MovieChat Forums > Tattletales (1974) Discussion > scripted

scripted

posted 9 years ago by rerunwatcher
10 replies | jump to latest

I think this was a scripted show. I have been watching Buzzr and many times the husbands and wives use the identical words to describe something. People in real life would not say the exact same words.

[–] haynese_98 8 years ago

Totally agree and they hit those buzzers way, way to quick after the question was asked.

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[–] rerunwatcher 8 years ago

This is very true of Barbara Stuart and Dick Gautier (or Miss Bunny and Hymie as I call them).

[–] haynese_98 8 years ago

I've seen a few eps. on Buzzr lately. I caught Orson Bean give the cocaine nose gesture to either Bobby or Bert.

I think Bobby Van and his Mrs. were basically using Tattle Tales to fund their lifestyle.

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[–] txfilmfan 8 years ago

They definitely got paid, but appearances like this would typically have paid the prevailing union scale wage of the day. You wouldn't get rich (in celebrity/Hollywood terms) off occasional appearances.

[–] haynese_98 8 years ago

It's possible the money could have been quite good esp. for these borderline stars who might have trouble finding work. A few thousand a day to shoot a weeks worth of shows would be quite lucrative for back then.

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[–] hernemesis 8 years ago

I remember Orson Bean's wife said on the show that they were only appearing because they needed the money (she had just told a story about being robbed, I think). Orson's wife was a very straight-talker, no bs...I really liked her.

Ken Berry's wife Jackie also mentioned needing money during one of their stories on the show, so I guess it helped pay the bills between jobs and also kept the celebrities in the limelight.

[–] haynese_98 8 years ago

Money certainly could have been their primary motivator. I always thought that guest stars on The Love Boat and Fantasy Island were doing it for the quick cash.

I know for sure Bert, Bean, Berry, Bobby and Elaine, and Dick Gautier all did stints on The Love Boat and/or Fantasy Island. I'm sure almost all the other Tattletale stars were too.
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[–] thetobins96 8 years ago

Normally I would agree, but I saw a few episodes in the past week where they would ask a question and no one would buzz in an answer, so they would go to the next question. One episode they had about 2 or 3 questions in a row where no one answered.

I saw on a different post that they would ask personal questions and then base questions to the celebrities on the answers or something.

[–] hka-3 8 years ago

I'll bet some of these stories were previously told to family members and to friends at dinner parties, so that's one reason they would end up using the same words.

With some stories, though, there are details which don't match up. I just watched one in which Dick Gautier told a Thanksgiving story and his wife said it was Christmas, but they still got credit for a correct answer because the rest of the story matched up.

Mag, Darling, you're being a bore.

[–] !!!deleted!!! (49761343) 8 years ago

I don't think this was scripted at all. What some of the couples may have done was rehearse a bunch of stories before appearing on the show. That would've been easy to do, since so many of the questions were along the lines of, "Tell us a really embarrassing/weird/crazy incident that happened."

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