With a brand new season of To Tell The Truth airing this summer as part of ABC's Sunday Fun and Games line-up, it's time to travel down memory lane and rank all six incarnations of the classic game show.
To Tell The Truth is one of America's longest-running television game shows. In fact, To Tell The Truth is the only game show, besides The Price Is Right, to have aired new episodes in seven consecutive decades, the 1950s to the 2010s. Over the course of those decades, the show has experienced six incarnations and has featured a total of nine hosts, which do not include Mike Wallace, who hosted the 1956 pilot episode titled Nothing But The Truth, or Richard Kline, who hosted the 1990 version pilot.
To Tell The Truth is a very simple game and a fun game to play along with, which is most likely one of the main reasons why it has been revived so many times. Along with the likes of What's My Line and I've Got a Secret, To Tell The Truth is one of the great panel shows, made possible because of legendary game show producers Mark Goodson and Bill Todman.
While each incarnation added it's own flairs here and there, the main game was the same. Three people, or challengers as they are called, were introduced to the celebrity panel, all of whom claim to be the same person. After number one, number two and number three answer the question "what is your name please?," then the panel gets to hear or read along to an affidavit describing the real person's story or claim to fame.
The players are then seated behind their designated number and the questioning begins. Each of the four celebrity panelists gets a short amount of time to ask direct questions to the three challengers. The two challengers who are impostors can lie when answering the panel's questions, but the real person is sworn to tell the truth and must answer each question honestly to the best of their abilities.
After the questioning period is up, the panel must vote on who they think is the real person, based on initial looks, but more importantly, the information gathered through the challengers answering the questions. After tallying the votes, the real person will reveal themself by standing up from their seat.
Brad Fact: Remember the Eminem song "The Real Slim Shady" and the lyric "Will the real Slim Shady please stand up?" Well, that line is based on the catchphrase from To Tell The Truth, "Will the real __________________ please stand up."
The two impostors then get a chance to disclose their true identities, and depending on how the panel voted, the three challengers get to split a cash prize.
That is how the game has been played for over 60 years. However, even though the game has basically remained the same, not every incarnation of To Tell The Truth has matched the previous in greatness.
So, it's time to order the six incarnations of To Tell The Truth from worst to first. The ranking will be based on longevity, hosts and overall appeal of the show's version.
Click next to see which version ranked highest!