This Is Your Life
Mike Rutherford
TV Flash files “Mike Rutherford” as a desk essential hour — This Is Your Life (1952–1961) on NBC, season 43, episode 4, aired 2003-01-23, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S43E04: listed hour 475 of 497 in the This Is Your Life guide, hour 4 of 25 in season 43. It aired 2003-01-23 (30 min). The listed hour before it is “Gillian Taylforth” (S43E03). Next is “John McArdle” (S43E05). Broadcast log — titles and dates, not a plot bible.
Essential hour: “Mike Rutherford”. Mike Rutherford: late-franchise named night, reunion-and-montage DNA of the ambush still walking into award-show afterlives.
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Former This Is Your Life subject Phil Collins was recruited to help Michael surprise his Genesis band member outside Thames Television's Teddington Studios. Among those paying tribute are musician Peter Gabriel, racing driver Damon Hill, broadcaster Chris Tarrant and rugby player Will Carling.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Mike Rutherford sit in the This Is Your Life guide?
S43E04 is listed hour 475 of 497 — hour 4 of 25 in season 43, season 43 episode 4.
When did This Is Your Life S43E04 air?
Mike Rutherford aired 2003-01-23 and is listed at 30 minutes.
Where should I start?
Start with Edwards ambushing a guest into their own biography. The shock-and-tissues contract is the show; named celebrity nights are the heat.
In the series
Why this series still plays
This Is Your Life had Ralph Edwards ambush a guest with their entire biography, tissues mandatory. Invented the life-tribute ambush still used at reunions and award-show montages. Watch it now as live television that felt dangerous and sweet — genuine shock, occasional discomfort, and biography as a surprise party with cameras.
The guest does not know the night is about them until the night is already on the air. This Is Your Life, NBC 1952–1961 in the classic American television run, had Ralph Edwards ambush a subject with their entire biography, tissues mandatory. Invented the life-tribute ambush still used at reunions and award-show montages: genuine shock, occasional discomfort, biography as a surprise party with cameras. Based on Edwards's radio format; the U.K. imitated it widely. Live television that felt dangerous and sweet in…
Filed against
- Ralph Edwards as Host
Ralph Edwards ambushed guests with their entire biography on This Is Your Life — tissues mandatory, live television that felt dangerous and sweet — and turned wrong answers into stunts on Truth or Consequences. Life-tribute as reunion…