21

Twenty One was an American game show. It included the most popular contestant of the quiz show era, but it achieved notoriety for being a rigged quiz show which nearly caused the demise of the entire genre in the wake of Senate investigations. The 1994 movie Quiz Show is based on these events. In time, Twenty-One represented the longest hiatus (42 years) between a cancellation and a revived comeback of a television game show on the same network in the history of broadcasting.

The initial broadcast of Twenty One was played honestly, with no manipulation of the game by the producers. Unfortunately, that broadcast was, in the words of producer Dan Enright, "a dismal failure"; the first two contestants succeeded only in making a mockery of the format by how little they really knew. Show sponsor Geritol, upon seeing this opening-night performance, reportedly became furious with the results, and angrily ordered the rigging of Twenty One so as to prevent a repeat of this incident.

The end result: Twenty One was not merely "fixed", it was almost totally choreographed. Contestants were cast almost as if they were actors, and in fact were active and (usually) willing partners in the deception. They were given instruction as to how to dress, what to say to the host, when to say it, what questions to answer, what questions to miss, even when to mop their brows in their isolation booths (which had air conditioning that could be cut off at will, to make them sweat more).

~ If I remember right, wasn't there a 'Happy Days' episode that touched on this, too?