Winner Take All (game show)

{{More citations needed|date=December 2009}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}

{{Infobox television

| image =

| caption =

| creator = Mark Goodson
Bill Todman

| presenter = Ward Wilson
Bill Cullen
Bud Collyer
Barry Gray
Sonny Fox

| narrated = Bill Cullen
Bern Bennett
Harry Kramer
Don Pardo

| country = United States

| network = CBS (Radio; 1946–1952)
CBS (Television; 1948–1951)
NBC (1952)

| first_aired = {{start date|1946|6|3}}

| last_aired = {{end date|1952|9|5}}

| num_episodes = 1951 (TV): ~50
1952 (pre-Matinee): ~45
1952 (Matinee): ~65

}}

Winner Take All is an American radio-television game show that ran from June 3, 1946,{{cite news |last1=Aitchison |first1=Marion |title=Radio Programs |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-miami-herald/168886548/ |access-date=March 26, 2025 |work=The Miami Herald |date=June 3, 1946 |page=15 B|via = Newspapers.com }} to 1952 on CBS and NBC. It was the first game show produced by the Mark Goodson-Bill Todman partnership.{{cite book|last1=Newcomb|first1=Horace|title=Encyclopedia of Television|date=2014|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781135194796|page=1013|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JUzIAgAAQBAJ&q=%22Winner+Take+All%22+television&pg=PA1013|accessdate=26 September 2017|language=en}} The series was originally hosted by Ward Wilson, but is best known for being the first game hosted by Bill Cullen.{{cite book|last1=Baber|first1=David|title=Television Game Show Hosts: Biographies of 32 Stars|date=2009|publisher=McFarland|isbn=9781476604800|page=53|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VbrwCQAAQBAJ&q=%22Winner+Take+All%22+television&pg=PA53|accessdate=26 September 2017|language=en}}

Contestants were selected from the audience to compete for prizes. Although the game format was very simple, Winner Take All served as the genesis for many future game-show formats. It was the first game to use lockout devices, and the first to use returning champions.

The program was broadcast at 3 p.m. Eastern Time.

In July 1952, CBS launched a Saturday night version of the show, in addition to the regular Monday-Friday daytime broadcasts.{{cite news |title='Winner Take All' Is To Be Aired Saturday |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-roanoke-times-winner-take-all/147861881/ |access-date=May 22, 2024 |work=The Roanoke Times |date=July 30, 1950 |page=18|via = Newspapers.com }}