How's Your Mother-in-Law?
| How's Your Mother-in-Law? | |
|---|---|
| Created by | Chuck Barris |
| Presented by | Wink Martindale |
| Narrated by | Johnny Jacobs |
| Country of origin |
 United States |
| Production | |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Chuck Barris Productions |
| Release | |
| Original network | ABC |
| Original release | December 4, 1967 – March 1, 1968 |
How's Your Mother-in-Law? was a comedy game show hosted by Wink Martindale that aired on ABC from December 4, 1967 to March 1, 1968.
The daytime series was produced and created by Chuck Barris during a period which, as he recounted in his autobiography Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, had him creating horrible formats due to the success of The Newlywed Game and The Dating Game (he also created The Family Game earlier in 1967).
Gameplay
Three mothers-in-law were represented by comedians acting as "defense attorneys". On the first week, the comedians were George Carlin, Richard Dawson, and Larry Storch; the show later included Nipsey Russell, Milt Kamen and Richard Dawson.
After each comedian presented his "case", a "jury" of five unmarried men and five unmarried women picked the mother-in-law they'd most like to have. That mother-in-law received $100. Each woman's son-in-law provided information (usually derogatory) to the comedians before the show.
Episode status
Four episodes are held at the UCLA Film and Television Archive – the Premiere, Episode #12 (December 19), and the show's two pilots (titled Here Come the Mothers-in-Law).[1]
References
- David Schwartz, Steve Ryan and Fred Wostbrock, "The Encyclopedia of TV Game Shows," second edition, 1995.
- Wesley Hyatt, "The Encyclopedia of Daytime Television."