RANKED: 'To Tell The Truth' best incarnations of the game show

5. 1980 - 1981 (Host: Robin Ward)

In 1980, To Tell The Truth returned after a two-year hiatus with Canadian television personality Robin Ward as the new emcee. Just like the previous incarnation, the show remained in syndication and continued to film in New York City. Rockefeller Center's Studio 6A, which is currently home to NBC's Megyn Kelly Today, was the home of To Tell The Truth for the one season run. In fact, once both this edition of To Tell The Truth and ABC's The $50,000 Pyramid finished taping in 1981, the next game show to be set and filmed in New York City wasn't until Who Wants To Be A Millionaire in 1999.

Format-wise, the 1980 to 1981 run was okay. The game was the same as it had been for 24 years at that point. The one addition they did make however was the main downfall. Instead of playing three games, which had been a standard since the beginning, only two normal games were played. The third game played was called "One on One," and it worked like this.

The four impostors from the first two games combined, two from game one and two from game two, were once again seated on stage. Host Robin Ward would then reveal that there was a piece of information that was being hidden from the panel about one of the four previous impostors. After an affidavit was read, each panelist was given 20 seconds to cross-examine one of the four challengers. After the 20 seconds expired, right then and there they had to vote either yes or no as to whether the person they questioned was telling the truth. Every incorrect vote was worth money to the challengers.

While the "One on One" concept was actually not that bad because the viewer got to learn another tidbit about one of the previous impostors, the gameplay was not strong. Giving each panelist 20 seconds to question only one person took away from the collective information format that the main game relies on. What should've happened is, instead of voting yes or no after each 20-second time frame was up, each panelist should've had their questioning time, and then at the end, vote like they normally would for one of the challengers.

The "One on One" game, combined with Robin Ward not being a recognizable host in America, combined with the overly red set, made the 1980 To Tell The Truth more of a flop than a hit.