All About Faces

{{Infobox television

| genre = Game show

| producer = Screen Gems

| presenter = Richard Hayes

| country = United States
Canada

| location = CFTO-TV
Toronto, Ontario, Canada

| channel = Syndicated
CTV Television Network

| first_aired = {{Start date|1971|08|30}}

| last_aired = {{End date|1972|09|}}

| num_seasons = 1

}}

All About Faces was a weekly game show which ran from August 30, 1971, to September 1972. The series incorporated a "hidden camera" format similar to Candid Camera. The program was produced in Toronto by Screen Gems, at the studios of CFTO-TV in Scarborough, Toronto, Ontario. Richard Hayes was host, and the show's producer was Dan Enright. The show was short-lived, lasting only one season in U.S. television syndication and on Canada's CTV.

Format

Two teams, each consisting of a celebrity and a friend or relative, would be shown a clip of an unsuspecting person placed in an embarrassing situation, recorded by a hidden camera, and as the film was frozen on a closeup of the person's face, the contestants had to wager on how the person would react.{{cite news |date=1971-09-11 |title=W-Ten's New TV Show Starts Sat., Sept. 18 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-times-record/144350245/ |newspaper=The Record |accessdate=2024-03-29 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20240329092934/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-times-record/144350245/ |archivedate=2024-03-29 }} For example, a person in a taxicab is told by the driver that he is nearsighted and color blind; the contestants would guess whether the passenger would exit the cab or not. Each team started with $50 and could bet up to that amount in each round; the team with the most money after four rounds won the game, with their winnings donated to their favorite charity (and if the team's final score was under $50, they would still be credited with said amount).{{cite news |date=1971-08-27 |title=All About Faces new game show |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/calgary-herald/144350085/ |newspaper=Calgary Herald |via=Newspapers.com |accessdate=2024-03-29 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20240329091253/https://www.newspapers.com/article/calgary-herald/144350085/ |archivedate=2024-03-29 }}{{cite book |last1=Schwartz |first=David |last2=Ryan |first2=Steve |last3=Wostbrock |first3=Fred |date=1995 |title=The Encyclopedia of TV Game Shows |edition=2 |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780821630945/page/n28/ |location=New York |publisher=Facts On File |via=Internet Archive |pages=1–2 |isbn=0-8160-3093-6 |accessdate=2024-03-29 }}{{cite book |last=Terrace |first=Vincent |date=1980 |title=The Complete Encyclopedia of Television Programs, 1947–1979 |url=https://archive.org/details/completeencyclop0000terr/page/22/ |location=South Brunswick |publisher=A. S. Barnes & Company |via=Internet Archive |pages=22–23 |isbn=0-498-02488-1 |accessdate=2024-03-29 }}

Broadcast history

The show was produced in Toronto.{{cite news |last=Kitman |first=Marvin |author-link=Marvin Kitman |date=1972-04-08 |title=Game Show's Philanthropy Falls Short |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/dayton-daily-news/144351779/ |newspaper=Dayton Daily News |via=Newspapers.com |accessdate=2024-03-29 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20240329112639/https://www.newspapers.com/article/dayton-daily-news/144351779/ |archivedate=2024-03-29 }} The show is a derivative of the 1961 ABC show About Faces.{{cite book |last=Erickson |first=Hal |author-link=Hal Erickson (author) |date=1989 |title=Syndicated Television: The First Forty Years, 1947–1987 |url=https://archive.org/details/syndicatedtelevi0000eric/page/222/ |location=Jefferson, North Carolina |publisher=McFarland & Company |via=Internet Archive |page=222 |isbn=0-89950-410-8 |accessdate=2024-03-29 }} This was one of several Canadian game shows Dan Enright worked on following his post-quiz show scandals exile; he would later make a comeback to American game shows when former partner Jack Barry brought him in to produce the final network season of Barry's own successful comeback series, The Joker's Wild.

The show was adapted into the 1972 CBS series The Amateur's Guide to Love. The format of guessing the outcome of a "hidden camera" video would subsequently be reused in two later game shows, Anything for Money and Hold Everything!.

Reception

Variety reviewer Bill praised All About Faces, writing, "The show has a rapid pace, what with the number of situations presented in each half hour, and a beneficial comedic spontaneity via ad lib aspects by the actors on location. The intriguing twist of the audience being in on something the subject isn't, works here as it did in Candid Camera. Host Richard Hayes suits the comedy format nicely."{{cite magazine |author=Bill |date=1971-09-08 |title=Television Reviews: All About Faces |magazine=Variety |volume=264 |issue=4 |page=42 |id={{ProQuest|1017178847}} }} Newsday television critic Marvin Kitman called the show "uninspired nonsense" that "dup[ed] people into doing silly things which degrade human foibles", writing that it "began competing for the title of the most idiotic games show last August".{{cite news |last=Kitman |first=Marvin |author-link=Marvin Kitman |date=1972-03-30 |title=TV's Hall of Shame |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/newsday-suffolk-edition/144350170/ |newspaper=Newsday |via=Newspapers.com |id={{ProQuest|917457963}} |accessdate=2024-03-29 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20240329092136/https://www.newspapers.com/article/newsday-suffolk-edition/144350170/ |archivedate=2024-03-29 }} The author Alex McNeil called All About Faces a "lackluster game show".{{cite book |last=McNeil |first=Alex |orig-date=1980 |date=1984 |title=Total Television: The Comprehensive Guide to Programming from 1948 to the Present |edition=2 |url=https://archive.org/details/totaltelevisionc0000mcne_c7h1/page/21/ |location=New York |publisher=Penguin Books |via=Internet Archive |page=21 |isbn=0-14-00-7377-9 |accessdate=2024-03-29 }}

References

External links

{{IMDb title|id=tt0475184|title=All About Faces}}

Category:1971 Canadian television series debuts

Category:1972 Canadian television series endings

Category:1970s Canadian reality television series

Category:Television series by Sony Pictures Television

Category:CTV Television Network original programming

Category:1970s Canadian game shows

Category:Television series by Screen Gems

Category:Television series by Bell Media

Category:Television shows filmed in Toronto