''Time Will Tell'' is an early American
game show
A game show (or gameshow) is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment where contestants compete in a game for rewards. The shows are typically directed by a game show host, host, who explains the rules of the program as well as commentating a ...
that aired on the
DuMont Television Network
The DuMont Television Network (also the DuMont Network, DuMont Television, DuMont/Du Mont, or (incorrectly) Dumont ) was one of America's pioneer commercial television networks, rivaling NBC and CBS for the distinction of being first overall in ...
Fridays at 10:30 pm ET from August 27 to October 15, 1954. The host was
Ernie Kovacs
Ernest Edward Kovacs (January 23, 1919 – January 13, 1962) was an American comedian, actor, and writer.
Kovacs's visually experimental and often spontaneous comedic style influenced numerous television comedy programs for years after his dea ...
.
[McNeil, Alex (1980). ''Total Television'' (4th ed.). New York: Penguin Books. .] Don Russell was the announcer, and Eddie Hatrak provided music.
Game play involved three contestants answering questions in 90-second rounds, timed with a large
hourglass
An hourglass (or sandglass, sand timer, or sand clock) is a device used to measure the passage of time. It comprises two glass bulbs connected vertically by a narrow neck that allows a regulated flow of a substance (historically sand) from the ...
.
The
sustaining program
A sustaining program is a radio or television program that, despite airing on a commercial broadcast station, does not have commercial sponsorship or advertising. This term, mostly used in the United States, was common in the early days of radio, b ...
,
produced and distributed by the network, aired on most DuMont affiliates on Fridays at 10:30 pm Eastern Time, replacing ''
Gamble on Love'' which was also hosted by Kovacs in the same time slot. After ''Time Will Tell'' ended, DuMont replaced the series with local (non-network) programming.
Episode status
DuMont, like NBC and CBS during the 1950s, probably kept at least one or two "example" episodes of each of its main game shows, though DuMont's exact policy is not known. However, DuMont's archive was destroyed after the network ceased broadcasting in 1956. Although a small number of DuMont game show episodes are known to exist in various archives, none are known to exist of either ''Time will Tell'' nor ''Gamble on Love''.
See also
*
List of programs broadcast by the DuMont Television Network
This is a list of programs broadcast by the DuMont Television Network, which operated in the United States from 1942 to 1956. All regularly scheduled programs which were aired on the DuMont network are listed below, regardless of whether they origi ...
*
List of surviving DuMont Television Network broadcasts
The DuMont Television Network was launched in 1946 and ceased broadcasting in 1956. Allen DuMont, who created the network, preserved most of what it produced in kinescope format. By 1958, however, much of the library had been destroyed to recov ...
*
1954-55 United States network television schedule
References
Bibliography
*David Weinstein, ''The Forgotten Network: DuMont and the Birth of American Television'' (Philadelphia:
Temple University Press
Temple University Press is a university press founded in 1969 that is part of Temple University (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania). It is one of thirteen publishers to participate in the Knowledge Unlatched pilot, a global library consortium approach ...
, 2004)
*Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh, ''The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network TV Shows'', Third edition (New York:
Ballantine Books
Ballantine Books is a major American book publisher that is a subsidiary of German media conglomerate Bertelsmann. Ballantine was founded in 1952 by Ian Ballantine with his wife, Betty Ballantine. Ballantine was acquired by Random House in ...
, 1964)
* David Schwartz, Steve Ryan and Fred Wostbrock (1995) ''The Encyclopedia of American Game Shows'', Second edition (New York: Facts on File Inc., 1995)
External links
*
DuMont historical website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Time Will Tell
1950s American game shows
Black-and-white American television shows
American English-language television shows
DuMont Television Network original programming
1954 American television series debuts
1954 American television series endings
Lost television shows