Author Topic: Mark Richards Online Interview (Read 4238 times)

ilb4ever2000 · « **on:** March 04, 2004, 05:00:39 PM »

There's a nice interview with the original host of Starcade, Mark Richards, on the current edition of RetroGaming Radio, an online radio show about classic video gaming. It starts at about 22 minutes into the show. It's available at www.retrogamingradio.com if you're interested.

EDIT: There's also an interview with a former contestant at 63 minutes into the show. It's in MP3 format, BTW.

tyshaun1 · « **Reply #1 on:** March 05, 2004, 09:25:30 AM »

I don't know if anyone actually listened to the interview, but Mark Richards sounded a bit bitter over the whole thing, didn't he? He says he didn't like his performance on the show (with good reason, IMO), and the interviewers mentioned they felt that Geoff was very dry and acted like he didn't care about the games or the contestants....... I think they got their hosts switched, if you ask me......

Tyshaun

ChuckNet · « **Reply #2 on:** March 05, 2004, 02:39:45 PM »

Quote

I don't know if anyone actually listened to the interview, but Mark Richards sounded a bit bitter over the whole thing, didn't he? He says he didn't like his performance on the show (with good reason, IMO), and the interviewers mentioned they felt that Geoff was very dry and acted like he didn't care about the games or the contestants....... I think they got their hosts switched, if you ask me......

I agree...considering that Geoff was a big video game player back in those days, he seemed very knowledgable about the games, right down to the tips he'd offer to the players in each round.

Chuck Donegan (The Illustrious "Chuckie Baby")

mmb5 · « **Reply #3 on:** March 05, 2004, 02:55:57 PM »

On a semi-tangental note, when I was doing some Starcade research for the pilots page, I came across any of the possible information:

1. There were 2 pilots, one with Mark Richards, one with Alex Trebek
2. There were 4 pilots, one with Mike Eurzione, three with Alex Trebek
3. The Alex Trebek pilots were for NBC

Anybody have better information than this?

Also in the research, I found out apparently there will be a DVD of 5 episodes. It won't be sold in stores, but it will be available here:
Starcade Store

--Mike

JasonA1 · « **Reply #4 on:** March 05, 2004, 03:26:34 PM »

There was only one pilot with Mike Eurizone and three with Alex.

I agree, Mark Richards was pretty stiff and Geoff hosted it...more like a game show host. :)

-Jason

tyshaun1 · « **Reply #5 on:** March 05, 2004, 06:55:01 PM »

[quote name=\'mmb5\' date=\'Mar 5 2004, 02:55 PM\'] On a semi-tangental note, when I was doing some Starcade research for the pilots page, I came across any of the possible information:

1. There were 2 pilots, one with Mark Richards, one with Alex Trebek
2. There were 4 pilots, one with Mike Eurzione, three with Alex Trebek
3. The Alex Trebek pilots were for NBC

Anybody have better information than this?

Also in the research, I found out apparently there will be a DVD of 5 episodes. It won't be sold in stores, but it will be available here:
Starcade Store

--Mike [/quote]
They did one pilot with Eruzione (which actually aired in 1981), 3 with Trebek (for NBC), 1 runthrough with Richards (and others, according to Mark himself), and apparently there's word that another host was tapped before they ultimately settled on Geoff.

Tyshaun

PeterMarshallFan · « **Reply #6 on:** March 05, 2004, 09:56:59 PM »

Quote

They did one pilot with Eruzione (which actually aired in 1981)

I actually remember seeing this.

If you thought Mark Richards was bad, Eruzione would make Richards look like Bob Barker.

Great hockey player, TERRIBLE game show host.

tyshaun1 · « **Reply #7 on:** March 05, 2004, 10:21:55 PM »

[quote name=\'PeterMarshallFan\' date=\'Mar 5 2004, 09:56 PM\']

Quote

They did one pilot with Eruzione (which actually aired in 1981)

I actually remember seeing this.

If you thought Mark Richards was bad, Eruzione would make Richards look like Bob Barker.

Great hockey player, TERRIBLE game show host. [/quote]
The Eruzione pilot actually featured a celebrity contestant who would play against the day's winner. The celebrity-du-jour was Larry Wilcox of CHIPS, and the show took so long to tape (around 3 hours), he threatened to walk out twice. Eruzione didn't help matters, either. Overall, I think a tree could have hosted that show in its early days and it still would have been successful (although Mark definitely came close). That's how popular arcades were in those days.........sigh.........

Tyshaun

PeterMarshallFan · « **Reply #8 on:** March 05, 2004, 10:23:52 PM »

[quote name=\'tyshaun1\' date=\'Mar 5 2004, 11:21 PM\'] The Eruzione pilot actually featured a celebrity contestant who would play against the day's winner. The celebrity-du-jour was Larry Wilcox of CHIPS, and the show took so long to tape (around 3 hours), he threatened to walk out twice. Eruzione didn't help matters, either. Overall, I think a tree could have hosted that show in its early days and it still would have been successful (although Mark definitely came close). That's how popular arcades were in those days.........sigh.........

Tyshaun [/quote]
I liked Mark Richards. I think he needed more time to grow into the show and get used to it. 26 episodes is pretty much being told to get it right right away or be let go.

I still can't picture Alex Trebek hosting it....

JasonA1 · « **Reply #9 on:** March 06, 2004, 02:01:17 AM »

Quote

I still can't picture Alex Trebek hosting it....

Alex is very adaptable. Hopefully if and when the pilots make the circuit somehow, we'll see if this remains true. But Alex, as his aired shows prove, can change into a few different personas to fit the format.

-Jason

zachhoran · « **Reply #10 on:** March 06, 2004, 07:52:07 AM »

[quote name=\'JasonA1\' date=\'Mar 6 2004, 02:01 AM\']

Quote

I still can't picture Alex Trebek hosting it....

Alex is very adaptable. Hopefully if and when the pilots make the circuit somehow, we'll see if this remains true. But Alex, as his aired shows prove, can change into a few different personas to fit the format.

-Jason [/quote]
Were the NBC pilot(s) hosted by Alex intended to be for Saturday morning airings(which the show mostly aired on in syndication), or for a daily strip.