"The Gong Show" Prize

[Charlie Owens]

Was there a reason the "winner" (and considering some of the no-talent hacks on that show, I use the term EXTREMELY loosely) on The Gong Show got the rather strange amount of $516.72 as a prize? For the record, I'm talking about the original, hosted by CIA assassin (allegedly) Chuck Barris, not the later version hosted by the guy who kinda looked like Chick Hearn.

[DrBear]

Two reasons:

1. It sounded silly and thus matched the rest of the show.

2. $516.32 was union scale for an act on a show like that at the time. The nighttime show paid (memory failing) $732.68 which was union scale for an act on a nighttime show. And I just know I'm going to get Zached on that amount.

[davemackey]

[quote name=\'DrBear\' post=\'117424\' date=\'May 1 2006, 07:12 AM\']
Two reasons:

1. It sounded silly and thus matched the rest of the show.

2. $516.32 was union scale for an act on a show like that at the time. The nighttime show paid (memory failing) $732.68 which was union scale for an act on a nighttime show. And I just know I'm going to get Zached on that amount.
[/quote]
Well, thankfully you don't have to wait for Zach on this one.

The nighttime prize was originally $712.05, but was eventually increased to $716.32.

[Ian Wallis]

The nighttime prize was originally $712.05, but was eventually increased to $716.32.

Not to mention the one show during the Gary Owens season where the prize was an even $1000.  I always wondered where that came from (aired nighttime pilot maybe?)

[uncamark]

[quote name=\'Ian Wallis\' post=\'117466\' date=\'May 1 2006, 03:16 PM\']

The nighttime prize was originally $712.05, but was eventually increased to $716.32.

Not to mention the one show during the Gary Owens season where the prize was an even $1000.  I always wondered where that came from (aired nighttime pilot maybe?)
[/quote]

Can't imagine it was the pilot, since from all descriptions it seemed like it was shot in front of the KGO news set in San Francisco.

[JasonA1]

Clips of the pilot aired on the E! True Hollywood Story of the Gong Show. It had a pretty different set and four panelists (one of which was Richard Dawson). IIRC, they said they taped in the same studio as the news set and shoved themselves in front of it - not to insult our esteemed Mr. Jeffries, but the way you made it sound, you seemed to imply the show was done with the set visible. My apologies in advance if you did not intend that.

Of course just reading back I see you said nighttime pilot Ian, but...figure this might be of interest to somebody.

-Jason

[uncamark]

[quote name=\'JasonA1\' post=\'117566\' date=\'May 2 2006, 08:32 PM\']
Clips of the pilot aired on the E! True Hollywood Story of the Gong Show. It had a pretty different set and four panelists (one of which was Richard Dawson). IIRC, they said they taped in the same studio as the news set and shoved themselves in front of it - not to insult our esteemed Mr. Jeffries, but the way you made it sound, you seemed to imply the show was done with the set visible. My apologies in advance if you did not intend that.
[/quote]

If I'm wrong, I'm wrong.  All of the descriptions I heard (and I didn't see the "Gong" "THS" show) said that they did it in front of the news set.  If it wasn't visible (and from everything I had heard, I thought it was), then I stand corrected.

The story is that Barris was late getting into San Francisco due to weather problems in LA.  He supposedly walked into the studio at KGO just as one of the more outrageous acts came on.  Until then, his only interest in "The Gong Show" was as a financial partner and that he would let Chris Bearde run the show.  Things started to change from that point.

[SRIV94]

[quote name=\'uncamark\' post=\'117603\' date=\'May 3 2006, 02:19 PM\']
The story is that Barris was late getting into San Francisco due to weather problems in LA.  He supposedly walked into the studio at KGO just as one of the more outrageous acts came on.  Until then, his only interest in "The Gong Show" was as a financial partner and that he would let Chris Bearde run the show.  Things started to change from that point.
[/quote]
This is not to say that the story is wrong, but I find this interesting.  Chris C. had posted in a much earlier thread regarding the GONG pilot that John Dorsey was the director (Dorsey was well-entrenched with Barris' shows--having done DATING, NEWLYWED and TREASURE HUNT, maybe others--Bill Carruthers also spent quality time working as a director for Chuckie Baby).  However, when the show was greenlighted for NBC, Terry Kyne (who was one of Bearde's cronies) was manning the control booth by then (Dorsey was directing RHYME & REASON for ABC at the time, but that show would be gonzo within a few weeks' of GONG's premiere).  Dorsey replaced Kyne about eight weeks in, give or take, as Barris started getting more of his people involved (I believe it was also around this time Larry "And His Magic" Spencer took on creative consulting chores).

So what I take from that (and this is only speculation--I could be way off base here), is that Barris was to be more involved all along (since one of his guys directed the pilot).  Kyne wound up getting directing honors when Dorsey was already doing R&R (and Carruthers was onto his own production company), and was jettisoned at the first opportunity (since he wasn't a Barris guy).

Doug -- and the countdown to 1900 continues