Beat the Clock was a game show from 1950 that was sponsored by Sylvania and was hosted by Bud Collyer and co-hosted by Roxanne for the first few years of the program’s airing. The original show ran on CBS from March 23, 1950 to February 16, 1958 and ABC from 1958 to 1961 for around 30 minutes per show. It was brought back a number of times after the original show ended and there are several more airings of the show from 1957-1961, 1969-1974, 1979-1980, and 2002-2003. The show’s structure is quite simple; contestants would perform tasks prepared on stage while a large one-minute timer constantly ticked down. The tasks people were asked to perform were often not very difficult and sometimes silly with simple and cheaply-made props prepared by the crew. The contestants often brought their whole family on stage and win prizes as they complete each given task, making the entire atmosphere of the show is very light, cheerful, and family friendly and it is very entertaining to watch.

The show, like many other sponsor-produced programs at the time, contains a heavy amount of product placement as seen by the frequent advertisement of Sylvania products between the short games. Also like many other shows from the 50s, the entire show was done in a live-stage fashion where the host, announcers, contestants, and the crew all did their task as if in a well-orchestrated theater performance. However unlike other games shows, or quiz shows of the time (The $64,000 Dollar Question, Twenty One), which were involved in a number of scandals regarding fixed games, the show seems spontaneous and had a lot of real human reactions to what happens on stage and sometimes the host would simply give away the prizes if he feels the contestants have earned it.

The person making that comment has no understanding of how television worked in the 1950's. One advertiser would buy the entire half-hour time period. Obviously, they expect their product to be mentioned a few times. Notice also, that the number of minutes per half-hour of actual "commercials" is far less than we see today. This program is no more an "infomercial" than anything we see today--the poster simply doesn't know what he's talking about.

Cheesy yet fun series which has more sponsor plugs than should be legal. Will they win the prize? Watch it and find out!