'Quiz Show' reveals quite a few truths

Rating: 8/10 (25 February 2013)

In the era of reality TV, we're used to the blurred line between fiction and non, but in the early days of television, the public was easily suckered in by the grandeur of that magical living room box. "Quiz Show" examines the public's right to the truth and perfectly captures an America bobbing in the wake of McCarthyism.
Robert Redford brings his filmmaking pedigree to this adaptation of the Richard N. Goodwin book documenting Goodwin's (played by Robert Morrow) investigation that ignited the quiz show scandal of the late '50s. Paul Attanasio's screenplay weaves a story of TV bigwigs and little everyday men blinded by tastes of fame and money, along with the public deception they engaged in for their various reasons.
The film begins predominantly with Herbie Stempel (John Turturro), a contestant on the popular NBC primetime game show "Twenty One." Herbie's long run on the show is about to come to a halt as the producers have seen their ratings plateau and want to bring in a new face to liven things up. Producer Dan Enright (David Paymer) tells Herbie he must throw the next show (in Herb's words, "take a dive") by flubbing an answer to a question as simple as who won the 1955 Oscar for Best Picture.
Herbie is replaced with Charles Van Doren (Ralph Fiennes), the unremarkable son of a wealthy Pulitzer winner with a mind for trivia. Enright and co-producer Albert Freedman (Hank Azaria) propose an agreement in which they'll feed Charles answers to questions he already knows. He's rich, the public is enthralled and the ratings go up â€” everyone wins.
The film builds this story for awhile until Richard Goodwin comes into the picture as a member of the legislative oversight committee for the House of Representatives. Goodwin senses something is awry with these quiz shows and slowly uncovers the truth.
"Quiz Show" isn't suspenseful from start to finish given it's clear the fraudulent quiz show operation will be exposed at some point, but what's fascinating to watch is how these otherwise small men in Stempel and Van Doren deal with the situation as it unfolds. How warped their egos have become after they agree to commit the "slight" transgression becomes a factor in the film. Are they good guys or bad guys, or more appropriately, how black and white is this situation, really?
Equally intriguing is how Goodwin goes about interrogating all the parties involved as if private eye solving a murder. He demands the truth and it becomes apparent as hearings begin to be held that the public does too.
"Quiz Show" paints an honest portrait of "the business" back in the '50s, the way that the TV people in that age were so dedicated to the dollar and justified everything as "it's what the people want." Things haven't changed so much, however. We now willfully indulge in contrived situations, believing that what the TV shows us is in fact the reality. "Quiz Show," even today, reveals to us that while we demand truth and honesty as consumers, we also long to believe and prefer it to skepticism because it's so much easier. In that sense, how much of a scandal was this really?
~Steven
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