"You Bet Your Life" Television Program Essay Example

The TV show, "You Bet Your Life" was one of the favorites of many in the 1950s. The Groucho max hosted the game show and along with the five members of the famous Marx comedy family. This show first aired on radio in late 1947 and transitioned television called NBC TV in 1950. The transition was both aired on radio for ten years of its run due to its flexible nature of broadcasting. The last broadcast for this partnership was aired in 1960, and the show continued to run for the next one year, which led to changing the program name to The Groucho Show. This essay critically analyses the relevance of TV shows acts as reflections of the social, political, and cultural current events.

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The game set up was humble, which is a trait many game shows shared. The simplicity made sure that there was no particular set of contestants, but like any other show, it had one or two characters who kept the show relevant and entertaining. in this case there was a male and female on the team at any particular show. During the initial stages of the show, the couple would start with a round of questions at a price of $20, which was to wager in each question. The couples selected randomly in the midst of a live audience for a particular reason like the Korean War veteran chosen to compete in this show. Also, he was a prisoner of war that made it more interesting.

The show began with video intro with some pleasant game show music that similar to other songs in game shows. The video intro contained a duck with a mustache and a cigar; the duck was interesting when gauzed its image and the cheesy song. The introduction part, "Here is Groucho" made the audience come to life as they waited for the selection of the couple. He would introduce a question that loosely based around.

The setting of the show was quite simple, for instance, a female contestant responded to a question like what is the name dog in French, she could not answer, she had other similar question, name it in Spanish, and these kept the crowd going. This show had to be written, shot, performed similar to other shows, but at the time, there were no commercials or transitions occurred. The sound system was somehow blurry, could not find a better adjective for it. If the sound was polished and highlighted it could have been more enjoyable. For this inconvenience, we can point our fingers to the technology and microphones of the time.

Nevertheless being a critic is responsive, because from the point of view the show did not have any sponsors and if they had it was more of charity. A TV show without advertisements or sponsor-based questions is heading down the hills. Groucho can characterize as a stereotype host with a shallow base of humor, but at the end of the day, it was a hit, though at the moment the audience would say the humor was dry, at least he kept women on their heels.

Some of the historical events relating to Groucho; the year 1964 he visited his wife's home area in East Berlin where he discovered all Jewish graves obliterated. It made him angry, and he decided to visit Adolf Hitler together with his group members. Hitler had been committed suicide in his unsmiling face. In that particular year, he met the Beatles where he attended their celebrated concert. He also performed for Freddie Mercury and the queen in 70s.

Another significant historical event during his era was the assassination John F Kennedy on 22 November 1963. Also in this same Kenya gained her independence. The civil right movement was the pic during this time, and African Americans had been fighting discrimination and subordination. Another historical element is the Korean War that started from 1950 to 1953. The war began the Korean army non-communist in South Korea, and the United States came to their aid.

Groucho Marx show was affected in one way or another, for instance during the assignation of John .F. Kennedy the country was in a state of havoc, and both whites and blacks were on each other's neck. The tension on the air paralyzed most of the economic activities; nothing was going according to schedule. Therefore, the show affected since even the audience could avail themselves due to the state of panic. Other historical problems that happened out of the country like the Korean War had a minimal effect on his show. The problem was the civil rights movement, which held protest now, and they did affect his show.

Conclusion

Though the current entertainment industry is very distinct compared to 1950s, we can all agree that Groucho made our great-grandparents laugh their ribs off. The cultural relevance would be that the show brought together families and friends. As they say, charity begins at home, the coming together contributed a lot both economically, politically and social welfare. Despite the historical events happening in the country, the civil protest and social degradation, there was always something waiting at home, the Groucho Marx show.