

1x01 - Tracee Ellis Ross joins our panel. Anthony Anderson has more than just his mother to worry about when his co-star and TV wife from “black-ish” is part of the game. Guests include America’s fastest texter, Taylor Swift’s high school sweetheart and somebody who likes to think inside the box – a contortionist.

Quote

1x02 - Comedian Iliza Shlesinger joins our celebrity panel to hilarious effect. In this episode we have one of the highest grossing Tupperware sales people who just happens to be a drag queen, shark attack survivors and somebody who jumps off buildings for a living. While on fire!

[Kromm]

Compare/Contrast the old and new shows here. 
Discuss current episodes here.

This topic is strictly to talk about episodes from previous show versions only. If you want to delve into analyzing differences, then go to that other topic.

A few ground rules I suggest, just so we don't present our friends who run Previously with any issues... It's up to you who post, but I suggest...

DON'T: embed, or even link directly to YouTube or other online videos of old episodes. 
DO: allow people to find such on their own. For example, it's usually reasonable to tell someone the service you saw such a clip on and the title it was under. Put the burden on them to find it via a search engine, and on the service itself to enforce their own clips.

[Kromm]

The show's had some rule/format changes through the years. Curious to see which they go with.  The basic rounds are usually the same, but the "bonus"/extra rounds have differed a lot.

For example, the version in the 1990s hosted by Lynn Swann (and later Alex Trebek), has one less of the "regular" rounds (2 instead of 3, like the original had) with one real person and two imposters being sussed out by celebs, but had a special round where they went to the audience, picked a person, then brought out a single guest who told two different backstories, only one of which was true. Then, the celeb panel asked one question each about each backstory and the audience member picked which backstory they thought was the truth--winning money if they were correct. 

The 1980s version hosted by Robin Ward (yeah, a big "who?" from me too) also involved only 2 regular rounds, and what they did was bring back the two imposters from each of them (so a group of 4 people) for the bonus round. The host told the celeb panel a piece of trivia or interesting fact that only applied to one of the four of them (for example in an episode I just watched "Is a Needlepoint Champion" and another that I saw recently was "Owned a Horse who won the Kentucky Derby"), and the panel had to suss out which of the 4 people it applied to. 

[FormerMod-a1]

I like the 3 rounds, for tradition, for the rule of three, for "rounding out", etc, but I can see why they went to 2 rounds.  The original with 3 rounds airs for 40 minutes on today's TV.  Granted, they throw in an vintage commercial, but that's not why it goes 40 minutes.  We just have more ad time now, I think, so that limits how much they can cram into the remaining 20 minutes (ish).

I liked it how you'd sometimes get participants that a member of the panel knew and would have to recuse themselves from the interview and voting.  I doubt they'd show that now.  They'd probably edit it out to be more "seamless".

[Kromm]

On 6/9/2016 at 2:54 PM, aquarian1 said:

I liked it how you'd sometimes get participants that a member of the panel knew and would have to recuse themselves from the interview and voting.  I doubt they'd show that now.  They'd probably edit it out to be more "seamless".

Would they?  I think there's as you say a certain interest level to seeing that. 

They could cut down on Panelists from 4 to 3 and thus save time. But the previews show it's still 4 panelists. They seem to be sitting on like... big easy chairs now instead of behind the usual game show desk thing.

Interestingly, I guess because Anthony Anderson is the host, they seem to have also gone with an actual majority of black panelists--at least the ones they're showing in the preview commercial. Gone are the days where Nipsy Russell had to represent every black person in America all by himself. Although to be fair, this franchise was the first game show to have a black announcer, Burton Richardson, and also I think maybe the first to have a black host (Lynn Swann, although he didn't last long). 

I DO find myself wondering if the show is a bit tougher to do these days. Most people who have done stuff of note have obvious trails on the Internet. Not that the panelists are going to be sitting there googling people, but I mean that the chances of even a semi-famous person's face being totally unknown is rarer. So they'll have to rely on people who's situations are interesting, but not necessarily "famous" in any sense. Which is fine. But I will say that some of the most entertaining OLD episodes to dig through online are the ones where the people are REALLY famous, and maybe even faces some of us NOW know, but who in the atmosphere of those less media soaked times had faces nobody knew.

I'm actually probably only going to talk about specific details of those in the Vintage Episode Discussion Thread though. Suffice it to say when you dig through those old episodes there are some people who appear on it who you're totally shocked did.

Edited June 11, 2016 by Kromm

[Kromm]

Okay, just to start things off, here are a few old episodes I REALLY recommend finding and watching. Again, I won't link or embed, but I will say these are ALL on YouTube currently.

Go there, for example, and search for "To Tell The Truth (1975): Special Guest Gene Roddenberry" for example. Yup. THAT Gene Roddenberry. Now I know a lot of you might almost instantly be saying "How would they not know what Gene Roddenberry looked like?" Until you realize that a.) the general non-Trek convention going public doesn't necessarily know what he looked like, even NOW and b.) look at the year. 1975. This was after the series was off for a few years, but before the Motion Picture came out. Conventions existed, but only a few thousand people went to them. And the mass media in general didn't really yet care about Star Trek. 

It was a very interesting time for Star Trek. and Roddenberry. And in fact his appearance is pretty interesting--what he actually says on it I mean. 

One thing that shocked me was that he talks about a Motion Picture being in the planning stages. Why is this so shocking? Well... 1975. Star Wars hadn't come out yet. People really had no reason to think a "space movie" would do well. And in fact it's worth noting that Star Trek The Motion Picture didn't actually come out until 1979. After Star Wars. But I never knew it was being planned so many years earlier. 

 

 

Another REALLY entertaining episode is one you can find on YT by searching "Hunter Thompson on "To Tell the Truth" (February 20, 1967)".  

Even knowing what he LATER looked like doesn't totally help picking him out. This younger version of his doesn't really resemble the strange spacey looking guy who Duke from Doonesbury was modeled after (balding, often with a fishing hat, Hawaiian shirt, big sunglasses, etc.). The episode is basically about his time with the Hell's Angels, and it's worth noting his book hadn't even been published yet. I found it compelling viewing--especially keeping in mind what eventually became of the guy. How differently he spoke, acted, etc.

That's just two to start. Anyone else see these and care to comment?  Or have other favorites?

Edited June 11, 2016 by Kromm

[chitowngirl]

Nice light, summer show. Moves fast, so no one is too annoying. And Betty White makes a nice link to old school game shows.

Edited June 15, 2016 by chitowngirl

[FormerMod-a1]

Overall I enjoyed it. Listening to the panelists reasoning is as fun as ever.  I liked the people they've had on (suitsi, Taylor Swift HS boyfriend, pole dancer, fastest texter, contortionist), and all the imposters were fun, too.  Overall, good pacing.  I am looking forward to the rest of the series.

I do have a few extreme nitpicks, though (of course). 1) I think the band is unneeded. 2) I miss the signature "What is your name please?" approach. 3) Way too much yelling and screaming.  I know it's to keep it high energy and all that, but it's a little too constant for me. 4) I'm not sure I like the randomness of who asks questions when.  I liked the timed per panelist approach. Finally, and really nitpicky, 5) I don't know that need to see the contestants feet.  It just looks goofy with the camera angles, imo.  But that's super nitpicky.

[chitowngirl]

Mike Tyson is annoying.

[ChiCricket]

Here in Chicago, the Cubs game ran late and made me miss the first part of the show, but the little part I did get to see , I agree, Mike Tyson is super annoying.

Hit in the head too many times?

[zxy556575]

11 hours ago, aquarian1 said:

I do have a few extreme nitpicks, though (of course). 1) I think the band is unneeded. 2) I miss the signature "What is your name please?" approach. 3) Way too much yelling and screaming.  I know it's to keep it high energy and all that, but it's a little too constant for me. 4) I'm not sure I like the randomness of who asks questions when.  I liked the timed per panelist approach. Finally, and really nitpicky, 5) I don't know that need to see the contestants feet.  It just looks goofy with the camera angles, imo.  But that's super nitpicky.

The overly excited and hyper music, lights, set design, and Anthony Anderson's manic delivery were dealbreakers for me.

[Kromm]

10 hours ago, chitowngirl said:

Mike Tyson is annoying.

Also a rapist.

That said, somehow I do love The Mike Tyson Mysteries. I have a lot of trouble reconciling that. 

[Kromm]

1 hour ago, lordonia said:

The overly excited and hyper music, lights, set design, and Anthony Anderson's manic delivery were dealbreakers for me.

I did think it was slightly loud, but I can see the need for it. The modern audience wants something akin to Celebrity Game Night, and the key to that is emulating a party.  The fact that the music is live does help (vs. canned music).

For me, even if there are things I might ideally tweak, the fact that we get to see Betty White being as sharp and witty as ever makes this worth it. Every word out of that woman's mouth is gold. 

Anderson actually WAS funny I think. It just takes a little adjustment to how loud he is, and that his patter requires basically interrupting. The flow of the show seems to allow that though (no doubt it's heavily edited though). 

[SillyOldClothCat]

I just finished watching the first 2 episodes, and I think I'll keep tuning in when I need something light.  I didn't feel Mike Tyson was /too/ annoying because his kinda clueless gameplay really let all the other players and Anthony Anderson react and interact, and that's what was great about the old-school game shows. 

[NYGirl]

I though Mike Tyson was hysterical.  He had me laughing out loud a couple of times.   This show is a far cry from the original. I'm proud to say I remember it.

[FormerMod-a1]

I only watched the Traci Ellis Ross episodes, so far.  I didn't realize they aired another, but I also had something else to watch at that time.  ABC lists Mike Tyson as Ep 3.  Or at least they did as of yesterday.  Anyway, did no one else see ep 1?  with the male pole dancer and the contortionist, etc.

[Kromm]

4 hours ago, aquarian1 said:

I only watched the Traci Ellis Ross episodes, so far.  I didn't realize they aired another, but I also had something else to watch at that time.  ABC lists Mike Tyson as Ep 3.  Or at least they did as of yesterday.  Anyway, did no one else see ep 1?  with the male pole dancer and the contortionist, etc.

Yes I saw the same one as you. I enjoyed it quite a bit and am wondering if having to put up with Rapey McEarBite is going to ruin the other one for me or not. I shall see.  As I said upthread, I DO somehow manage to enjoy that Adult Swim show with him. Then again, that has Norm MacDonald on it. Betty White is going to have to be my Norm MacDonald for this.

Edited June 15, 2016 by Kromm

[ajsnaves]

I am a criminal defense attorney in Wisconsin.  Every time I have to run a client's driving record, or check to see when a client can reinstate his or her driver's license, a video pops up of the fastest texter telling me not to text and drive  It is annoying, and it has been happening for the last few few years now.  Needles to say I got that one right away.

The rest I just went with my gut when first seeing them, and did pretty well.  I love Betty White, and love that she is part of this show.  I wish GSN still showed old eps.

[FormerMod-a1]

15 minutes ago, ajsnaves said:

I wish GSN still showed old eps.

BUZZR network does.  

[Kromm]

57 minutes ago, ajsnaves said:

I love Betty White, and love that she is part of this show.  I wish GSN still showed old eps.

 

42 minutes ago, aquarian1 said:

BUZZR network does.  

Also YouTube has a LOT of them up.  While of course I know we can't (and shouldn't) link or embed any of those directly, they're easy enough to find just going via the video titles. Discussion of some of those old episodes here

[marketdoctor]

I've got to look for these, thanks!

[purplemouth]

I feel like this show along with the Match Game reboot is ABC's way of driving @Tara Ariano crazy with all the Betty White-ness.

I think Betty White is a national treasure, but her jokes are so scripted and one-note these days. Please Betty, go home, put your feet up, and play with your dog. You've earned it.

Love Tracee Ellis Ross and for some reason I can't really fathom: NeNe Leakes.

Edited June 17, 2016 by purplemouth

[Scott]

Wow, this was horrible.  The first episode was somewhat disappointing, for many of the reasons already mentioned.  But Tyson made his episode pretty much unwatchable.  Part of me can't believe they actually let that air.  I didn't mind Anderson too much, but I'm sorry, his mom is useless.  

[Irlandesa]

On 6/15/2016 at 6:41 PM, ajsnaves said:

I am a criminal defense attorney in Wisconsin.  Every time I have to run a client's driving record, or check to see when a client can reinstate his or her driver's license, a video pops up of the fastest texter telling me not to text and drive  It is annoying, and it has been happening for the last few few years now.  Needles to say I got that one right away.

I've never seen that commercial but I grew up in WI and as soon as they walked out, I picked out the WI boy.  And I was right.

[Skyfall]

3 revivals and likely three failures this year for ABC. They need to revive Hollywood Squares with Whoopi in the center square!

[Art Vandelay]

I have no idea who the "celebrity" panel is, except of course for Betty White.

It all seems a bit much to me with the band and the mom - there's a lot going on! And the tongue guy was just gross.

[helpmerhonda]

4 hours ago, Art Vandelay said:

 

It all seems a bit much to me with the band and the mom - there's a lot going on! And the tongue guy was just gross.

I am with you. The band and the mom add nothing.

[starri]

The mom seems redundant with Betty there.

I don't know, I enjoy the show.  They find really fun people to try and stump the panel.  I mean, they brought out Left Shark?  And I LOVED the Tupperwear drag queen.

[MakeMeLaugh]

A little Betty White goes a long way. Ha ha, jokes that have being old as the comic theme. And dirty. Ha ha. Every time she speaks. Even she must be tired of them.

[chitowngirl]

And I really thought it was clever when the drag queen turned up in the last panel as himself.

[Kromm]

14 hours ago, Art Vandelay said:

I have no idea who the "celebrity" panel is, except of course for Betty White.

That's not really so different from the original. The panelists were not really super-famous most of the time.

[Kromm]

On 6/16/2016 at 11:45 PM, purplemouth said:

I think Betty White is a national treasure, but her jokes are so scripted and one-note these days. 

I don't think they're scripted. I just think she's so practiced at certain KINDS of comments it sounds like that, I guess. I mean she pulls out jokes in response to things the guests say, and what they're saying is certainly not scripted, so I don't see how you'd think her responses are.  

[junemeatcleaver]

I liked this better than the three revivals, if you can call Family Feud a revival since it's been on the air non-stop for nearly 20 years, on Sunday night.

[kieranpigpig]

I love Betty White, period. She IS a national treasure, period. I don't care how her comments are created, I just laugh and that feels good. PERIOD. I love seeing her in any show she is in, so don't be asking her to go home, I NEED my Betty White fix!!

[Kromm]

26 minutes ago, kieranpigpig said:

I love Betty White, period. She IS a national treasure, period. I don't care how her comments are created, I just laugh and that feels good. PERIOD. I love seeing her in any show she is in, so don't be asking her to go home, I NEED my Betty White fix!!

My point, and if you are a fan of hers this should make you even more of one, is that I think it's close to flat out impossible for her comments to be scripted. It would require the entire show to be, because she makes most of them here in direct response to things the contestants say. Mysterious writers writing for her would have to know ahead of time what those people would say to script responses for her.

Not to mention someone right off the stage with cue cards would be pretty obvious. A teleprompter would be a little less obvious, but note that the panel are sitting in open plan chairs and not with a table in front of them that could hide a teleprompter. They could arrange camera shots to avoid showing cue cards, but with social media these days you'd think the viewing audience would squeal about that. I mean cue cards are likely to be there for Anthony's introductions, and possibly for the contestants introducing themselves, but after that?

[kieranpigpig]

@Kromm I totally agree, she has been doing this for longer than most of us on the planet have been alive. I have always been a fan and ever more so now. I just loved her on Hot in Cleveland and was so sad when it ended, her being on the new To Tell the Truth Game is the ONLY reason I watch that show.

[Kromm]

The one to be suspicious of is Anthony's "sassy" momma.  While part of what she does is reactive to the game--the scores for example--the other half is reactive only to things Anthony says to her, and those could be pre-scripted because a lot of those moments sound generic.

Betty, in comparison, is mainly responding to things which come out of the contestants' mouths.

[silverspoons]

My father and I would watch TTT in reruns late night in the 1980's. I was recovering from several surgeries and I'll admit as a teen I was not excited about the black and white tv reruns. I remember the first episode of TTT that caught my attention was Orville Reddenbacher. I couldn't believe no one knew what he looked like since I had seen his face on popcorn forever. It got me kind of hooked. Then when the inventor of monopoly was on , I was hooked for sure. I thought how cool it was to see people learning about monopoly for the first time and to see the inventor talking about it. I now have 400+ episodes on dvd and watch them with my kids who are even more fascinated about the "firsts" and they also find the commercials entertaining (my kids wanted to know if Anacin still was made because it sounded like better medicine then what they get at the dr).

[Kromm]

A few more recommendations.

YouTube Search the phrase "To Tell the Truth - Alex Haley (1972)".  A great episode. It IS before Roots though, so it's understandable why they don't know him. He's there concerning his tracing his ancestry back to Africa, and NOT about the book that didn't get published until 4 years after he did this show.

Then there's the episode you'll likely find YouTube searching "To Tell the Truth: Dr. Seuss".  Not as gripping as I'd hoped, but there are a lot of Dr. Seuss lovers out there and some might like this.

A rare one from the 80s version of the show that's up there... YouTube search "Rosa Parks - To Tell the Truth (1980)". Interestingly enough Parks comes very close to admitting that her incident on the bus was a setup. The real story is that Parks was designated by civil rights leaders to provoke the incident AFTER a similar unstaged incident had happened to a woman named Claudette Colvin.  Colvin was sidelined and erased from their efforts (and in many ways history), because she was an unwed pregnant teenage girl carrying the baby of a married man. Parks, the NAACP secretary, replicated Colvin's incident basically, and she's the one history has feted and rewarded as "The Mother of the Civil Rights Movement".  Well Parks doesn't say the name Claudette Colvin on this episode but DOES talk about "the prior arrest of a young girl".   None of this should make anyone that cynical about the civil rights movement, by the way. It was just good marketing to fix a real problem which needed publicity.  And Colvin's part of the story was all too real.

I'm currently on to some of the REALLY old episodes from the 50s (the Doctor Seuss episode is one of those but I'm onto others). I have to say... having only seen her in her old age before now (when she did denture commercials), I had no idea Polly Bergen was so ridiculously beautiful in her youth. She's just stunning in these 50s episodes. Flawless. 

Edited July 6, 2016 by Kromm

[jhlipton]

On 7/4/2016 at 2:54 PM, Kromm said:

I mean cue cards are likely to be there for Anthony's introductions, and possibly for the contestants introducing themselves

Anthony definitely reads his intros off cards (not cue cards per se, but note cards he holds in his hand).  As for the contestants, do they need a cue card to say "[May name is ____ and] I {have this distinction}"?  (The "My name is" is omitted if it gives a clue to the answer.)

[irisheyes]

OK, this is my whole "six degrees of separation," but I went to the same (very small) college with Jon Bruney (the super strong pastor). My husband and he are FB friends, and I lived on the same floor as his wife. I was a little surprised by his response to NeNe's (?) question about what type of church he pastored.  Everyone around there would answer with "Missionary Church" and not just the single word Missionary.  

And that's my little brush with fame. :)

[starri]

Damn it, NeNe.  I watch this for a laugh, and then you went and gave me feels.

[jhlipton]

"A little knowledge is a dangerous thing"

#1 and #2 knocked themselves out by their scriptural knowledge (or lack thereof).  "The Lord is my Shepard" is from Psalms, not Makachi; and "He will heal me; he will fix my sins" is also from Psalms, not Matthew (although he did get the chapter and verse right --103:3)

That made it trivial to pick #3.  It also made me wonder how much info the imposters are given.  It's not unlikely that one or more panelist would ask a Bible question, so were they each given a verse and they just forgot where it came from???

[rr2911]

I've watched TTT since the 70's and this version does not compare at all. First of all, I wish they would get rid of Anderson's mother! Why is she there? She doesn't add anything to the show. She's annoying...very annoying! Get a new host! He's not funny at all. I know the show is trying to infuse some modern jokes to the game. The producers should watch the old shows and learn from them. Another thing, what's with the false text that goes to the lowest judges score? What's with that? I know they're trying to make this all about the celebs but come on now, they should K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple Stupid). 

[FormerMod-a1]

New Episode tonight!
S02:E01 - Jalen Rose, Ashley Graham, Angela Kinsey, Donald Faison

The celebrity panel of Ashley Graham, Jalen Rose, Angela Kinsey, and Donald Faison is faced with finding the national champion Sumo wrestler, the inventor of the hashtag, the creator of the language Dothraki used on "Game of Thrones," an original dancer from "Soul Train," and someone who has survived a bear attack.

Next week's ep:
S02:E02 - Lara Spencer, David Arquette, Tom Bergeron, Sherri Shepherd

The celebrity panel of Lara Spencer, David Arquette, Tom Bergeron, and Sherri Shepherd is faced with finding the two-time national world champion drag-racer, someone who has been caught in the eye of a tornado, the creator of the dating site FarmersOnly.com, and a record-breaking professional strongwoman.

[readster]

I really couldn't take Angela constantly saying: "You sound to chatty." I'm sorry, how do you prefer people? Say one sentence and then nothing? She was driving me crazy. Love the reveal on the bear custom guy. 

[starri]

I knew the Dothraki guy, because he was on Face Off a few seasons ago.

I liked Ashley Graham.

[FormerMod-a1]

1 hour ago, starri said:

I knew the Dothraki guy, because he was on Face Off a few seasons ago.

That's how I knew him, too.  

I liked it better than the first season.  They toned down AA's mom, and I'm sure she's a lovely woman but I didn't like her shtick and role last time.

[starri]

10 hours ago, aquarian1 said:

They toned down AA's mom, and I'm sure she's a lovely woman but I didn't like her shtick and role last time.

Honestly, I thought she was actually funny this time.

I loved that one of the imposters for the Soul Train dancer was a Solid Gold dancer.