Page "Dan Enright" Paragraph 3

Capitalizing on the success of the 1950s big-money quiz The $ 64, 000 Question on CBS, Barry and Enright developed their flagship show, Twenty One, a quiz which had a scoring system based loosely on Blackjack.

Contestants were placed in twin isolation booths and asked questions ranging in value from one to 11 points — the higher the point value, the more difficult the question.

Enright himself has described the initial broadcast of Twenty One as " a dismal failure.

It was just plain dull.

" Contestants repeatedly missed questions and, in Enright's own words, " It lacked all drama ; it lacked all suspense.

The next morning the sponsor ( Geritol ) called my partner, Jack Barry, and me and told us in no uncertain terms that he never wanted to see a repeat of what happened the previous night.

And from that moment on, we decided to rig Twenty One.

" Even with rigging, initial ratings were unimpressive.