Who Do You Trust? (originally titled Do You Trust Your Wife? until July 1958) is an American television game show.
Under the title Do You Trust Your Wife?, the show premiered in prime time on CBS in January 1956 and was hosted by Edgar Bergen. The show lasted in this form until March 1957. In September of that year, the show (while keeping the title Do You Trust Your Wife?) was revamped as a daytime program, and Johnny Carson was installed as host. This version aired from September 30, 1957 to November 15, 1957, at 4:30 pm Eastern on ABC, and from November 18, 1957 to December 27, 1963 at 3:30 pm Eastern.
The title was changed to Who Do You Trust? in July 1958, which outraged English teachers, who preferred "Whom Do You Trust?"
Carson was host for five years, until he left to take over The Tonight Show in September 1962. He was replaced by Woody Woodbury as host for the show's final 16 months.
Broadcast history
Who Do You Trust? began as a CBS prime time game titled Do You Trust Your Wife?, emceed by ventriloquist Edgar Bergen, which ran from January 3, 1956, to March 26, 1957. On the original show all the contestants were married couples chosen for their unique backgrounds. The show was produced at the Little Theater on 44th Street in New York (today known as the Helen Hayes Theater).
Gameplay (Bergen era) After a brief chat with Bergen (and his dummies "Charlie McCarthy", "Mortimer Snerd" and "Effie Klinker") the couples would try to answer four questions. The first was a match question, where the spouses tried to match each other's answer to a question about their married life. The remaining questions were of general knowledge, where after the category was revealed, the husband chose whether to answer himself or "trust" his wife to do so, hence the name of the show. The first correct answer won $100, the second added $200, and the third $300. For the fourth question they could wager any of their winnings by answering a question from one of six categories ranging in value and difficulty from $100 to $600. If the couple won no money, they would answer a very easy $100 question. The couple with the most money competed with the winners from the previous week's show to name as many items as possible in a category with the couple coming up with the most answers receiving $100 a week for a year. Couples could return to the show until defeated; one couple, Erik and Helena Gude, remained on the show long enough to amass $120,800.
Change to daytime
The prime time version ended in March 1957, but was soon revamped as a daytime show to air on ABC and feature Johnny Carson. In 1957, Carson's career was in serious trouble due to the cancellation of his prime time CBS variety series The Johnny Carson Show. This series immediately launched him into the public consciousness. When the series launched as a daytime show on ABC on September 30, it kept the Do You Trust Your Wife? title until July 1958, changing its title to expand the scope of contestants beyond married couples.
The initial Carson-era shows were announced by Bill Nimmo. A year into the run, Nimmo was replaced by Ed McMahon, and from that point until 1992 Carson and McMahon would spend the majority of their careers together.
Gameplay (Carson era)
Three couples competed on each show, nearly always a man and a woman chosen for their unique backgrounds; the announcer would introduce couples one at a time, and Carson spent more time interviewing the contestants than quizzing them.
In the quiz portion, Carson would tell the male contestant the category of the upcoming question; the man would then have to decide whether to answer the question himself or "trust" the woman to do so.
Three questions were played per couple, worth $25, $50, and $75; if two or all three couples tied in the cash winnings, they were asked a question involving a numerical answer; the couple coming closest to the correct answer moved on to the bonus game.
Bonus round
From 1957 until the quiz-show scandals in 1959, the bonus round pitted the day's winners against the winners from the previous day. One partner from each team, usually the man, was placed in an isolation booth and asked a question with several answers. The one who got the most correct answers won $500 and the right to return the following day.
After the scandals, in which Who Do You Trust? was not involved, the bonus round involved the winning couple attempting to unscramble a name or phrase in fifteen seconds.