The Search for the Gimmick

To Mark Goodson and Bill Todman, a pair of fast-moving young TV producers, panel shows are "intellectual sporting events." They have drama, says Goodson, because each one "has an unwritten ending--until they're on the air, no one knows who will win, the panel or the contestant." Panel shows succeed on TV, adds Todman, because "they have motion without movement."

Goodson & Todman reached these esoteric conclusions when their first TV panel show--What's My Line?--became an unexpected hit (TIME, Sept. 17). They have applied them with equal success to their second panel show, It's News to Me.* Last week they launched the third in their series, The Name's the Same (Wed. 7:30 p.m., ABC). Like most of the others, it has a panel of experts: Comic Abe Burrows, Actress Joan Alexander, Musician Meredith Willson. It also has a funnyman moderator (Robert Q. Lewis), and a succession of contestants, in this case individuals whose names are the same as those of living & dead celebrities (among last week's mystery contestants: Jane Russell, a Long Island saleswoman). Each panelist is allowed ten questions, pays a $25 forfeit for failing to guess the right name.

Start of an Idea. When they start working up a panel show, Goodson & Todman look first for a gimmick. "There's no telling where that comes from," says Goodson. "Sometimes I sit for hours writing words and phrases in free association until something hits me." Even the most likely gimmicks don't always work out. One projected show, called Don't Make Me Laugh, had a sensational gimmick: the contestant got $100 if he could keep a straight face for three minutes while a famous comedian told him jokes. Says Todman sadly: "We found that, for $100, a guy could stay grim no matter what happened."

Another show that never got ort the air was On the Spot, which had a panel of high-dome experts who were supposed to answer any question about anything. During a dry run, one of the first questions asked was: "Who is the mayor of Albuquerque, New Mexico?" Shrugs Goodson: "What can you do? It doesn't make sense to have a show like that and then complain that the questions are unfair."

End of a Trend. Goodson & Todman have always been great trend riders. When they specialized in radio they had half-a-dozen giveaway shows. Todman's talent for giveaways was epitomized by Goodman Ace, who once encountered him rushing to a studio with an armful of aluminum ware. When Todman lost his grip on one of the pots & pans, Ace called to him: "Hey, you dropped your script!"

With The Name's the Same, Goodson & Todman feel that they have ridden the panel trend as far as it will go. Now they are searching for a gimmick that will produce a new kind of show for jaded televiewers. "We don't care what it is," says Goodson, "just so there won't be a desk or an expert in it."

* Other Goodson & Todman shows: The Web, Beat the Clock, Stop the Music, Winner Take All.

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