Front Page Challenge
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Front Page Challenge (aired 1957 - 1995) was a Canadian current events-cum-history program disguised as a game show, in which notable journalists attempted to guess what past news story the hidden guest was linked with. Upon conclusion of he challenge, the journalists served as a panel of interviewers as they conversed with the guest about the story in question.
The show was produced and aired by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
The vast number of guests came from all walks of life, including politicians likePierre Trudeau, crusaders like Malcolm X, sports figures like Gordie Howe, entertainers like Boris Karloff and Ed Sullivan, and writers like Upton Sinclair. Occasionally the guests were featured due to their involvement in a story that otherwise had no connection to their celebrity status. For example, Karloff was featured because he served as a rescue worker following a devastating 1912 tornado in Regina, Saskatchewan, where he was appearing in a play.
The show ran for nearly forty years and was remarkably stable for its regular contestants, who included journalist/historian Pierre Berton, Betty Kennedy (who later become a Canadian senator), Toby Robins (who later became a movie actress) and columnist Gordon Sinclair. Columnist Allan Fotheringham joined the panel after Sinclair's death. A guest panellist, usually another Canadian journalist or other celebrity, was also part of each episode. The show was hosted by Fred Davis. Alex Barris temporarily hosted in 1957, and years later wrote a history of the program.
Unfortunately, the show's stability proved to be its undoing, as the producers did not see fit to add younger panelists as the regulars aged and the audience demographics became less desirable. In its later seasons the show often went on the road, being taped in cities across Canada. Budget cuts finally killed the show in 1995. When it left the air it was the longest continually running non-news program in Canadian television history.
External link
- IMDB entry (http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0156208/)