Americana is a weekly game show which ran on NBC from December 8, 1947 to July 4, 1949. The series was originally hosted by literary critic John Mason Brown and produced by Martin Stone Productions with NBC Television. Each week's show was sponsored by Encyclopedia Americana. The 30-minute show aired Mondays at 8:10pm ET in the 1947-48 television season, and Mondays at 8:30pm ET in the 1948-49 season.
Break the Bank is an American quiz show which aired variously on Mutual Radio and ABC, CBS and NBC television from 1945 to 1957.
You Bet Your Life is an American quiz show that aired on both radio and television. The original and best-known version was hosted by Groucho Marx of the Marx Brothers, with announcer and assistant George Fenneman. The show debuted on ABC Radio in October 1947, then moved to CBS Radio in September 1949 before making the transition to NBC-TV in October 1950. Because of its simple format, it was possible to broadcast the show simultaneously on the radio and on television. In 1960, the show was renamed The Groucho Show and ran a further year. Most episodes are in the public domain.
The play of the game, however, was secondary to the interplay between Groucho, the contestants, and occasionally Fenneman. The program was rerun into the 1970s, and later in syndication as The Best of Groucho. As such, it was the first game show to have its reruns syndicated.
Dr. I.Q. is a radio and television quiz program. Remembered as radio's first major quiz show, it popularized the catch phrase "I have a lady in the balcony, Doctor."
The Big Surprise is a television quiz show broadcast in the United States by NBC from October 8, 1955 to June 9, 1956 and from September 18, 1956 to April 2, 1957. It was hastily created by NBC in response to the overwhelming ratings success of The $64,000 Question, which had premiered on CBS in Summer 1955 and almost instantly became a smash hit. The Big Surprise offered a grand prize of $100,000.
The series was originally hosted by game-show entrepreneur Jack Barry through March 3, 1956, after which he was replaced by journalist Mike Wallace for the rest of the run.
Twenty One is an American game show which aired in the late 1950s. While it included the most popular contestant of the quiz show era, it became notorious for being a rigged quiz show which nearly caused the demise of the entire genre in the wake of United States Senate investigations. The 1994 movie Quiz Show is based on these events. A new version aired in 2000 with Maury Povich hosting, lasting about five months on NBC.
Dotto is an American television quiz show which aired on CBS from January 6 to August 15, 1958 and was hosted by Jack Narz. Although it quickly became the highest-rated daytime game show on television, its end came when it became the unexpected first casualty – and ignition – of the quiz show scandals that rocked American broadcasting as the 1950s closed.
Academic quiz show where teams of students from UK universities answer questions on all manner of subjects.
In this panel game show, contestants try to match answers given by six celebrities to humorous and often risque fill-in-the-blank questions.
Dem Täter auf der Spur is a German television series.
Mastermind is a British quiz show, well known for its challenging questions, intimidating setting and air of seriousness.
Devised by Bill Wright, the basic format of Mastermind has never changed — four and in later contests five contestants face two rounds, one on a specialised subject of the contestant's choice, the other a general knowledge round. Wright drew inspiration from his experiences of being interrogated by the Gestapo during World War II.
The atmosphere is helped by Mastermind's famously ominous theme music, "Approaching Menace" by the British composer Neil Richardson. The quiz programme originated and was recorded in Manchester at studios such as New Broadcasting House and Granada Studios, before permanently moving to MediaCityUK in 2011.
Double Up is a Canadian quiz show television series which aired on CBC Television in 1974.
A quiz show that pits four-member teams from the country’s universities against each other.
Give Us a Clue is a British televised game show version of charades which was broadcast on ITV from 1979 to 1992. The original host was Michael Aspel from 1979 to 1983, followed by Michael Parkinson from 1984 to 1992. The show featured two teams, one captained by Lionel Blair and the other by Una Stubbs. Later versions of the programme had Liza Goddard as captain of the women's team.
A revived version was attempted by BBC One, which ran from 10 November to 19 December 1997 and commissioned 30 episodes, it was hosted by Tim Clark. Teams were captained by Christopher Blake and Julie Peasgood and the show tried to introduce a lateral thinking puzzle. Give us a Clue returned for a special Comic Relief episode on 5 March 2011 with Sara Cox, Christopher Biggins, Lionel Blair, Una Stubbs, Holly Walsh, Jenni Falconer and David Walliams.
Fandango is a country music-themed quiz show which aired on TNN from March 8, 1983 to March 31, 1989, when it was replaced by Top Card. Fandango was the first TV game show to air on TNN and was one of the longest-running game shows on a cable network.
The show was hosted by singer Bill Anderson, who was joined by Blake Pickett as co-host in 1987. Disc jockey Charlie Chase has sometimes been identified as the voice of "Edgar the Talking Jukebox", but Anderson's autobiography Whisperin' Bill names Edgar's voice as being that of Anderson's long-time friend, radio announcer Bill Robinson.
America's favorite quiz show where contestants are presented with general knowledge clues in the form of answers, and must phrase their responses in question form.
Hilarious, totally-irreverent, near-slanderous political quiz show, based mainly on news stories from the last week or so, that leaves no party, personality or action unscathed in pursuit of laughs.
Blackboard Jungle is an Irish quiz show hosted by Ray D'Arcy that aired for seven series on Network 2 between 1991 and 1997. The show, which aired up to three times a week, featured two teams of three representing two competing secondary schools. A grand final was held at the end of each series.