What are some of your favorite moments from the series or franchise as a whole? It's okay if they overlap with my own.
Of the ones I didn't talk about, Peter Gabel fooling his mom Arlene in 1964 was pretty good. I also *love* Phyllis Diller's second appearance as a mystery guest and probably should've included it in my countdown. Dorothy nails her quick, but between her laugh and one great joke, she makes the most of a brief appearance.
Peter Gabel appeared twice; the second time, it was with Bennett Cerf's son (and Bennett had to disqualify himself as he had heard about it from someone else); I think they had just been named co-editors of the Harvard Lampoon.
My favorites: I can think of a few:
* This one is probably on quite a few lists; the "mystery commercial reader" that came onto the set and started doing a commercial ("I'd like to talk to you tonight about..."), only for Daly to call the "extraction team" to get him off
* When Mark Goodson was on the panel, and it started with a mystery guest - Frank Sinatra, who then took Mark's spot on the panel; the second mystery guest was Frank's then-wife Mia Farrow, who signed in as "Mia Sinatra"
* What appears to be a rare personal appearance of any sort by Sir Edmund Hillary; he didn't say very much before he left the stage
* What may have been the first appearance on USA TV of Dudley Moore; he appeared with Peter Cook, who would later become an occasional panelist, and a couple of others as part of the USA tour of
Beyond the Fringe* When the six kids who were, at the time, playing the von Trapp children in
The Sound of Music on Broadway appeared; I think that's the most that ever appeared as contestants at once
* The final mystery guest - John Daly himself.
What I don't like: a number of cuts, usually of celebrities being introduced, either on the panel or as mystery guests (John Wayne comes to mind). I am under the impression that they was only one kinescope of each episode available, and the clips were removed to be used in the 25th Anniversary Special that ABC aired in 1975, but ended up on the cutting room floor.
