Starter of this subject: Will
Last post in this subject: 2/27/2004
Messages in this subject: 5
| Will | 2/27/2004 5 replies |
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I know "Reality TV" is a modern thing, but I was curious if there was any reality-like shows on OTR. I know there was game shows but something a little different I guess is what I am wondering. Something like Arthur Godfrey's Talent Show...was there any show similar to that, where people compete by singing or anyhting kind of like American Idol?
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| George Tirebiter | 2/27/2004 1 replies |
| Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts began on radio (not clear from your post if you are only referring to the TV version or not) but the biggest talent show of the OTR era was Major Bowes Amateur Hour which was the top rated show in 1935-36 and remained in the top 20 through the early 1940s. In the show's mid-1930s heyday it was probably as much a pop cultural phenominon as American Idol is today. |
| ed kienzler | 3/3/2004 0 replies |
| if "reality" is like what it is now, how about "Truth or Consequences" as far as an audience participation show? it would remind me of "Fear Factor"(somewhat) |
| jim isham | 2/27/2004 0 replies |
| I'm sure there were. Probably the most famous talent show was Major Bowe's Amateur Hour. Frank Sinatra,who appeared on the show in 1935,is probably one of the most famous products of that show. Do a search for Major Bowes on Google and you'll come up with quite a bit. |
| Eric Cooper | 2/28/2004 0 replies |
| Other times of reality shows were also popular. One rarity that comes to mind is CBS Radio's "Nightwatch" (1955) the almost identical precursor to Fox TV's long running COPS show |
| Ted Hering | 2/28/2004 0 replies |
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I suppose, too, that "People Are Funny" (a game show with Art Linkletter) and "Candid Microphone" (which later became "Candid Camera" for TV) were "reality shows" in their own way. Sometimes "People Are Funny" would send contestents out of the studio to intereact in a contrived pretext with passersby. Usually the results of the experiments would be reported at the end of the show, or, in some cases, the following week.
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