Ralph Andrews

Ralph Andrews was a game show producer best known for his work on the 1960s NBC program You Don’t Say! He reportedly produced the second-most game shows in history, rivaled only by Mark Goodson.

Andrews worked on a long list of syndicated game shows including I’ll Bet, Wedding Party, The Family Game hosted by Bob Barker, It Takes Two with Vin Scully, It’s Your Bet, Liars Club with Rod Serling and later Allen Ludden, Celebrity Sweepstakes and 50 Grand Slam with Tom Kennedy. 

Andrews began his career in Michigan as an announcer and radio DJ for stations WSAM and WKNX. He later moved his family to Hollywood and began working as an NBC page, eventually becoming a producer. Together with David Wolpe he produced Divorce Hearing, then Andrews produced and hosted Lie Detector, which challenged public figures to take polygraph tests.

After becoming the director of live programming for Desilu Productions, he had a hand in the game shows By the Numbers, Zoom and Show Me. He later started his own production company with Bill Yageman, which became the independent Ralph Andrews Productions.

Additionally, he worked on the musical variety series The Mickie Finn Show, the Canadian game show Lingo, and through partnership with European production company IDTV, he worked on Boggle, Trivial Pursuit, Grand Slam and Initial Reaction.

In the early 70s Andrews moved on to politics, working as the Director of Education and Training for the Republican National Committee. After leaving the RNC he purchased a controlling interest in KPLM-TV, an ABC affiliate in Palm Springs, where he became the GM and Program Director and starred in his own talk show, The Troublemaker.

In 1983 he co-founded the Entertainment Industries Council (EIC) with columnist Jack Anderson and served for two years as its first chairman, remaining on the Board of Directors for more than two decades.

He also produced the 1968 documentary film Silent Treatment and 1972’s Wild in the Sky.

Andrews died October 16, 2015. He was 87.