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Beat the Clock was a Goodson-Todman Productions game show which originally ran on CBS from 1950 to 1958 and ABC from 1958 to 1961, with later revivals. more...

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The show was hosted by Bud Collyer, and was one of the first, and primary forerunners for future stunt shows such as the modern Fear Factor and Dog Eat Dog.

Beat the Clock ran again from 1969 to 1974 with Jack Narz and later Gene Wood (as The New Beat the Clock), from 1979 to 1980 (as The All-New Beat the Clock, and later as All-New All-Star Beat the Clock), with former Let's Make a Deal host Monty Hall as host and Jack Narz as announcer, and most recently, in 2002 with Gary Kroeger and Julielinh Parker as co-hosts.

1950–1961 format

Contestants were required to perform tasks (called stunts) within a certain time frame denoted on a large 60-second clock on the wall that would count down a time limit. If they succeeded, they were said to have “beat the clock.� If they failed, the clock beat them. The prizes were always secondary to the competition itself, until such big-money shows as The $100,000 Big Surprise forced Beat the Clock to start offering larger prizes worth several thousand dollars.

The show had various sponsors over its history, but the most longstanding was the electronics company, Sylvania. This is the most famous era of the show, and the most represented in the episodes that are still available for broadcast (see production changes for information on the show's history, and existing records for information on the existing episodes).

On-air personalities

The host of the show was Bud Collyer. He was one of the first stars of TV game shows. He was the main speaking personality on the show. Trademarks of his performance on Beat the Clock included his cheery attitude, his personable rapport with contestants and their children, and his wearing a bow tie; though he wore straight ties most weeks when the show began until the mid-50s. As opposed to being an impartial observer, he was often supportive of the contestants in assisting and egging them on; though he was always the first to enjoy a bit of harmless embarrassment on their parts. He often referred to the husbands as "boy" — particularly after a stunt (for example, "good boy!" or "way to go, boy!"), and would usually wish newlyweds and those celebrating anniversaries "many happy returns".

Substitute hosts included Bill Hart (1951), John Reed King (1952), Frank Wayne (1953), Bob Kennedy (1954), Win Elliott (1955), and Sonny Fox, who from 1957–1960 became Mr. Collyer's “designated� substitute host (as they were also good friends). While Collyer was referred to in the introductions as "America's number one clockwatcher", the fill-in hosts were simply named "America's number two clockwatcher(s)."

Read more at Wikipedia.org