History Series / TheNamesTheSame

The show had a limited premise and a less-than-stable panel (only Joan Alexander stayed through the entire run, and even then she didn't appear on every episode), but the then-young Creator/{{ABC}} network needed hits and ''Name'' was one of the few. The show was canned on August 31, 1954 (with Lewis and the panel of Gene Rayburn, Bess Myerson, Roger Price, and Alexander saying goodbye), only to be brought back on October 4 when its replacement bombed — but Lewis wasn't brought back, resulting in a Season 4 which not only had its usual less-than-stable panel but a less-than-stable emcee chair, a less-than-stable format, and a few sour moments:

** "I'd Like To Be" was discontinued after the September 8, 1953 episode.[[note]]Much like ''I've Got A Secret'', these were made up by the producers for entertainment value, with the celebrities playing along. The May 19, 1953 episode made it obvious; the very first question was met with the celebrity turning to the host and going "I don't know, you know more about him than I do!"[[/note]]. The following episode had the panel guess the celebrity's "ambition"; the episode after ''that'' introduced the "Secret Wish" that remained for the rest of the run.

** "I'd Like To Be" was replaced by "Secret Wish" on September 22, 1953.

# An ill-fitting "Celebrity Relatives" round was added on January 10; Myerson left the program following this episode, replaced by Audrey Meadows.

* RedScare: Yes, even in a game show. [[WordOfGod Mark Goodson]] [[http://www.nytimes.com/1991/01/13/magazine/if-i-stood-up-earlier.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm stated]] that "for whatever reason, no doubt budgetary, ABC did not maintain an elaborate monitoring department, and it soon became clear that here was a venue where I could use otherwise blacklisted performers." One of them was ''Name'' regular Abe Burrows, who had been cleared of any Communist ties but still couldn't be on TV. Despite a massive amount of (organized) letters calling for his ousting, Goodson refused to remove Burrows from the show until a Syracuse supermarket owner began a campaign to boycott Swanson's products by claiming the ''Name'' sponsor was using consumer funds to hire Communists — and the campaign snowballed to the point where many retailers stopped carrying Swanson items altogether. Finally, in November 1952, Goodson was kindly told that even though Burrows was innocent, Swanson just couldn't risk going bankrupt.

Goodson-Todman GameShow that ran from 1951-55 and originally hosted by Robert Q. Lewis, in which a panel of three celebrities tried to guess a person's name — with the knowledge that it's shared with a person (Creator/BillCullen), place (Louis Ville), or thing (A. Harem).

Each panelist could ask ten questions before they were declared "stumped", but could pass at any time. The game ended when A) the name was guessed, B) the host called time, or C) the panel ran out of questions. Each stumped panelist wrote a personal check for $25 to the contestant.

The show had a limited premise and a less-than-stable panel (only Joan Alexander stayed through the entire run, and even then she didn't appear on every episode), but the then-young Creator/{{ABC}} network needed hits and ''Name'' was one of the few. The show was canned on August 31, 1954 (with Lewis and the panel of Gene Rayburn, Bess Myerson, Roger Price, and Alexander saying goodbye), only to be brought back on October 18 when its replacement bombed — but Lewis wasn't brought back, resulting in a Season 4 which not only had its usual less-than-stable panel but a less-than-stable emcee chair, a less-than-stable format, and a few sour moments:

** During Ralston's sponsorship, the show used an animated opening set to the song "Meet Me in St. Louis" (where Ralston's headquarters was located).
* ADayInTheLimelight: Among the show's guest hosts were Conrad Nagel (April 7, 1953), Brian Aherne (November 3-10, 1953), and [[AscendedExtra Clifton Fadiman]] (June 8-22, 1954).

** The panel area was expanded to occupy four celebrities beginning on February 7, 1954, which decreased the payouts to $20 per stumped celebrity...and as a result, stumping the panel only awarded $5 more than it had prior to the change.
** Beginning on January 10, 1955 the show began using a segment where a relative of a famous celebrity would appear, and the panel had to guess the celebrity. Ill-fitting for the show's premise, and not even played every week, it was discontinued on June 13.

-->'''Creator/MarkGoodson''': So Abe was axed. When I informed Burrows of the bad news, he understood. He'd been aware of the situation and thanked us for keeping him on as long as we had. Luckily, Abe was not really damaged since he had a major hit on Broadway.

* AnimatedCreditsOpening: Episodes sponsored by Chicken of the Sea featured a short animation of the brand's mermaid mascot "pinging" the different types of products (tuna; strained tuna and dietetic tuna; oyster stew and oysters; and frozen tuna pie) as the announcer said them. This was clipped out of GSN airings since 2004 in the network's quest for more current commercial space.

* ProductPlacement: Compared to some of ''Name''[='s=] fellow shows of the era, the sponsor elements were very low-key, consisting of mainly just a company icon (an "S" for Swanson, the mermaid for Chicken of the Sea, etc.) on the default positions of the scoreboard. Swanson presented live in-studio frying of its chicken for its commercials, and bits remain in some GSN airings of Lewis reacting to the tempting aroma of fried chicken.

!!GameShow Tropes in use:

# James left following the April 4 show, replaced by BobAndRay; appropriately for the duo, ''Name'' began using skits and TakeThat episodes.

* BobAndRay: Shared hosting duties for about two months in 1955. Appropriately, the show became more comedic in a style akin to the duo's earlier work, with occasional skits.

Goodson-Todman GameShow that ran from 1951-55 and originally hosted by Robert Q. Lewis, in which a panel of three celebrities tried to guess a person's name — with the knowledge that it's shared with a person (BillCullen), place (Louis Ville), or thing (A. Harem).

# James left following the April 4 show, replaced by Bob & Ray; appropriately for the duo, ''Name'' began using skits and TakeThat episodes.

# On September 16, the series moved to [[FridayNightDeathSlot Fridays at 10:00]].

* MissingEpisode: The first eight months, as the earliest episode GSN has aired (and the one which began a 2008 run of the series) was from August 6, 1952 [[note]](interestingly, the same night as the earliest ''Series/BeatTheClock'' episode GSN has shown)[[/note]]. Several other episodes from 1952-55 are also missing. [[http://userdata.acd.net/ottinger/tnts.html Here's a comprehensive list.]]
* NamesTheSame: Quite possibly the TropeNamer.

* RealLifeRelative: Two examples back-to-back on April 18, 1955. First, Ray Goulding's son appeared as the first contestant, his card reading "Ray's Son (Bob had nothing to do with it)"; then that night's guest, Leo Durocher, had a "Secret Wish" that was guessed by his wife on the panel (Lorraine Day).

* MissingEpisode: The first eight months, as the earliest episode GSN has aired (and the one which began a 2008 run of the series) was from August 6, 1952 [[note]](interestingly, the same night as the earliest ''BeatTheClock'' episode GSN has shown)[[/note]]. Several other episodes from 1952-55 are also missing. [[http://userdata.acd.net/ottinger/tnts.html Here's a comprehensive list.]]

** The panel area was expanded to occupy four celebrities beginning on February 7, 1954; to compensate, the show decreased the payouts to $20 per stumped celebrity.

-->'''MarkGoodson''': So Abe was axed. When I informed Burrows of the bad news, he understood. He'd been aware of the situation and thanked us for keeping him on as long as we had. Luckily, Abe was not really damaged since he had a major hit on Broadway.

* RedScare: Yes, even in a game show. [[WordOfGod Mark Goodson]] [[http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CE3DB1339F930A25752C0A967958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all stated]] that "for whatever reason, no doubt budgetary, ABC did not maintain an elaborate monitoring department, and it soon became clear that here was a venue where I could use otherwise blacklisted performers." One of them was ''Name'' regular Abe Burrows, who had been cleared of any Communist ties but still couldn't be on TV. Despite a massive amount of (organized) letters calling for his ousting, Goodson refused to remove Burrows from the show until a Syracuse supermarket owner began a campaign to boycott Swanson's products by claiming the ''Name'' sponsor was using consumer funds to hire Communists — and the campaign snowballed to the point where many retailers stopped carrying Swanson items altogether. Finally, in November 1952, Goodson was kindly told that even though Burrows was innocent, Swanson just couldn't risk going bankrupt.

* UnexpectedlyObscureAnswer: Some names were a bit more obscure than others, but not that much.

* AnimatedCreditsOpening: Episodes sponsored by Chicken Of The Sea featured a short animation of the brand's mermaid mascot "pinging" the different types of products (tuna; strained tuna and dietetic tuna; oyster stew and oysters; and frozen tuna pie) as the announcer said them. This has been clipped out of more recent GSN airings in the network's quest for more current commercial space.

* ProductPlacement: Compared to some of ''Name''[='s=] fellow shows of the era, the sponsor elements were very low-key, consisting of mainly just a company icon (an "S" for Swanson, the mermaid for Chicken Of The Sea, etc.) on the default positions of the scoreboard. Swanson presented live in-studio frying of its chicken for its commercials, and bits remain in some GSN airings of Lewis reacting to the tempting aroma of fried chicken.

The show had a limited premise and a less-than-stable panel (only Joan Alexander stayed through the entire run, and even then she didn't appear on every episode), but the then-young {{ABC}} network needed hits and ''Name'' was one of the few. The show was canned on August 31, 1954 (with Lewis and the panel of Gene Rayburn, Bess Myerson, Roger Price, and Alexander saying goodbye), only to be brought back on October 18 when its replacement bombed — but Lewis wasn't brought back, resulting in a Season 4 which not only had its usual less-than-stable panel but a less-than-stable emcee chair, a less-than-stable format, and a few sour moments:

# Rayburn, a regular since July 7, 1953, left after the January 3 show [[hottip:*:(this ''may'' be related to the first contestants on December 27 — "Bess Myerson", "Roger Price", and "Joan Alexander"; a "Gene Rayburn" who was supposed to be present had missed his flight)]] and was replaced by Hy Gardner.

* MissingEpisode: The first eight months, as the earliest episode GSN has aired (and the one which began a 2008 run of the series) was from August 6, 1952 [[hottip:*:(interestingly, the same night as the earliest ''BeatTheClock'' episode GSN has shown)]]. Several other episodes from 1952-55 are also missing. [[http://userdata.acd.net/ottinger/tnts.html Here's a comprehensive list.]]

# Rayburn, who had been a regular since July 7, 1953, left after the January 3 show [[hottip:*:(this ''may'' be related to the first contestants on December 27 — "Bess Myerson", "Roger Price", and "Joan Alexander"; a "Gene Rayburn" who was supposed to be present had missed his flight)]] and was replaced by Hy Gardner.

* MissingEpisode: The first eight months, as the earliest episode GSN has aired (and the one which began a 2008 run of the series) was from August 6, 1952. [[hottip:*:(Interestingly, the same night as the earliest ''BeatTheClock'' episode GSN has shown.)]] Several other episodes from 1952-55 are also missing. [[http://userdata.acd.net/ottinger/tnts.html Here's a comprehensive list.]]

* ProductPlacement: Compared to some of ''Name''[='s=] fellow shows of the era, the sponsor elements were very low-key, consisting of mainly just a company icon (an "S" for Swanson, the mermaid for Chicken Of The Sea, etc.) on the default positions of the scoreboard. Swanson also presented live in-studio frying of its chicken for its commercials, and bits remain in some GSN broadcasts of Lewis reacting to the tempting aroma of fried chicken in the air.

* RealLifeRelative: Two examples happened back-to-back on April 18, 1955. First Ray Goulding's son appeared as the first contestant, his card reading "Ray's Son (Bob had nothing to do with it)"; then that night's guest, Leo Durocher, had a "Secret Wish" that was guessed by his wife on the panel (Lorraine Day).
* RedScare: Yes, even in a game show. [[WordOfGod Mark Goodson]] [[http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CE3DB1339F930A25752C0A967958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all stated]] that "for whatever reason, no doubt budgetary, ABC did not maintain an elaborate monitoring department, and it soon became clear that here was a venue where I could use otherwise blacklisted performers." One of them was ''Name'' regular Abe Burrows, who had been cleared of any Communist ties but still couldn't be on TV. Despite a massive amount of (organized) letters calling for his ousting, Goodson refused to remove Burrows from the show until a Syracuse supermarket owner began a campaign to boycott Swanson's products by claiming the ''Name'' sponsor was using customer money to hire Communists — and the campaign snowballed to the point where many retailers stopped carrying Swanson items altogether. Finally, in November 1952, Goodson was kindly told that even though Burrows was innocent, Swanson just couldn't risk going bankrupt.

* TakeThat: The April 25, 1955 episode seemed specifically designed to mock Arthur Godfrey's firing of Julius [=LaRosa=] sixteen months earlier. Considering the hosts were Bob & Ray, who had already spoofed Godfrey and his show on their radio program, this wasn't surprising.

# Gregory Ratoff made a "Secret Wish" appearance on March 14, and proceeded to go off on [[CloudCuckoolander an odd ramble]] [[BoredOnBoard that ate up nearly the whole broadcast time]].