In this Classic TV full special, we are showcasing the second episode of TAKE A GOOD LOOK (1959), a game show hosted by Ernie Kovacs. This episode's panelists include Cesar Romero, Zsa Zsa Gabor and Hans Conreid who try to guess the mystery guest using a series of sketches crafted by Kovacs himself as clues. In 1959, the first Barbie doll went on display at the American Toy Fair in New York, General Motors was the largest corporation and Hawaii officially became the 50th state.

Read more about TAKE A GOOD LOOK in this synopsis written by Ernie Kovacs archivist Ben Model: The following synopsis was written by archivist Ben Model:

Take A Good Look, Ernie Kovacs' quirky theatreoftheabsurd panel quiz show, is the forgotten middle child of Kovacs' TV work. Kovacs himself spoke dismissively of the show in interviews. And yet, Take A Good Look was a creatively gestational period without which his masterpiece specials for ABC 196162 professionally and stylistically could not have happened. In spite of any shortcomings or rougharoundtheedges qualities to its production, or misgivings Kovacs may have proclaimed in interviews, Take A Good Look is surprisingly entertaining.

In Take A Good Look, Ernie Kovacs upends the secretguest panel show format in having the host himself as the one supplying clues as to the guest's identity, in the form of pretaped comedy sketches and blackouts. The clues, however, are so deeply obtuse that the panelists rarely glean any information from them. But the clues are clever and funny, and even if you don't know why in the heck you're watching them, they're still amusing and hold up as pieces of television comedy, the kind only Kovacs could create.

It's an unusual format, in that in Ernie's version of a panel quiz there are two games being played. One is the usual one of the panel trying to deduce the guest's identity. The other is the prank that Ernie is playing on the panel giving them Dadaist hints and clues that aren't really helpful at all most of the time. The other bonus bit of fun is that there is something about Ernie's delivery to us that makes it feel like we're in on the gag with him, even if we don't get what the clue segments mean.

The show certainly did not do well in terms of ratings ... even if it did sell cigars for its sponsor, the reason Take A Good Look stayed on the air as long as it did. It followed The Untouchables at 10:30 on Thursday nights, and it's likely that the show was mainly watched by Kovacs fans. After all, who else would get this show?
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