Tag: TV

Directed: Robert Redford  Runtime: 2h 13m  Rated: PG-13  Screenwriter: Paul Attanasio, Richard N. Goodwin  Studio: Hollywood Pictures  Cast: Ralph Fiennes, John Turturro, Rob Morrow, Christopher McDonald, David Paymer, Hank Azaria, Mira Sorvino

In celebration of the end of the SAG-AFTRA strike and a brand new year, I went way back for this week’s review. I first saw Quiz Show in 1999 during my video production class at the vocational school I went to in high school. At that point, this film was around five years old, and when you’re learning about the history of television, it’s a great example to use in class. 

Quiz Show follows the real-life story of people involved in rigging quiz shows in the 1950s. The first television broadcast was in 1928, but it wasn’t until the later part of the 1940s and 1950s that TVs in the home started to become commonplace. As such, the newly established TV networks (only a handful) needed content to air. Game shows were a massive hit and a large portion of programming. One such show was called ‘Twenty-One.’

Most of Quiz Show follows the real-life events of the’ Twenty-One’ scandal but also takes artistic license. It is a movie, after all. It follows the rise and fall of contestants Herb Stempel (Turturro) and Charles Van Doren (Fiennes) after Dick Goodwin’s (Morrow) attention peaked after an article came out in the New York Times. Goodwin is a member of a Congressional oversight committee in Washington, D.C., that oversees television broadcasts. The burning question was, were contestants given the answers ahead of time?

It is a well-written script, and compelling real-life events can make that easier to accomplish; Quiz Show is no exception. The story comes to life beyond just the salacious details of the scandal because this movie has an excellent cast. At its core, Quiz Show makes everyone question their integrity and morals. Is it fraud? Is it okay to lie to the audience about what they are watching when they think it’s all real? Where is the line? What is the crime? 

The quiz shows scandals of the 1950s, while not talked about in the film, did alter the course of TV broadcasting and advertising that still applies largely to this day. Laws were changed, regulations were created, and it is also the single reason commercials exist today. Over sixty years later, network TV and advertisements via commercials have stagnated in their purposes in the wake of streaming services and no-ad plans. When you can’t sell air time between show segments for companies to sell stuff to viewers, how do they make money when the viewer just wants to watch their show? Where is that balance that no longer exists? 

Network TV took over as the primary communication source from radio, as streaming and the internet have now done to TV. However, this transition is not as seamless or profitable, and in that, actors and writers are the ones questioning integrity and morals now instead of the government. They are the ones now saying, ‘This is not okay,’ and trying to figure out where the new line in the sand is on balance in this changing and expanding entertainment arena. 

Quiz Show is a wonderfully acted and directed story that uses its runtime to the fullest. It shows the dog and pony show of how early TV operated. Yet, it’s still an adept cautionary tale of the pitfalls of working in broadcasting (in an age where “reality TV” still exists, no less). An aged nugget in the cinematic archives, Quiz Show, is a movie everyone should have on their watchlist.

-A Pen Lady