Not Enough ‘Candid’ Moments on This Special

WASHINGTON — “Candid Camera” is one of the most imitated concepts in broadcast history, and now it’s even imitating itself. “Candid Camera’s 50th Anniversary” includes not just the vintage clips you’d expect but new hidden-camera pranks taped for the special.

Most of these are awful and tend to serve as interruptions rather than embellishments. Even so, the special--on CBS tonight--is worth seeing for the smattering of pricelessly funny moments from the past.

It’s a smattering that should have been a plethora, but your ribs are bound to be tickled at least a dozen times during the show.

The title is a bit misleading. “Candid Camera” began 50 years ago, yes, but as “Candid Microphone,” a radio series. Allen Funt was indeed the creator, however, and the idea remained essentially the same when transferred from radio to TV: Hide a recording device, create a nutty situation and see how ordinary and unsuspecting people react.

One thing that has changed over the years is the attention span of network executives, if not necessarily the attention span of viewers. The special whittles most of the excerpts down to their punch lines, or punch sights as the case may be. There’s no buildup, little explanation of the premise, just a wham and a bam and some laughter that’s canned.

Many of the clips deserve more time. Buster Keaton is inspired and hilarious in a classic from the ‘50s, playing an accident-prone diner at a lunch counter. Among other mishaps: When his toupee falls into his soup, he wrings it out and tries to put it back on his head. The joke was to see whether people sitting nearby could ignore this madness and go on about their business. Naturally they couldn’t.

In a gag from 1974, a younger but no less buxom Dolly Parton tells passing gentlemen at a shopping mall that she’s broken her ankle and can’t walk; could they carry her to her car? Except that, gosh darn it, she’s forgotten where she parked it and some of them end up carting her all over the lot. It’s delightful that the men are so obliging, but then, let’s face it, Dolly is certainly a sight for sore arms.

Many of the bits feature elaborate props--a runaway piano, a runaway golf cart, runaway shoes. Funt worked particularly well with children and one of those clips, with a little girl playing Cinderella, is wonderful.

Funt’s ill health would not allow him to host the special, so the job goes to his middle-aged son Peter, also the executive producer. Peter may be a bundle of Funt, but he’s no bundle of fun. Talk about your glassy-eyed stiffs! Leeza Gibbons does what she can as co-host.

Among the many imitations of the program over the years, the latest is an MTV imbecility called “Buzzkill,” in which a pack of wacky slackers run amok with portable video equipment. Playboy’s cable channel offers a lewd version in which naked ladies turn up in the unlikeliest of places. And of course, “America’s Funniest Home Videos” is basically “Candid Camera” with the audience playing its own pranks.

The original is still the best. Too bad there’s not more of it on its own anniversary special. It’s like a party at which the guest of honor spends much of the time hiding in the bathroom.

* “Candid Camera’s 50th Anniversary” airs at 10 tonight on CBS (Channel 2).