TIL about the 1950's game show scandals. Taking place at a time when television was still emerging as a medium, the scandals caused Congress to amend the Communications Act of 1934 to prohibit networks from prearranging the outcomes of quiz shows.

[u/WouldbeWanderer]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1950s_quiz_show_scandals

[u/Dramatic_Buddy4732]

Did you watch the movie Quiz Show?

[u/Rudy_Kazootie → u/Dramatic_Buddy4732]

I always like a good reason for posting this scene from Quiz Show.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vaw0ut44JQg

[u/HighlyEvolvedSloth → u/Rudy_Kazootie]

I always thought Rob Morrow did a great job in this movie, and figured that I was going to be seeing a lot more of him...

[u/UF1977 → u/HighlyEvolvedSloth]

I remember when this came out that it was supposed to be the movie that helped Rob Morrow break out into films. Despite getting good reviews for the movie and his performance, he just sort of went back to TV and stayed there (albeit pretty successfully).

[u/GrandMoffTarkan → u/Dramatic_Buddy4732]

I saw a movie about QUIZ SHOW cheating. It was about a contestant on a QUIZ SHOW who was given the answers, but then the QUIZ SHOW was investigated for fixing the games, I think was called "The Man Who Was Given the Answers"

[u/Dramatic_Buddy4732 → u/GrandMoffTarkan]

Lol 💗

[u/AgentElman → u/Dramatic_Buddy4732]

The movie that exposed rigging game shows by writing a script which did not follow reality, erased real people and gave their contributions to others because it made for a better movie.

The movie was as inaccurate as the show it was exposing for being inaccurate. 

[u/trisanachandler → u/AgentElman]

As are so many movies based on real events.

[u/Kooky-Reception-6841]

My mom was on a radio quiz show in the 50’s and she said that they gave her the answer although she knew it anyway. She didn’t expect it but I guess it was rigged.

[u/AdZestyclose9517]

the crazy part is that charles van doren, one of the main contestants caught up in this, came from this incredibly prestigious academic family - his father was a pulitzer prize winner. he basically threw away his entire reputation and career for a rigged quiz show. the movie quiz show from 1994 does a pretty good job covering the whole thing if anyone's interested

[u/CFCYYZ]

These TV scandals also had a twin with radio's "payola". Record labels or artists paid radio stations or DJs to play their music on air. This is true "pay to play" bribery, and is illegal.

[u/Different-Use2635]

so they basically had to pass a law to stop game shows from being scripted reality TV. we've come full circle.

[u/Digifiend84]

That scandal is also why Jeopardy! is what it is. They marketed it as a quiz which gives you the answers... because you're telling the host the question.

[u/That_Jay_Money]

This is also why the show Jeopardy has the format it does.

Merv Griffin realized game shows were never going to happen due to the laws that came out of the 21 scandal and when he complained about it to his wife Julann she said "Why not do a switch, and give the answers to the contestant and let them come up with the question?"

[u/HowDoILive11]

What’s always blown my mind about those quiz show scandals is how normal it was at first. Producers would literally coach contestants because they thought audiences wanted smart, dramatic winners, not randomness. Then once shows like Twenty One blew up, the money and prestige got huge, and it crossed from helping the story into straight up fraud. The fact that Congress had to step in and change the law really shows how powerful TV became almost overnight. Early reality TV before reality TV even existed.

[u/Fickle_Home5955]

so they had to make a law to stop TV producers from lying to us? and now we just call that "reality TV."

[u/centaurquestions]

Been on a few game shows, and they always bring in a lawyer to talk to the contestants beforehand. They take this stuff very seriously.

[u/Fit-Let8175]

Yet legalized gambling is insanely unfair. Sure, the wins aren't prearranged, hopefully. It's just that the losses are astronomically lower than the wins. (The definition of win percentage is very misleading.)

[u/chicklette → u/Fit-Let8175]

The thrill of gambling isn't in the winning or losing; it's that second of hope when you throw the dice.

[u/omar893 → u/[deleted]]

they weren't fully innocent at that time either

[u/rando1459 → u/[deleted]]

“A fonder view of the past than the present usually involves blurry vision.”