Everything old is new again: ABC will try a new version of "This is Your Life"...

[CrankyYankee]

(From "Variety")

"ABC is reviving a 1950s reality chestnut, pacting with Fox TV Studios to produce a new version of "This Is Your Life."

No timetable for airing the project was revealed.

Hosted and produced by Ralph Edwards, original "Life" aired on NBC for nine years in the 1950s and was designed by Edwards to be inspirational rather than voyeuristic. Given the Alphabet's(ABC-TV) current feel-good formula for unscripted fare ("Extreme Makeover: Home Edition"), net was a no-brainer to host the revival."

(Read more at

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117928169?categoryid=14&cs=1

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"What's That?" "French Horns!"

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[Joseph_Gallant]

"This Is Your Life"'s creator and original host, Ralph Edwards, is still alive but reportdely has not been in good health in recent months (he's around 90), so he might not be available to work with the producers as a consultant for a revival of the show.

Besides the program's original TV run on NBC from 1952-61, the program was revived a couple of times in first-run syndication (with Edwards as host from 1971-73; and with Joseph Campanella as host in the late 1980's), and has also appeared as very occassional specials between it's runs as a weekly series.

BTW, the original 1952-61 version was almost always broadcast live (to the East Coast and the Midwest; and via kinescope or later tape to the West Coast later that evening), and part of the show's appeal was that viewers never knew who would be the guest of honor.

If "This Is Your Life" does get revived, I would prefer that the show in fact be broadcast live so that, as was the case with the original version, viewers tuning-in wouldn't know who was the guest of honor until the host(ess) of the show comes up to him/her and says "(Name Of Honoree)...This Is Your Life!!".

If the show is revived, I think Britisher Michael Aspell may end up hosting the new version. A British version of "This Is Your Life", currently hosted by Aspell, is one of the most popular programs in the history of British television. Although once broadcast over ITV, the British version of the series (on hiatus at the moment) now airs on BBC-1.

 

[bpatrick]

> "This Is Your Life"'s creator and original host, Ralph
> Edwards, is still alive but reportdely has not been in good
> health in recent months (he's around 90), so he might not be
> available to work with the producers as a consultant for a
> revival of the show.
>
> Besides the program's original TV run on NBC from 1952-61,
> the program was revived a couple of times in first-run
> syndication (with Edwards as host from 1971-73; and with
> Joseph Campanella as host in the late 1980's), and has also
> appeared as very occassional specials between it's runs as a
> weekly series.
>
> BTW, the original 1952-61 version was almost always
> broadcast live (to the East Coast and the Midwest; and via
> kinescope or later tape to the West Coast later that
> evening), and part of the show's appeal was that viewers
> never knew who would be the guest of honor.
>
> If "This Is Your Life" does get revived, I would prefer that
> the show in fact be broadcast live so that, as was the case
> with the original version, viewers tuning-in wouldn't know
> who was the guest of honor until the host(ess) of the show
> comes up to him/her and says "(Name Of Honoree)...This Is
> Your Life!!".
>
> If the show is revived, I think Britisher Michael Aspell may
> end up hosting the new version. A British version of "This
> Is Your Life", currently hosted by Aspell, is one of the
> most popular programs in the history of British television.
> Although once broadcast over ITV, the British version of the
> series (on hiatus at the moment) now airs on BBC-1.
>
I think it's been universally conceded that the '70s syndicated
version was not as successful as it might have been because it
was taped and the name of the week's honoree would make it into
TV Guide days before the show aired. Different stations had
different policies about listing program information: WGHP/8
Greensboro/Winston-Salem/High Point would not run the honoree's
name in its TV Guide listing; WXIA/11 Atlanta would.

But there's certainly no reason why This Is Your Life wouldn't
work today. As Castleman and Podrazik note in their book, "Harry
And Wally's Favorite TV Shows," as long as there are new celebrities,
the show can keep going.

 

[rugrats1]

> I think it's been universally conceded that the '70s
> syndicated
> version was not as successful as it might have been because
> it
> was taped and the name of the week's honoree would make it
> into
> TV Guide days before the show aired.

Not to mention that, unlike the 1950s networked version, the syndicated 1970s version was "bicycled", meaning that an episode on one station may be different than an episode of the same series on another station.