AN AMERICAN INSTITUTION
As perhaps television’s first reality show, newly married couples share the most outrageous, intimate, racy and revealing details of their lives as they try to predict how their spouses will answer Carnie’s probing and provocative questions. A new generation of newlyweds reflects society’s new mores as they make an incident that, for years, had reigned as the all-time most outrageous game show moment suddenly seem tame.
You know the urban legend about a “Newlywed Game” occurrence that original host Bob Eubanks denied ever happened. The question: “Where’s the strangest place you’ve ever had the urge to make whoopee.” The answer: “The butt, Bob.” Well, it did happen! The contestant actually said “The ass,” and the tape never aired. The 2009-2010 season of shows will air those kinds of wildly outrageous moments, and early on in the run there is an episode with an exchange that is eerily reminiscent of that legendary answer from decades ago. And you'll never forget some of the craziness on our celebrity episodes featuring well-known newlyweds including Star Trek's George Takei, Monkee Davy Jones, Brady Bunch's Christopher Knight, and reality TV's Johnny Fairplay. I don’t remember ever working a show where the director and crew are as surprised and entertained as the home audience will be, as the newlyweds are always up for the game of marital hilarity. Tune-in, and laugh along with Carnie and me, weeknights on GSN! |
WITH HONORS! It’s Game Show Congress 7! The community of game show professionals and fans is meeting again this November to celebrate our special genre of television. Hosts, announcers, producers, writers, and contestant coordinators join with contestants past and future in North Hollywood for another weekend that includes our annual awards ceremony.
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DREAMS COME TRUE!
What a "trip" in every sense of the word. From being encouraged as a teenager and mentored through a career in radio by Johnny Olson to pursue my seemingly impossible career goals, to standing at Johnny's podium (wearing the same CBS ID badge that he wore 17 years ago as a lucky charm). There I am doing warm-up to the most enthusiastic audiences on Earth, introducing the World's Greatest MC Bob Barker, and bellowing Johnny's phrase "Come on Down" to an audience full of contestant hopefuls in the same studio where John first did 32 years ago. It was cooler than cool to do those honors for about 50 daytime and prime-time episodes during an 11 month transition period for the show. From learning the business from Johnny and the old scripts that he would save and give to me, to practicing and honing the skills on a bevy of game shows since 1990, to finally realizing the dream that Johnny first inspired was a thrill that defies description. There's a psychic symmetry to the journey that brings me from watching Johnny to standing in his footsteps so many years later. Equal to the joy is the sadness of knowing that the opportunity was only made possible by Rod's unfortunate illness. The passing of this long-time friend and gifted performer in October, 2003 was a terrible loss. (Please see the "Tribute to Rod" on this site). My deepest appreciation to Bob Barker, Roger Dobkowitz, Phil Rossi, Kathy Greco, Sue MacIntyre, Syd Vinnedge and all the members of "The Price Is Right" family for their tremendous help and support in allowing me the opportunity to work to honor their standards of excellence. And thanks for bringing me into the larger Freemantle family for work on their new pilots, presentations and “The Price Is Right Live”. Continued success to all on the show; I’ll see you on the reruns! |
NATPE NEWS
No panel could have been more knowledgeable and insightful:
Just when I thought I knew most of the story behind "Deal or No Deal" from having done audience warm-up at the tapings of it's very first US episodes for NBC, and just when I thought I'd heard most of Bob Stewart's and Bob Boden's best stories, I was enthralled by more great TV history. A great hunk of game show history can be found by searching wikipedia for more on these panelists. More of their stories can be rehashed over a drink when you visit "TPiR-Live" in Vegas! |
LIVE FROM 8H...!
It's the most famous television studio in the world. From having watched the game shows "What's My Line?","The Match Game" and "Snap Judgement" tape there as a kid, to now having the chance to work on that stage 30+ years later, it's another surreal dream-come-true experience.
Since 1975, studio 8H at 30 Rockefeller Plaza has been the home of I recently had the honor of working in that historic studio, co-hosting "The Battle of the Brands". It was the second annual event sponsored by The Association of National Advertisers and The Association of Independent Commercial Producers. This year the ad agencies for Nike, Cadillac, Audi and other TV advertisers presented their nominated campaigns, battling for votes from the assembled bigwigs from the world of media and advertising. There's no word yet on who might air the awards ceremony, but in a 500 channel universe it's likely to find a home. One less poker show would certainly not disrupt the Earth's orbit! |
<<<CLICK LOGO FOR VIDEO The lifeblood of most radio and TV personalities is comedy. As a morning DJ and from work with talented broadcasters like Joey Reynolds and movie director Betty Thomas (back when she was a comic contributing syndicated radio bits) I must have learned something about delivery and timing. Recently I've had a few chances to contribute to produced comedy bits on Andy Dick's M-TV show and on ABC-TV's live Jimmy Kimmel show. Jimmy is another former radio personality, and his tasty bits have a familiar flavor. Writer Jonathan Bines brought this bit to life and chose me to voice "Saddam Alive!" Just click the Jimmy Kimmel logo and enjoy. (VIDEO IS 1.76MB AND NEEDS REAL PLAYER) |
While my face is only familiar to the uber-fans who bought the plastic toy, my plastic voice is unmistakably familiar. Watch and hear me come to life with the cheesiest game show clips, prizes and stunts on five great episodes of "Game Show Moments Gone Bananas!" Say what you want about the popularity of reality shows eclipsing TV game shows, the public's thirst for great game show moments seems unquenchable. NBC produced three specials last year that presented some truly funny clips from the Fremantle and Sony vaults. They ran on the network and played numerous times on VH-1. The specials were then even re-re-purposed back to NBC for another rerun.
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“WHAT THE BLANK!”
But what about exploiting some of the elements that made it so great? The next TV generation also has a sense of humor. It’s a different time and different things are funny, but certainly some of what made “Match Game” so entertaining is timeless. There is clearly viability in that format of well crafted, open-ended “questions” with each suggesting a few humorous responses, while laying the foundation for free-wheeling banter among a half-dozen well cast funny-folk. It has seemed that the magic just can’t been re-captured... but... In sound stage 12 on the historic CBS-Radford lot last spring some great game minds and great comedy minds came together and just may have done the seemingly impossible. Fred Willard is simply phenomenal in balancing the triad of his humor, the game mechanics, and setting-up the celebs to hit comedy home runs. Added to the format are funny new ways to present the “questions”, and (dig these adjectives) hilarious hi-jinx from Fred’s wacky relationship with his zany announcer. (You knew there’d have to be something self-serving in all this!) A talented crew, a beautiful set and some great celeb panelists helped to make this a pilot that must be seen. In fact, one of the celeb panelists actually HAS a beautiful set, but I digress. With the prevailing winds steering most programmers away from traditional games these days, this pilot seems destined to join the dozens of other great TV ideas that languish in tape vaults, never to be unspooled on-air. It may be quite a while before a new "Match Game" gives us the chance to laugh our (blank)s off! |
Created more than 40 years ago in the skewed mind of an eccentric producer, author, songwriter and network employee, Chuck Barris, the enduring “Newlywed Game” format continues to fascinate and entertain America on GSN.
Allen Ludden and Geoff Edwards will join past honorees Bill Cullen, Ralph Edwards, Monty Hall, Wink Martindale and other immortals in being recognized for their career achievements and community service. The darling of game shows, Betty White, will be among the many celebrities on hand for the awards reception. And there’s an added event this year- veteran host Tom Kennedy will present his “Wonderful World of Game Shows.”
Those who have joined in past years know that GSC is a blast for the working pros who get to reunite, the players who love the competitions, and the fans who get to mix and mingle with the faces, the voices and the creators of their favorite game shows, past and present. Click for registration information: 
Baseball
players hope to some day pitch a world series win for the Yankees. Vaudevillians
aimed to play The Palace. Comedians hope for their own sitcom. Entrepreneurs
work to start the next Microsoft. Game show announcers dream of "The
Price Is Right".
Every January the TV business holds its annual star-studded programming convention. New shows are sold and old favorites are renewed for the season ahead, while programming and production execs meet to discuss the changing business. With all the talk of "media convergence", "new platforms", and "viral marketing" a new session began with this year's NATPE. It's called "Think Tank: How We Got Here".
The think tank series began with a fascinating look at game shows - from "I've Got a Secret" to "Deal or No Deal". The panel was moderated by one of my mentors during the 1980s, Mark Itkin. A great friend of the game show genre, Mark is the superstar dealmaker who has risen to the lofty position of Executive Vice President, Worldwide Co-Head of Television, at the William Morris Agency. With co-moderator Bruce David Klein, the President of Atlas Media Corporation, those of us in attendance were treated to stories that ran the gamut from the creation and development of the original 1956 format of "The Price is Right", to the latest news and views in the world of game show formats and production.
Michael Davies started his work in game shows under the tutelage of Monty Hall on "Let's Make a Deal" and is now the Executive Producer of "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire". And Scott St John is the guiding force behind Endemol's smash hits "Deal or No Deal" and "1 vs 100". 
Gene Rayburn talked about his days at a page at NBC in the 1930s, standing in the doorway of 8H, watching in awe as Arturo Toscanini conducted the NBC Symphony Orchestra. In the early 1950s the facility was converted for television broadcasting. In the 1960s, 8H was upgraded for color TV and dubbed the "Peacock Studio". In addition to the origination of countless classic, live hours of entertainment programming, news coverage of presidential elections and NASA space missions originated here. Al Howard remembers staging "Sale of the Century" in that huge studio on the first two-story-tall game show set. A show that required cars to be cut in half to fit in the freight elevator, and then re-welded on the 8th floor. I first met Johnny Olson in 8H; an event that ultimately led me to my career choice.
"Saturday Night Live". The Rolling Stones, George Harrison, Billy Joel, The Grateful Dead and Elton John played on that stage. The massive 8H is the largest studio ever built specifically for radio/TV broadcasting.
"Hi, I'm 'Mr. Game Show'! Ben Stein and I have the party in high gear on VH-1".
Now VH-1 reaps the sweet fruit from the Mark Goodson vaults with five one-hour specials entitled "Game Show Moments Gone Bananas!" Our friends at Fremantle have picked some of the juiciest clips from "The Price Is Right", "Match Game", "Family Feud", and heaping helping of other classics. Ben Stein plays head chef cooking-up a delicious treat by combining live audience participation games, contributions from a few celeb guests, and yours truly as the voice behind the prizes. The sweet treat was concocted at CBS TV City and is being served up on VH-1. It's enough to make your banana cream!
There have been a number of attempts to re-capture the special magic of Gene Rayburn’s fabulously successful “Match Game”. It’s arguably the most entertaining game show ever, and even 30 years after it’s heyday the reruns remain top rated on GSN. It’s simply a classic that can never be re-created.