QUIZ SHOW SCANDALS

QUIZ SHOW SCANDALS. A quiz show craze swept the United States in the 1950s. Television programs, such as CBS's The $64,000 Question, turned contestants into instant celebrities. One contestant, Charles Van Doren, reigned for fifteen weeks as champion of

NBC's Twenty-One. The handsome, bright college instructor created a national sensation, winning $129,000, and even landing the cover of Time magazine.

Quiz show ratings skyrocketed under the guise of honest competition, but two whistleblowers—Edward Hilgemeier and former Twenty-One champion Herb Stempel—revealed that the shows were rigged. Champions, such as Van Doren, were chosen for their dashing looks and personality, and were fed the answers beforehand. Contestants were even instructed when to pause for greatest dramatic effect.

Quiz show fraud tainted the television industry. Van Doren initially denied being coached, only later confessing under pressure from a congressional inquiry in 1959. Critics pointed to quiz shows as confirming the decline of American morals. As a result, television networks added more news and documentary programs during the 1960s. Robert Redford brought the quiz show scandal to life in the 1994 motion picture Quiz Show, starring Ralph Fiennes as Van Doren. Van Doren did not cooperate with Redford on the film version and has never spoken publicly about the scandals.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Anderson, Kent. Television Fraud: The History and Implications of the Quiz Show Scandals. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood, 1978.

DeLong, Thomas A. Quiz Craze: America's Infatuation with Game Shows. Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 1991.

Bob Batchelor

See also Scandals; Television: Programming and Influence.