The humor newspaper/website "The Onion" has
an interview with entertainment legend Dick Clark in their "The Onion AV Club" section. Included are a few questions that pertain to game shows. (One interesting non-game show tidbit comes from the interview where Clark reveals that he's planning a return of American Bandstand next year in the syndication market)
O: You hosted The $10,000 Pyramid, and later $25,000 Pyramid, for ages. Where have all the great game shows gone?
DC: I don't know. They appeal to the old, unfortunately, and for that reason, they're hard to find. Very few new ones are being developed—the last thing we did was Greed. Most of the Game Show Network, as hard as they're trying, appeals to a rather mature audience, though they're working on pushing the demo down. It's tough.
O: It's interesting how quickly game shows became nostalgia pieces for so many people. Other than The Price Is Right, which isn't going to be around that much longer, there's not a lot to choose from.
DC: When Bob Barker decides to hang it up, it's not impossible for someone else to come along. He is The Man, no doubt about it, and they've tried to do it with other people in other forms that have failed. But if the necessity arose, I would imagine there would be somebody adept enough to do it. Nobody quite as good as Bob, though.
O: Speaking of game shows, what is your relationship with [former Gong Show host] Chuck Barris?
DC: He's probably my oldest friend.
O: Now, he was originally hired to guard you? That's what he said when we interviewed him.
DC: He was there to make sure I didn't take money for playing records. That was the beginning of the Standards & Practices department at ABC. He went out, bought a suit, and commuted to New York from Philadelphia every day to take copious notes and make sure I was behaving.
