Garry and John

They must have been invented as an opposing pair. For over a decade Garry Moore and John Daly led Goodson-Todman's matched set of panel shows, I've Got a Secret and What's My Line. The first one started out as the in-house ripoff of the second. But Garry's personality pushed IGAS further and further from WML's august dignity as the years went on.

Moore was the ultimate American everyman, cheery and down-to-earth. His background was pure entertainment, first in radio and then on the box with pictures. Daly was dignified and patrician, with a hoity-toity accent and a background in serious news. He announced the Pearl Harbor attack on CBS radio and covered World War II's Italian campaign in person.

It's no wonder that the shows diverged as time went on. I've Got a Secret became more of a hellzapoppin' variety show, with the actual gameplay sometimes an afterthought. Daly had no patience with such hijinks and told the producers to stuff any ideas of similarly remaking What's My Line. As you might expect, IGAS was usually the higher-rated of the two shows. TV is an entertainment medium, after all.

But WML would get a bit a revenge in the far-off aftertime. Daly's show got the better numbers on GSN.

IRRELEVANT UPDATE: For no particular reason, I've decided to keep the last dozen faux tweets on the blog instead of the last ten. But once they're gone, they're still gone.