Front Page Challenge

From the mid-fifties to the mid sixties, Front Page Challenge was one of my family's favorite TV shows. This was the period in which we only received two channels over a fifty-foot Yagi antenna connected to a black & white Sears TV receiver. We loved the regular panelists and their host, but we also looked forward to the guest-panelist, who often was quite famous and had to be hidden from the panel along with his or her voice disguised. Besides always being interesting, there were plenty of laughs and usually an opportunity to learn something, as the guest was subjected to even more questions from the panel, once his or her mystery subject was revealed. I was always proud of the CBC for coming up with such a unique and original program, that is, until the Internet came along and I stumbled across a YouTube video showing an episode of CBC's I've Got A Secret. I then learned that this show began in 1952, about 5 years earlier than did Front Page Challenge.

I believe Front Page Challenge was a temporary replacement show that became popular enough to bump the original program. The concept was as follows: A mystery guest (still visible to those at home) would be hidden from the view of the panel, who would have to find clues by asking the guest a time-limited selection of questions. Whether or not the guest's identity had been found out, the panel would have the opportunity to interview the guest briefly. Usually each half-hour show consisted of two mystery headlines for the panel to solve.

The curmudgeonly Gordon Sinclair would always ask the first question, which was always "How much money do you make?" Once that was out of the way, it was over to YOU, Betty Kennedy, who filled the chair of glamorous actress Toby Robins later in the life of the show. Betty, herself a real hottie in her youth, could be relied upon to ask hard-hitting journalistic questions like if the guest was married, if they had children, or who was their favorite Beatle. Then Pierre Berton would impress everyone with a smarmy fact he uncovered while researching his latest book, but before he could really get into the interview, the theme music began to play and studio lights dimmed, followed by host Fred Davis' goodbye.

Speaking of the flavorless host Davis, he appeared only to be there to direct traffic on the show, not impress anyone with his sharp wit, or willowy stage presence. The non-descript show, which was evidently done before a live audience, seemed somehow to have enough relevance to hold the interest of most who tuned in. The impressive mystery guest list included such luminaries as Pierre Trudeau, Malcolm X and Ed Sullivan. Often the guest panelists were quasi-famous Canadian actors, or journalists.

While Front Page Challenge' production values aimed not to overshadow their famous guests, they probably 'blanded' themselves right out of work. This was a pretty good concept for the late 1950s, but it was really wearing thin by the time it left the airwaves for good in 1995. No matter - by that time it was the longest continually running non-news program in Canadian television history.

Every guest had to endure Gordon Sinclair asking this question. The reactions were priceless.

An excellent show as it both entertained and informed.