[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.
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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