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Action Comics #127 (December 1948), featuring Superman appearing on the show with Ralph Edwards

Truth or Consequences was an American quiz show, originally hosted on radio by Ralph Edwards from 1940 to 1957, and later on television by Edwards himself from 1950 to 1951, Jack Bailey from 1954 to 1955, Bob Barker from 1956 to 1965 and 1966 to 1975, Bob Hilton from 1977 to 1978 and Larry Anderson in 1987. The show ran on CBS, NBC and also in syndication.

The idea of the show was to mix the original quiz element of game shows with wacky stunts. On the show, people had to answer a trivia question correctly (usually an off-the-wall question that no one would be able to answer correctly) before "Beulah the Buzzer" was sounded. If the contestant could not complete the "Truth" portion, there would be "Consequences," usually a zany and embarrassing stunt. In addition, during Barker's run as host, "Barker's Box" was played. Barker's Box was a box with 4 drawers in it. If a contestant was able to pick the 3 boxes with money it, they won a bonus prize.

In many broadcasts, the stunts on Truth or Consequences included a popular, but emotional, heart-wrenching surprise for a contestant, that being the reunion with a long-lost relative or with an enlisted son or daughter returning from military duty overseas, particularly Vietnam.

One of the theme songs used on the show was "Stop Gap" by Wilfred Burns.

Truth or Consequences was the first game show to air on commercially-licensed television, airing on the first day of WNBT's program schedule. [1]

• An early 1950s "Looney Tunes" cartoon called "The Ducksters" featured Daffy Duck as the host of a radio game show called Truth or AAAAAHHHH!, with Porky Pig as the contestant.
• In Action Comics #127 (December 1948), Superman was a contestant on Truth or Consequences ([2]).
• The town of Truth or Consequences, New Mexico named itself after the game show in 1950 (its former name was Hot Springs). Ralph Edwards announced that he would do the program from the first town that renamed itself after the show.
• On George Carlin's 1969 debut album, Take-Offs and Put-Ons, the character Congolia Breckinridge appears on a similar show called Truth or Penalties (although at one point Carlin goofs and says the original show's name). Because she has too little time to buzz in, when she is invited to pull back the curtain, an empty stage is revealed. The host then announces, "We were going to reunite you with your sister, whom you haven't seen in 27 years, but you blew the question, so we sent your sister back to Maine."
• Donald Duck competes with Huey, Dewey and Louie in a television show that resembles Truth or Consequences in a 50's og 60's comic. He prepares himself by reading tomes of trivia and ends up humiliating himself on air.

From 1956 through 1975, Bob Barker hosted this show, his first national position after Edwards discovered him announcing on a Los Angeles-area radio station. Beginning in 1972, he began hosting The Price Is Right also. Other than ToC and Price, Barker has hosted only one other game, The Family Game, a mid-1960s Chuck Barris-packaged show on ABC's daytime schedule. When Barker retires in September 2007, he will have hosted a television show for 50 of the past 51 years.

The syndicated ToC became the first successful first-run daily game show (as opposed to reruns) to not air on a network, having ended its NBC run in 1965. Fueled further by the emergence of the Prime Time Access Rule in 1971, ToC achieved such a place in the hearts of viewers that, despite the program ceasing production in 1975, tapes of shows from the last two seasons or so continued to be circulated to local stations throughout the U.S. as late as 1977. This likely prompted Edwards to revive the game during the next season, which, unfortunately, did not maintain the popularity of the Barker-hosted version.

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