H2 Game Show Week 2 Preliminary Report

[Game Show Man]

As many of you know, Hollywood Squares taped its second Game Show Week on Saturday, 13 September.  As is my custom, I hereby present a report of the events of that day.  Please note, as is also my custom, there are NO SPOILERS provided here, so you're just going to have to watch the shows to find out what happens.  That said:

Center-Martin Mull (?!?!?): I realize Mull's one of the regulars for this version of the show, and of course, he's very funny, but I frankly would rather have had Peter Marshall come back to do the center square again.  Of course, he may have been booked up...

Top left-Bob Eubanks: Bob was Bob.  Quick and sharp as always.

Top center-Jaye P. Morgan and Jamie Farr: Nice to see these two back together again.  Still have the old chemistry.  Had a gong put up in their cubicle, which the smacked a few times (including one particular, see below)

Top right-Jo Anne Worley: You bet your sweet bippy...loony as ever.  At the start of the second taping session she came out wearing one of those joke fake boobs vests (like in \"There Something About Mary,\" only without the wrinkles).

Center left-Tom Kennedy: I'm sure SB will rail about Tom getting put in a side square, but he still got his share of action; mostly musical questions with Bid-a-note clues.

Center right-Nipsey Russell: The Poet Laureate of Television was looking a little long in the tooth, but he still had lots of poems to fire off...and funny ones at that.

Bottom left-Betty White (!): I keep forgetting that the First Lady of Television has such a dirty mind...

Bottom center-Rose Marie: In the Lox Box, even.  Actually she was two levels down from where she usually sat on the original HS.  She was looking really old.  It may not be long before she joins Morey Amsterdam, Paul Lynde, Charley Weaver and Wally Cox in the great TV studio in the sky.

Bottom right-Monty Hall:  The Big Dealer looked absolutely miserable for most of the day...but that didn't stop him from getting in a few choice zingers.

Prize Models-Ruta Lee (the original High Rollers), and Susan Stafford (original Wheel Of Fortune): Except for a few wrinkles (and MAYBE a few pounds), they actually looked better now then back when they were doing their shows.

Announcer-Shadoe Stevens (!): Evidentally no hard feelings after he got the boot from after the Whoopi era.  Would rather have had Randy West announcing, though.


Special happenings:
As many of you know, John Ritter, who passed away this week, was a frequent visitor to the current version of HS.  At the start of each taping, Tom Bergeron said a few words, and asked the audience for their support to help get through the taping.  Also, midway through the second taping session, The Unknown Comic made a surprise visit and did his act.  Lots of bad puns and sight gags as always, but they were so bad they still funny.  Jamie Farr promptly gonged him near the end of his act.

The shows air the first week of November, so make sure ya watch it.

BTW, a big shoutout to all of the members of the Game Show Mob who were there.  It was nice to see you (to see you...nice).

\"Game Show Man\" Joe Van Ginkel

P.S. Jason Hernandez was one of the folks who was at the show...but on the way home he was involved in a hit-and-run accident.  He and his sister (who came with him) are alright (he's in a lot of pain), but keep him in your thoughts and prayers anyways.

[PeterMarshallFan]

Odd...Mull in the center, Ro in the lox box?! What??!!!

Anyway, sounds like a definite taper. Thanks!

[whampyl03]

+'s- Tom Kennedy is reason enough to watch.  Same goes with Bob and Monty.  Sounds like they made some good decisions on who to put in the cubicles as well.

-'s- Where's Wink? Where's PM?  And why is Mull in the center square?  Nothing against Shadoe, but they could have done better in the announcer dept.  Gee, where's Dean Goss when you need him? (Joking)

Excellent to hear that they're paying tribute to a great comedian as well.

Even though the minuses are significant, there’s still more than plenty of reason for me to watch.  It still sounds like a terrific week.

[Game Show Man]

And if the stars weren't enough, the gameplay was awesome, too.  Like I said before, I won't ruin it here, but if you tune in the whole week, you will not be disappointed.

\"Game Show Man\" Joe Van Ginkel

[dmota104]

First and foremost, here's hoping Jason's doing better.  

As for the panel, I would've loved to see Abby Dalton in the panel.  JVG's right about Ro.  She just did not look well on the E! true Hollywood story about HS.

John Moschitta's an improvement over Jeffrey Tambor at the announcer's position.  But, man, I wish they kept Shadoe.  Hey, put *him* in the center.  He was in the center for at least a week on HS86.

[cmjb13]

No John Davidson?

No Alex Trebek?

No Pat Sajak?

NO JOHN DAVIDSON???

[JMFabiano]

[quote name=\'dmota104\' date=\'Sep 14 2003, 07:50 AM\']
As for the panel, I would've loved to see Abby Dalton in the panel.  JVG's right about Ro.  She just did not look well on the E! true Hollywood story about HS. [/quote]
 Speaking of the E!THS and people not seeming well, there's still the matter of said Abby Dalton that I'm still curious about.  I know a lot of talk seemed to be about Rose Marie looking old, but Abby sounded like she was fighting off lockjaw or something.  What was up with that?

J.

[cmjb13]

Wonder if Rose had a Rose with her?

Then again, I don't remember if she did on Davidson's Squares.

[zachhoran]

[quote name=\'cmjb13\' date=\'Sep 15 2003, 07:35 AM\'] Wonder if Rose had a Rose with her?
 [/quote]
 I'm wondering if Tom will tease Rose about a male contestant being Single as Marshall used to do(didn't matter if the Male contestant was in his 20s or 60s or how old Rose was at the time)

[Mike Tennant]

[quote name=\'PeterMarshallFan\' date=\'Sep 13 2003, 10:59 PM\']Odd...Mull in the center, Ro in the lox box?! What??!!![/quote]
Well, if she's feeling as old as Game Show Man says she's looking, maybe she couldn't (or didn't want to) climb the stairs to her old cubicle.

[calliaume]

Well, if she's feeling as old as Game Show Man says she's looking, maybe she couldn't (or didn't want to) climb the stairs to her old cubicle.

This was my first thought -- most of the stars on the upper tier were in their 30s through 50s.  Rose was probably the oldest even during the original run.  The older stars (Weaver, Gobel, Pearl Bailey, etc.) usually stayed in the lower tier.

[TraderRob]

[quote name=\'cmjb13\' date=\'Sep 15 2003, 07:35 AM\'] Wonder if Rose had a Rose with her?

Then again, I don't remember if she did on Davidson's Squares. [/quote]
 Yes she is seen with her trademark rose during her appearances on the Davidson version.

Rob

[TraderRob]

[quote name=\'PeterMarshallFan\' date=\'Sep 13 2003, 10:59 PM\'] Odd...Mull in the center, Ro in the lox box?! What??!!!

 [/quote]
 Yes, we can complain that there's no Peter Marshall or other game show bigwig in the center square, but one thing that we seem to have overlooked is that the other 8 squares contain celebs relevant to game show history compared to 6 the last go around.    Just think... no Kathy Griffin! :-)

As for Ro, I would also believe that she either couldn't or didn't want to make the trip up to her trademark square.   But she was seen in the lox box on several occasions during the NBC primetime shows that GSN has aired.    

Which leads me to ask if anyone knows what led her to be permanently seated in the upper middle?   Was it because of her rapport with Wally Cox?   Or Morey Amsterdam who was frequently seated in the upper right?

[DrBear]

[quote name=\'TraderRob\' date=\'Sep 15 2003, 11:13 AM\'] But she was seen in the lox box on several occasions during the NBC primetime shows that GSN has aired.    

Which leads me to ask if anyone knows what led her to be permanently seated in the upper middle?   Was it because of her rapport with Wally Cox?   Or Morey Amsterdam who was frequently seated in the upper right? [/quote]
 I'm guessing it was rapport - she was definitely comfortable with both guys and was quite saddened by Wally's death, according to Peter Marshall's book. He also mentions that after Redd Foxx gave one female celeb a raunchy time (I forget who), between shows said celeb was switched with Totie Fields, who put Redd Foxx back in his denn.

And it makes sense that she'd be allowed to stay at ground level. Besides, why is the bottom center any more of a \"lox box\" than any of the other middle-outer squares?

[Mike Tennant]

[quote name=\'DrBear\' date=\'Sep 15 2003, 12:04 PM\'][quote name=\'TraderRob\' date=\'Sep 15 2003, 11:13 AM\'] But she was seen in the lox box on several occasions during the NBC primetime shows that GSN has aired.   

Which leads me to ask if anyone knows what led her to be permanently seated in the upper middle?   Was it because of her rapport with Wally Cox?   Or Morey Amsterdam who was frequently seated in the upper right? [/quote]
I'm guessing it was rapport - she was definitely comfortable with both guys and was quite saddened by Wally's death, according to Peter Marshall's book. He also mentions that after Redd Foxx gave one female celeb a raunchy time (I forget who), between shows said celeb was switched with Totie Fields, who put Redd Foxx back in his denn.[/quote]
That \"one female celeb\" would be Sandy Duncan.  (I just happen to have reread that chapter this weekend.)