"To Tell the Truth" questions

[cd637299]

I've always been impressed with some of the "impostors" on "To Tell the Truth" when it ran. But some things IMO were never explained, such as----

(1) Did the impostors totally ad-lib their answers? (I know that Goodson-Todman always wanted their shows honest and non-scripted, making them free of the game-show-scandal accusations, but I cannot imagine impostors free of "ahhhh", "uhhhh" or "I dunno" when answering.)

(2) Were the celeb panelists handed questions to ask, or did they have a list that they made up in prep for each round?

(3) Why was the money divvied up equally three ways? (I remember a female "cat expert" impostor who got all 4 votes, but was not the real [whoever]. There was her, the real one, and of course the third one who got as much money as the others. Fair?)

That & any other info would be appreciated. Thanks....

cd

 

[gregg75]

I think the money was divided up. The imposters talked with the real person, were given a fact sheet or something....................because they had to know a little bit about the subject. I would not even be shocked to hear that there was actually a 4th contestant, and after a practice round......the top
2 were chosen to go on air (that's probably the way they would do it today).

 

[ixnay]

If indeed there were such a "practice round", I wonder who did the questioning?

ixnay

 

[MHB]

(1) Did the impostors totally ad-lib their answers? (I know that Goodson-Todman always wanted their shows honest and non-scripted, making them free of the game-show-scandal accusations, but I cannot imagine impostors free of "ahhhh", "uhhhh" or "I dunno" when answering.)

Once in a while, one of the panelists, when making their choices, would mention that they thought "the producers" gave them this or that response. So I'd assume that before the show some staff members would give them some basic information about the topic.

 

[gregg75]

If indeed there were such a "practice round", I wonder who did the questioning?

ixnay

The producers.

 

[dave73]

I remember an episode where a kid had a morning radio show, & there were 3 kids. One imposter got 1 vote, & the other imposter got the other 3, while the real one got none. What fooled everyone who voted for the imposter that got 3 votes, was that this kid had plenty of knowledge about the radio business. When he mentioned his name was Kevin Dees, they (the panelists) knew right away that he was the son of Rick Dees (Rick Dees walked up on stage). It was no wonder why everyone was fooled. This episode was either from the late 1980's or early 1990's.

 

[cd637299]

^ Just like the "cat lady," that doesn't say much, if the real one wasn't convincing enough!

I like the clip on a bloopers show (might be on YouTube) where there were 3 kids (I think the real one was an explorer)....

"#1, what is your name please?"
"My name is [extremely long and difficult name to pronounce]."
"#2?"
"<pointing thumb to his right> My name's the same as his."

cd

 

[ixnay]

I remember an episode where a kid had a morning radio show, & there were 3 kids. One imposter got 1 vote, & the other imposter got the other 3, while the real one got none. What fooled everyone who voted for the imposter that got 3 votes, was that this kid had plenty of knowledge about the radio business. When he mentioned his name was Kevin Dees, they (the panelists) knew right away that he was the son of Rick Dees (Rick Dees walked up on stage). It was no wonder why everyone was fooled. This episode was either from the late 1980's or early 1990's.

I never paid much attention to whether a panelist disqualified him/herself from voting, but Kermit "Mr. Blooper" Schafer, in his book Blooper Tube(?), told about his appearance on TTTT, and Bill Cullen, who was on that ep's panel, disqualified himself because he'd worked with Schaefer.

ixnay