Author Topic: Markie Post and GT (Read 6572 times)

pentellit · « **on:** May 10, 2009, 03:08:23 PM »

Hi you game show brain trust. Here's the question; Before Markie Post became a well known celebrity actress (Night Court, The Fall Guy, numerous TV movies, and best of all, Something About Mary), and even before that, before she was the Gong Show Girl for Chuck Barris, Markie worked for Goodson Todman Prods. Does anyone here know when, and what specifically she did at GT?

tvrandywest · « **Reply #1 on:** May 10, 2009, 03:49:46 PM »

[quote name=\'pentellit\' post=\'215336\' date=\'May 10 2009, 12:08 PM\']Hi you game show brain trust. Here's the question; Before Markie Post became a well known celebrity actress (Night Court, The Fall Guy, numerous TV movies, and best of all, Something About Mary), and even before that, before she was the Gong Show Girl for Chuck Barris, Markie worked for Goodson Todman Prods. Does anyone here know when, and what specifically she did at GT?[/quote]

I believe Jay Wolpert brought her into the fold. She was on-camera dealing cards on "Card Sharks", but I'm not certain what other administrative work she might have done as a member of the Goodson-Todman family.

I do know that when Jay set up shop on his own, especially when based on the Metromedia lot, Markie often participated in run-throughs, presentations and pilots, and was a celeb on the debut week of "Blackout". Not too much hard info here, but I hope it helps as a start.

Randy
tvrandywest.com

davidhammett · « **Reply #2 on:** May 10, 2009, 04:26:52 PM »

[quote name=\'pentellit\' post=\'215336\' date=\'May 10 2009, 03:08 PM\']Hi you game show brain trust. Here's the question; Before Markie Post became a well known celebrity actress (Night Court, The Fall Guy, numerous TV movies, and best of all, Something About Mary), and even before that, before she was the Gong Show Girl for Chuck Barris, Markie worked for Goodson Todman Prods. Does anyone here know when, and what specifically she did at GT?[/quote]
I haven't heard that she was on the Gong Show, but she was working on the writing/researching staff of the game show "Split Second" at the end of its run in 1975; "Card Sharks" came in 1978. I have no idea what she was doing at GT other than that.

snowpeck · « **Reply #3 on:** May 10, 2009, 04:30:35 PM »

I seem to remember reading she was on the writing staff on Family Feud and possibly Card Sharks as well.

Greg

MikeK · « **Reply #4 on:** May 10, 2009, 04:32:04 PM »

[quote name=\'davidhammett\' post=\'215343\' date=\'May 10 2009, 04:26 PM\']I haven't heard that she was on the Gong Show, but she was working on the writing/researching staff of the game show "Split Second" at the end of its run in 1975; "Card Sharks" came in 1978. I have no idea what she was doing at GT other than that.[/quote]
Markie worked on Double Dare between Split Second and Card Sharks, adding another layer to the Post-Wolpert connections.

bwood · « **Reply #5 on:** May 10, 2009, 08:00:47 PM »

[quote name=\'snowpeck\' post=\'215345\' date=\'May 10 2009, 04:30 PM\']I seem to remember reading she was on the writing staff on Family Feud and possibly Card Sharks as well.

Greg[/quote]

As per Markie herself in the FF E! True Hollywood Story, she was, in fact, a writer on Feud.

SRIV94 · « **Reply #6 on:** May 10, 2009, 08:17:07 PM »

[quote name=\'davidhammett\' post=\'215343\' date=\'May 10 2009, 03:26 PM\']I haven't heard that she was on the Gong Show[/quote]

I'll confirm that she was on. Siv Aberg had stopped appearing on the daytime run by late 1977 (taping schedules had her on some early 1978 nighttime episodes), and Markie, Marlena Clark and Carol Connors (not to mention Chuckie's daughter Della) were among several people who acted in the role of "GONG model" until the end of the daytime run (Connors, who had appeared with a bad singing act in early 1977 [not that anyone really noticed her singing], got the bulk of the work toward the end).

As an aside, IIRC, Connors' daughter is Thora Birch.

calliaume · « **Reply #7 on:** May 10, 2009, 10:29:28 PM »

[quote name=\'SRIV94\' post=\'215364\' date=\'May 10 2009, 07:17 PM\']As an aside, IIRC, Connors' daughter is Thora Birch.[/quote]
Confirmed. And now I know what her counterargument was if mom and dad objected to her nude scene in American Beauty.

davemackey · « **Reply #8 on:** May 10, 2009, 10:43:12 PM »

Markie was the fourth or fifth writer hired for "Feud" after the original three: J. Anthony Nino, Jan Markowitz and Rob Lloyd. A fifth writer, Stan Fink, was added around the same time, 1977 I think.

snowpeck · « **Reply #9 on:** May 11, 2009, 12:10:29 AM »

Interesting that you bring up Rob Lloyd, considering he's a co-worker of mine. Hear lots of mentions from him about various shows he's worked on, but haven't gotten the chance to actually sit down and ask him anything.

Greg

GrandGame1440 · « **Reply #10 on:** May 11, 2009, 12:32:35 AM »

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I recall reading or seeing her somewhere talking about being the one who shopped for the grocery prizes on "The Price is Right" at one point as well.

pentellit · « **Reply #11 on:** May 11, 2009, 03:36:56 AM »

[quote name=\'calliaume\' post=\'215371\' date=\'May 10 2009, 07:29 PM\'][quote name=\'SRIV94\' post=\'215364\' date=\'May 10 2009, 07:17 PM\']As an aside, IIRC, Connors' daughter is Thora Birch.[/quote]
Confirmed. And now I know what her counterargument was if mom and dad objected to her nude scene in American Beauty.[/quote]
Are you referring to mom and dad's careers in the entertainment biz?

chris319 · « **Reply #12 on:** May 11, 2009, 06:27:22 AM »

[quote name=\'snowpeck\' post=\'215380\' date=\'May 10 2009, 09:10 PM\']Interesting that you bring up Rob Lloyd, considering he's a co-worker of mine. Hear lots of mentions from him about various shows he's worked on, but haven't gotten the chance to actually sit down and ask him anything.[/quote]
Rob works in local TV news in Knoxville, Tennessee? Interesting. No way would he remember me by name, but the last time I saw him was on the set of Family Feud where he informed me of the recent passing of Dorothy Jo Barker.

calliaume · « **Reply #13 on:** May 11, 2009, 01:23:57 PM »

[quote name=\'pentellit\' post=\'215382\' date=\'May 11 2009, 02:36 AM\'][quote name=\'calliaume\' post=\'215371\' date=\'May 10 2009, 07:29 PM\'][quote name=\'SRIV94\' post=\'215364\' date=\'May 10 2009, 07:17 PM\']As an aside, IIRC, Connors' daughter is Thora Birch.[/quote]
Confirmed. And now I know what her counterargument was if mom and dad objected to her nude scene in American Beauty.[/quote]
Are you referring to mom and dad's careers in the entertainment biz?
[/quote]
Pretty much. It's hard to argue, as a parent, that you shouldn't do something if the parents did it themselves. (Fortunately, the only youthful transgression I made is/was an unhealthy obsession with video games.)

Actually, according to Wikipedia, both Connors and her husband were on the set when Birch filmed her one (very brief) scene, as per child labor laws. Birch plays Kevin Spacey's daughter in the movie (Mena Suvari, who plays the object of his affection, was over 18 when the movie was made; Birch was 16).

snowpeck · « **Reply #14 on:** May 11, 2009, 01:42:11 PM »

[quote name=\'chris319\' post=\'215384\' date=\'May 11 2009, 06:27 AM\'][quote name=\'snowpeck\' post=\'215380\' date=\'May 10 2009, 09:10 PM\']Interesting that you bring up Rob Lloyd, considering he's a co-worker of mine. Hear lots of mentions from him about various shows he's worked on, but haven't gotten the chance to actually sit down and ask him anything.[/quote]
Rob works in local TV news in Knoxville, Tennessee? Interesting. No way would he remember me by name, but the last time I saw him was on the set of Family Feud where he informed me of the recent passing of Dorothy Jo Barker.
[/quote]

He's producer of one of our newscasts here. Most recent game show mention from him was when Dom Deluise died last week about how he worked with him on Win Lose or Draw when he was a Kline & Friends employee.

Greg