1940–1950 · NBC

Truth or Consequences

Nobody ever got the question right, and that was the point

The quiz was a pretext. Ralph Edwards' innovation was to make the forfeit the entire show, and to make it elaborate, physical and slightly humiliating — the direct ancestor of every stunt format that followed, down to the present day. A town in New Mexico renamed itself after the programme in 1950 and is still called Truth or Consequences, which tells you how completely this thing had entered the culture.

16 broadcasts · 5 years held · Hollywood

Surviving broadcasts of the NBC series. Recordings held by the Internet Archive.