The Game Show Forum

The Game Show Forum => The Big Board => Topic started by: Adam Nedeff on April 07, 2005, 07:06:11 PM

Title: What is this awful, awful show?
Post by: Adam Nedeff on April 07, 2005, 07:06:11 PM
I had fun a few weeks back when we did this with a "Password" TV Guide review, so I thought I'd jump in with some hostile commentaries about another well-known game. These come from three articles recently obtained as part of a collection, and I'll let it sit until Saturday before revealing the answer. Good luck!
(Also, special thanks to the fanatic who gathered these gems for me, you know who you are!)

Article #1
(Show title) is almost too cheap for critical evaluation. (Host) is a noisy, shrill cashier whose prefabricated homespun character in this idiocy consists of never ending a word with a “G” [singin’, talkin’, etc.] and a total performance about as real as a three-dollar bill. It all worked out with a convenient dispersal of winnings [no participant went away empty-handed] and started right off fighting for the title of worst show on night-time television.

Article #2
Ordinarily I try to avoid watching (show title) because it is basically a sick, sick show and it depresses me.

Article #3
It was the loser, not the winners, who got a set of the Encyclopedia Britannica…and if that doesn’t give away the program’s viewpoint, nothing does.

This weekly orgy in crass materialism, and its implied indication of what is desirable and what is not, is worthy of unmitigated contempt.

You can’t really put any blame on the host…who simply goes through the motions of what dozens of others could do if he did not.

The only conclusion possible is that the powers-that-be can’t resist capitalizing on the sort of mind that revels in the thought of something for nothing---and on the audience that still worships quiz show winners so long as they don’t get caught cheating.
Title: What is this awful, awful show?
Post by: tyshaun1 on April 07, 2005, 07:18:55 PM
(buzzer)

70's Treasure Hunt w/ Geoff Edwards?

Tyshaun
Title: What is this awful, awful show?
Post by: MSTieScott on April 07, 2005, 08:08:08 PM
I don't think that sounds like Monty Hall, but all the references to materialism and an encyclopedia being a loser's prize leads me to guess "Let's Make a Deal."

--
Scott Robinson
Title: What is this awful, awful show?
Post by: JasonA1 on April 07, 2005, 08:16:59 PM
The original Price is Right w/Bill Cullen?

-Jason
Title: What is this awful, awful show?
Post by: RMF on April 07, 2005, 09:06:30 PM
[quote name=\'JasonA1\' date=\'Apr 7 2005, 07:16 PM\']The original Price is Right w/Bill Cullen?

-Jason
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Based on the references to price-time, and to the quiz-show scandals, that would be my guess as well.
Title: What is this awful, awful show?
Post by: Jimmy Owen on April 07, 2005, 09:13:13 PM
I will guess "Feather Your Nest," "Beat the Clock" and "Jeopardy!"
Title: What is this awful, awful show?
Post by: SamJ93 on April 07, 2005, 10:16:29 PM
95% sure it is Jeopardy!.

--Sam
Title: What is this awful, awful show?
Post by: FeudDude on April 08, 2005, 12:11:52 AM
[quote name=\'SamJ93\' date=\'Apr 7 2005, 09:16 PM\']95% sure it is Jeopardy!.

--Sam
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95% sure it's not.

I'd also say that LMAD and Cullen TPiR are the best bets.
Title: What is this awful, awful show?
Post by: trainman on April 08, 2005, 12:34:14 AM
Cullen TPiR would be my guess as well.
Title: What is this awful, awful show?
Post by: Matt Ottinger on April 08, 2005, 10:59:30 AM
Boy, won't you guys be surprised when it turns out to be Jeopardy! after all!

I was going to guess Front Page Challenge from the CBC, but I'm never very good at this sort of game...
Title: What is this awful, awful show?
Post by: jmangin on April 08, 2005, 12:14:02 PM
[quote name=\'Adam Nedeff\' date=\'Apr 7 2005, 06:06 PM\']Article #1
...(Host) is a noisy, shrill cashier...
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Todd Newton/Whammy?
Title: What is this awful, awful show?
Post by: uncamark on April 08, 2005, 01:01:17 PM
Gotta be original "TPIR."  We forget how that show was looked upon in some circles as proof of the downfall of Western civilization--until "LMAD" came along, until Chuck Barris came along, until "Wheel" came along, until "Survivor" came along, etc....
Title: What is this awful, awful show?
Post by: Adam Nedeff on April 09, 2005, 02:16:51 PM
Don't take this as a knock on the group's perceived intelligence, but I really am surprised at how many folks guessed this. It was indeed "The Price is Right" starring Bill Cullen, a show with controversy surrounding it that I never perceived until I began reading these articles. I could see somebody who doesn't like it saying "Annoying" or "silly" but the word "sick" blows my mind. We're I playing I probably would have said New Treasure Hunt.

Article #1 was by Jack O'Brien. from 9-24-57 in the Elyria (OH) Chronicle Telegram. Article #2 comes from the 12-26-61 Coshocton (OH) Tribune, written by Fred Danzig. It was a pretty insane rant on how he had been hoping the show would behave properly for the sake of the holiday. Article #3, by Rick DuBrow, comes from the 5-1-62 Elyria (OH) Chronicle. Who knew the state of Ohio hated Bill so much?

And these were samples. I have soemthing here from a columnist named Alan Gill writing his year end awards, and while Hugh Downs wins the award for "Worst Emcee" Gill notes "I usually give this award to Bill Cullen." Of course, the same Alan Gill, ten months later, presented a fluff piece on how great Bill's life is, including quotes from an interview, so, whatever. Fascinating stuff, and thanks to the researcher who originally gathered this info and the fanatic who passed it along to me.

[quote name=\'Adam Nedeff\' date=\'Apr 7 2005, 06:06 PM\']Article #1
(Show title) is almost too cheap for critical evaluation. (Host) is a noisy, shrill cashier whose prefabricated homespun character in this idiocy consists of never ending a word with a “G” [singin’, talkin’, etc.] and a total performance about as real as a three-dollar bill. It all worked out with a convenient dispersal of winnings [no participant went away empty-handed] and started right off fighting for the title of worst show on night-time television.

Article #2
Ordinarily I try to avoid watching (show title) because it is basically a sick, sick show and it depresses me.

Article #3
It was the loser, not the winners, who got a set of the Encyclopedia Britannica…and if that doesn’t give away the program’s viewpoint, nothing does.

This weekly orgy in crass materialism, and its implied indication of what is desirable and what is not, is worthy of unmitigated contempt.

You can’t really put any blame on the host…who simply goes through the motions of what dozens of others could do if he did not.

The only conclusion possible is that the powers-that-be can’t resist capitalizing on the sort of mind that revels in the thought of something for nothing---and on the audience that still worships quiz show winners so long as they don’t get caught cheating.
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