Author Topic: Roger Dobkowitz Interview (Read 17541 times)

xavier45 · « **on:** April 25, 2012, 12:46:30 PM »

Most of the interviews with Roger are usually about The Price Is Right, but this one went on to talk about another show he worked on, Match Game. In this interview he talks about the shows success and then why he believes the show met its demise in 1982. He also goes into detail about Why he wasn't a fan of Gene Rayburn, and his thoughts on Richard Dawson. I have to say, I'm kind of surprised at what he said about Gene.

http://sb2tlopg.wordpress.com/2012/04/23/interview-with-roger-dobkowitz-pt-2/

Adam Nedeff · « **Reply #1 on:** April 25, 2012, 04:44:35 PM »

Neat insights. The one thing I disagree with was his remarks about editing the show. I'm actually with Ira Skutch on that one. When GSN was airing both the syndicated run and the CBS version, I got curious and watched the CBS episodes with a stopwatch for a week. Generally, about two minutes of each episode was total silence.

Winkfan · « **Reply #2 on:** April 25, 2012, 05:15:35 PM »

Gene cheated on Helen?!?! It's a wonder she stuck with him.

And nothing on Charles? The only scandalous thing about him was he had just as big an ego as Richard did; only Charles never would own up to it.

I rest my case.

Cordially,
Tammy

TLEberle · « **Reply #3 on:** April 25, 2012, 05:22:45 PM »

Quote from: Winkfan on April 25, 2012, 05:15:35 PM

I rest my case.

Which was what, exactly?

Jay Temple · « **Reply #4 on:** April 25, 2012, 06:37:29 PM »

In addition to all the interesting things about the show, I didn't know that "cue cards" was that new a term!

chris319 · « **Reply #5 on:** April 25, 2012, 07:09:57 PM »

I appreciate Roger's candor in his recollection of Gene Rayburn.

dale_grass · « **Reply #6 on:** April 25, 2012, 07:14:08 PM »

Quote from: chris319 on April 25, 2012, 07:09:57 PM

I appreciate Roger's candor in his recollection of Gene Rayburn.

C'mon, don't leave us hanging. What else have you heard?

\There's nothing more absolutely delicious than 40-year-old gossip.

TLEberle · « **Reply #7 on:** April 25, 2012, 08:58:40 PM »

“well, I guess there’s a reason these cards are called “idiot cards”"

Information was dispersed.

Mr. Matté · « **Reply #8 on:** April 25, 2012, 09:48:06 PM »

Any interview that uses three of my Youtube clips gets a thumbs up from me!

Bias aside, good interview and it's nice that the interviewer remembered that Roger was once a minor backstage celebrity on the show and got some questions in about his experiences there.

chris319 · « **Reply #9 on:** April 25, 2012, 10:31:10 PM »

Quote from: dale_grass on April 25, 2012, 07:14:08 PM

Quote from: chris319 on April 25, 2012, 07:09:57 PM
I appreciate Roger's candor in his recollection of Gene Rayburn.
C'mon, don't leave us hanging. What else have you heard?

About Gene Rayburn, not terribly much. I appreciate that Roger didn't whitewash him. From others who worked on MG (Ira, Bobby, Jake, Elliot) I've never heard much dirt.

Quote

\There's nothing more absolutely delicious than 40-year-old gossip.

Let's make it 35 years. Please don't age us prematurely.

BrandonFG · « **Reply #10 on:** April 26, 2012, 12:16:57 AM »

Very interesting, but also somewhat surprising facts about Gene. I agree with Adam that editing made sense, esp. if they wanted to get more game time. Although a lot of (drunken) banter was cut, what always gets me about the later eps. was how jarring the edits were. Almost haphazard in a way.

I also agree that a lot of chemistry went bye-bye when Richard did. McLean and Bill Daily were good substitutes, but it just wasn't the same. I do wonder how long Roger expected the show to continue, either with Richard or without the flaws he noted...9 years is a hell of a run, and the show simply ran out of steam by 1980.

I don't think tighter writing or cast chemistry would've changed that; they wrote, what, 10-15 Showcases for a week's worth of daytime and nighttime TPiRs, probably less if there was only one skit per episode? Compared to a good 10 riddles per show on MG, and I could see how burnout could happen.

chris319 · « **Reply #11 on:** April 26, 2012, 04:40:39 AM »

I'm not sure I agree with Roger's theory on repeating material. Who's going to remember a MG question from 4 - 5 years prior, aside from a few characters familiar to us here?

There were preserved in a MG office the green 3" x 5" index cards containing the questions used in New York.

whewfan · « **Reply #12 on:** April 26, 2012, 07:55:43 AM »

What Roger could also be talking about, besides re-using questions, is that if you were a daily watcher, they often had questions that would result in certain answers that were repeated.

In the early run, they had a few questions about "Dirty Dan", and quite frequently the panel would say "manure". Whether they anticipated that or not, they realized that "manure" would be THE answer no matter what when referring to Dirty Dan, and stopped writing those questions. I don't recall any questions about Dirty Dan after '73.

I remember a question that resulted in the same answer within the same WEEK, whether it was intentional or not. During MG 77, one of the questions was something like "The head of the firing squad said 'The condemned prisoner has been given one last request and we MUST honor it. During the execution, he wants us ALL to wear BLANKS" Of course, the definitive answer was BLINDFOLDS.

Later on that week, they had a similar question. "The condemned prisoner said 'My wife is WONDERFUL... for the execution later on today, she knitted me a BLANK." Again, the definitive answer was BLINDFOLD.

Of course, there were many questions that would get the response "tinkle" and "boobs". They stopped questions of that nature sometime in the '78 run. I'm not saying those questions were THAT frequent, but enough to be milked for the first 5 years.

Another thing, whenever there was a question about someone "losing his/her BLANK", quite frequently "virginity" or some variation of that was said.

Despite the repetitive nature of some of the questions, what made the show work was the strength of the panel and Gene.

davemackey · « **Reply #13 on:** April 26, 2012, 11:21:33 AM »

Quote from: chris319 on April 26, 2012, 04:40:39 AM

I'm not sure I agree with Roger's theory on repeating material. Who's going to remember a MG question from 4 - 5 years prior, aside from a few characters familiar to us here?

There were preserved in a MG office the green 3" x 5" index cards containing the questions used in New York.

One of the show's writers told me that questions were NEVER reused. But I think the show could get away with it.

On a similar tack, "Wheel of Fortune" has finally, after 37 years on the air, begun repeating puzzles. I'm sure I was the only one in the room who noticed.

BrandonFG · « **Reply #14 on:** April 26, 2012, 11:37:04 AM »

Quote from: davemackey on April 26, 2012, 11:21:33 AM

On a similar tack, "Wheel of Fortune" has finally, after 37 years on the air, begun repeating puzzles. I'm sure I was the only one in the room who noticed.

I always wondered what took them so long. In their case, they could simply add a word or two, since they love gratuitously wordy puzzles.