How ‘Numb Nuts’ Helped Launch ‘The Newlywed Game’ On July 11, 1966, The Newlywed Game premiered on television, quickly becoming a hit through the simple act of making private lives public. The program was the brainchild of television veterans Robert "Nick" Nicholson and E. Roger Muir. The duo had young adult children at the time who were separately preparing for marriage. While discussing the respective nuptials, both men noted that the couples were “in a cloud” about getting married. “We decided that we would capitalize on this and we came up with a show format called The Newlywed Game,” Muir later recalled to the Archive of American Television.