How Do You Delve Into The Quiz Show Scandal?
The Quiz Show Scandal of the late 1950s brought shame to the television industry and resulted in vast viewer cynicism. What happened to bring about such a sorry chapter in TV history, one that inspired the 1994 movie “Quiz Show”? Here are some aspects of the scandal to remember. Only 10 percent of all American families had a TV as the 1950s began. By the end of the decade, that number had risen to 86 percent. Several quiz shows of the late 1950s boasted just one sponsor and the amount of money that could be legally offered to contestants had risen dramatically. The drive to succeed by both the sponsor and network was enormous. Neither the sponsor nor quiz show itself could survive without the other. Although other quiz shows such as “The $64,000 Question” were hit by scandal, only the controversy surrounding “Twenty-One” really rocked the industry. Study the main characters in the scandal: Charles Van Doren and Herb Stempel. Stempel had been provided with the answers to quiz questions,
