You're In The Picture (lost unaired second episode of CBS game show; 1961)

From The Lost Media Wiki
Revision as of 14:22, 25 May 2015 by Dycaite (talk | contribs)
Jump to: navigation, search
1 minute snippet from the first episode, followed by Gleason's apology.

You're In The Picture is often named the Heil Honey I'm Home! of game shows. Its horrible quality got it cancelled after its first episode aired in 1961. The show was hosted by Jackie Gleason, which is said to be the show's only saving grace.

The premise of the game show is more than sufficient evidence of its terrible quality. Celebrities would put their faces through an image that was either of a famous historical figure or some depiction of popular song lyrics of the time. The celebrity would have no idea who they were supposed to be and they had to guess. Unfortunately the answers were either so obscure that the celebrity had no way of knowing it or so obvious they get it correct within seconds. If they won the show, they would receive the most lackluster prize in game show history: 100 care packages would be sent out to someone in their name.

The show was ripped to shreds by critics. Gleason responded to the criticism by airing an apology for the horrid show in place of the second episode. The apology is said to be one of the best pieces of comedy ever aired on television and is looked at as a highlight of his career. It turned out to be a poorly disguised pilot for the talk show, The Jackie Gleason Show

While the first episode and apology are regularly available, the second episode never surfaced. The episode wasn't even known to have existed until Johnny Carson claimed to have appeared in it (surviving footage has yet to confirm his claim). The episode was suspected to have been wiped, though Gleason is thought to have held a copy.