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Quiz Show
- 403 statements
- 78 feature instances
- 15 referencing feature instances
| Quiz Show | type |
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Quiz Show | |
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Quiz Show is a 1994 American film directed by Robert Redford, Based on a True Story about the scandal surrounding the rigging of the Game Show Twenty-One in The '50s.Herbert Stempel (John Turturro) is the nerdy, trivia-spouting Jew from Queens who has had a long run as Twenty-One's most successful contestant — helped along for an unspecified but significant amount of time by being told the questions and answers in advance. The show's producers, Dan Enright (David Paymer) and Albert Freedman (Hank Azaria), are told by the network, who have been told by the sponsor, that Stempel is no longer a favorite with the viewing public and will have to take a dive... just as Charles Van Doren (Ralph Fiennes), the handsome, impressive, telegenic son of prominent poet Mark Van Doren (Paul Scofield), decides he'd like to take a crack at appearing on a quiz show.As Van Doren finds himself getting deeper and deeper into the deception — and rising to new heights of fame as a result — Stempel looks to vindicate his bruised ego by exposing the show, and Dick Goodwin (Rob Morrow), a young, idealistic congressional lawyer looking for his big break, picks up on the rumors of fixing and decides to investigate. | |
| Quiz Show | fetched |
2023-04-22T23:44:06Z | |
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2023-04-22T23:44:06Z | |
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Dropped link to HistoricalDomainCharacter: Not a Feature - IGNORE | |
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Dropped link to Marty: Not a Feature - ITEM | |
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Dropped link to TicTacDough: Not a Feature - ITEM | |
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Dropped link to TwentyOne: Not a Feature - ITEM | |
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DBTropes | |
| Quiz Show | sameAs |
Quiz_Show | |
| Quiz Show / int_1779f10e | type |
"Well Done, Son" Guy | |
| Quiz Show / int_1779f10e | comment |
"Well Done, Son" Guy: Van Doren uses his success to feel as accomplished as the other members of his family, which works on everyone but his father, whom he wants it to work on the most. Mark Van Doren couldn't care less about who wins TV game shows and would be happiest if Charlie just earnestly settled into his teaching, and thus is especially devastated when Charlie tells him he's been cheating the whole time. And then they're both told Charlie can't teach anymore due to the scandal. | |
| Quiz Show / int_1779f10e | featureApplicability |
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| Quiz Show / int_1b65dfad | type |
The Cameo | |
| Quiz Show / int_1b65dfad | comment |
The Cameo: Martin Scorsese plays Geritol CEO Martin Rittenhome. Ethan Hawke can be seen very briefly as one of Mark Van Doren's students. | |
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| Quiz Show | hasFeature |
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| Quiz Show / int_1c79ae8c | type |
Those Two Guys | |
| Quiz Show / int_1c79ae8c | comment |
Those Two Guys: Enright and Freedman. | |
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| Quiz Show / int_1d2400e9 | type |
Green-Eyed Monster | |
| Quiz Show / int_1d2400e9 | comment |
Green-Eyed Monster: Stempel. He spends the entire movie furious at the love and adoration that Charles receives, being willing to out himself as a cheater if it means being able take Charles down with him. He seems to regret how much damage his vindictiveness does by the end of the film. | |
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| Quiz Show / int_22cf536c | type |
Chekhov's Gun | |
| Quiz Show / int_22cf536c | comment |
Chekhov's Gun: Goodwin sees Charles and his father discussing the Belgian royal dynasty. Soon enough, Charles is actually asked about them on the show and throws the question, giving Goodwin concrete proof that something's fishy. | |
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| Quiz Show / int_237404cc | type |
Ironic Echo | |
| Quiz Show / int_237404cc | comment |
Ironic Echo: Goodwin coaching Stempel on how to answer the questions at the subcommittee hearing looked astoundingly similar to how Stempel and Van Doren were taught how to answer the questions of the rigged quiz show. | |
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| Quiz Show / int_24a045cd | type |
Wants a Prize for Basic Decency | |
| Quiz Show / int_24a045cd | comment |
Wants a Prize for Basic Decency: After Charles Van Doren is applauded by Congress for breaking his silence and testifying, Rep. Derounian invokes this trope: | |
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| Quiz Show / int_2d363f63 | type |
Frame-Up | |
| Quiz Show / int_2d363f63 | comment |
Frame-Up: Dan Enright takes the sound recording he made of his conversation with Stempel, which in its original form would have thoroughly implicated him and Freedman, and edits it to sound like Stempel threatened to lie that the show was rigged purely out of malice against Van Doren. He then plays it to Goodwin to convince him that a.) the show isn't rigged and Stempel knows it, and b.) Stempel is unhinged and malevolent. It might have worked, if Goodwin hadn't ended up meeting James Snodgrass... | |
| Quiz Show / int_2d363f63 | featureApplicability |
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| Quiz Show | hasFeature |
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| Quiz Show / int_31df118 | type |
Attention Whore | |
| Quiz Show / int_31df118 | comment |
Attention Whore: Stempel who, as Goodwin puts it, "has to be dragged from the spotlight with his teethmarks still on it". For all his insistence that he's The Atoner and his motive for uncovering the show's fraudulence is purely ethical, he seems to revel in the attention with little ability to distinguish between good fame and bad fame. He learns his lesson at the end when he sees what Van Doren's ordeal has done to him: | |
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| Quiz Show | hasFeature |
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| Quiz Show / int_38e5177d | type |
Jews Love to Argue | |
| Quiz Show / int_38e5177d | comment |
Jews Love to Argue: The Stempels. Goodwin, an upper-class Jew who seems to aspire to be a WASP, finds it nauseating; his wife calls him out on it. invoked | |
| Quiz Show / int_38e5177d | featureApplicability |
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| Quiz Show / int_3af4d3a3 | type |
Hollywood New England | |
| Quiz Show / int_3af4d3a3 | comment |
Hollywood New England: You could stand up a coffee spoon in Rob Morrow's Boston accent. The Van Doren family and their intellectual friends are the upper-class Western Mass variant, because they really were like that. | |
| Quiz Show / int_3af4d3a3 | featureApplicability |
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| Quiz Show | hasFeature |
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| Quiz Show / int_3e8d9cd3 | type |
Historical Hero Upgrade | |
| Quiz Show / int_3e8d9cd3 | comment |
Richard Goodwin co-produced the film, which was an adaptation of his book Remembering America. Contrary to the film's depiction of him, Goodwin actually had relatively little to do with the investigations, making this a particularly glaring Historical Hero Upgrade. It was a series of investigative exposés by the New York Post's reporter Dave Gelman that exposed the scandal and brought them to national attention. | |
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| Quiz Show / int_3ea462d7 | type |
Take That, Audience! | |
| Quiz Show / int_3ea462d7 | comment |
Take That, Audience!: The last shot of the film, which plays under the credits, is a slo-mo of a studio audience laughing. In other words, it's all your fault. | |
| Quiz Show / int_3ea462d7 | featureApplicability |
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| Quiz Show / int_3eb8ba12 | type |
Description Porn | |
| Quiz Show / int_3eb8ba12 | comment |
Description Porn: That car in the opening scene. | |
| Quiz Show / int_3eb8ba12 | featureApplicability |
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| Quiz Show / int_3ed17fe0 | type |
Wide-Eyed Idealist | |
| Quiz Show / int_3ed17fe0 | comment |
Wide-Eyed Idealist: Goodwin, at first. | |
| Quiz Show / int_3ed17fe0 | featureApplicability |
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| Quiz Show / int_3f7a958b | type |
Secret Test of Character | |
| Quiz Show / int_3f7a958b | comment |
Secret Test of Character: When Enright suggests, off-handedly, that it'll be very hard for Van Doren to beat Stempel, and that maybe they could ask him some questions they knew he knew the answers to, Charles hesitates, then says "It just doesn't seem right." Then he asks if that was a test, and Enright and Freedman chuckle as if he has seen through their ruse. But actually, it was an open test of character — they want someone willing to cheat. | |
| Quiz Show / int_3f7a958b | featureApplicability |
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| Quiz Show | hasFeature |
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| Quiz Show / int_4215e3e | type |
Keeping Secrets Sucks | |
| Quiz Show / int_4215e3e | comment |
Keeping Secrets Sucks: Take a drink every time Ralph Fiennes stresses out. He seems relieved when he finally comes clean at the end, despite the public embarrassment to himself and his family, and the negative consequences to his career. | |
| Quiz Show / int_4215e3e | featureApplicability |
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| Quiz Show | hasFeature |
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| Quiz Show / int_47fea76b | type |
Butt-Monkey | |
| Quiz Show / int_47fea76b | comment |
Butt-Monkey: It's easier to count the number of times Stempel isn't on the receiving end of a given joke. | |
| Quiz Show / int_47fea76b | featureApplicability |
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| Quiz Show | hasFeature |
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| Quiz Show / int_4dc88e20 | type |
Stop Being Stereotypical | |
| Quiz Show / int_4dc88e20 | comment |
Stop Being Stereotypical: It's never stated outright, but implied that this is part of Goodwin's discomfort with Herb Stempel (both are Jewish). Boomerang Bigot: Goodwin's wife accuses him of this, saying he's embarrassed to be Jewish. | |
| Quiz Show / int_4dc88e20 | featureApplicability |
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| Quiz Show | hasFeature |
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| Quiz Show / int_4e3d253b | type |
Downer Ending | |
| Quiz Show / int_4e3d253b | comment |
Downer Ending: Goodwin fails to "get television" as he'd hoped, since Enright and Freedman take the fall for NBC, rightly expecting that it's nothing they can't bounce back from. Everyone above them lies and gets off scot-free. In the end, all the public disfavor falls on Stempel and Van Doren, who arguably deserve it the least of everyone involved. TV marches on relatively unexamined, and worst, it's strongly implied that this was the last time in the United States that being intelligent was a heroic trait. The ending voiceover says it all: | |
| Quiz Show / int_4e3d253b | featureApplicability |
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| Quiz Show | hasFeature |
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| Quiz Show / int_4e7c4536 | type |
Wham Line | |
| Quiz Show / int_4e7c4536 | comment |
Wham Line: Stempel pointing out Van Doren's acting skills while being questioned. Everyone in the Committee is shocked, but Stempel (accurately) points out you never pay one boxer to take a dive - you always pay both to make sure it works out. Mark Van Doren cuts through all of his son Charles' excuses about how harmless his cheating on a silly quiz show was with "Your name is mine!" | |
| Quiz Show / int_4e7c4536 | featureApplicability |
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| Quiz Show | hasFeature |
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| Quiz Show / int_4e7f703c | type |
Wham Shot | |
| Quiz Show / int_4e7f703c | comment |
Wham Shot: Goodwin notices Charles van Doren smiling after losing. | |
| Quiz Show / int_4e7f703c | featureApplicability |
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| Quiz Show / int_4f84cdef | type |
Smug Snake | |
| Quiz Show / int_4f84cdef | comment |
Smug Snake: The executives, and especially Martin Scorsese's character. | |
| Quiz Show / int_4f84cdef | featureApplicability |
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| Quiz Show | hasFeature |
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| Quiz Show / int_520c77b4 | type |
Ignored Confession | |
| Quiz Show / int_520c77b4 | comment |
Ignored Confession: When Van Doren admits in public, at the committee hearings, that he was cheating all along, instead of telling him off, the committee start to compliment him on the excellence of his confession and how wonderful it was, until one of them brutally intervenes to point out that he shouldn't be paid such fulsome compliments for just telling the truth. | |
| Quiz Show / int_520c77b4 | featureApplicability |
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| Quiz Show / int_5313c266 | type |
Bookends | |
| Quiz Show / int_5313c266 | comment |
Book Ends: The movie opens with a hopeful, 1950s version of "Mack the Knife" by Bobby Darin. It closes with a slow, sad version of "Mack the Knife" by Lyle Lovett, with much darker lyrics, Truer to the Text of the song's source, The Threepenny Opera. | |
| Quiz Show / int_5313c266 | featureApplicability |
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| Quiz Show | hasFeature |
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| Quiz Show / int_53d302c | type |
Vertigo Effect | |
| Quiz Show / int_53d302c | comment |
Vertigo Effect: When Van Doren decides to take a fall. | |
| Quiz Show / int_53d302c | featureApplicability |
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1.0 | |
| Quiz Show | hasFeature |
Quiz Show / int_53d302c | |
| Quiz Show / int_55d2dd16 | type |
Hiding Your Heritage | |
| Quiz Show / int_55d2dd16 | comment |
Hiding Your Heritage: Goodwin is Jewish, but passes as a WASP, at a time when fewer opportunities were open to Jews. This may be why when the car salesman calls him "Goodman", he corrects him quite insistently; "Goodman" is a Jewish name, unlike "Goodwin", which is very Anglo-Saxon. | |
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| Quiz Show / int_58970413 | type |
Coincidental Broadcast | |
| Quiz Show / int_58970413 | comment |
Coincidental Broadcast: Of the radio kind; when Goodwin is trying out a brand-new Chrysler, he turns on the radio just when the announcer is informing listeners the Russians have launched Sputnik. | |
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| Quiz Show / int_60fb097 | type |
Dick Dastardly Stops to Cheat | |
| Quiz Show / int_60fb097 | comment |
Dick Dastardly Stops to Cheat: Enforced by Enright and Freedman. It's not as if Stempel and Van Doren, a trivia genius and an intellectual with multiple advanced degrees respectively, actually needed to cheat. In fact both of them in their own ways asked to play more honestly. Their heavy-handed treatment of Stempel in particular only spurred Congressional investigation. | |
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| Quiz Show / int_66ef1fa1 | type |
Hauled Before a Senate Subcommittee | |
| Quiz Show / int_66ef1fa1 | comment |
Hauled Before a Senate Subcommittee: All the major characters eventually testify before the committee - although it's in the House, not the Senate. | |
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| Quiz Show / int_6b05b601 | type |
Jerkass Has a Point | |
| Quiz Show / int_6b05b601 | comment |
Jerkass Has a Point: As slimy and manipulative as Enright and Freeman get, they are technically correct when they say during the Congressional hearing that they didn't do anything legally wrong. | |
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| Quiz Show / int_6b35bdff | type |
Serious Business | |
| Quiz Show / int_6b35bdff | comment |
Serious Business: Stempel is determined most of all that the American public will know that he actually knew Marty won the Best Picture Oscar of 1955. | |
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| Quiz Show | hasFeature |
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| Quiz Show / int_7a12aabf | type |
New Media Are Evil | |
| Quiz Show / int_7a12aabf | comment |
New Media Are Evil: While television was definitely no longer new when the movie came out in 1994, it was still relatively new at the time the quiz show scandals were taking place. Many commentators in The '50s took this to be the Aesop learned from these scandals. With Goodwin's lament that he was hoping to "get Television, now it looks like Television is going to get us," it seems like the film is siding entirely with those commentators, playing this trope completely straight. | |
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| Quiz Show / int_7b6e47a5 | type |
Armor-Piercing Question | |
| Quiz Show / int_7b6e47a5 | comment |
Armor-Piercing Question: It draws an incorrect conclusion from the evidence, but it still shakes Herb up: Van Doren gets his own when Dave Garroway asks him how he thinks "Honest Abe" Lincoln would do on a quiz show. Freedman poses one in his confession, when he asks, in all honesty, who did the scandal hurt - the public were watching for the entertainment value. | |
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| Quiz Show / int_7cf2f728 | type |
Boomerang Bigot | |
| Quiz Show / int_7cf2f728 | comment |
Boomerang Bigot: Goodwin's wife accuses him of this, saying he's embarrassed to be Jewish. | |
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| Quiz Show / int_7d89315b | type |
"The Reason You Suck" Speech | |
| Quiz Show / int_7d89315b | comment |
"The Reason You Suck" Speech: Congressman Derounian to Van Doren following his confession. Two interesting notes about that — first, the three other Congressmen in charge of the committee actually congratulate Van Doren for his confession and subsequent apology, it's that impassioned. And second, it's only after Derounian speaks that the people in attendance applaud. This deliberately confuses the audience as to whether they're cheering for or against Van Doren. | |
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| Quiz Show / int_8042e814 | type |
Actually Pretty Funny | |
| Quiz Show / int_8042e814 | comment |
Actually Pretty Funny: When Goodwin tensely confronts Enright with concrete proof that Twenty One was rigged, Enright tries to bribe Goodwin by offering him a place on a panel show. Goodwin genuinely seems to think it's funny beyond looking amazed that Enright would go that far. | |
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| Quiz Show / int_823c6e3e | type |
Large Ham | |
| Quiz Show / int_823c6e3e | comment |
Large Ham: Stempel may be Jewish, but man he loves to pork it up. He's played by John Turturro, though, so who wouldn't expect that from him? | |
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Quiz Show / int_823c6e3e | |
| Quiz Show / int_875615dd | type |
Truth in Television | |
| Quiz Show / int_875615dd | comment |
The Van Doren family and their intellectual friends are the upper-class Western Mass variant, because they really were like that. | |
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| Quiz Show / int_8b2e9310 | type |
Ordered to Cheat | |
| Quiz Show / int_8b2e9310 | comment |
Ordered to Cheat: The entire plot. It's unknown whether Stempel started out cheating, but by the time we meet him he's begging Enright to let him play honestly. He can do it — he's a trivia genius. To add insult to injury, he has to lose on an easy pop-culture question he knows in his sleep, on his favorite movie. When Van Doren is taken on as the new contestant, the producers suggest cheating before his first show; he declines, but then they arrange for him to be asked one of the practice questions he got right for his winning points. Under the pressure, it's too much for him to resist, and from there on he goes along. | |
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| Quiz Show / int_970c790a | type |
Big Bad | |
| Quiz Show / int_970c790a | comment |
With Goodwin's lament about failing to "get television", TV is depicted as the film's metaphorical Big Bad who pulled off a Karma Houdini. In reality, the scandals were a huge embarrassment for the industry for years, being held up as the ultimate proof that television was the lowest form of trash. It wouldn't be until the wall-to-wall coverage of John F. Kennedy's assassination in 1963 that people would stop using the scandals as a means to bash the medium. | |
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Quiz Show / int_970c790a | |
| Quiz Show / int_9dfd7154 | type |
Fridge Logic | |
| Quiz Show / int_9dfd7154 | comment |
Fridge Logic: Invoked by Stempel, who is annoyed at the mere idea that a shlubby outer-borough everyman like him would not know that a film about a shlubby outer-borough everyman won the Oscar. Leads to an Anything but That! moment. | |
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Quiz Show / int_9dfd7154 | |
| Quiz Show / int_a2484b0e | type |
The Beautiful Elite | |
| Quiz Show / int_a2484b0e | comment |
The Beautiful Elite: The Van Dorens. | |
| Quiz Show / int_a2484b0e | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Quiz Show / int_a2484b0e | featureConfidence |
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| Quiz Show | hasFeature |
Quiz Show / int_a2484b0e | |
| Quiz Show / int_a70223 | type |
Karma Houdini | |
| Quiz Show / int_a70223 | comment |
Karma Houdini: The senior bosses of NBC and Geritol. In the end Goodwin watches as Enright and Freedman take full responsibility for rigging the show. This applies to them as well, since they face very little repercussion and go on to have successful media careers. | |
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Quiz Show / int_a70223 | |
| Quiz Show / int_aa2cd0c9 | type |
Motifs | |
| Quiz Show / int_aa2cd0c9 | comment |
Motifs: The recurring theme of a contestant losing on a question he not only knows, but invests with some kind of personal significance: Stempel has to pretend he thinks On the Waterfront won the Best Picture Oscar for 1955 when he loved Marty (the actual winner) so much he saw it three timesnote a movie about an unattractive guy from the Bronx who gets the girl of his dreams, which Herb points out; the clip of James Snodgrass' appearance shows him not taking the intended dive on the quote "Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul", which he correctly identifies as being by "one of my favorite poets, Emily Dickinson" — the implication being that because she was his favorite, he wouldn't sink so low as to deny knowing one of her most famous lines; and Van Doren inadvertently lets Goodwin know he lost on purpose by "forgetting" the name of the king of Belgium, whom Goodwin has heard him talk about. The thread linking these is lampshaded by the dialogue when Goodwin confronts Van Doren about it: | |
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Quiz Show / int_aa2cd0c9 | |
| Quiz Show / int_ad1db87c | type |
Oh, Crap! | |
| Quiz Show / int_ad1db87c | comment |
Oh, Crap!: Stempel when he learns he's going to be cut loose, then when Toby overhears him say he cheated. Enright when Goodwin comes up with a solid case against the show. Van Doren when he hears that Freedman has gone to Mexico, meaning he too is on his own. | |
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| Quiz Show / int_ad1db87c | featureConfidence |
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| Quiz Show | hasFeature |
Quiz Show / int_ad1db87c | |
| Quiz Show / int_ae3d6438 | type |
Deadpan Snarker | |
| Quiz Show / int_ae3d6438 | comment |
Deadpan Snarker: Almost everyone. | |
| Quiz Show / int_ae3d6438 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Quiz Show / int_ae3d6438 | featureConfidence |
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| Quiz Show | hasFeature |
Quiz Show / int_ae3d6438 | |
| Quiz Show / int_aebae11c | type |
Viewers Are Morons | |
| Quiz Show / int_aebae11c | comment |
Viewers Are Morons: In-universe. Rittenhome makes it clear to Goodwin he's not intimidated by the prospect of being exposed, because nobody cares if the quiz shows are honest or if the contestants aren't really earning their fame and fortune. | |
| Quiz Show / int_aebae11c | featureApplicability |
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| Quiz Show | hasFeature |
Quiz Show / int_aebae11c | |
| Quiz Show / int_aed65980 | type |
All for Nothing | |
| Quiz Show / int_aed65980 | comment |
All for Nothing: Goodwin's investigation. He seems to realize at the end of the film that all he's done is have Van Doren and Stempel raked over the coals, while his efforts to "get television" end in failure after Enright and Freedman take the fall for NBC and Geritol. Made worse by the fact that they bounce back anyway. On the other hand, the fiasco did lead to laws being passed preventing blatant rigging on game shows in the future. | |
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Quiz Show / int_aed65980 | |
| Quiz Show / int_afc6df04 | type |
What You Are in the Dark | |
| Quiz Show / int_afc6df04 | comment |
What You Are in the Dark: Van Doren learns the hard way that he can't live with getting away with it. | |
| Quiz Show / int_afc6df04 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Quiz Show / int_afc6df04 | featureConfidence |
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| Quiz Show | hasFeature |
Quiz Show / int_afc6df04 | |
| Quiz Show / int_b3d5d61 | type |
Real-Person Cameo | |
| Quiz Show / int_b3d5d61 | comment |
Real Person Cameo: The real Stempel can be seen playing a different contestant being interviewed during the Congressional investigation. | |
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| Quiz Show / int_b3d5d61 | featureConfidence |
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Quiz Show / int_b3d5d61 | |
| Quiz Show / int_b5b4b077 | type |
The Ace | |
| Quiz Show / int_b5b4b077 | comment |
The Ace: Precisely why Charles was scouted for Twenty One. He's charming, handsome, charismatic, educated and comes from a wealthy and influential WASP family. | |
| Quiz Show / int_b5b4b077 | featureApplicability |
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Quiz Show / int_b5b4b077 | |
| Quiz Show / int_b61f1b2b | type |
Touché | |
| Quiz Show / int_b61f1b2b | comment |
Touché: When Charles Van Doren and Dick Goodwin are having lunch at Van Doren's club, and Van Doren's father Mark joins them, Mark has a low opinion of Dick at first (since he has contempt for Washington D.C.), until Dick talks about the origin of the Reuben sandwich (the special, which Dick is having for lunch), and points out while there are a lot of sandwiches in the club, there aren't a lot of Reubens (Jewish people). Mark chuckles at this and says, "Touche", as a way of indicating he's accepted Dick. | |
| Quiz Show / int_b61f1b2b | featureApplicability |
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| Quiz Show / int_b61f1b2b | featureConfidence |
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| Quiz Show | hasFeature |
Quiz Show / int_b61f1b2b | |
| Quiz Show / int_b6cebad3 | type |
Double Standard | |
| Quiz Show / int_b6cebad3 | comment |
Double Standard: The committee's castigation of Van Doren is based on this. Van Doren is told that "a man of [his] intelligence" shouldn't be lauded just for coming forward and publicly admitting his mistakes, the implication being that a smart man like Van Doren should've known not to get into a situation like this in the first place. Apparently, moral/ethical transgressions are more severe when it's a smart person making them. Or something. However, the first few Congressmen grovellingly congratulate Van Doren, not for telling the truth but for the eloquence of his confession that he lied. This is broken by a Congressman annoyed with the bullshit, who points out to Van Doren that he shouldn't be fawned over for telling the truth. note (Van Doren looks almost relieved to be told off, despite the dubious implications of the charge as noted above.) | |
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| Quiz Show / int_b6cebad3 | featureConfidence |
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| Quiz Show | hasFeature |
Quiz Show / int_b6cebad3 | |
| Quiz Show / int_b84adf36 | type |
By "No", I Mean "Yes" | |
| Quiz Show / int_b84adf36 | comment |
By "No", I Mean "Yes": Rittenhome responds to Goodwin asking if he just admitted to knowing about the rigging by saying that he's admitting to nothing, that would be silly. He then speaks in hypotheticals on why the games would be rigged. | |
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| Quiz Show / int_b84adf36 | featureConfidence |
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| Quiz Show | hasFeature |
Quiz Show / int_b84adf36 | |
| Quiz Show / int_bd9bcb8c | type |
Deception Non-Compliance | |
| Quiz Show / int_bd9bcb8c | comment |
Deception Non-Compliance: Van Doren (who is being given answers in advance by the producers of the show) invokes a Suspiciously Specific Denial to ensure that the scheme comes to a halt. He wasn't personally accused at the time, so Goodwin realizes that there's no reason for him to have made a point of denying things unless he was trying to get investigated. | |
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| Quiz Show / int_bd9bcb8c | featureConfidence |
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Quiz Show / int_bd9bcb8c | |
| Quiz Show / int_beb932ca | type |
Big Applesauce | |
| Quiz Show / int_beb932ca | comment |
Big Applesauce: "Queens is not New York." | |
| Quiz Show / int_beb932ca | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Quiz Show / int_beb932ca | featureConfidence |
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| Quiz Show | hasFeature |
Quiz Show / int_beb932ca | |
| Quiz Show / int_c2393191 | type |
Show Within a Show | |
| Quiz Show / int_c2393191 | comment |
Show Within a Show: Twenty-One. | |
| Quiz Show / int_c2393191 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Quiz Show / int_c2393191 | featureConfidence |
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Quiz Show / int_c2393191 | |
| Quiz Show / int_c40c8b74 | type |
And Starring | |
| Quiz Show / int_c40c8b74 | comment |
And Starring: The cast roll here ends with "and Paul Scofield". | |
| Quiz Show / int_c40c8b74 | featureApplicability |
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| Quiz Show / int_c40c8b74 | featureConfidence |
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Quiz Show / int_c40c8b74 | |
| Quiz Show / int_c514c2c4 | type |
Gentleman and a Scholar | |
| Quiz Show / int_c514c2c4 | comment |
Gentleman and a Scholar: Well-groomed, well-educated, well-to-do Charles, whose good looks and social graces make him a better fit for television than nerdy Stempel. | |
| Quiz Show / int_c514c2c4 | featureApplicability |
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| Quiz Show | hasFeature |
Quiz Show / int_c514c2c4 | |
| Quiz Show / int_c7e9df7c | type |
FromACertainPointOfView | |
| Quiz Show / int_c7e9df7c | comment |
From a Certain Point of View: The endless justifications various characters offer for the cheating. | |
| Quiz Show / int_c7e9df7c | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Quiz Show / int_c7e9df7c | featureConfidence |
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Quiz Show / int_c7e9df7c | |
| Quiz Show / int_cbe687ab | type |
Corrupt Corporate Executive | |
| Quiz Show / int_cbe687ab | comment |
Corrupt Corporate Executive: Enright and Freedman. Also implied with NBC President Robert Kinter and Geritol executive Martin Rittenhome. | |
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Quiz Show / int_cbe687ab | |
| Quiz Show / int_d295a79e | type |
Just Here for Godzilla | |
| Quiz Show / int_d295a79e | comment |
Just Here for Godzilla: Rittenhome, played by Martin Scorsese, quietly accuses the show's audience of this in-universe, with hints that he finds the moral outrage around the show's rigging to be hypocritical in the extreme. | |
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Quiz Show / int_d295a79e | |
| Quiz Show / int_d39e327f | type |
What the Hell, Hero? | |
| Quiz Show / int_d39e327f | comment |
What the Hell, Hero?: Toby, when she finds out Herb cheated. Mark Van Doren when Charlie confesses to him. Dick's wife and his colleagues on the congressional subcommittee, asking why he's so reluctant to put Van Doren on the stand. Herb's wife gives him one as well, saying she was one of the "idiots" who admired him for his success on the game show. | |
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Quiz Show / int_d39e327f | |
| Quiz Show / int_dc579c91 | type |
Contrived Coincidence | |
| Quiz Show / int_dc579c91 | comment |
Contrived Coincidence: Goodwin gets his smoking gun when Van Doren just happens to throw a question on the show about the then Belgian king Bauduin whom Goodwin had heard him talking about with his family. | |
| Quiz Show / int_dc579c91 | featureApplicability |
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Quiz Show / int_dc579c91 | |
| Quiz Show / int_dec54a8c | type |
Avoid the Dreaded G Rating | |
| Quiz Show / int_dec54a8c | comment |
Avoid the Dreaded G Rating: The film almost surely would have received a PG rating, if not for a single use of the F-word (and then the same use is repeated later in an in-universe recording, just to make sure). | |
| Quiz Show / int_dec54a8c | featureApplicability |
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| Quiz Show / int_dec54a8c | featureConfidence |
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| Quiz Show | hasFeature |
Quiz Show / int_dec54a8c | |
| Quiz Show / int_e16217f8 | type |
Historical Villain Upgrade | |
| Quiz Show / int_e16217f8 | comment |
Historical Villain Upgrade: There's no evidence that NBC president Robert Kintner or anybody at Geritol knew anything about the rigging of Twenty-One. Martin Rittenhome is fictitious and it's unlikely anyone at Geritol was as smug and far-seeing about this scandal as he's presented to be, especially since nothing like this scandal had ever happened before. Rittenhome's closest Real Life equivalent would be Edward Kletter, the only Geritol executive who testified at the Congressional hearings about the scandal, as Rittenhome is shown to be doing. Kletter's family was not amused. | |
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Quiz Show / int_e16217f8 | |
| Quiz Show / int_e38b0f45 | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
| Quiz Show / int_e38b0f45 | comment |
Of course, off-set, Stempel sneers at the claim that Geritol "cures 'tired blood'".note Iron supplemental products have now been viewed as potentially harmful to older people, as well as being a hemochromatosis risk. The FDA forced Geritol to acknowledge that the product is only useful for people who have iron deficiency, and is not a Cure All. | |
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Quiz Show / int_e38b0f45 | |
| Quiz Show / int_e409de66 | type |
Manipulative Editing | |
| Quiz Show / int_e409de66 | comment |
Manipulative Editing: What Enright and Freedman do with the tape of Stempel after he storms into the office. | |
| Quiz Show / int_e409de66 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Quiz Show / int_e409de66 | featureConfidence |
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Quiz Show / int_e409de66 | |
| Quiz Show / int_e4b69188 | type |
Very Loosely Based on a True Story | |
| Quiz Show / int_e4b69188 | comment |
Very Loosely Based on a True Story: Intentional, as noted by The Other Wiki's article on the film, although several liberties aren't listed there... Stempel is presented as an initially popular contestant who's made to take a dive when Geritol gets sick of him and is convinced the rest of the audience is sick of him too. According to Enright in later interviews, Stempel had always been set up right from the start to be an unlikable but seemingly invincible "bad guy" for the audience to root against until Enright found the perfect "good guy" in Van Doren to defeat him. Van Doren is shown to be a bachelor, with a suggested interest in quiz shows. In reality, he was engaged and didn't even have a television set - his meeting with producer Albert Freedman was through a mutual friend, and it was Freedman who suggested Van Doren appear on television. The rigged on-air rivalry between Stempel and Van Doren actually took place over two episodes (aired November 28 and December 5, 1956), with the first ending in a draw. All the questions seen in the film are from the second episode, but not in the order they were asked. Van Doren didn't mutter "Just oddly familiar" when asked the Halleck question, either, and it's likely he was already fully complicit in the fix by the time of the second episode. While Stempel did take the expected dive on the Marty question, they actually went on for another tie game before Van Doren opted to stop (per the rules, at several points in each show Barry asked the players if either wanted to stop the current game; if either did, the player in the lead immediately won). Van Doren is shown to get a job with The Today Show immediately after losing to Vivienne Nearing on March 11, 1957. While he was offered a three-year contract with NBC, the network initially didn't know what to do with him, giving him a writing role on the Sunday-afternoon cultural show Wide Wide World, which led to Dave Garroway (who hosted both it and Today) inviting Van Doren to join Today. The clip of James Snodgrass deliberately getting the Emily Dickinson answer correct shows Barry slightly recoiling, having expected a wrong answer. In reality, Barry knew nothing about the rigging at first but helped to cover it up once he found out. Neither Geritol nor NBC were involved in the rigging. While Geritol did ask Barry and Enright to change the show after its disastrous premiere, Enright (without Barry's knowledge) was the one who opted to rig the show. Further, as noted above under "Historical Villain Upgrade", Martin Rittenhome never existed. (He is, however, loosely based on Charles Revson, CEO of Revlon, who was heavily implicated in the rigging of their own sponsored quiz show, The $64,000 Question.) As for NBC, network president Robert E. Kintner actually canned Twenty-One when he found out about the rigging and testified to Congress that he and other NBC staffers were just as much victims of the rigging as the viewers were, and that he and other NBC executives were working to wrest control of programming and production from the sponsors. note (The film addresses this, and openly questions how in the world neither Geritol nor NBC could have possibly not known and allow to happen without their consent. Plausible deniability, folks.) The film ignores the rigging of contemporary quizzes Tic-Tac-Dough, The $64,000 Question, The $64,000 Challenge, and Dotto. Dotto's absence is especially notable, since it was the popular rigged quiz that actually provided the smoking gun and set off the investigations in 1958. One of the scandals of the time did involve a sponsor meddling with a quiz show to get rid of contestants the sponsor didn't like, but it was actually Revlon meddling with The $64,000 Question to get rid of Dr. Joyce Brothers by giving her ultra-hard questions the sponsor was confident she'd miss. Instead, she answered them all correctly and went on to become only the second contestant to successfully win the titular $64,000. Brothers' reputation actually grew when the scandals were exposed since they proved she had won the game fair and square despite the odds being deliberately stacked against her. note (...perhaps. In recent years, it was discovered that the person who wrote the questions in Joyce's game was a friend of the Brothers family, raising suspicions that she'd actually won by out-cheating the cheaters.) Richard Goodwin co-produced the film, which was an adaptation of his book Remembering America. Contrary to the film's depiction of him, Goodwin actually had relatively little to do with the investigations, making this a particularly glaring Historical Hero Upgrade. It was a series of investigative exposés by the New York Post's reporter Dave Gelman that exposed the scandal and brought them to national attention. With Goodwin's lament about failing to "get television", TV is depicted as the film's metaphorical Big Bad who pulled off a Karma Houdini. In reality, the scandals were a huge embarrassment for the industry for years, being held up as the ultimate proof that television was the lowest form of trash. It wouldn't be until the wall-to-wall coverage of John F. Kennedy's assassination in 1963 that people would stop using the scandals as a means to bash the medium. | |
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Quiz Show / int_e4b69188 | |
| Quiz Show / int_e54fed84 | type |
Can't Get in Trouble for Nuthin' | |
| Quiz Show / int_e54fed84 | comment |
Can't Get in Trouble for Nuthin': Charles Van Doren in several instances. Dick Goodwin bends over backwards to try to prevent getting Van Doren into trouble for his role in the show, refusing to call him as a witness until he is forced to. As soon as Van Doren's guilt and apprehension get the better of him, he fakes getting a question wrong just so he can get bumped off the show, but the network gives him a permanent spot on another show at a huge salary. When he confesses his guilt to his father, Mark Van Doren is upset because it brings shame on the family name, but he still feels protective and supportive of his son. When he shows up to testify and confesses, he gets the Congressmen queueing up to compliment him on how "soul-searching" his confession was. When one of them finally tells the others that he shouldn't be fawned over for just telling the truth, Van Doren looks relieved that someone has finally told him off. | |
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| Quiz Show | hasFeature |
Quiz Show / int_e54fed84 | |
| Quiz Show / int_e624f0e8 | type |
Suspiciously Specific Denial | |
| Quiz Show / int_e624f0e8 | comment |
Suspiciously Specific Denial: Van Doren knows denying that he cheated before he's been accused will just make him look guiltier...and then does it anyway, leading Goodwin to surmise that at this point, he wants to get caught. | |
| Quiz Show / int_e624f0e8 | featureApplicability |
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| Quiz Show | hasFeature |
Quiz Show / int_e624f0e8 | |
| Quiz Show / int_eb8ec7c8 | type |
Jerkass | |
| Quiz Show / int_eb8ec7c8 | comment |
Jerkass: Enright and Freedman, who are willing to fake evidence that Herb Stempel is a chronic liar simply in order to protect their cover-up and destroy his character. | |
| Quiz Show / int_eb8ec7c8 | featureApplicability |
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Quiz Show / int_eb8ec7c8 | |
| Quiz Show / int_eb8f64a6 | type |
No Good Deed Goes Unpunished | |
| Quiz Show / int_eb8f64a6 | comment |
No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: No one profits from exposing the scandal, while there is Karma Houdini all around. | |
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1.0 | |
| Quiz Show / int_eb8f64a6 | featureConfidence |
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Quiz Show / int_eb8f64a6 | |
| Quiz Show / int_edaedf90 | type |
Vomit Discretion Shot | |
| Quiz Show / int_edaedf90 | comment |
Vomit Discretion Shot: When Goodwin is trying to prepare Stempel for his testimony before Congress, and Stempel is more concerned with nailing Van Doren, Goodwin immediately runs into the bathroom, and the way he's patting his stomach implies he's going to throw up. | |
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| Quiz Show | hasFeature |
Quiz Show / int_edaedf90 | |
| Quiz Show / int_f511ea9b | type |
Product Placement | |
| Quiz Show / int_f511ea9b | comment |
Product Placement: Geritol EVERYWHERE, but this isn't too surprising since they sponsored Twenty-One at the time. Announced as the sponsor of Twenty One. Stempel does a (maybe) impromptu plug while being introduced on the show. The product name is prominently shown on the set. Host Jack Barry steps away from the game to do a commercial for it. Of course, off-set, Stempel sneers at the claim that Geritol "cures 'tired blood'".note Iron supplemental products have now been viewed as potentially harmful to older people, as well as being a hemochromatosis risk. The FDA forced Geritol to acknowledge that the product is only useful for people who have iron deficiency, and is not a Cure All. | |
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Quiz Show / int_f511ea9b | |
| Quiz Show / int_fd32c5a1 | type |
Don't Make Me Destroy You | |
| Quiz Show / int_fd32c5a1 | comment |
Don't Make Me Destroy You: Goodwin effectively promises not to subpoena Van Doren if he just keeps his head down during the investigation, because "the contestants are not the villains here." (Sandra thinks this is just because he's so enamored of the Van Doren family.) | |
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ItemName | |
| Quiz Show / int_name | comment |
||
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| Quiz Show / int_name | itemName |
Quiz Show |
The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.
| Quiz Show | hasFeature |
At Least I Admit It / int_1fa4006c | |
| Quiz Show | hasFeature |
Call-Forward / int_1fa4006c | |
| Quiz Show | hasFeature |
Deception Non-Compliance / int_1fa4006c | |
| Quiz Show | hasFeature |
Docudrama / int_1fa4006c | |
| Quiz Show | hasFeature |
Films of 1990–1994 / int_1fa4006c | |
| Quiz Show | hasFeature |
Hauled Before a Senate Subcommittee / int_1fa4006c | |
| Quiz Show | hasFeature |
Ignored Confession / int_1fa4006c | |
| JackBarry | seeAlso |
Quiz Show | |
| Quiz Show | hasFeature |
Overly-Nervous Flop Sweat / int_1fa4006c | |
| Quiz Show | hasFeature |
Rewind, Replay, Repeat / int_1fa4006c | |
| Quiz Show | hasFeature |
The '50s / int_1fa4006c | |
| Quiz Show | hasFeature |
The Foreign Subtitle / int_1fa4006c | |
| Quiz Show | hasFeature |
Viewers Are Morons / int_1fa4006c | |
| Quiz Show | hasFeature |
Wants a Prize for Basic Decency / int_1fa4006c | |
| Quiz Show | hasFeature |
Ordered to Cheat / int_1fa4006c |
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