This Is Your Life (American franchise)
This Is Your Life is an American reality documentary series broadcast on NBC radio from 1948 to 1952, and on NBC television from 1952 to 1961. It was originally hosted by its creator and producer Ralph Edwards. In the program, the host surprised guests and then took them through a retrospective of their lives in front of an audience, including appearances by colleagues, friends, and family. Edwards revived the show in 1971–1972, and Joseph Campanella hosted a version in 1983. Edwards returned for various specials in the late 1980s.
This Is Your Life
United States
English
45–48 minutes
October 1, 1952 –
1961
Concept[edit]
The idea for This Is Your Life arose while Edwards was working on game show Truth or Consequences. He had been asked by the United States Army to "do something" for paraplegic soldiers at Birmingham General Army Hospital, a California Army rehabilitation hospital in Van Nuys, Los Angeles (a site later converted into a high school). Edwards chose a "particularly despondent young soldier and hit on the idea of presenting his life on the air, in order to integrate the wreckage of the present with his happier past and the promise of a hopeful future."[1] Edwards received such positive public feedback from the "capsule narrative" of the soldier he gave on Truth or Consequences that he developed This Is Your Life as a new radio show.[2] In the show, Edwards surprised each guest by narrating a biography of the subject. The show "alternated in presenting the life stories of entertainment personalities and 'ordinary' people who had contributed in some way to their communities."[2] The host, consulting his "red book", narrated while presenting the subject with family members, friends, and others who had affected his or her life.
By the 1950s, the show was aired live before a theater audience. The guests were surprised by Ralph Edwards and confronted by the microphone and cameras. Planning for the broadcast meant that some found out in advance that they were to be featured. For example, Eddie Cantor had a heart condition, so the show's producers made sure that he was not surprised.[2]
Reruns and revivals[edit]
In the late 1980s, Edwards made many episodes that featured celebrities available for re-broadcasting: American Movie Classics aired them for several years, accompanying them with "screenings of movies from studio-era Hollywood."[2]
Edwards revived the series twice in syndication, the first in 1971 with Edwards again as host, and in 1983 with Joseph Campanella. Both failed to capture the magic of the original series, mostly due to the series being filmed or taped and, in the case of the 1971–72 version, some stations that aired it gave away the surprise elements in ads and promos for the show. During the late 1980s, Edwards hosted a few single prime time network airings of This Is Your Life, most memorably an episode featuring Betty White and Dick Van Dyke. Pat Sajak hosted an episode in November 1993 on NBC where Roy Scheider and Kathie Lee Gifford were the honorees, and Edwards made a cameo at the beginning, then appeared again when Kathie's work as a singer on the 70s version of Name that Tune, which Edwards produced, was mentioned. Actress Angie Dickinson was supposed to have been one of the two celebrities honoured in the special, and was lured under the pretext of being interviewed for a special about director Brian de Palma, but when host Sajak surprised her with the typical "this is your life!" greeting to kick off the show she refused to participate and walked out.[11][12] She later said that she had previously been approached about being a guest on the show and had declined, and that the main reason she refused to participate was that she didn't look good crying.[11]
In November 2005, ABC announced that it was developing a new version of the show, to be hosted by Regis Philbin. Coincidentally, creator, Ralph Edwards, died not long after the announcement was made. In August 2006, Philbin decided not to renew his contract with the show (he was committed to hosting America's Got Talent on NBC). ABC announced it was considering moving forward with another host in 2006, but this never came to fruition.[13][14]
In October 2008, Survivor producer Mark Burnett signed a deal with Ralph Edwards Productions to produce an updated version.[15] This also did not come to fruition.
International adaptations of the show:
In the Taiwanese variety show Super Sunday, the second half of each episode has a This Is Your Life-style segment where a celebrity or a local discussed their past followed by a cinematic re-enactment (usually exaggerated or serious) then a remote segment to search for the individual. However, the final result for each segment may or may not be successful.