Daily Beast: 'Why Game-Show Hosts Vote Republican'

[Kniwt]

A new article has details on which hosts and production companies give money to whom, plus some pointy-head analysis of why this might be:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-sto...vote-republican

A tiny island of Reagan Republicanism in the vast sea of liberal Hollywood, television’s greatest arbiters of luck and love—including Chuck Woolery, Drew Carey, Wink Martindale, Merv Griffin, and many others—have regularly loaned their support and opened their wallets to right-wing candidates and causes, collectively donating more than $100,000 since 1998.

... “It makes sense to me that these hosts are pretty heavily Republican,” said Olaf Hoerschelmann, a professor at Indiana University, author of Rules of the Game: Quiz Shows and American Culture and perhaps the world’s leading ("only," in his words) expert on game shows. “To have the right sensibility to be a game-show host, you do have to have a belief in rugged individualism—either you make it or you’re not worth it.”

I'm somewhat hesitant to put this link here, but I'm hoping (against hope?) that any discussion will be civil.

[TLEberle]

Ifind it hilarious that a professor at a university thinks he's an expert on game shows. I wonder if he's ever seen one.

[Kniwt]

[quote name=\'TLEberle\' post=\'250056\' date=\'Nov 1 2010, 07:43 PM\']Ifind it hilarious that a professor at a university thinks he's an expert on game shows. I wonder if he's ever seen one.[/quote]

I've actually got his book, published in 2006. It's sort of dry as game-show books go (not unsurprisingly), but it's an interesting and competent survey of the genre. 43 pages of footnotes at the end, so at least it's extensively sourced.

[Matt Ottinger]

As with any generality, there are plenty of holes you could poke in the theory, but all in all, I like the observation.  In addition to the names mentioned in the quote above, Pat Sajak is another noted supporter of conservative issues and causes.

[trainman]

"The world's leading only expert on game shows"? Uh-oh. When's the Steve Beverly-Olaf Hoerschelmann cage match?

[Matt Ottinger]

[quote name=\'trainman\' post=\'250062\' date=\'Nov 1 2010, 11:20 PM\']"The world's leading only expert on game shows"? Uh-oh. When's the Steve Beverly-Olaf Hoerschelmann cage match?[/quote]
Oh, wow, I didn't catch that bit of bravado in the original quote.  Forget Beverly, I think there are several of us right here who would take exception with him calling himself the "only" game show expert.

[Jay Temple]

If, indeed, Merv was gay, I find his presence on the list to be more than a little surprising.

[TLEberle]

[quote name=\'Jay Temple\' post=\'250066\' date=\'Nov 1 2010, 08:45 PM\']If, indeed, Merv was gay, I find his presence on the list to be more than a little surprising.[/quote]I don't. I don't care what Merv was. In either case. I just like his game shows. Most of the time.

[Dbacksfan12]

[quote name=\'Jay Temple\' post=\'250066\' date=\'Nov 1 2010, 10:45 PM\']If, indeed, Merv was gay, I find his presence on the list to be more than a little surprising.[/quote]So, if you're gay, you can't be conservative?  There are other issues...fiscal policy for one.  Your sweeping generalization fails.

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'Modor\' post=\'250072\' date=\'Nov 1 2010, 09:44 PM\']So, if you're gay, you can't be conservative? There are other issues...fiscal policy for one. Your sweeping generalization fails.[/quote]
Yes, Mark, one can be conservative and gay if they so choose. Doesn't make it less surprising.

Fortunately, my desire to accept the weekend's teachings of Jon Stewart is winning out over my urge to post a short list of things today's GOP would rather gay people *not* be.

/like "free to marry"

[Kniwt]

In a naive attempt to steer this back toward game shows and, at least tangentially, the original post ...

The index of Hoerschelmann's book lists exactly two references for Wink Martindale. Here's one from the chapter "What Is a Genre?" that captures the light, airy tone of the book:

Additionally, a high degree of intertextuality characterizes television, which complicates the identification of clearly defined generic bodies that are organized synchronically only. Thus, the generic history of quiz shows is always present in reruns as well as in intertextual references to previous texts, complicating a linear genre history and making genre history an active factor in the creation of meaning in an individual show. For example, Debt, a now defunct quiz show that aired on the Lifetime cable channel, which quiz show veteran Wink Martindale hosted, mines the history of quiz shows to create a new product that incorporates elements from Jeopardy!, Name that Tune, The $20,000 Pyramid, and The $64,000 Question and is therefore in a very close relationship to the history of the genre.

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'Kniwt\' post=\'250076\' date=\'Nov 1 2010, 10:38 PM\']The $20,000 Pyramid[/quote]
Lol wut?

/am I missing something obvious?

[TLEberle]

[quote name=\'clemon79\' post=\'250079\' date=\'Nov 1 2010, 10:49 PM\'][quote name=\'Kniwt\' post=\'250076\' date=\'Nov 1 2010, 10:38 PM\']The $20,000 Pyramid[/quote]
Lol wut?

/am I missing something obvious?[/quote]Clever/misleading category names maybe. But that's a huge stretch. Maybe the answer's in his mountain of footnotes.

[Dbacksfan12]

Too cheap to bring in a decent caterer.  I recall reading an anecdote on here that said Nipsey left CR and ate with a Goodson/Todman crew instead.

[TLEberle]

[quote name=\'Modor\' post=\'250081\' date=\'Nov 1 2010, 11:25 PM\']Too cheap to bring in a decent caterer.  I recall reading an anecdote on here that said Nipsey left CR and ate with a Goodson/Todman crew instead.[/quote]Sequitur much?