Carol Burnett sat on the panel four times during Garry Moore's tenure: two episodes in 1971, two more in 1976. The first two shows were something of a "Garry Moore Show" reunion, with Durward Kirby in the guest panel seat and Carol substituting for Kitty Carlisle...

The regular panelists were all present for her return visit five years later, and these shows took on a more personal quality. In her first 1976 episode, the panelists were introduced at the top of the show so Carol could introduce, "the nicest man I know, Mr. Garry Moore".

The second '76 show featured a surprise central character: Carol's sister Chris Hutchison. Carol teared up over the fact that her sister had flown in just for the occasion, and after the game - as Garry began to tease round two by saying, "our next guest has also come a long way to appear on "To Tell The Truth'" - Carol quipped, "I hope it isn't my first husband!" To which Garry Moore could only respond affably, "If we'd have thought of it, we'd have done it. It's that kind of a show!"

Kitty Carlisle's most endearing attribute may have been a sort of daffy dignity, a quality that helped propel her through all those pesky sports segments and allowed her to ask questions to which most people already knew the answer. Her socially aware eruptions of the 1970s became something to look forward to.

One of her most esoterically comic pep talks occurred during a spot featuring a young man who survived after having been bitten by a poisonous snake:

"…I'm delighted that you're here, not because something terrible happened to you, but because this is a good lesson for everyone who has a poisonous snake as a pet: you must have anti-venom in the icebox..."

<turning directly to the camera, eyes gleaming>

"…ladies and GENtleman, always in the icebox if you give your children poisonous snakes to play with!"

<Bill cackles; Peggy says, "Gee, teach!"; Kitty tornadoes through the rest of her questioning>

Of course, Kitty was right: children who play with poisonous snakes really should have anti-venom nearby. But the mere fact that she was just so impassioned about the subject made this moment strangely surreal. And very funny.

Never one to pass up a chance to make fun of himself, Garry Moore once read on the air a newspaper's TV Q&A article in which the columnist claimed that Garry had died years earlier. Naturally, Garry set the record straight:

"Well…I'll tell you the truth, I'll be honest. I did, I died several years ago. And the part of me - that is the part you're seeing right now - is being played by Robert Redford without his makeup."

When Garry Moore returned for his official farewell six months after he had actually left the series, the episode's second game was scrapped so Garry could recap why he had left in the first place. Garry's version of the story is that he decided while recovering from throat surgery that it was time to step down, a point that Gil Fates' What's My Line? book corroborates...

But early in 1977, Variety reported that Garry had been scheduled to retire at the end of the 1976-77 taping season anyway, so his surgery really only moved up his departure date.

Either way, Garry's television hosting days were behind him after that all-too-brief return visit...

A young Ally Sheedy appeared as a panelist for two shows during Garry Moore's last year hosting. Previously, Sheedy had been a contestant in a segment featuring her children's book, She Was Nice To Mice. The producers were so charmed by her poise that she was invited back shortly afterward to sit with the panel. And if she was nervous, Sheedy barely showed it during her first appearance as she questioned a candy sculptor followed by a marathon swimmer. In fact, Sheedy turned in a performance that was as strong as the man she replaced on the panel halfway through the week: former New York City Mayor John Lindsay.

Garry Moore's explanations for the regular panelists' occasional absences were always a treat, but he seemed to save the most preposterous for Kitty Carlisle.

1974: Kitty's "...at home visiting her wardrobe and seeing her lawyer about amortizing the costs."

1975: "...on tour with the roller derby."

1976: "...yielded to a very tempting fee and is speaking at the unveiling of a manhole cover."

A trainer once brought frogs to the set to compete in a distance jump competition, with each one named after the panelists. It's quite a sight, the panel standing at their desk cheering on frogs, but surreal indeed to watch Kitty Carlisle almost kiss one!

1974 turned out to be a physically challenging year for TTTT's emcee. First, Garry hobbled onstage in early February wearing deck shoes and explained he'd broken his toe after dropping a lamp. Then in April, he returned after an absence and offered this explanation:

"In case you're wondering where I was all that time, I can't tell you exactly. I'll tell you I spent most of the time with a surgeon friend of mine who inducted me into the Royal Order of the Rubber Doughnut. It's a very basic honor. And beyond that I will not go. So you can see I had to have somebody sit in for me 'cause I couldn't sit in for myself. But I am now back on a firm foundation."

Garry liked to make usually-veiled comments about TTTT's summer vacations. Some years he even made the same one.

1971: "Is it just me or did it seem like a terribly long weekend?"

1972: "We want to welcome you all to our reunion. It is nice to have you with us. I say 'reunion' because we've all been on vacation around here for a couple of weeks. I guess you didn't notice 'cause we taped a few shows ahead. I'm not allowed to tell you how far ahead we taped but a lot has happened while we've been off the air...uh, that is, while we were on vacation. Both political parties held their conventions and as everybody predicted it's gonna be Hoover against Roosevelt. And out there in Brooklyn the Dodgers did it again. Congratulations Carl Erskine."

1973: "Did you have a good weekend, panel? It's one of those weekends that just went on and on and on..."

1974: "Great start, fellas!" (when a venus flytrap demonstration went nowhere) and, "Your weekend rest did you a lot of good, panel!" (after a stump to start out the new taping season).

1975: "Although our panel is not really related to one another, they act like brothers and sisters. Yelling and whining and stealing each other's food and all that kinda stuff. And so let's say hello to our family members of Cass, Cullen and Carlisle. Friends, good to see you again."

The 1969-78 TTTT never had permanent, assigned chairs for its panelists, only designated seating for each taping week. But during the show's second season, Bill Cullen made an on-air mistake that caused a permanent change in the way the panelists were introduced. Up until that point, the cast always had been introduced Cullen-Peggy Cass-guest-Kitty Carlisle no matter who sat where behind the desk. So it was up to Bill to know where to go; the other panelists just had to follow his lead. But on a Thursday show in which that's week's established seating order had been Carlisle-Gene Rayburn-Cass-Cullen, Bill walked to the first chair instead of the fourth and…sure enough, everybody followed his lead. The show went on with the cast in the reverse order and nobody said a thing. But during the show's closing credits mill-around, producer Mark Goodson -- who hadn't played any on-camera role during that episode -- could be seen speaking sternly with Bill, then walking offstage. To prevent the same control-room-freakout-inducing gaffe from happening again, the opening walkons were immediately altered: the panelist sitting in the first chair during the week would be introduced first, the second-chair panelist next, and so forth. Each cast member just had to go to the first available seat in the line, and they were all set.

Even with the foolproof solution, there were still occasional flubs. One Monday show from the fifth season has the panel being introduced Bill Cullen-Peggy Cass-Roger Grimsby-Kitty Carlisle. But once onstage, Cass and Cullen somehow got mixed up and the panel ended up seated Cass-Cullen-Grimsby-Carlisle. That mistake was set right during the first commercial break. It may have been one thing to have the panel lined up in the wrong order, but when the males and females weren't alternating properly, something had to be done straightaway…

The original set for the syndicated series sure was fashionable for its time, just not necessarily popular among the cast and viewers. One fan wrote in to say that the psychedelic set and rock music spoiled the show and were insulting to the panel, especially to -- for some reason -- Kitty Carlisle. Garry Moore seemed to agree, at least about the set: during a segment featuring a lumberjack, Garry offered to chop it down, saying, "I've always hated this set!" (Bill Cullen could be heard offscreen seconding the opinion.) And while Garry ultimately declined to destroy the set due to its expense, within a few weeks the backdrop had been repainted anyway to a tamer solid blue with pink and yellow accents.