I’m Telling!
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 We’re telling on the people at Saban Entertainment and DiC Entertainment for creating a game show that is like The Newlywed Game for kids!
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I’m Telling! is an American game show that aired on Saturday mornings on NBC from September 12, 1987 to March 5, 1988. It was hosted by Laurie Faso, announced by Dean Goss, and produced by Saban Entertainment and DiC Entertainment.
Gameplay
Three teams of two siblings are asked questions that test how well they really do know each other, a la The Newlywed Game.
The teams play two rounds, and in each round, one member of each team is “teleported” to the “Iso Zone” (in reality, the contestants are sent offstage, while graphics are used to make the home audience believe that the contestants are being teleported), while the other member of each team is asked three questions that test how well they know their sibling. Each onstage contestant chooses one of three categories by pressing a button (referred to as a “random selector”), and a question in that category is asked to all three of the contestants.
After the contestants’ answers to the three questions are recorded, their siblings are “teleported” back on stage and asked the same three questions, and they must predict how they have answered them. If a team’s answers match, they score points.
In round one, the sisters are asked questions about their brothers, and the questions are worth 25, 50, and 75 points, in that order.
In round two, the brothers are asked questions about their sisters, and the questions are worth 50, 75, and 150 points, in that order.
After two rounds, the team with the most points wins the game and a $1,000 savings bond, and they move on to the Pick-A-Prize Arcade where they can win up to twenty prizes.
In the Pick-A-Prize Arcade, each member of the winning team chooses six out of ten prizes by pressing a button next to them. The prizes for the sister are on pink platforms, and the prizes for the brother are on yellow platforms. Before the show, each contestant chooses which six prizes they think their sibling will choose.
The members of the winning team play the round, one at a time. Before each turn, the home audience is shown the six prizes that the team member in turn must try to match. If a team member matches a prize, they win that prize. If the team makes a total of ten matches, they win all twenty prizes.
Why It Should Be Sent to the Iso Zone
- This game show is one of many rip-offs of The Newlywed Game.
- The idea of a game show where teams (or in this case, pairs of siblings) answer questions that test how well they know each other is something that should be reserved for adult game shows, as it involves questions and answers whose contents are inappropriate for children, as well as arguments over wrong answers between team members, which is cringeworthy to watch on a game show where all the contestants are children.
- Laurie Faso is an annoying host.
- The set looks cheap and sloppily put together.
- The graphics for the “teleportations” are cheesy and tacky.
- The scoring is flawed due to the point values of the questions, often making the final question the only one that matters and all the questions before that one meaningless. The questions are worth 25, 50, and 75 points in round one, and 50, 75, and 150 points in round two.
- The prizes in the Pick-A-Prize Arcade are all over the place.
Trivia
- This is the only known game show produced by DiC Entertainment.
- On two episodes, celebrities appeared with their real-life siblings, and the teams played for charity, with the winning team receiving $500 in cash for their charity in lieu of the $1,000 savings bond.
- On four other episodes, all the contestants were of the same gender, with two of those episodes having all brothers, and the other two having all sisters.
- The late star of the Fast & Furious film series was a contestant on this show.
- Actor and actress Giovanni and Marissa Ribisi were contestants on this show.