Woolery's Departure from Wheel

[calliaume]

I think he would have done both.  As you may remember The Chuck Woolery Show ran simultaneously with Love Connection.  I think Scrabble had ended by then

Eric Lieber's company produced both The Chuck Woolery Show and Love Connection, so obviously there were no conflicts between the production companies. Merv Griffin might not have felt so benevolent, especially given the two shows could have been in competing time slots in some markets.

Randy West had a thread yesterday that implied Merv was looking to let Chuck go well before the end of 1981, so I looked at Broadcasting for details.

[chris319]

Randy West had a thread yesterday that implied Merv was looking to let Chuck go well before the end of 1981, so I looked on Broadcasting for details.

Randy's say-so isn't good enough for you?

[tyshaun1]

Randy's say-so isn't good enough for you?

I get the sense that you think what Randy says should be ingested with a small dose of a mineral?

[clemon79]

Randy's say-so isn't good enough for you?

I get the sense that you think what Randy says should be ingested with a small dose of a mineral?

Just now you get this sense?

[tyshaun1]

Just now you get this sense?

I was trying to pull out WHY Chris C. is always casting doubt on Randy. I do have a birthday, but it wasn't yesterday.

[chris319]

Just now you get this sense?

I was trying to pull out WHY Chris C. is always casting doubt on Randy. I do have a birthday, but it wasn't yesterday.

Not a small dose, but a huge mountain of NaCl.

I take issue with the account of Johnny Olson's demise published in his book. I worked at CNN at the time and we covered the story along with the trade publications. I talked to Randy about it before his book was published and he was dismissive, claiming he had researched it. If he had properly researched it, his published account would be closer to the truth than his fictional version. He has since posted an account that more closely resembles the actual events and which diverges from the published account in his book.

He now has zero credibility with me. When he tells you a story claiming insider knowledge, you have no idea if it has any basis in fact or is a fabrication.

[tyshaun1]

Not a small dose, but a huge mountain of NaCl.

I take issue with the account of Johnny Olson's demise published in his book. I worked at CNN at the time and we covered the story along with the trade publications. I talked to Randy about it before his book was published and he was dismissive, claiming he had researched it. If he had properly researched it, his published account would be closer to the truth than his fictional version. He has since posted an account that more closely resembles the actual events and which diverges from the published account in his book.

He now has zero credibility with me. When he tells you a story claiming insider knowledge, you have no idea if it has any basis in fact or is a fabrication.

There IS a certain late host that Randy posts every year around his birthday about him having "anger issues" in the past and how it cost him a few jobs; which comes across as poor taste (IMO) since he obviously can't defend himself. One year, several people who had worked with him came across in his defense, essentially saying that he was nothing like how he was being portrayed. I think Randy tends to take certain peoples' point of view as gospel without actually taking into account all perspectives.

[Kevin Prather]

There IS a certain late host that Randy posts every year around his birthday about him having "anger issues" in the past and how it cost him a few jobs; which comes across as poor taste (IMO) since he obviously can't defend himself.

Is that Dick Clark you're referring to? I don't remember the last time Randy mentioned Clark's name without throwing in "oh btw he fired me lol".

[tyshaun1]

Is that Dick Clark you're referring to? I don't remember the last time Randy mentioned Clark's name without throwing in "oh btw he fired me lol".

No, but he's another. The one I'm referring to has a birthday in December. If you search his page for that month, you'll find it as he's posted it every year for several years now.

[SuperMatch93]

Is that Dick Clark you're referring to? I don't remember the last time Randy mentioned Clark's name without throwing in "oh btw he fired me lol".

No, but he's another. The one I'm referring to has a birthday in December. If you search his page for that month, you'll find it as he's posted it every year for several years now.

Checking his Facebook, the host appears to be Peter Tomarken, and the alluded to "anger issues and self-destructive behavior" will apparently be mentioned in his upcoming book.

[Bryce L.]

Is that Dick Clark you're referring to? I don't remember the last time Randy mentioned Clark's name without throwing in "oh btw he fired me lol".

No, but he's another. The one I'm referring to has a birthday in December. If you search his page for that month, you'll find it as he's posted it every year for several years now.

Checking his Facebook, the host appears to be Peter Tomarken, and the alluded to "anger issues and self-destructive behavior" will apparently be mentioned in his upcoming book.

Somehow doesn't surprise me in the least. Reminds me of a couple of moments I've seen on Press Your Luck where an audience member shouted an answer out, and the contestants heard it, and Peter responded by bellowing at the audience to "STOP IT!" in a manner I've never seen from any other host, before or since. I mean, he sounded legit pissed, like he was ready to stop tape right there, if he could've.

[BillCullen1]

Okay, so the host did not show grace under pressure for one moment. It doesn't make him evil. When I saw a late host with anger issues, I thought, Survey says . . . Richard Dawson. But apparently not.

[jage]

I mean, Trebek had Telephone Jeopardy. Hardly anyone is entirely even-keeled 100% of the time.

[calliaume]

Somehow doesn't surprise me in the least. Reminds me of a couple of moments I've seen on Press Your Luck where an audience member shouted an answer out, and the contestants heard it, and Peter responded by bellowing at the audience to "STOP IT!" in a manner I've never seen from any other host, before or since. I mean, he sounded legit pissed, like he was ready to stop tape right there, if he could've.

Maybe it wasn't the first time that taping session. If you have to stop tape and replace a question because some idiot says the answer aloud, it's time consuming, annoying, and costs the contestant who actually knew the answer. I'm pretty sure studio audiences are told not to shout out answers during the warmup to every show, but some people can't help themselves.

When I attended The Money Maze, Alan Kalter made a point of telling the audience during the warmup we were allowed to physically root for the couples as they were running the maze... but we were not to make a sound. Sure enough, somebody said, "Go! Go!" during one of the runs for a prize; the contestants didn't win the prize, and Kalter made a point of saying that was why we had to be quiet.

*****

Getting back to the original subject, the Facebook thread I mentioned concerned Woolery's firing from WoF, which Randy said only happened after Fred Silverman was bounced from NBC--I was confused because Silverman was let go six months before Woolery's departure. Broadcasting had nothing about that one way or the other.

And the sources on the interwebs are so off--Wikipedia says in Sajak's entry that Merv told Silverman said he'd put a moratorium on taping WoF until Sajak was the host, citing Merv's book Merv: Making the Good Life Last as the source; the book says he gave NBC's daytime head ("who'd replaced Lin Bolen"--not mentioning Madeline David had been her actual replacement) that ultimatum instead, not Fred Silverman. (The book also says Chuck left on his own, and doesn't mention the salary dispute.) I'm not sure why NBC wouldn't have wanted Sajak as host given he'd done the Puzzlers pilot for the network the year before, but whatever.

So all of the principals surrounding Chuck's exit are gone except Chuck, and he probably isn't talking about it. All I can ascertain is Chuck was looking to hold down a talk show gig in 1981.

[tyshaun1]

Somehow doesn't surprise me in the least. Reminds me of a couple of moments I've seen on Press Your Luck where an audience member shouted an answer out, and the contestants heard it, and Peter responded by bellowing at the audience to "STOP IT!" in a manner I've never seen from any other host, before or since. I mean, he sounded legit pissed, like he was ready to stop tape right there, if he could've.

And the sources on the interwebs are so off--Wikipedia says in Sajak's entry that Merv told Silverman said he'd put a moratorium on taping WoF until Sajak was the host, citing Merv's book Merv: Making the Good Life Last as the source; the book says he gave NBC's daytime head ("who'd replaced Lin Bolen"--not mentioning Madeline David had been her actual replacement) that ultimatum instead, not Fred Silverman. (The book also says Chuck left on his own, and doesn't mention the salary dispute.) I'm not sure why NBC wouldn't have wanted Sajak as host given he'd done the Puzzlers pilot for the network the year before, but whatever.

So all of the principals surrounding Chuck's exit are gone except Chuck, and he probably isn't talking about it. All I can ascertain is Chuck was looking to hold down a talk show gig in 1981.

I often believed that Merv liked to embellish his "discovering" Sajak because it was his first national show, since he had also done a "Press Your Luck" ESP based game in 1980 in addition to Puzzlers. I think any mention of him forcing the network's hand on hiring him is a bit facetious.
As for the previous post, he also threatened to "rip your chicken lips off" in another episode, saying it with a devilish smile. I think he thought of it as his smart-alecky persona at that point in the series.