Why were so many game show hosts such lowlifes?

[jimimac71]

Gee Dargo … You are Mister TV.
A game show with Gentlemen Jim Lange too.
You know, it was the Chevy Vega that would start.
(Masha would have loved Jim Lange)
A station wagon use to totally rock.
We had one when I was young.
I had my Jim-Jams on and Mom would back the “wagon” into our movie drive in.
It was the “other” that showed porn.
We really need drive in theaters again.
“Let’s all go to the snack bar.”

[Dargo]

Gee Dargo … You are Mister TV.
A game show with Gentlemen Jim Lange too.

Sounds as if you recall me mentioning in the past that I was also a contestant on two game shows that Jim Lange hosted...'The Dating Game' and 'Bullseye'. eh?!

(...well, I guess I just figured I'd take advantage of being a SoCal boy at the time...that would be my excuse for appearing on those shows, anyway)

[Dargo]

OH, and btw regarding the following...

...A station wagon use to totally rock.
We had one when I was young.
I had my Jim-Jams on and Mom would back the “wagon” into our movie drive in.
It was the “other” that showed porn.
We really need drive in theaters again.
“Let’s all go to the snack bar.”

I suppose having a station wagon for the purpose of drive-in movie viewing would've been cool at the time, but considering that by '72 I had already just gotten my first apartment in Redondo Beach...

(...well, let's just say that the borrowing of my Dad's '69 Chrysler Newport for such purposes and the roomy accommodations that it offered in its back seat, supplied this function very very well until I got that first apartment...IF you catch my drift here?!) LOL

[jimimac71]

https://www.discogs.com/release/595663 ... -Seat-Jams

[txfilmfan]

...I spent the summer of 1974 working for Storer Cable TV in Banning, CA.
I’d ride my bike to my little hotel room for lunch and watch Split Second.

What I remember about Split Second was the game winner was given five cars to choose from and see if the one they selected would start. I loved that.

I was a contestant on 'Split Second' just a couple of years earlier than this in 1972, jimimac. All of 20 y/o at the time. Tom Kennedy (Jack Narz's brother and himself a game show host of some repute during that time) was the host during its original run at the time, as I know there was a short-lived revival of this quiz show during the 1980s which was then hosted by its producer Monty Hall.

I did in fact win on one episode and so was one of those contestants who got a chance to pick from the five cars, and if as I'm sure you remember it started up, it would be mine to own.

The cars on stage were Pontiacs that week. And so being the young gearhead at the time that I was, I of course naturally opened the door and hopped into the Firebird and gave the key a twist. It didn't start. The car that WAS set up to start that day was the Safari Station Wagon, and of course the very LAST car I would've chosen.

(...I was beaten on the next episode and so didn't get another chance at those Pontiacs...as I recall, my total winnings were $550 and not a bad chunk o' change back then...oh, AND of course a year's supply of Rice-A-Roni.."The San Francisco Treat!" ) LOL

I liked that game show. I was about 8 when it premiered. I was amazed watching the set split to show the 5 cars behind the host's and contestants' podia.

IIRC, if you won 5 days in a row, you automatically won a car? I think you got to choose which one at that point, right?

[Dargo]

I liked that game show. I was about 8 when it premiered. I was amazed watching the set split to show the 5 cars behind the host's and contestants' podia.

IIRC, if you won 5 days in a row, you automatically won a car? I think you got to choose which one at that point, right?

Hi Tex. Yep, I always thought the premise of 'Split Second' with each question having three correct replies for each of the three contestants to answer, made it somewhat unique among all the quiz shows.

And re the car lineup...

Yes, each and every episode in which the champion continued to win, they would set up an additional car able to be started and thus increasing the chances of winning one of them. And so, if a contestant won all five days and thus every car being set up to start and if the winner hadn't earlier picked the right one during their run of wins, the contestant would then just pick the car they wanted.

(...sure wish that Firebird had started for me that one time though...and here I am still thinkin' about this over 50 years later!) LOL

[Dargo]

https://www.discogs.com/release/595663 ... -Seat-Jams

LOL

And then of course the whole problem with convertibles in this case (and such as with this '58 Chevy Impala shown here) was that the soft top mechanism took up about 6 additional inches of room on each side of the back seat.

(...and thus making the available area for...well, you know)

[Masha]

However and upon further reflection, I'd say pretty much every one of the original panelists and the exchanges between them and Mr. Daly seldom lacked in the qualities you just mentioned. Especially so again with the repartee that took place between Mr. Daly and Arlene Francis.

(...and of whom about 20 years ago or so and after getting hooked on watching old reruns of this show in the Gameshow Network at the time, I would find myself falling madly in love with...what a woman...besides being very intelligent, witty and whatever the female equivalent of "urbane" might be, she also somehow seemed to become more and more physically attractive as the years rolled on as well)

"Free Movie Classics" is a free channel on Roku. I am sorry to say that I do not know if it is available on other platforms.

One of the television series which it carries is: "Classic Game Shows". Each episode is an episode of a game show which aired in 1956. The "What's My Line" episode had both Arlene Francis and Groucho Mark on the panel.

[Dargo]

However and upon further reflection, I'd say pretty much every one of the original panelists and the exchanges between them and Mr. Daly seldom lacked in the qualities you just mentioned. Especially so again with the repartee that took place between Mr. Daly and Arlene Francis.

(...and of whom about 20 years ago or so and after getting hooked on watching old reruns of this show in the Gameshow Network at the time, I would find myself falling madly in love with...what a woman...besides being very intelligent, witty and whatever the female equivalent of "urbane" might be, she also somehow seemed to become more and more physically attractive as the years rolled on as well)

"Free Classic Movies" is a free channel on Roku. I am sorry to say that I do not know if it is available on other platforms.

One of the television series which it carries is: "Classic Game Shows". Each episode is an episode of a game show which aired in 1956. The "What's My Line" episode had both Arlene Francis and Groucho Mark on the panel.

If it was from 1956, I believe you see Groucho on it because he guested as the fourth panelist after Fred Allen's sudden death that same year.

Btw Masha, while further reflecting upon your thoughts expressed within your OP here once again just now, I was reminded of the following song and most likely why its composer would include a less than complimentary lyric that references the very job description your thread is about and starting at the 1:35 mark of it...



(...I always liked this song)

[Dargo]

Dargo, old buddy, how much IS a year's supply of Rice-A-Roni, the San Francisco Treat? Is it more like a box a week or a box a year?

LOL

Good question here, KR!

Now, you have to remember that this all took place over 50 years ago, but as I recall, I received a large cardboard box to my apartment a few weeks after the airing of the show and in which contained something like 24 individual packages of the stuff, and which I then in turn remember taking over to my parent's home for their consumption.

And so doing the math here, it appears a "year's supply" was considered to be the use of one package every two weeks.

Although, I don't think my mother ever got as excited about the stuff as either of these two ladies here did...

[Sepiatone]

Buzzr has Password, but mostly the later incarnations (Password +/Super Password, from the 80s). Buzzr is owned by the successor company to Goodson-Todman (Fremantle), so they have access to those old G-T game shows.

Don't expect to see the older versions of Password, though. While the old CBS primetime episodes from the 60s have been saved, much of the CBS daytime version, and the later version on ABC daytime in the 1970s are considered lost.

Buzzr has also seemed to have moved on from games shows that originally aired prior to 1980, with the exception of Match Game, the 1970s syndicated version of To Tell The Truth. Tattletales and The Newlywed Game also show up on their schedule. They used to show kinescopes of the original primetime What's My Line, but I haven't seen that on their schedule in years. You can watch almost every episode on YouTube anyway - apparently they are all public domain.

Really, Buzzr did show the early Allen Ludden hosted PASSWORD shows earlier this year.

But moving on....

To me it's the GAME I watch some of them for. Very rarely does the host keep me away. One example, FAMILY FEUD. The only times I avoided that game show was during the Ray Combs era when they changed the format slightly(with all that bullseye nonsense) . And the show had a couple of bland hosts(Richard Karn, John O'Hurley). I'd say out of all of them my best liked were Dawson, Louie Anderson and even Steve Harvey. I at first thought I wouldn't like Harvey as a host as I never thought he was that good of a stand-up. But as a host of FEUD, he does inject some energy and can smoothly schmooze the contestants. Although a brother in law of mine feels he schmoozes the black families more than the others. And whether or not you think Harvey is or isn't funny, you gotta admit. Some of the answers the contestants give are golden! Like way back in the Dawson era, on the "fast money" game a lady was given this question:

"In which month of the pregnancy does a woman start to look pregnant?" And the lady answered;
"September."
Dawson was so overcome with laughter he had to tell someone to stop the clock and laughed so much he became weak and had to sit down on the stage. And later, when he was going over the answers and September came up again, he had to pause and walk around a bit to regain his composure. And that more recent one in which a contestant was asked, "What item of Leonardo DiCaprio's would you like to own?" and he answered, "The Mona Lisa." HAS to go into the Feud's funniest answers Hall of Fame. And I'll offer----


Sepiatone

[jamesjazzguitar]

I only like the game shows I can participate in; E.g. where the 'answer' is not revealed.

I like watching the old Password mainly due to the guest stars since many are actors I grew up with and like (e.g. Patty Duke, Elizabeth Montgomery, Tony Randall etc.). But I dislike that they showed the answer. I want to see if I can get the answer prior to the players! Since the answer is at the bottom on the screen, I place a pillow on the floor that is large enough to cover the answer.

Note the Split Second is back with John Michael Higgins as host. I like this show but one has to be quick on the draw to guess the answer before the contestants.

[Dargo]

Note the Split Second is back with John Michael Higgins as host. I like this show but one has to be quick on the draw to guess the answer before the contestants.

Didn't know this, James. What channel is it on?

(...and btw regarding the "quickness" thing here...considering that there are always three correct answers that each one of the contestants can reply with, I wouldn't think the quickness factor would be as significant as it is on 'Jeopardy!')

[jamesjazzguitar]

Note the Split Second is back with John Michael Higgins as host. I like this show but one has to be quick on the draw to guess the answer before the contestants.

Didn't know this, James. What channel is it on?

(...and btw regarding the "quickness" thing here...considering that there are always three correct answers that each one of the contestants can reply with, I wouldn't think the quickness factor would be as significant as it is on 'Jeopardy!')

Game Show Network right after the other Higgins hosted show America Says. (at 3:30 and 4:30 but may be different in AZ).

As for the "quickness": I like to see if I can answer all 3 questions before each contestant and that can be a challenge.