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What was Lin Bolen's influence on the game show business?
BrandonFG:
--- Quote from: calliaume on September 11, 2019, 09:14:34 AM ---Opinions vary. Jim MacKrell sings her praises. Geoff Edwards wasn't fond of her. Chuck Barris couldn't stand her.
Maxine Fabe's book, TV Game Shows!, started much of the controversy. I hadn't heard of her before that (in fairness, I was 16 when the book came out).
My opinion: some (although not all) of the negative opinion about her has an element of sexism. As far as I know, she was the first female executive at NBC, at a time when women were expected to get the coffee and shut the hell up.
--- End quote ---
The first time I saw “Anchorman”, I said there was no way men acted like Ron Burgundy in the 70s. Then I read about Harry Reasoner and Barbara Walters...
With all the talk about whether women should receive equal pay, it kinda feels like we never left 1974.
Matt Ottinger:
--- Quote from: calliaume on September 11, 2019, 09:14:34 AM ---Maxine Fabe's book, TV Game Shows!, started much of the controversy.
--- End quote ---
I don't think our younger members here can truly appreciate how accurate this is. Back then, the average fan, even the above-average fan, didn't know anything about the executives who made the decisions. Shows were cancelled by "the network", and that's really all that mattered. Fabe gave us a name. More specifically, she gave us the name of the woman who took Jeopardy away from us!
Today, a million years later, maybe she ought to be given a little more credit for giving us Wheel of Fortune and advancing the careers of Trebek, Woolery and Edwards. But to the passionate fans of the original Jeopardy, she was a convenient scapegoat. And since most of those fans were male, they didn't care about her "young studs" approach to hosts, so that became a topic of derision.
TimK2003:
Lin was also one of the few, who got her own show (Stumpers) on a network she currently had some control of. Chuck Barris also had that honor at ABC with Dating/Newlywed while he was running ABC daytime. The only other person that I can think of that might have had a program on a network that he was concurrently working at was Fred Silverman.
BillCullen1:
--- Quote from: TimK2003 on September 11, 2019, 12:15:58 PM ---Lin was also one of the few, who got her own show (Stumpers) on a network she currently had some control of.
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And despite her liking of younger hosts, she got veteran Allen Ludden to host.
calliaume:
--- Quote from: TimK2003 on September 11, 2019, 12:15:58 PM ---Lin was also one of the few, who got her own show (Stumpers) on a network she currently had some control of. Chuck Barris also had that honor at ABC with Dating/Newlywed while he was running ABC daytime. The only other person that I can think of that might have had a program on a network that he was concurrently working at was Fred Silverman.
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I believe Bolen had already left NBC by the time Stumpers aired - in fact, I think that was given to Bolen when she was replaced in her position by Madeline David.
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