| Genre: | Game show |
| Director: | Hal Persons |
| Starring: | Peter Donald (host) |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Num Episodes: | 5 |
| Runtime: | 30 minutes |
| Channel: | CBS |
The Ad-Libbers is a CBS comedy sketch game show that began on August 3, 1951, and ended on September 1, 1951, as a summer replacement for Mama.[1]
Home viewers were invited to send in story ideas. The host would read the story outline to the performers, who would then attempt to ad-lib dialogue to fit the story.[2]
The show was hosted by Peter Donald. Regulars included Jack Lemmon, Charles Mendick, Patricia Housley, Joe Silver, Earl Hammond and Cynthia Stone.
The series was based on a similar program titled What Happens Now? The program aired on local New York station WOR-TV in 1949 and was hosted by Nelson Olmsted.[3] Regulars on the 1949 program included Ross Martin, Carol Ohmart and Larry Blyden.[4]
Ted and Hal Persons produced the show, and Hal Persons directed it. Maxwell House was the sponsor.[5] It was broadcast on Fridays from 8 to 8:30 p.m. Eastern Time.[2]
A review in the trade publication Billboard said that the program "comes off as fitfully interesting but hardly strong enough to stand the rigors of strong audience competition."[5] It said that because the actors were not trained in performing spontaneously the demands of the show's format were unrealistic.[5]