''It's News to Me'' is an American panel

game show A game show is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment (radio, television, internet, stage or other) where contestants compete for a reward. These programs can either be participatory or demonstrative and are typically directed by a host, ...

produced by

Mark Goodson Mark Leo Goodson (January 14, 1915 – December 18, 1992) was an American television producer who specialized in game shows, most frequently with his business partner Bill Todman, with whom he created Goodson-Todman Productions. Early life and e ...

and

Bill Todman William Selden Todman (July 31, 1916 – July 29, 1979) was an American television producer and personality born in New York City. He produced many of television's longest-running shows with business partner Mark Goodson, with whom he created ...

for CBS

Television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

. It was a derivative of Goodson-Todman's own panel show ''

What's My Line? ''What's My Line?'' is a panel game show that originally ran in the United States on the CBS Television Network from 1950 to 1967, originally in black and white and later in color, with subsequent U.S. revivals. The game uses celebrity panelis ...

''. Originally aired as a one-time special on May 11, 1951; It debuted as a series July 2, 1951 to August 27, 1954.

Host and panelists

The original series was hosted by veteran radio and television newsman John Charles Daly, concurrent with his regular hosting duties on ''What's My Line''. CBS newsman

Walter Cronkite Walter Leland Cronkite Jr. (November 4, 1916 – July 17, 2009) was an American broadcast journalist who served as anchorman for the ''CBS Evening News'' for 19 years (1962–1981). During the 1960s and 1970s, he was often cited as "the mo ...

would eventually host the 1954 version. Among the celebrities who would appear as panelists were actresses Anna Lee and

Nina Foch Nina Foch ( ; born Nina Consuelo Maud Fock; April 20, 1924 – December 5, 2008) was a Dutch-born American actress who later became an instructor. Her career spanned six decades, consisting of over 50 feature films and over 100 television appea ...

, journalist Quincy Howe, TV hostess Robin Chandler, radio host and storyteller

John Henry Faulk John Henry Faulk (August 21, 1913 – April 9, 1990) was an American storyteller and radio show host. His successful lawsuit against the entertainment industry helped to bring an end to the Hollywood blacklist. Early life John Henry Faulk ...

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one ...

play-by-play announcer

Mel Allen Mel Allen (born Melvin Allen Israel; February 14, 1913 – June 16, 1996) was an American sportscaster, best known for his long tenure as the primary play-by-play announcer for the New York Yankees. During the peak of his career in the 1940 ...

, and writer Quentin Reynolds.

Game play

Each typical episode contained two contestant rounds, followed by a newsmaker round, and occasionally followed by an additional contestant round.

Contestant round

Each round was a bluffing game where contestants attempted to determine if an answer that was given by one of the panelists was true or false. The contestant was staked to $25 at the beginning of the game. The contestant and panelists were then shown an item or items including props, drawings, photographs, or motion picture/newsreel footage. Sometimes a dramatic performance (example: Goodson-Todman staffer

Frank Wayne Frank Wayne (born Rocco Francis Rossi Jr.; July 9, 1917 – March 18, 1988) was an American game show producer and host. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, he was also associated with Mark Goodson Productions. Biography Wayne was the original exec ...

appears giving part of a speech) was presented. A panelist chosen by the emcee would then supply a story that would tie the item to a news event, past or present. The contestant would then decide if the panelist's story was true or false. The contestant earned $5 for a correct decision and $5 was deducted for an incorrect decision. Play continued until all four panelists had played and the contestant kept whatever money that was earned at the end.

Newsmaker round

In this round, eyewitnesses or participants involved with news events in the past or present would play a game similar to "I've Got a Secret". The panelists would question the newsmaker to determine the identity of the news event. If the panel failed to identify the event, the newsmaker would receive $100.

Broadcast history

The first episode aired as a one-off special May 11, 1951. In mid-1951, CBS was forced to cancel its popular dramedy '' The Goldbergs'' after its creator Gertrude Berg refused to cooperate with the

Hollywood blacklist The Hollywood blacklist was an entertainment industry blacklist, broader than just Hollywood, put in effect in the mid-20th century in the United States during the early years of the Cold War. The blacklist involved the practice of denying empl ...

and

General Foods General Foods Corporation was a company whose direct predecessor was established in the United States by Charles William Post as the Postum Cereal Company in 1895. The company changed its name to "General Foods" in 1929, after several corporate ...

withdrew its sponsorship. The first show commissioned to replace ''The Goldbergs'' was the game show ''

Who's Whose ''Who's Whose'' was a panel quiz television game show that ran on the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) television network. It premiered as a TV series on June 25, 1951, and is noted for being one of the first television series to be dropped ...

''; ''Who's Whose'' proved to be such a disaster that it was pulled from the air after a single episode. ''It's News to Me'' was put into production to fill the same time slot, making its debut July 2.). ''It's News to Me'' ran until September 12, 1953. The show returned July 9 to August 27, 1954 as a summer replacement for '' Person to Person''. When ''It's News to Me'' began its run, it was sponsored by General Foods, continuing its sponsorship of the slot from ''The Goldbergs''. Beginning on October 4, 1952, the Simmons bedding company began sponsoring the program, with Andrew Jergens Company as the alternate sponsor beginning on October 11, 1952. It was later sponsored by

Alcoa Alcoa Corporation (an acronym for Aluminum Company of America) is a Pittsburgh-based industrial corporation. It is the world's eighth-largest producer of aluminum. Alcoa conducts operations in 10 countries. Alcoa is a major producer of primar ...

, and the 1954 edition by

Amoco Amoco () is a brand of fuel stations operating in the United States, and owned by BP since 1998. The Amoco Corporation was an American chemical and oil company, founded by Standard Oil Company in 1889 around a refinery in Whiting, India ...

Episode status

Like other live broadcast series of the time, ''It's News to Me'' was recorded via

kinescope Kinescope , shortened to kine , also known as telerecording in Britain, is a recording of a television program on motion picture film, directly through a lens focused on the screen of a video monitor. The process was pioneered during the 194 ...

onto film and the status of most of the episodes is unknown. As of summer 2009, only two John Daly-hosted episodes have aired on GSN as part of its black and white programming blocks, and a portion of a Walter Cronkite-hosted episode exists as part of a 1992 birthday tribute tape for producer Mark Goodson.Mark Goodson Birthday-1992
, ''The Television Production Music Museum'' On September 15, 2017 and January 16, 2023,

BUZZR Buzzr is an American digital broadcast television network owned by Fremantle North America, a unit of the Fremantle subsidiary of RTL Group. The network serves as an outlet for the extensive library of classic game shows owned by Fremantle. B ...

aired an episode as part of their "Lost and Found" series.

References

External links

''It's News to Me'' on IMDb
{{DEFAULTSORT:It's News To Me 1951 American television series debuts 1954 American television series endings American panel games 1950s American game shows Black-and-white American television shows CBS original programming Television series by Mark Goodson-Bill Todman Productions Panel games Television series by CBS Studios