# What was the (cigarette) smokingest TV show ever? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 23, 2006, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-cigarette-smokingest-tv-show-ever/345763 "2006-02-23T07:17:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![kelly5078](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6f9a4e/32.png) [@kelly5078](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kelly5078)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2006, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-cigarette-smokingest-tv-show-ever/345763/41 "2006-02-24T22:01:13Z")
Verily, knuggets of knowledge oft remain hidden in plain view. ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2006, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-cigarette-smokingest-tv-show-ever/345763/42 "2006-02-24T22:05:36Z")
> [@BiblioCat](#): > > They smoked on the old game shows, too. I remember watching _To Tell The Truth_ and seeing the celebrity panel smoke, seemingly non-stop. Same for _The Hollywood Squares_, the really old version with George Gobel in the center square. IIRC, Paul Lynde smoked on _Hollywood Squares_, too. Yeah, I’m dating myself. > > When you watch reruns of _Match Game_ on GSN, many of the celebrities are smoking. Richard Dawson smokes a pipe. Along the same lines, it seemed like you couldn’t see through all the smoke on **Match Game**. That coupled with all the risque (wink, wink, nudge, nudge) dialogue, it made a kid feel like they’d fallen into some night club. ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2006, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-cigarette-smokingest-tv-show-ever/345763/43 "2006-02-24T22:11:25Z")
> [@faithfool](#): > > Along the same lines, it seemed like you couldn’t see through all the smoke on **Match Game**. That coupled with all the risque (wink, wink, nudge, nudge) dialogue, it made a kid feel like they’d fallen into some night club. 😃 What was oh-so-risque then is just laughable now. I like watching for the ‘wink, wink, nudge, nudge’ moments just to point and laugh. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2006, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-cigarette-smokingest-tv-show-ever/345763/44 "2006-02-24T22:16:51Z")
> [@BiblioCat](#): > > 😃 What was oh-so-risque then is just laughable now. I like watching for the ‘wink, wink, nudge, nudge’ moments just to point and laugh. It just points to how the envelope has been pushed (little by little one could say) over the 50+ years that TV has been around. Same with movies. It’s almost unbearable to watch movies of the 30’s-40’s and squirm as they try to insinuate things that are said outright now. A fun time travel venture would be to take some guests of the Jerry Springer Show and port them back to _What’s My Line?_ and let them go. You could probably stick your head out the window and hear the FCC explode. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2006, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-cigarette-smokingest-tv-show-ever/345763/45 "2006-02-24T22:28:07Z")
Dean Martin’s variety show (whatever it was called) had not just loads of smoking, but also alcohol (perhaps staged alcohol looking drinks) in virtually every segment. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2006, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-cigarette-smokingest-tv-show-ever/345763/46 "2006-02-25T00:47:34Z")
I’m 39 and I can remember when Johnny Carson used to smoke on air. He even kept a cigarette box on his desk. The night Carson flipped over Don Rickles’ breaking it was one of the best spontaneous moments on the show. ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2006, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-cigarette-smokingest-tv-show-ever/345763/47 "2006-02-25T01:50:15Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > I’m 39 and I can remember when Johnny Carson used to smoke on air. He even kept a cigarette box on his desk. The night Carson flipped over Don Rickles’ breaking it was one of the best spontaneous moments on the show. Heh, I remember seeing that when it actually happened - damn, I must be old. ---
**Author:** ![stuyguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@stuyguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stuyguy)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2006, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-cigarette-smokingest-tv-show-ever/345763/48 "2006-02-25T06:23:47Z")
IMO, the West Wing uses smoking to the best effect of any contemporary TV show. President Bartlet, as an enlightened man, a national role model, and the husband of a oft-bossy MD wife, must never be seen smoking. His problem is that he still craves the cigarettes he’s began smoking in prep school, especially when the pressure is on. So every couple of episodes, when the press and the wife are not around, and the world is going to hell, he will snap into “oh, f\*ck it” mode and light up a cigarette – usually one he has hidden somewhere or bummed off of another character. Very convincing touches like that will make me miss the WW. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2006, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-cigarette-smokingest-tv-show-ever/345763/49 "2006-02-25T17:07:03Z")
Purely on a per-capita basis, I’d go with [this Irish raconteur](http://kaipahl.de/dogfood-old/_images_dogfood/dave-allen.jpg)… Dave Allen, livin’ large. OTOH, there _were_ a lot of smokers populating those \*\*Twilight Zone \*\* eps, including that creepy three-armed guy from Mars. (That’s probably why the Martians and Venusians were so interested in our planet – our high-quality Virginia tobacco.) ---
**Author:** ![Moonchild](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@Moonchild](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonchild)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2006, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-cigarette-smokingest-tv-show-ever/345763/50 "2006-02-25T21:28:04Z")
Hijack here, but the Flinstones’ clip and other posts remind me of a high school science film that was popular during my generation (I’m 40) called “Hemo the Magnificent” that is about the blood/circulatory system. Terrific film, but one of the two hosts of the film smokes throughout. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2006, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-cigarette-smokingest-tv-show-ever/345763/51 "2006-02-25T21:38:40Z")
> [@Moonchild](#): > > Hijack here, but the Flinstones’ clip and other posts remind me of a high school science film that was popular during my generation (I’m 40) called “Hemo the Magnificent” that is about the blood/circulatory system. Terrific film, but one of the two hosts of the film smokes throughout. Hey, I remember Hemo from 9th grade! And that Flintstone’s thing was a real blast from the past. I’m sure I watched it as a kid during its original run. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-cigarette-smokingest-tv-show-ever/345763.md?page=2)