Author Topic: Card Sharks & Directors (Read 2346 times)

JasonA1 · « **on:** May 20, 2008, 11:30:51 AM »

Off the thread in the A/V forum re: Paul Alter & Tattletales, I had a little question - how did the directors of Card Sharks vary? With the advent of GSN credit crunching, I never had the chance to see whether it was Marc Breslow or not on certain days in the Perry era, so I have no clues to go on as to who was directing. Surely somebody here watched closely enough to know what one director did over the other.

-Jason

Chief-O · « **Reply #1 on:** May 20, 2008, 12:09:59 PM »

[quote name=\'JasonA1\' post=\'186373\' date=\'May 20 2008, 10:30 AM\']
Off the thread in the A/V forum re: Paul Alter & Tattletales, I had a little question - how did the directors of Card Sharks vary?
[/quote]

78: IIRC, Alter was first, then Breslow took over from there [not sure as to when]

86: Same as '78. Andy Felsher also directed a number of eps. [and you can tell them right away when you see them].

chris319 · « **Reply #2 on:** May 20, 2008, 12:20:05 PM »

Marc Breslow took over Card Sharks from Paul Alter when the latter went to work on All New Beat the Clock. After BTC, Paul directed the pilot of Puzzlers but at some point, I forget exactly when, production of Family Feud ramped up with the addition of the strip syndicated version, so Ira Skutch wound up directing the first run of Blockbusters and Child's Play.

How can you tell if Andy is directing Card Sharks?

JasonA1 · « **Reply #3 on:** May 20, 2008, 02:00:50 PM »

[quote name=\'Chief-O\' post=\'186381\' date=\'May 20 2008, 12:09 PM\']
78: IIRC, Alter was first, then Breslow took over from there [not sure as to when]

86: Same as '78. Andy Felsher also directed a number of eps. [and you can tell them right away when you see them].
[/quote]

I thought you'd get involved in this thread - and be correct. Thanks Chief-O. I must've phrased my question too vaguely though, and I assume you have the answer to my second one: how did they differ stylistically? I was trying to say I found it hard to tell major show differences, because...I didn't know where to look. But I assume Paul and Marc used some slightly different shots.

-Jason

Chief-O · « **Reply #4 on:** May 20, 2008, 02:14:41 PM »

[quote name=\'chris319\' post=\'186382\' date=\'May 20 2008, 11:20 AM\']
How can you tell if Andy is directing Card Sharks?
[/quote]

[quote name=\'JasonA1\']how did they differ stylistically?[/quote]

I'm not sure if there's some inside info behind Chris's statement [he knows him better than I do], but as far as the '86 version was concerned, the differences between the 3 were noticeable to some of us "geeks":

Alter: Style was, overall, more "simple" than successors. Tended to use crane camera a lot more during commercial outros.

Breslow: Used dissolves a lot more. Commercial outros consisted of contestant closeups--he would use a left-to-right wipe to transition between them.

Felsher: When returning from commercial, would show a wide, aerial shot of the set, before dissolving to Eubanks/Rafferty. Often used 2 cameras on car descriptions [Breslow used a single static shot].

/ok, I'm such a geek
//too much so
///then again, I want to direct TV someday
////I hope I wrote this in a coherent manner

tvwxman · « **Reply #5 on:** May 20, 2008, 03:36:47 PM »

[quote name=\'Chief-O\' post=\'186392\' date=\'May 20 2008, 02:14 PM\']
///then again, I want to direct TV someday
[/quote]
Oh! I hope you enjoy pressing keyboard buttons, then.

\The password is : Parkervision <ding!>

chris319 · « **Reply #6 on:** May 21, 2008, 02:34:29 AM »

OK, so it IS possible to watch too much Card Sharks.

Quote

he knows him better than I do

You know Andy?

davemackey · « **Reply #7 on:** May 21, 2008, 08:08:09 AM »

[quote name=\'chris319\' post=\'186382\' date=\'May 20 2008, 12:20 PM\']
Marc Breslow took over Card Sharks from Paul Alter when the latter went to work on All New Beat the Clock. After BTC, Paul directed the pilot of Puzzlers but at some point, I forget exactly when, production of Family Feud ramped up with the addition of the strip syndicated version, so Ira Skutch wound up directing the first run of Blockbusters and Child's Play.

How can you tell if Andy is directing Card Sharks?
[/quote]
Felsher liked to use still store for the shot of the car during the show. And he loved getting closeups of Lacey and Suzannah.

Chief-O · « **Reply #8 on:** May 21, 2008, 09:30:46 AM »

[quote name=\'chris319\' post=\'186498\' date=\'May 21 2008, 01:34 AM\']
You know Andy?
[/quote]

No, I don't. That was my point, silly.

SRIV94 · « **Reply #9 on:** May 21, 2008, 10:34:39 AM »

[quote name=\'davemackey\' post=\'186511\' date=\'May 21 2008, 07:08 AM\']
And he loved getting closeups of Lacey and Suzannah.
[/quote]
But then again, who wouldn't?