MovieChat Forums > Quiz Show (1994) Discussion > The Hatred of Dan Enright!

The Hatred of Dan Enright!

posted 12 years ago by jbartelone
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Does it bother anybody the way Dan Enright lied through his teeth about doing nothing wrong and still got back into TV even though twenty years later? He really should have been banned from doing any more game shows IMO.

What did Dan have to do to save his reputation in order to produce The Joker's Wild? Did he ever change his attitude about the rigging of Twenty One, or did he STILL believe that he did nothing wrong? At least give Al Freeman credit for admitting the truth to the committee.

The movie really portrays him as a despicable slim-ball. Yet it seems Dan and Al's only punishment was public humiliation and exile. What are your thoughts?

Joe

[–] maturity 12 years ago

I think Dan had plausible deniability like geritol, because there were middle men between him and the company as far as what the movie portrayed. He said they never said anything "to me" (something like that) which could be true. The man who answered the phone from geritol & the president of the company knew the game was rigged and so did everybody producing the show. He was a slug tho because he edited the tape of Stempel & lied in other ways, but I don't know if he perjured himself under oath. Do you?

[–] jbartelone 11 years ago

I think Dan Enrght did commit perjury to the Executive Committee. However, what I learned over the years was because even though those involved with the rigging did immoral and unethical things, the problem for prosecution was that they did not break any laws. This was because during the Quiz Show Scandals of the mid to late 50's, it was not illegal to rig a game show.

It wasn't until 1960 or 1961 when Congress passed a law making it a felony offense to rig a game show. Back in the days of the original Tick-Tac-Dough, Dotto and Twenty One, along with other shows at the time, producers thought that by selecting and keeping keen, sharp-looking and knowledgeable contestants on longer by giving them the questions and answers, or even just the questions to be asked in advance was more entertaining than not. Ratings were more important than deceiving the public at the time with regards to how players achieved their success on a game show.

I learned that during the preparation of The Joker's Wild. security was so intense, you could not even go to the bathroom alone.

Joe