Who was the first host of the game show "What's My Line?"?
494189#61
In 1980, Mark Goodson-Bill Todman Productions, creators of "What's My Line?", produced "That's My Line" which also highlighted the unusual occupations of ordinary people. However, the show was developed as a reality show and had no panel or game elements. "What's My Line?" announcer Johnny Olson was the announcer, and Bob Barker was the host for the show which ran for two seasons on CBS.
What's My Line?
662480#6
Daly's first foray into television was as a panelist on the game show "Celebrity Time". This led to a job in 1950 as the host and moderator on a new panel show produced by Goodson–Todman, "What's My Line?" The show lasted 17 years with Daly hosting all but four episodes of the weekly series.
John Charles Daly
494189#57
It was during the run of the syndicated version that Woody Allen parodied "What's My Line?" in his 1972 film "Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex," with the segment "What Are Sex Perverts?" featuring a game show called "What's My Perversion?" Appearing as panelists were Robert Q. Lewis, who had been a panelist on the original "What's My Line?", and Pamela Mason, who had been a mystery guest. Jack Barry, partner of Dan Enright, both of whom had taken falls in the quiz-show scandals of the 1950s, hosted the "What's My Perversion?" game show, years before both would finally return to television in triumph with "The Joker's Wild."
What's My Line?
14656543#1
Nicknamed "Gil", Fates was the executive producer of "What's My Line?." Fates produced the game show its entire quarter-century span of CBS and syndicated runs. Fates and panelist Arlene Francis (who debuted on the second week) were with the show from 1950 until it ended in 1975. Fates also hosted "CBS Television Quiz", the first television game show ever to be broadcast regularly; and was credited as a creative consultant on "Play Your Cards Right", the British version of Goodson-Todman's "Card Sharks". Before World War II, he was a stage actor. He also wrote a book in 1978 called "What's My Line? The History of America's Most Famous Panel Show".
Gil Fates
1341923#10
In the late 1960s, Blyden began working as a game show host and master of ceremonies starting with "Personality" in June 1967. In 1969, he hosted "You're Putting Me On" and "The Movie Game". In 1972, Blyden took over hosting duties for the syndicated revival of the game show "What's My Line?" Blyden remained the show's host until it was canceled in 1975.
Larry Blyden
494189#54
The syndicated series ran for 1,320 episodes over seven seasons. An attempt at an eighth season did not get off the ground as not enough stations were willing to pick up the series for an additional year. With this in mind, Goodson-Todman offered host Blyden the hosting position on "Showoffs," a charades-based game show that the company was developing for ABC's daytime lineup. He accepted and shot a pilot shortly after "What's My Line?" ended production. However, Blyden never got to host the series as he was killed in an automobile accident while traveling in Morocco just before taping was to begin. At the time of Blyden's death, a handful of new episodes of "What's My Line?" had yet to air in certain markets; by the fall of 1975, the last of these episodes had aired across the United States. (Comedian Bobby Van ended up hosting "Showoffs.")
What's My Line?
662480#7
In 1954–55, in addition to his duties with "What's My Line?", Daly also hosted the final year of the NBC Television game show "Who Said That?", in which celebrities tried to determine the speaker of quotations taken from recent news reports.
John Charles Daly
31631056#1
At first the program was hosted by former vaudeville star, songwriter, and actor George Jessel. For the last episodes, however, the emcee was Arlene Francis, best remembered as a long-time panelist on the CBS Television game show "What's My Line?"
The Comeback Story
75027#40
In the network's infancy, GSN regularly showcased vintage Goodson-Todman game and panel shows from the 1950s and 1960s, many of which were either originally broadcast or only preserved in black-and-white – such as "What's My Line?", "I've Got a Secret", "To Tell the Truth", and "Beat the Clock". These classic shows made up much of the channel's lineup at the outset, but have been gradually cut back in prominence since the late 1990s. On October 1, 2006, only "What's My Line?" had a regular spot on the schedule, late Sunday/early Monday at 3:00 a.m. ET, it was followed by a selection from various 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s Goodson-Todman shows, usually another panel game. On December 19, 2006, GSN reinstated the "Black and White Overnight" to seven days a week from 3:00 a.m. to 4:00 a.m. ET, showcasing "What's My Line?" and "I've Got a Secret" in the block, other shows, including "Choose Up Sides", "The Name's the Same", and the Bud Collyer-hosted primetime version of "To Tell the Truth" have been featured, this run ended March 31, 2009. "Black and White Overnight" has returned for two weeks in December since 2009, featuring "What's My Line?" and "I've Got a Secret".
Game Show Network
494189#23
From 1950 to 1966, the game show was broadcast in black-and-white, as was typical of most game shows at the time. But by 1966, all three networks were broadcasting their prime-time schedules entirely in color, including "What's My Line?" After the show ended in 1967, CBS replaced the color videotapes with the kinescope versions instead for syndication. As a result of this change, the 1966–1967 episodes of "What's My Line?" were only shown in black-and-white after the show ended.
What's My Line?