Tattletales

Did You Know?

• An Australian version called Celebrity Tattle Tales aired on the Seven Network in 1980, hosted by Ugly Dave Gray and produced by Reg Grundy; it was cancelled after three months.
• A Brazilian version ran on Sistema Brasileiro de Televisão from 1975 to 1986 under the name Ela Disse, Ele Disse, hosted by Silvio Santos.
• A spoof of the show aired on a 1977 episode of SCTV, with Eugene Levy playing Bert Convy and Joe Flaherty and Catherine O'Hara as Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth.

Host

In 1977, Bert Convy won a Daytime Emmy for his work as host of Tattletales. He and his wife Anne occasionally appeared as contestants, usually when the show featured a panel made up entirely of other game show hosts and their spouses. When Convy played, the show was hosted by substitutes including Gene Rayburn, Bob Barker, Bobby Van, Jack Narz, and Richard Dawson. Those five also competed as players, joined by fellow hosts Allen Ludden, Monty Hall, Bill Cullen, and Chuck Woolery.

Game play

The show changed its format after its first four months on the air; the second format remained for the rest of the run. Production took place at Hollywood's Television City on Stages 31, 41, or 43. The set had two parts: a desk for three players and a small seating area upstage right used to isolate players not currently in the game; a sliding wall covered that area during play, and each isolated player wore headphones to block noise. Usually the game began with husbands isolated and wives onstage; offstage players appeared on monitors in front of their spouses when needed. The studio audience was divided into three color-coded sections—red, yellow (which Convy called the 'banana section'), and blue—each of 100 members rooting for one celebrity couple. Audience members in each section split the money their couple won; the couple with the most money at the end won, earning their section a $1,000 bonus. In case of a tie, the winning sections divided the bonus. A member of the winning section was randomly drawn for additional prizes, and audience members received their winnings by check as they left. In the first format, Convy asked onstage players two questions usually starting with 'It happened at...' or 'A story involving...'; after each question, an onstage player buzzed in and gave a one- or two-word clue. Convy then repeated the question to the offstage players on monitors, followed by the clue; the first offstage player to buzz in answered, and if the couple's answers matched, they won money for their section. A correct answer was worth $100 with a one-word clue and $50 with a two-word clue. Convy then asked a multiple-choice 'Tattletale Quickie' to each couple in turn; the onstage player answered, the spouse appeared and answered, and matching answers earned $100. Players changed places in the second round.

Broadcast history

When Tattletales first aired on CBS, it took over the 4:00 PM Eastern / 3:00 PM Central, Mountain, and Pacific time slot from the long-running soap opera The Secret Storm. It was the third show in an afternoon game show lineup that also featured The Price Is Right and Match Game '74. In 1975, the program moved three times: to 11:00/10:00 AM on June 16, then to 3:30/2:30 PM on August 11, and finally back to its original slot on December 1. On December 12, 1977, CBS shifted it to 10:00/9:00 AM as part of a schedule swap with The Price Is Right and Match Game '77. Viewership began to decline, and the original run ended on March 31, 1978, after 1,075 episodes, replaced by Pass the Buck. A weekly syndicated nighttime version aired during the 1977–78 season but was not picked up again. In 1981, Mark Goodson was asked to revive the show, and it returned on January 18, 1982, replacing the news program Up to the Minute. It stayed at 4:00/3:00 PM until June 1, 1984, when Body Language took its place.