Author Topic: Forgetting their Game Show Roots (Read 3574 times)

The Pyramids · « **on:** January 15, 2011, 01:02:29 PM »

Billy Crystal never appeared on 'Pyramid' again after 1984. I was thinking what other celebrity players never returned to game shows as their careers
moved upward.

Woody Allen and Johnny Carson in the 60s come to mind. Also William Shatner left the genre in the 80s when he began to make millions from 'Star Trek' movies.

DoorNumberFour · « **Reply #1 on:** January 15, 2011, 01:17:15 PM »

[quote name=\'PaulD\' post=\'254772\' date=\'Jan 15 2011, 01:02 PM\']Billy Crystal never appeared on 'Pyramid' again after 1984. I was thinking what other celebrity players never returned to game shows as their careers
moved upward.

Woody Allen and Johnny Carson in the 60s come to mind. Also William Shatner left the genre in the 80s when he began to make millions from 'Star Trek' movies.[/quote]

Johnny Carson appeared on the pilot episode of John Davidson's Hollywood Squares.

Other than that, I'm willing to bet the vast majority of celebrities who hit it big after (or during) their game show days never really thought to go back. I think a lot of celebrities see our genre as a last resort.

GrandGame1440 · « **Reply #2 on:** January 15, 2011, 01:17:23 PM »

I wouldn't equate some of those with "forgetting" their game show roots. Probably more or less because they were too busy to appear, and let's face it... stars with a certain visibility just don't do game shows (WML? not withstanding). Even so, that doesn't necessarily mean they turned their noise up at them entirely.

Jimmy Owen · « **Reply #3 on:** January 15, 2011, 01:31:10 PM »

That could be on the advice of their agents, handlers, etc. Michael J. Fox used to do a few pre-Back to the Future. Then again you get some superstars like Burt Reynolds who remained available and even got into game show production.

urbanpreppie05 · « **Reply #4 on:** January 15, 2011, 01:47:33 PM »

Quote

Also William Shatner left the genre in the 80s when he began to make millions from 'Star Trek' movies

Then again, he did do Million Dollar Password and -ick- show me the money.

BrandonFG · « **Reply #5 on:** January 15, 2011, 01:48:15 PM »

Crystal did do a half-week during the first season of Bergeron's HSq. I believe it was a Comic Relief week with Robin Williams and of course, Whoopi.

whewfan · « **Reply #6 on:** January 15, 2011, 02:08:33 PM »

David Letterman never looked back after his somewhat scattered appearances on game shows once Late Night took off. Before Late Night he appeared on Gong Show, Liar's Club, 20k Pyramid, and a handful of pilots including Decisions Decisions, The Smart Alecks,
and a couple others that I am blanking out on, and hosting once himself for The Riddlers.

Dbacksfan12 · « **Reply #7 on:** January 15, 2011, 02:17:54 PM »

[quote name=\'whewfan\' post=\'254786\' date=\'Jan 15 2011, 02:08 PM\']David Letterman never looked back after his somewhat scattered appearances on game shows once Late Night took off.[/quote]I disagree!

DoorNumberFour · « **Reply #8 on:** January 15, 2011, 02:26:01 PM »

[quote name=\'Modor\' post=\'254789\' date=\'Jan 15 2011, 02:17 PM\'][quote name=\'whewfan\' post=\'254786\' date=\'Jan 15 2011, 02:08 PM\']David Letterman never looked back after his somewhat scattered appearances on game shows once Late Night took off.[/quote]I disagree!
[/quote]
I also disagree.

Jay Temple · « **Reply #9 on:** January 15, 2011, 05:18:54 PM »

LeVar Burton stopped doing Pyramid after ST:TNG started. (Michael Dorn did Pyramid and Super Password in that time.)

Matt Ottinger · « **Reply #10 on:** January 15, 2011, 05:35:15 PM »

[quote name=\'DoorNumberFour\' post=\'254790\' date=\'Jan 15 2011, 02:26 PM\']I also disagree.[/quote]
Unless I'm missing a punch line, that's a bad example. That's just another one of the pilots he worked on back when he was up-and-coming.

Brian Mitchell was ubiquitous on game shows when he was a supporting actor on Trapper John MD. Now that he's Tony-winning Broadway actor Brian Stokes Mitchell, not so much. Still, I think he did a Celebrity Jeopardy.

davidhammett · « **Reply #11 on:** January 16, 2011, 01:03:58 AM »

I had the opportunity a couple of years ago to speak to a celebrity who had appeared on Pyramid and did quite well. I asked the celebrity about whether they would consider being on Million Dollar Password, and the celebrity responded by saying that being on a game show is great for someone whose career is on the way up, but not the other way around. Sad, especially considering how fond they seemed to be of word games (their family played them often).

TLEberle · « **Reply #12 on:** January 16, 2011, 02:59:24 AM »

[quote name=\'Jay Temple\' post=\'254801\' date=\'Jan 15 2011, 02:18 PM\'](Michael Dorn did Pyramid and Super Password in that time.)[/quote]Why bother? Every clue would be Klingon, honor, warrior....there'd be no point.

Neumms · « **Reply #13 on:** January 17, 2011, 12:40:32 PM »

It works the other way, too, though. Richard Dawson and Drew Carey stopped doing situation comedies after they landed game show hosting gigs.

cmjb13 · « **Reply #14 on:** January 17, 2011, 01:18:16 PM »

[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' post=\'254803\' date=\'Jan 15 2011, 05:35 PM\'][quote name=\'DoorNumberFour\' post=\'254790\' date=\'Jan 15 2011, 02:26 PM\']I also disagree.[/quote]
Unless I'm missing a punch line, that's a bad example. That's just another one of the pilots he worked on back when he was up-and-coming.

Brian Mitchell was ubiquitous on game shows when he was a supporting actor on Trapper John MD. Now that he's Tony-winning Broadway actor Brian Stokes Mitchell, not so much. Still, I think he did a Celebrity Jeopardy.
[/quote]
He also did Hollywood squares in 2001 as part of Call Me Claus week, which was a movie he appeared in.