The Game Show Forum
The Game Show Forum => The Big Board => Topic started by: Jimmy Owen on May 02, 2006, 12:26:39 PM
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I know many of you have the theme to "People Pickers" on your Chuck Barris CD, so you might be interested to know that the show did air on KGO-TV, Channel 7 in San Francisco.
I have a TV Guide listing for 10:30pm 2/13/65 which says: "Host Jim Lange introduces two celebrity panelists who attempt to guess the professions of 16 guests by their appearance."
This is the only occurance of the show I can find, so it may have been an aired pilot. The time slot was filled by "Oh My Word!" by March 65.
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I know many of you have the theme to "People Pickers" on your Chuck Barris CD, so you might be interested to know that the show did air on KGO-TV, Channel 7 in San Francisco.
Thanks for the info. I wonder if the show actually used the theme that matches up to it on the CD. GSN aired a few of those Barris pilots in an unsold pilot marathon (can't remember exactly what they called it), and I noticed a few of those themes on the CD were not the ones actually used.
Who knows...maybe they intended to use them and found something they liked better at the last minute...
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[quote name=\'Ian Wallis\' post=\'117524\' date=\'May 2 2006, 11:36 AM\']
I know many of you have the theme to "People Pickers" on your Chuck Barris CD, so you might be interested to know that the show did air on KGO-TV, Channel 7 in San Francisco.
Thanks for the info. I wonder if the show actually used the theme that matches up to it on the CD. GSN aired a few of those Barris pilots in an unsold pilot marathon (can't remember exactly what they called it), and I noticed a few of those themes on the CD were not the ones actually used.
Who knows...maybe they intended to use them and found something they liked better at the last minute...
[/quote]
Considering that some of those alleged themes didn't match up to my memories ("Dream Girl"'s actual theme was Percy Faith's theme music from the film "The Oscar"), I'm pretty sure that after deciding to record a bunch of cues for his shows because he was going into syndication and didn't want to pay the music clearance money that ABC was doing for him, he just decided to commercially release them as a lark, even if they mostly ended up in radio station production rooms and cut-out bins (where I got my copy). And whether they actually were show themes or not, well, Chuckie Baby always liked to put us on, didn't he?
Now it's not to say that some records weren't sold or given actual airplay--in the mid-70s, when Chicago's WCLR was transitioning from elevator music to MOR to adult contemporary, they still played a good number of instrumentals (although not the more Muzaky ones) and I actually heard the "Treasure Hunt" win/closing theme once--identified as "'True Grit' by the Chuck Barris Orchestra," IIRC.
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Now it's not to say that some records weren't sold or given actual airplay--in the mid-70s, when Chicago's WCLR was transitioning from elevator music to MOR to adult contemporary, they still played a good number of instrumentals (although not the more Muzaky ones) and I actually heard the "Treasure Hunt" win/closing theme once--identified as "'True Grit' by the Chuck Barris Orchestra," IIRC.
I remember watching the "Phil Donahue Show" (...yes, I had a weak moment...) in early 1982 and they had a special show on how to become a game show contestant. I believe the guest's name was Mark Richards. During bumpers and commercial outros during the show they used Barris pieces. I guess Richards must have had a copy of the album! (I got mine on CD in the late '90s).
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A quick look on my favorite website in the whole wide world pegs People Pickers premiere precisely on Saturday 13-Feb-1965. Oh My Word premiered one month later.
--Mike
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[quote name=\'Ian Wallis\' post=\'117609\' date=\'May 3 2006, 03:14 PM\']
I remember watching the "Phil Donahue Show" (...yes, I had a weak moment...) in early 1982 and they had a special show on how to become a game show contestant. I believe the guest's name was Mark Richards. During bumpers and commercial outros during the show they used Barris pieces. I guess Richards must have had a copy of the album! (I got mine on CD in the late '90s).
[/quote]
Seems to me this would dovetail with the early stages of Starcade. Same guy?
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At the same time of "People Pickers," Jim Lange was also the announcer on Ernie Ford's ABC daytime series "Hello, Peapickers," so maybe there was a connection?
Coincidence: Both Phil Donahue and Chuck Barris used music by Herb Alpert on their shows.
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[quote name=\'sshuffield70\' post=\'117617\' date=\'May 3 2006, 05:57 PM\']
Seems to me this would dovetail with the early stages of Starcade. Same guy?
[/quote]
Yep. James Caruso saw him on Donahue and invited him up for a tryout, right after they got rid of Alex Trebek. What James saw in him, I'll never know.
Tyshaun
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[quote name=\'Jimmy Owen\' post=\'117522\' date=\'May 2 2006, 09:26 AM\']
I know many of you have the theme to "People Pickers" on your Chuck Barris CD, so you might be interested to know that the show did air on KGO-TV, Channel 7 in San Francisco.
I have a TV Guide listing for 10:30pm 2/13/65 which says: "Host Jim Lange introduces two celebrity panelists who attempt to guess the professions of 16 guests by their appearance."
This is the only occurance of the show I can find, so it may have been an aired pilot. The time slot was filled by "Oh My Word!" by March 65.
[/quote]
I lived in the bay area in 1965 and have no recollection of this show. I suspect it is either an erroneous TV Guide listing or an aired pilot. I do remember Oh My Word and The Anniversary Game.
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[quote name=\'sshuffield70\' post=\'117617\' date=\'May 3 2006, 05:57 PM\']
[quote name=\'Ian Wallis\' post=\'117609\' date=\'May 3 2006, 03:14 PM\']
I remember watching the "Phil Donahue Show" (...yes, I had a weak moment...) in early 1982 and they had a special show on how to become a game show contestant. I believe the guest's name was Mark Richards. During bumpers and commercial outros during the show they used Barris pieces. I guess Richards must have had a copy of the album! (I got mine on CD in the late '90s).
[/quote]
Seems to me this would dovetail with the early stages of Starcade. Same guy?
[/quote]
http://www.viewnews.com/2002/VIEW-Jul-12-F...n/19142151.html (http://\"http://www.viewnews.com/2002/VIEW-Jul-12-Fri-2002/Summerlin/19142151.html\") is a link to a bio and interview with Richards. While the Donahue gig is mentioned, Starcade is not. Ergo, they may not be the same guy, as they'd have mentioned Starcade since they mentioned TNN's short-lived late-night game show-home shopping(the game show portion, Money Mania, was profiled in TV Game Show Magazine in the February 1987 issue)
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It's the same Mark Richards.
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[quote name=\'zachhoran\' post=\'117632\' date=\'May 3 2006, 09:18 PM\']
http://www.viewnews.com/2002/VIEW-Jul-12-F...n/19142151.html (http://\"http://www.viewnews.com/2002/VIEW-Jul-12-Fri-2002/Summerlin/19142151.html\") is a link to a bio and interview with Richards. While the Donahue gig is mentioned, Starcade is not. Ergo, they may not be the same guy, as they'd have mentioned Starcade since they mentioned TNN's short-lived late-night game show-home shopping(the game show portion, Money Mania, was profiled in TV Game Show Magazine in the February 1987 issue)
[/quote]
Ummm.... Zach, thanks for the useless info, but trust me....... it's him.
Tyshaun
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[quote name=\'tyshaun1\' post=\'117636\' date=\'May 3 2006, 09:53 PM\']
[quote name=\'zachhoran\' post=\'117632\' date=\'May 3 2006, 09:18 PM\']
http://www.viewnews.com/2002/VIEW-Jul-12-F...n/19142151.html (http://\"http://www.viewnews.com/2002/VIEW-Jul-12-Fri-2002/Summerlin/19142151.html\") is a link to a bio and interview with Richards. While the Donahue gig is mentioned, Starcade is not. Ergo, they may not be the same guy, as they'd have mentioned Starcade since they mentioned TNN's short-lived late-night game show-home shopping(the game show portion, Money Mania, was profiled in TV Game Show Magazine in the February 1987 issue)
[/quote]
Ummm.... Zach, thanks for the useless info, but trust me....... it's him.
[/quote]
Dammit, if Zach says it might not have been Mark, then I say it wasn't him! :-P
/JOKE
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At the same time of "People Pickers," Jim Lange was also the announcer on Ernie Ford's ABC daytime series "Hello, Peapickers," so maybe there was a connection?
Um, they both end in "pickers"?
This is a pilot Barris did where the celebrity players were supposed to pick out the doctor, lawyer, baker, etc. from a group of 16 people. How I know about this show or where I read about it I cannot recall.
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I was just wondering if the Ernie Ford show might have had elements similiar to "House Party," little games to fill time, etc. All I remember of that show is that Ernie would sing a hymn near the end.
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My recollection is that Ernie's show was largely musical. I don't recall any game elements.
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Chuck mentions the show in his book The Game Show King as his first project and a disaster. In the book, he calls it People Poker. 5 hookers, 5 policewomen, 5 female surgeons, and a "Joker" - one person with a non-matching occupation who could be used as a "Wild Card". The idea was to pick from the people pool and develop a "hand" of 5. A contestant could ask their choice one question on each turn to determine what their occupation was. A player who ended up with 3 hookers and 2 policewomen would beat an opponent with 2 surgeons and 2 policewomen. It was done as an in-house project for ABC and taped at KGO. Barris said the show was marred by lousy pre-production. He trusted his associates, most of whom never worked on this kind of project before. From that point on, Barris made sure he was totally involved with all aspects of a show, not just create ideas. He doesn't say if the pilot aired, but he thought the pilot almost ended his career before it began.
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Barris later brought The Gong Show pilot to KGO in January 1976.