Tattletales

Game Show/Panel Game hybrid created by Mark Goodson-Bill Todman Productions, hosted by Bert Convy, in which three celebrity couples tried to match answers. Only one half of each couple played the game onstage; the other half was placed offstage with headphones.

Originally, the show used a format wherein Convy would ask a question, and whichever spouse was onstage would ring in and relate a similar experience. (This was the basic premise of the original version, He Said, She Said.) If the offstage half could match the description given a one- or two-word clue, s/he would receive a cash award. These questions alternated with "Tattletales Quickies", or multiple-choice questions involving incidents in the couples' lives. In June 1974, the format was retooled to include only the "Quickie" clues. On all versions, the game was played in four rounds -- two with the husbands onstage, and two with the wives onstage. Any money won by the celebrity couples was divided among Studio Audience members sitting in sections that corresponded to that couple — red, yellow (or "banana", as Convy called it), and blue.

The show ran from 1974 to 1978 on CBS (with a concurrent syndicated run in the 1977-78 season) and was brought back from 1982 to 1984, again with Convy as host. This version was replaced in June 1984 with Body Language, another Mark Goodson creation and another revival (this one of 1975's Showoffs).


 * Personnel:
 * The Announcer: Jack Clark announced in 1974, followed by Gene Wood for the rest of the original series. Johnny Olson announced the revival.
 * Game Show Host: Bert Convy. Occasionally, he would sit on the panel (with his then-wife, Anne) and hand hosting duties over to another Goodson-Todman host (usually Gene Rayburn).
 * Studio Audience: The audience was divided into "rooting" sections corresponding to each celebrity. Every audience member received a share of the money allotted to the corresponding celebrity couple, with a bonus if that couple won the game.
 * Sound Proof Booth: While the husbands were onstage, the wives were in a different room wearing headphones, and then brought "onscreen" via closed-circuit television.


 * The Beard: Charles Nelson Reilly and Dick Sargent appeared for a week with "their gals", Marcia Wallace and Fannie Flagg.
 * Colour Coded Multiplayer: The aforementioned Red-Banana-Blue motif.
 * Fish Eye Lens: Used in the intro.
 * Guest Host: Convy wanted to sit on the panel, so a rotation of guest hosts ensued.
 * In-Series Nickname: "Banana" for the yellow section of the audience. Orson Bean went one step further and called the red section "the Pimentos", although this usually didn't stick.
 * Notable Commercial Campaigns: One GSN promo featured some couples laughing as they were introduced, after which the date of their future divorce popped up on the screen. The tagline? "Nothing Ruins a Marriage Quicker than a Tattletale."
 * Obvious Beta: The 1969-70 He Said, She Said, hosted by Joe Garagiola. Bert Convy and wife Anne appeared as a celebrity couple in a few episodes.
 * When Tattletales was being developed for CBS, its original title was Celebrity Match Mates, and Gene Rayburn was to host it. But Gene landed the Match Game reboot, and when the show was renamed as Tattletales, the host job went to Convy.
 * Going back even further, before becoming He Said, She Said, the show was developed in 1963 for NBC as It Had to Be You. It didn't sell, so it was held off for six years.
 * Writers Cannot Do Math: At the end of each show, the highest-scoring couple received a $1,000 bonus. If two couples tied for the high score, each received a $500 bonus. A three-way tie was more...problematic, getting rounded up to $334.