tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6042603612494762084.post3461334212635700367..comments2024-03-27T22:27:16.556-04:00Comments on It's About TV: What's on TV? Wednesday, September 14, 1977Mitchell Hadleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08695771505209080030noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6042603612494762084.post-20336056185015745522020-09-16T22:49:36.906-04:002020-09-16T22:49:36.906-04:00Twin Cities Today inexplicably did not change its ...Twin Cities Today inexplicably did not change its name or time slot when KSTP became an ABC station.Eric Meyerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00278806456914232840noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6042603612494762084.post-61356280897629323292020-09-16T21:40:22.596-04:002020-09-16T21:40:22.596-04:00Mr. Unknown (whomever you may be):
According to J...Mr. Unknown (whomever you may be):<br /><br />According to John Barbour's book (pages 500-505), Chuck Barris told him right out front that <i>The Gong Show</i> was always supposed to be a put-on, that the acts were purposely bad, that the idea was to get big laughs from a rowdy studio audience. <br />Barbour's thought was that if he chatted up the contestants beforehand, he'd get them more empathy from the audience.<br />Barris wasn't buying; indeed, when NBC's then daytime boss (Lin Bolen, <i>op cit.</i>) insisted that the show begin with the host explaining that the contestants knew that they could be gonged, that was what led Barbour to walk away (it says here).<br />For the record, Chuckie delivered that very disclaimer at the start of every <i>Gong Show</i> for the whole run.<br /><br />*Side Note: In an interview many years afterward, Rip Taylor (frequent <i>Gong</i> flyer) stated for the record that all <i>Gong</i> contestants were pros who got paid for their efforts (remember the odd prize money that the "winners" got? That was AFTRA scale after the FICA tax came out - and according to Taylor <i>everybody</i> got that amount).*<br /><br />As to how "clever" John Barbour might have been:<br />At the close of the <i>Gong Show</i> chapter, he mentions Barris's book, <i>Confessions Of A Dangerous Mind</i>, and expresses some doubt that the CIA part of the story could be true.<br />I read that book when it first came out; my feeling then was that anybody who took one word of it at face value was in need of serious professional help.<br /><br />*Side Note 2: several years later, Chuck Barris wrote another memoir, <i>The Game Show Man</i>, which was a more straightforward account of his life and career; he followed this up in later years with several more books, which recounted his subsequent life (including his daughter's tragic experiences with drugs) quite seriously.*<br /><br />Well - you <i>did</i> ask ... <br /><br /><br />Mike Doranhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14427528138598549103noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6042603612494762084.post-85841305625455333102020-09-16T11:31:19.940-04:002020-09-16T11:31:19.940-04:00What did Barbour say about the Gong Show? Barris a...What did Barbour say about the Gong Show? Barris always claimed that Barbour played it straight and didn't get the joke, but I have a hard time believing a clever guy like Barbour didn't understand that the Gong Show was supposed to be played for laughs with deliberately rotten acts. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07288931201531829689noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6042603612494762084.post-84704618248559335502020-09-15T23:02:55.149-04:002020-09-15T23:02:55.149-04:00Too bad she's dead...she'd be a Trumper to...Too bad she's dead...she'd be a Trumper today, assuring white folks that no, Donald DOES love the black race and doesn't want to exterminate them, the way Biden does.<br /><br />Paultomservo56954https://www.blogger.com/profile/16574973421722288825noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6042603612494762084.post-63395560921529854132020-09-15T08:58:03.513-04:002020-09-15T08:58:03.513-04:00You're right, though she'd left NBC by the...You're right, though she'd left NBC by then, since HOLLYWOOD SQUARES was moved to make room for STUMPERS, which her company produced. STUMPERS was an excellent show, with a great host in Allen Ludden, much better I think than 50 GRAND SLAM, which followed it. Both shows lasted just 13 weeks in NBC daytime.Jon Hhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03491513679896169022noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6042603612494762084.post-46865579914909154342020-09-15T08:27:17.070-04:002020-09-15T08:27:17.070-04:00I remember Channel 56 in Boston was running Fernwo...I remember Channel 56 in Boston was running Fernwood 2Night w/the Best of Groucho @ this time. It was a great way to be introduced to late night TV as a kid.<br /><br />Also, I get the feeling that Dr. Jefferson more than held her own against Phil Donahue from listening to her on the David Brudnoy radio show.diskojoehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08768344411314442676noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6042603612494762084.post-143709681659396732020-09-15T05:12:06.547-04:002020-09-15T05:12:06.547-04:00Fred Silverman was still at ABC when NBC moved ...Fred Silverman was still at ABC when NBC moved 'Hollywood Squares' to that earlier slot. It was Lin Bolen who made that decision, in the summer of '76.oneillb454@gmail.comhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09871027852560385711noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6042603612494762084.post-72286677247653702802020-09-14T12:24:11.311-04:002020-09-14T12:24:11.311-04:00A Bit, and Maybe A Piece:
- The Gong Show:
Reca...A Bit, and Maybe A Piece:<br /><br /> - <i>The Gong Show</i>:<br /> Recall that Chuck Barris, who created and produced <i>Gong</i>, was a last-minute choice to host.<br />Fact: when Barris first sold <i>Gong</i> in syndication, Gary Owens was the host, a post he held for the first season of that version.<br />The network sale to NBC came later; the announced host was John Barbour, who was found "unsuitable" (that could mean anything) during the first days of taping.<br />Because Gary Owens had other commitments elsewhere, he couldn't take over the daytime <i>Gong</i>; as the deadline for air approached, Chuckie Baby stepped in at The Last Minute - and proved to be the perfect host for this show.<br /><br /> - As to John Barbour:<br /> This gentleman published an autobiography a couple of years back, in which he chronicles one of the oddest careers in showbiz.<br /><i>Your Mother's Not A Virgin!</i> runs over 700 pages, in which Mr. Barbour explains why all the things that went wrong for him in his career (and there were a bunch of those) were never his fault.<br />That's par for the course for a first-person showbiz memoir, of course, but Mr. Barbour is <i>sui generis</i> - "of his own kind".<br /><br /> - Noting that on this night, CBS is running the first <i>Spider-Man</i> pilot movie they made, which went round in circles as an irregularly-scheduled series for a season or so.<br />That said, take note of who's playing one of the villains here: Thayer David, right after he wrapped playing <i>faux</i>-J. Edgar Hoover on <i>Washington: Behind Closed Doors</i>.<br />1977-78 was the last TV season of Mr. David's life; he had several more guest shots in the hopper, and there was that <i>Nero Wolfe</i> pilot that should have aired during this time frame ...<br /> ... which makes this yet another Incredible Coincidence - doesn't it?<br /><br /> - I'm still trying to figure out exactly why ABC's Minn-StP stations wouldn't carry <i>The Edge Of Night</i>, even on a delay.<br />This was when the great Henry Slesar was headwriter; the storyline they were running in '77 found the main hero, Mike Karr (then played by Forrest Compton), standing trial for a murder that he didn't commit.<br />Regrettably, this storyline is unavailable on YouTube, and <i>that</i> is a damn shame ... <br /><br />Mike Doranhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14427528138598549103noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6042603612494762084.post-26654609918072128322020-09-14T08:55:05.579-04:002020-09-14T08:55:05.579-04:00No HOLLYWOOD SQUARES, I see. I think this is when...No HOLLYWOOD SQUARES, I see. I think this is when Fred Silverman had it dumped in the 9-10 AM CT hour, which lots of CTZ stations, including my NBC affiliate in Nashville, usually preempted for trash like DONAHUE by this time. I see KSTP-TV had a local show then called TWIN CITIES TODAY, which it likely renamed GOOD MORNING, TWIN CITIES after changing network affiliation just over a year later.<br />At some time I'll have to find out who Maynard Ferguson was/is.Jonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00483417885845331990noreply@blogger.com