Q 01/05

Herb Stempel was ordered to answer wrongly on Twenty-One when asked for which Best Picture winner?

A) Hamlet

B) Casablanca

C) Marty

D) Rebecca

Answer · why

C) Marty

Marty was a film Stempel knew well and counted among his favorites, yet he was scripted to name On the Waterfront, the previous year's winner. The sur...

Q 02/05

What could Twenty-One's producers shut off in a booth to make its occupant look under strain?

A) The air conditioning

B) The background music feed

C) The microphone

D) The booth lighting

Answer · why

A) The air conditioning

The air conditioning in either booth could be cut so that a contestant visibly sweated on camera. Contestants were also told when to mop their brows, ...

Q 03/05

Which star, who watched Twenty-One as a young acting student, directed the 1994 film Quiz Show?

A) Warren Beatty

B) Robert Redford

C) Clint Eastwood

D) Sydney Pollack

Answer · why

B) Robert Redford

Robert Redford said the contestants struck him as fellow actors, yet he never doubted what he was watching. His film about the scandal earned him an O...

Q 04/05

Which iron-and-vitamin tonic, sold as a remedy for tiredness, sponsored the quiz show Twenty-One?

A) Hadacol

B) One A Day

C) Ovaltine

D) Geritol

Answer · why

D) Geritol

Geritol was made by Pharmaceuticals, Inc., whose spokesman blamed falling ratings when the quiz was dropped in 1958. Regulators later fined the brand ...

Q 05/05

The stigma left by the Twenty-One scandal eased with the 1964 launch of which lower-stakes quiz?

A) Jeopardy

B) Password

C) Match Game

D) Wheel of Fortune

Answer · why

A) Jeopardy

Jeopardy won viewers back with small prizes and clues an ordinary viewer could answer. Its top champion across the original eleven-year run took home ...