Tattletales

Sophia Petrillo references the show on a Golden Girls episode. I had never seen or heard of this show. Now on Buzzr I find it a curious relic from the 70s. I see that Joan Collins and John Astin are the only two living guests I identify. I am now more acquainted with 70s TV personalities.

Because I didn't own a TV in those years or I was working. So I enjoy some guests like Julie London and Ron Masak. Convey pumps the guests to be risque then acts embarrassed. He shushes the audience a lot. The show is ok. It's the Newlyweds game with celebrities. A show I watched in the sixties when I fantasized being a contestant. A curiosity is pairing two gay celebrities as a romantic couple: Fannie Flagg and Dick Sargent If they revive it they can book Mario Cantone and husband. And others who are open. Times have changed from closeted 70s.

I wasn't old enough to appreciate the show during its original run, but I'm surely enjoying the re-runs on BUZZR in 2023. To the reviewer who wrote the guests were barely "C" list celebs. NOT TRUE! Ann-Margret, Buddy Ebsen, Lynn Anderson, William Shatner, Patty Duke, Redd Foxx, Dionne Warwick, Milton Berle, etc. Would have hardly be considered "C" list celebs in the '70s. I'm thankful BUZZR is re-running these gems, as well as Match Game.

Each week, there's usually a BIG name celeb guest/their spouse, and the other two celeb guests may be "B'' list celebs ... but still fun to watch. I'm actually surprised some of the racy answers were allowed to air back then. This was an era when people (even celebs) had some decorum and, unlike today, you actually knew the celebs - be they "A" or "B" list.

Saw an episode & looked up that all 3 couples later divorced.

Perhaps these are not the best television shows to have Hollywood couples speak about their marriages, but I noticed the following this afternoon:

-Bill Bixby and his 1st wife named Brenda Benet;

-Juliet Mills and her 2nd husband Michael Miklenda;

-Dick Martin and his 2nd/3rd wife Dolly. *

Note: All three couples would later divorced, actually NOT too long after their appearances aired.

Maybe it had to do with some of the answers?

* Dick Martin and Dolly were married then divorced in 1974 but remarried in 1979 until Dick's death.

Funny, I had forgotten about this little gem from my early adult years when it appeared again recently on one of the oldies TV cable channels which have sprouted up. Hosted by Bert Convy, the perfect man for this job, the show featured three celebrity couples competing on behalf of their slice of the studio audience. There were two types of questions used, in retrospect the ones that worked best were asked to each couple. The guys might answer while the wives off stage were turned off, then the wives came in on little TVs below their husbands and answered - if they matched they won money for their audience. It plays better than it sounds, I mean, where else can you find out whether Abe Vigoda thinks that the attractiveness of your partner adds to your romantic pleasure? (So bizarre and traumatic a TV moment that I recall it vividly some 40 years later) The review here that talks about washed up stars is off, at the time these were generally legit celebrities, including Stiller & Meara, always great. It probably won't work for someone under 40 but I have enjoyed tuning in.

This was an extremely funny game show and my favorite at the time. The guest panelists included Bob Newhart, Don Rickles, and Dick Martin of Rowan & Martin among many others. The answers to questions asked by host Burt Convy were often hilarious! A totally enjoyable half hour!