In the early days of TV, there was a fair amount of wild and unhinged content. Here's a look at some major on-set scandals that have all but disappeared from our collective memory, but should definitely not be forgotten...
1.
The 1950s saw the "quiz show scandals," in which multiple quiz shows were exposed for having manufactured outcomes that were rigged by producers and contestants, with producers supplying answers and dictating how certain contestants should play.
Many shows that were caught up in the scandal were canceled, including Twenty-One, Dotto, The Big Surprise, Tic-Tac-Dough, For Love or Money, Top Dollar, The Big Payoff, Name That Tune, The $64,000 Challenge, and The $64,000 Question. The producers and contestants involved all lost work.
The scandal also had legal implications, with the Communications Act being amended by Congress to prohibit the fixing of televised contests.
2.
Before there was American Bandstand, there was The Big Beat, the "first nationally-televised rock 'n' roll dance show," which was hosted by Alan Freed. The show lasted only four episodes, however, because ABC canceled it after Black teen singer Frankie Lymon was broadcast dancing with a white girl, causing outrage in Southern states in particular.
An American Bandstand producer later told the New York Post that the incident influenced the segregation of the latter show, seeing numerous policies implicitly favor the participation of white teens over Black kids — for instance, priority was given to ticket requests made by people with European surnames.
3.
Alan Freed and Dick Clark were caught up in another controversy in the '50s, this time regarding payola — i.e., receiving financial compensation to play certain songs and artists on air. While the scandal was primarily centered around their work in radio, it also extended to their TV work, and both hosts were called to testify in the US Congressional Payola Investigations in 1959.
Dick Clark managed to emerge from the scandal relatively unscathed because he admitted to holding an ownership stake in 33 record labels and distributors, as well as falsely taking credit in about 150 pop songs as a songwriter. Dick agreed to divest himself of all ownership and royalties.
Alan Freed, meanwhile, refused to sign an affidavit that stated he had never received bribes, and was subsequently fired by ABC. Payola was officially outlawed in 1960. In 1962, Alan Freed pled guilty to two counts of commercial bribery.
4.
In 1986, electrical engineer and satellite dealership owner John R. MacDougall, using the name "Captain Midnight," jammed the HBO satellite signal for about 4.5 minutes to send out a message protesting the network's satellite subscription cost.
The FCC investigated and John R. MacDougall eventually confessed, agreeing to a plea bargain that gave him a $5,000 fine and suspension of his amateur radio license. Congress then passed a law that made satellite hijacking a felony.
5.
Julius La Rosa was a singer who got his big break on host Arthur Godfrey's shows Arthur Godfrey Time and Arthur Godfrey and His Friends. After two years working together, Arthur Godfrey fired Julius live on air for what he claimed was his lack of "humility" and because he'd hired an agent against Arthur's rules.
There was a huge public outcry. Julius later said of Arthur, "The man literally is the father of my career and I'll always be grateful to him. But it turned out he wasn't a very nice man."
6.
The Gong Show, a comedic talent contest hosted by Chuck Barris, was known for outlandish segments, and it got in hot water a number of times — most notoriously, for an act titled "Have You Got a Nickel," and later dubbed the Popsicle Twins, which featured two young women silently sitting onstage and suggestively licking popsicles.
When the episode aired in Eastern and Central time zones, NBC received a number of complaints, causing them to cut the act from the delayed broadcast for Western time zones. Chuck later wrote that the incident almost caused him to consider retiring.
The show drew controversy again for an episode in which panelist Jaye P. Morgan momentarily flashed her breasts onscreen. She was banned from the show, which was canceled soon after. In the final episode, Chuck performed a version of "Take This Job and Shove It," while giving the finger, and then invited Jaye onstage during his final goodbye.
7.
John Belushi was a popular cast member on Saturday Night Live in the 1970s, but his costar Jane Curtin said he would deliberately sabotage any sketches written by women because he believed "women are just fundamentally not funny."
"You’d go to a table read and if a woman writer had written a piece for John, he would not read it in his full voice," Jane said. "He would whisper it. He felt as though it was his duty to sabotage pieces that were written by women."
8.
Jack Paar hosted the Tonight Show from 1957 to 1962 and faced several controversies, including backlash over an interview he conducted with Cuban leader Fidel Castro on location and an incident in which he asked Mickey Rooney to leave the show after the actor appeared drunk.
In 1960, Jack told a joke that was a play on the initials "WC" for water closet/bathroom, and NBC censored it without Jack's knowledge or consent. In the early moments of the next episode, the following night, Jack delivered a monologue protesting the cut and the way it had been covered in the press, saying he hadn't slept for 30 hours and didn't like attracting controversy, especially because it affected his family. "There must be a better way of making a living than this," he said before walking off set, ostensibly for good.
Jack remained away for a month before finally being convinced to return, saying, "I believe my last words were that there must be a better way of making a living than this. Well, I have looked, and there isn’t." He added that his actions had been "childish" and "emotional."
9.
Soupy Sales was a comedian who hosted a live show for kids called Lunch with Soupy Sales, which was later renamed The Soupy Sales Show and ran from 1953 to 1966. On a January 1 broadcast in 1965, Soupy — apparently annoyed at having to work on a holiday — jokingly told his young viewers to secretly take some of the "green pieces of paper with pictures of guys in beards" from their sleeping parents' wallets and "put them in an envelope and send them to me."
The network was inundated with complaints from angry parents, and Soupy Sales was suspended for two weeks. Any money he received was donated to charity.
What TV scandals do you think need to be remembered? Share in the comments or the anonymous form below!
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