What's Going On?

Infobox Television
show_name = What's Going On?


caption =
format = Game show
camera =
picture_format =
runtime = 30 minutes
creator = Allan Sherman
executive_producer = Mark Goodson and Bill Todman
starring = Lee Bowman
narrated =
opentheme =
endtheme =
country = USA
network = ABC
first_aired = 28 November 1954
last_aired = December 1954
num_episodes = 5
website =
imdb_id = 0046662
tv_com_id =

"What's Going On?" was a short-lived television game show that aired for five weeks beginning on 28 November 1954. The show aired on ABC and was a Mark Goodson-Bill Todman production. It was sponsored by Revlon and shot in New York City.

Lee Bowman served as host of the show. There were six celebrities involved in the game: Kitty Carlisle, Hy Gardner, Audrey Meadows, Cliff Norton, Gene Raymond, and Susan Oakland.

Each week, three of the celebrities would be sent to either record film of an activity or to participate in a live remote broadcast documenting or doing an activity. Examples include washing windows at the Empire State Building, eating dinner at a Chinese restaurant, or destroying money no longer suitable for circulation at the Chicago Federal Reserve Bank. The remaining three celebrities would form the panel which would attempt to guess the activity. Each round, one activity would be introduced to the audience with part of the film or live remote, which would be shown behind the panel (they could only see it if they turned around). The activity was silently displayed (usually via written cards they would hold up in the film or remote) for the audience.

The panel would then take turns asking questions to determine the activity, limited by timer in a manner similar to "I've Got a Secret". Depending on the presumed difficulty in guessing the activity, the panel could be given anywhere from three to ten "chimes" (guessing turns) between them, which would be revealed in advance. In some of the segments, an audience member would be recruited to engage in the activity with a panelist. In those cases, a relative of the audience member joined the panel attempting to guess the activity. Correctly guessing the activity resulted in a $100 prize. In the segments played exclusively by the panelists, there were no prizes.

Episode Status

In 2005, GSN broadcast four surviving episodes (the final one is missing) as part of its late night "Black & White Overnight" programming block. On 28 August 2006, and again on 30 April 2007, they rebroadcast one of those surviving episodes.

External links

*imdb title|id=0046662|title=What's Going On?