What Do You Want? - Pilot episode (1961)

Groucho's first attempt at a retooled version of You Bet Your Life, still with Fenneman on board. It didn't sell, and the format was tweaked again to become "Tell It To Groucho", which had a very short run on CBS.

[@genehunsinger3981]

Groucho was great! He could pull material out of thin air,,,and make it work.

[@cefcat5733]

Oh wow! I thought for sure that he would tell Ms. Krebs, when she gets into the White House, to 'tell' EM Groucho sent you. '

[@tinklvsme]

Those r well behaved beautiful kittys! ❤️🕶🕶❤️✌️🙏

[@looker1933]

HA HA HA!! Groucho is tooo funny!!!

[@FlockOfHawks]

LAPD - i just heard a song about them , it wasn't too friendly and was recorded some 30 years later - in the aftermath of Rodney King's death The show's format is fine by me though : it could have grown into something special

[@sixofone1307]

No wonder the show didn't go far. The format changes all over the place, the chairs are too far apart, and the question 'what do you want?' doesn't make much sense to base a whole show on. Were those cat ladies sisters or mother and daughter or what?

[@NevadaBoss]

Groucho was, and still is, the greatest of all time...but...really, "What Do You Want?" lol. Who came up with that gem? Why not, "What's It To Ya?" or "Says You!". 0:

[@fonso1030]

NevadaBoss or how bout “So’s your old man!”? 🤣

[@pjfrog10]

She’ll have to wait until at least 2024

[@mehboobkm2018]

For a woman prez? I suspect that would happen in a 100 hundred years..

[@FlockOfHawks]

we had woman kings ( called queens ) for well over 120 years , and it wasn't bad most of the time 😎

[@WarioBarker]

My big problem with this pilot, aside from having one of the flimsiest "game" formats I've ever seen, is that little reel they have from about 27:30-28:50 - everything seen in this small portion is miles better and more entertaining than what they'd been subjecting potential execs and sponsors to for the past 25 minutes! (No idea if those clips were segments of other pilots or shot specifically for this purpose, though I doubt the latter.) Honestly, I think the biggest problem is that this was still trying to be a game show. If they'd changed "What Do You Want?" into a variety show with interviews, keeping Groucho and Fenneman and the basic idea of "a request box for the people", I think they'd have had something really good.

[@fromthesidelines]

An hour's worth of "material", as in the days of "YOU BET YOUR LIFE", was filmed for this pilot- and the "best parts", in the opinions of Groucho, producer John Guedel and directors Bob Dwan and Bernie Smith, were used for the final half-hour version. Not ALL of the "contestants" that participated made the "final cut".................

[@ADAMSIXTIES]

8:09 Two crazy cat ladies and 8 of their 15 felines! 13:20 Fenniman tries to get two 'fraidy cats out on stage.

[@cefcat5733]

A friend had 12. They all hid until eating time. 🐈

[@Greenwinkle]

Anyone know what episode is the guy with the huskies and the secretary to Ava Gardner 🤔

[@cefcat5733]

Gosh, gotta get a cat.

[@freddyfurrah3789]

Shouldn't have canceled YOU Bet Your Life. 😮

[@cefcat5733]

What did Groucho want? Anyone know him?

[@JohnnyBeane]

I think the cat ladies on the next program worked better.

[@TruckTaxiMoveIt]

I'm inclined to think there is a very small population of men who like cats in general, and just a tiny sliver of that small population who would tolerate over 10 cats in the house. Any woman with 10+ cats expecting to find a man who would knowingly marry into that has fooled herself already.

[@td3993]

Plenty of guys like and have cats. Few would want or have 10.

[@judyharris6516]

Not a good format, but at least the guests get to sit

[@Arthur_McGowan]

There's a basic problem with a show featuring kooks. They have no sense of humor. Notice how there's not a flicker of amusement on the faces of the cat women, no matter what Groucho says.

[@larrytate5607]

A woman for president aren't they happy we gave them The weather channel and Walmart maybe I'm just dreaming looking at this video a woman for president hahaha 🤣

[@crumblefest]

I love cats... but don't like Marlon Brando...

[@mehboobkm2018]

Groucho was trying to be funny but ended up sounding stupid. No wonder the show went off the air within a couple of months after its pilot episode.

[@mehboobkm2018]

Second episode with cat women was a cringe show!