The Game Show Forum
The Game Show Forum => The Big Board => Topic started by: SamJ93 on July 06, 2011, 11:33:45 AM
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This question is geared more towards the "just fans" on this board, such as myself, not so much the industry insiders...I'm sure Mr. West's answer, for example, would be a veritable laundry mega-list. :-)
My own list is pretty short:
-Back in 1994 or so, Greg Lee of Carmen Sandiego came to my local mall for a special brunch hosted by the local PBS station. He answered some questions about the show, hosted a very brief mock game, and then autographed some photos. I was only 8 or 9 at the time, so memories are quite hazy, but I remember him being a pretty nice guy. I still have his signed photo in storage somewhere.
-Met JD Roberto and David Ruprecht at TPiR Live! in Vegas earlier this year. Also both nice guys, but having to spend $20 for the privilege of getting a picture with them is a bit of a ripoff.
-Steve White, one of the fill-in announcers on TPiR, came aboard the cruise ship I work on to do some comedy shows a few months ago. We didn't get to talk all that much, but I did ask him about his experience on TPiR and his friendship with Drew Carey.
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Bob Barker twice: once in 2007 when I was on the show, and a couple of years later at a book signing.
Meredith Vieira on Millionaire in 2010.
Joey Fatone (he counts, right?) at Foxwoods a few months ago.
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Todd Newton at "GSN: Get Schooled" in Philly in 2003
John O'Hurley at a book signing in Harrisburg in 2006.
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I'll limit it to people I've met while working in Ohio radio.
Soupy Sales in 1990
Ray Combs in 1991
Judy Tenuta in 1991 (prior to her game show career)
All very nice to work with.
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-Met JD Roberto and David Ruprecht at TPiR Live! in Vegas earlier this year. Also both nice guys, but having to spend $20 for the privilege of getting a picture with them is a bit of a ripoff.
You sir, underpaid. That experience is priceless.
David! Get off my damn internet!
(Devotion to accuracy: Friends with both. And to be fair, you got a t-shirt too. And a spin of the big wheel.)
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Bob Bergen in 1998.
Pat Sajak in 2005.
Willie Revillame in 2006.
Yep.
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A lot, but none as a function of my work. Of course, having gone to three Congreffef (2005-07) skews things just a bit. :)
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Met Guy Fieri a few months before he started hosting "Minute to Win It". He came by my station to promote a tour and I'd just missed him. I was able to catch up with him at a restaurant he once featured on "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives". Nice guy.
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-Met JD Roberto and David Ruprecht at TPiR Live! in Vegas earlier this year. Also both nice guys, but having to spend $20 for the privilege of getting a picture with them is a bit of a ripoff.
You sir, underpaid. That experience is priceless.
David! Get off my damn internet!
(Devotion to accuracy: Friends with both. And to be fair, you got a t-shirt too. And a spin of the big wheel.)
I gotta agree with the underpayment, or at least think maybe fair payment? $20 for a t-shirt is about going rate, really under-going-rate at a show these days, and you got the bonus of a pic and wheel spin!
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I worked with The Winker for a year on a word game called Suspended Sentence before being dismissed without cause.
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Besides Randy West, who gave Chris Jaunsen and I a GREAT tour of NBC, I also met Bob Barker a few years ago at the book signing at New York.
Randy does very good impressions of announcers, most notably Johnny Olson. In fact I think there was DEFINITELY some Johnny-esque inflections in Randy's announcing when he did TPIR.
Bob, IMO, wasn't exactly the flashy guy he was on TPIR. He was friendly enough, but not at all talkative as he was on TPIR. When I told him I always wanted to meet him, he was quiet for a while, as if he was trying to think of something to say, and then he said "I hope you enjoy the book". I did get a picture, but not long after me, they announced no more pictures would be taken. I like to remember his response to a question I asked him on his last show, because that question and answer actually made it on Entertainment Tonight (and I WISH it was still on YouTube!) I asked him "what are you doing after the show today?" and he said "I'm going to get drunk!"
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I met Chris Jericho back in 2000 at a what was then WWF live event. Of course, I would've laughed at you back then if you had told me he'd be hosting a game show called Downfall a decade later.
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I met Peter Marshall a few years ago, at the radio station where I worked in Kansas City. (His son, Pete LaCock, used to play for the Royals. He has remained here, and lives just a couple of miles from me.) Funny thing that morning -- I was busy working in a production room, kitty-corner from the on-air studio. Someone opened my door, and I thought I heard a familiar voice in the hallway just outside. I got up and looked out, and there was The Master of the Hollywood Squares Himself. We spoke for a couple of minutes, and I told him how much I enjoyed his "Boy Singer" CD. He autographed a sheet from a note pad for me.
I also met Ed McMahon, at the station I worked for in Nashville ... before I moved to K.C. At the time, I believe he was touring to promote the new Arsenio Hall version of Star Search. Ed autographed a pic of himself in my EoTVGS.
<< Added 7/7 >> Whoops, almost forgot: I did sit front-row at a WoF taping session, while they were in Nashville. Many of my coworkers at the time had worked with Pat before, so I had the opportunity to chat with him for a few minutes. Charlie O' spent more time sitting by me, and was even more fun than Pat was.
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I met Bob Eubanks in 1996, when he was in town, hosting the Wheel of Fortune Live Tour.
I met Janice Pennington around 1995, autographing the paperback version of her book "Husband, Lover, Spy." Another book by her was supposed to be released the following year, but that didn't happen!
I almost got to meet Dick Clark in October, 2000; but with way so many fans waiting in line, I didn't get to meet him!
My brother from Virginia bought me a copy of Ken Jennings "Brainiac," personally autographed by the author. He told him I was a big game show fan, and personally knew the forum's co-founder and former Jeopardy! opponent Matt Ottinger!
One who qualifies as a game show personality that I met was the late talk show host, Mike Douglas! He had been a part of Kay Kayser's Kollege of Musical Knowledge.
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Bert Convy -- 1988(-ish) in Detroit during a WLoD Contestant Tryout.
I don't think anybody in the cattle call knew he was going to be there, so about 30 minutes into the audition session, he came on in for about 15 minutes of hosting and audience interaction. He really seemed to enjoy working the crowd.
Michael Burger -- 1999 in Las Vegas after a Wheel Of Fortune Live show. He hung out for quite a while after the show to chat with audience members. A real nice guy.
Gene Wood -- 1987 after tapings of Super Password in Burbank. Gave me he home phone & address so I could interview him when I got back to Ohio on my college radio show. Couldn't have met a nicer guy in the business.
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Laura Chambers, Randy West and Bob Eubanks (twice). And if you count local hosts, Kevin Gregory of "Hoosier Know It Alls" (but not until a few years later).
That list is unfortunately shorter than I'd like.
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Met Pat and Vanna when I was on Wheel in 2005.
I've met Bob Goen and David Ruprecht at the TPiR Live! event in October, 2010. I got to take a picture with them for free!
Wasn't too bad of a 25th Birthday at all.
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Does Matt Ottinger count? :D
Various personalities who have been to the Congrefffff aside, in September 1992, I used a urinal next to "Baggage" host Jerry Springer at NBC in Chicago.
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I met Vicki Lawrence in 1986 when she was making public appearances to promote union membership.
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I'm a spoiler here, but I've met several personalities completely outside the context of a show who impressed me as very nice people who were easy to deal and be with. Vanna White, Merv Griffin, Pat Sajak (all separately), Jack Narz and Betty White come immediately to mind.
The one game show personality who gave me the willies was Jack Barry. I met him in San Francisco in January of 1976 (the same month the Gong Show pilot was taped in that city). Barry was trying to sell Break the Bank into syndication. He just came off as brusque, curt and generally willy-making.
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[Jack Barry] just came off as brusque, curt and generally willy-making.
Somehow I'm not surprised. I don't mean to speak ill of the deceased, but I got a very condescending image of him from watching "Joker's Wild". Bill Cullen OTOH, came across as very grandfatherly.
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I met Todd Newton and Daniel Rosen at TPIR Live at Harrah's North Kansas City in 2004 (where I may or may not have been called to "come on down" -- you can read about my experience here (http://"http://tpir.knagl.com/") if you're interested).
I bumped into Todd a few other times when I had the pleasure of meeting up with Randy West when he was announcing TPIR Live in Las Vegas (and I was there feeding my gambing addiction). Randy and I may have enjoyed some margaritas and some awful solo guitar music at a now defunct Mexican restaurant inside of Ballys Las Vegas. (I also met chris319 on one of those same occasions.)
I created the opportunity to talk with Charlie O'Donnell for a few minutes between tapings of Wheel of Fortune in Las Vegas, which was also a true pleasure -- he was a very kind person. At that taping I saw Pat and Vanna in person, but other than a "thank you" from me in the front row as they said their goodbyes at the end of the taping session, I didn't "meet" them. Along the same lines, I got to see Millionaire host Regis Philbin in person at a show he put on at Grand Casino Hinckley in Minnesota, but again did not have the opportunity to meet him.
I was a contestant on Mall Masters at Mall of America so I guess I met future Bachelor host Chris Harrison then. I also got to say a very quick hello to Pyramid host Donny Osmond in 2003 as I was leaving the stage as a mall contestant during their city sweep tour (wow, I wrote about that experience, too (http://"http://blog.knagl.com/archives/2003_09_28_knagl_archive.html") (and sounded a little more like a fanb0i eight years ago, reading it today).
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The one game show personality who gave me the willies was Jack Barry.
He always gave me the creeps, too ... and I never met him.
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I don't mean to come off as self-aggrandizing here, but it's one thing when a member of the general public meets a celebrity at a public appearance such as a book signing or a meet & greet after TPIR Live. It's another thing when you meet a celebrity behind the scenes, away from the public eye, who has shown up basically to work, whether it be to do a show or to publicize some project they're involved in. In the former instance they clearly want to make a favorable impression on the public. In the latter instance you get to see more of a celeb's true colors and how easy or difficult they are to deal with after hours and hours of rehearsal. I didn't deal with Bill Cullen one on one when he did P+ and BB, but he was always jolly and affable to work with. Same with Gene Wood who just liked to have fun.
I wonder whether Jack Barry was any less brusque and curt to people who expressed an interest in putting his show on the air.
a now defunct Mexican restaurant inside of Ballys Las Vegas
Defunct? Say it ain't so! What replaced it? I could have rented the space and called it The Ground Zero Cafe, but some people might not appreciate that.
(MOMENTS LATER)
It's either still in business or their web site is out of date:
http://www.ballyslasvegas.com/casinos/ballys-las-vegas/restaurants-dining/tequila-bar-and-grill-detail.html
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I met Rod Roddy and the cast of models at the time when I was at Price in 2002. Rod was definitely one of the nicest, friendliest people I have ever met. He was on his way out of the studio after a taping day and actually set his stuff down to take us on an amazing tour of Television City. We talked about his earlier career, other shows and production teams he worked with, etc. Very very friendly guy. Claudia, Nikki and Brandi were a hoot too. All three ladies hammed it up on the set with us, taking pics and goofing around, and Brandi sat with us for a video while we all spun around on the turntable. (http://"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_wWxPKV7Fw") Ian Ziering also popped up later that day to drop off some stuff for Nikki.
Louise DuArt was touring with Harvey Korman and Tim Conway in 2004 (I think). A friend emailed Louise through her website and she brought us backstage to meet everyone. Tim was great and friendly, but Harvey was a bit more stand off-ish. I asked Louise if, instead of doing her show that night, we could walk arm-in-arm down a fake street and I could try and guess who she was gossiping about...she seemed floored that I remembered Rodeo Drive and she initially didn't understand my obscure reference (which, admittedly, was pretty damned obscure since it had gone off the air 10 years before).
I met Randy West, Todd Newton and Roger Lodge a couple times when my friend John was working at TPIR Live in Atlantic City, all of them great guys, and just as friendly as you would expect!!
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Not counting phone interviews (usually when a celeb was coming to town for a performance and we had to do a promo interview) I can think of only two. One was the host of everybody's favorite, Freakin' Studs, Mark De Carlo, when he was filming a "Taste of America" bit in our area. Great guy.
The other may be a bit obscure as it's a former Hollywood Squares producer, fellow name of Henry Winkler ... wonder if he's done anything else?
[size="2"]Yeah, I know - I went back to the office and was doing the "shake the hand that shook the hand of the Fonz" bit. He was in Green Bay for a benefit appearance - a day or two after his close friend John Ritter died, so he talked about that a lot. Another very classy guy.[/size]
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I booked Bob Bergen as a guest at Tekkoshocon during one of my years there.
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Outside of the oodles of hosts from the two GSCs I have attended...
* John O'Hurley at a 2006 book signing, the same one Aaron mentioned above. I told him I was making the 5-hour trip for the signing. Being a Seinfeld fan, Aaron tagged along.
* Paul Tapie (long time Cash Explosion host) doing a radio broadcast from a Cleveland Indians' fanfest around 1993-94.
* Todd Newton at a Hollywood Showdown contestant search in Pittsburgh in 2000, and at a Get Schooled event in 2003.
* Jerry Springer outside the Ritz-Carlton in Cleveland around 1995, back when I spent my free time waiting at hotels, trying to get profesional athletes to sign autographs.
I saw Dick Clark at a health expo in 1999, days before Greed was announced. I was within 5 feet of him but he walked off.
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Defunct? Say it ain't so! What replaced it? I could have rented the space and called it The Ground Zero Cafe, but some people might not appreciate that.
(MOMENTS LATER)
It's either still in business or their web site is out of date:
Maybe it reopened -- I just remembered trying to go there once and it was closed -- maybe it was one of those "closed for remodeling" things where they actually did remodel and reopen.
I forgot to add a sighting of Monty Hall to my list -- he was hosting a horribly produced live version of Let's Make a Deal at Mystic Lake Casino Hotel in Prior Lake, MN. I nearly got to shake his hand after the show, but as I was about to get the opportunity I was told "Mr. Hall has left" (even though I could see him ten feet away being whisked behind the stage).
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I met Peter Marshall at a book signing in 2002. I got to see Bob Barker and Randy West in action at a 'TPIR' taping in 2003. Also I met Ed McMahon at a book signing event in 2005.
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I met Todd Newton and Daniel Rosen at TPIR Live at Harrah's North Kansas City in 2004 (where I may or may not have been called to "come on down" -- you can read about my experience here (http://"http://tpir.knagl.com/") if you're interested).
I'm very surprised to see the word "enthusiastic" in the same sentence as "Daniel Rosen". (Also, I think someone else posted here once that they thought he was a total prick at a TPIR live event, but I can't find the post.)
I created the opportunity to talk with Charlie O'Donnell for a few minutes between tapings of Wheel of Fortune in Las Vegas, which was also a true pleasure -- he was a very kind person.
I'm a bit let down that I didn't get to see Charlie when I attended a Wheel taping (May 7, 2008 episode from Navy Pier). In fact, I don't think he was actually there — there was nobody roaming the audience except for stagehands, and the only person I heard talking to the audience on the shows before mine didn't sound like Charlie. (They were letting us see the May 5 and 6 episodes on video screens while we waited in line, and I could hear most of the between-rounds chatter through the wall.)
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-Back in 1994 or so, Greg Lee of Carmen Sandiego came to my local mall for a special brunch hosted by the local PBS station. He answered some questions about the show, hosted a very brief mock game, and then autographed some photos. I was only 8 or 9 at the time, so memories are quite hazy, but I remember him being a pretty nice guy. I still have his signed photo in storage somewhere.
Long before the GSCs and Usenet conections had provided me more opportunities than I ever thought possible, I too met Greg Lee at a mall event. In my case, QuizBusters was a couple of years old, and WKAR made the event about both shows. I got to introduce him for his mock game, and we both signed autographs afterwards. Pretty sure most of the kids there didn't have a clue who the bald guy was.
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I'm a bit let down that I didn't get to see Charlie when I attended a Wheel taping (May 7, 2008 episode from Navy Pier). In fact, I don't think he was actually there — there was nobody roaming the audience except for stagehands, and the only person I heard talking to the audience on the shows before mine didn't sound like Charlie. (They were letting us see the May 5 and 6 episodes on video screens while we waited in line, and I could hear most of the between-rounds chatter through the wall.)
Hate to break this to you, but Charlie O. was indeed there. I was at the two shows that taped after yours and Charlie warmed us up at both shows.
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I'm a bit let down that I didn't get to see Charlie when I attended a Wheel taping (May 7, 2008 episode from Navy Pier). In fact, I don't think he was actually there — there was nobody roaming the audience except for stagehands, and the only person I heard talking to the audience on the shows before mine didn't sound like Charlie. (They were letting us see the May 5 and 6 episodes on video screens while we waited in line, and I could hear most of the between-rounds chatter through the wall.)
Hate to break this to you, but Charlie O. was indeed there. I was at the two shows that taped after yours and Charlie warmed us up at both shows.
Huh. I wonder why he wasn't warming up for my taping? I didn't even see anyplace where he could've been announcing from.
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I wonder whether Jack Barry was any less brusque and curt to people who expressed an interest in putting his show on the air.
Admittedly I don't have any knowledge of Jack Barry nor game show production- being since you, Chris, were once employed by a production company and Jack Barry died when I was (I think) barely a year old- but I'd have to imagine based on what I've heard through the grapevine and read he probably was at least a little pushy.
I read somewhere (I think it might've been at Nedeff's site (Edit: and in fact it was, thanks Adam)) where Geoff Edwards had issues with Barry when he was hosting "Hollywood's Talking", plus there's that odd story (can it be confirmed one way or another, I dunno) about him and Dan Enright trying to take the winnings limit off The Joker's Wild by shopping it to other non-CBS stations.
(Then again, why'd Geoff go back years later to host Play the Percentages, how was Barry able to get so many high/quasi-high profile names to host his shows while he was alive, and was Joker really on mostly CBS stations back then? I know it was on the O&O here and probably others but still?)
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The answers to your questions are simple: Geoff Edwards was a good emcee and smart enough not to piss off a potential employer, whatever issues he may have had with the partners. Barry & Enright's money was as good as anyone else's.
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Geoff was hired by Enright. Jack had nothing to do with the hiring apparantly. There have been stories about how difficult and mean Dan Enright could be, but on PTP he showed an occasional sense of humor. Geoff told me Dan handled the cue cards and wasn't fast enough to keep up with Geoff. Geoff told him to "keep the cards moving" so Dan did that LITERALLY by passing the cue cards from one staff member to another all the way across the stage!
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Welp, I guess that they potrayed Jack Barry very well when Christopher McDonald played him, I guess he was slick in real life eh? But anyway, the closer I came to meeting GS personalities when I saw J! in person from Atlanta in 2000 and I saw Johnny warm up the audience and Alex in the flesh.
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Never met Jack Barry, but even on TV when he gave a "most cordial welcome" to everyone, it seemed less than cordial.
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I shook Johnny Gilbert's hand and got his autograph when the J! college tourney taped at the University of Pittsburgh several years ago.
I saw Peter Tomarken (sans 'stache (http://"http://gameshow.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=21978")) in the Pittsburgh airport. Other people were getting his autograph, but my parents wouldn't let me. When they finally relented, his flight was called, so I didn't get to meet him.
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I'm very surprised to see the word "enthusiastic" in the same sentence as "Daniel Rosen". (Also, I think someone else posted here once that they thought he was a total prick at a TPIR live event, but I can't find the post.)
Hmm. Yeah, he was over-the-top happy in warming up the crowd and doing his thing. As I recall, he was literally running around the stage and the room during the warm-up, and was pretty sweaty by the end. He was exceedingly nice in the meet-and-greet and also the day I won and he had come back into the ballroom where the show was. Perhaps the post you're thinking of was about someone else, or perhaps Rosen was having a crummy day.
Never met Jack Barry, but even on TV when he gave a "most cordial welcome" to everyone, it seemed less than cordial.
This made me laugh very loudly in the otherwise empty office that I'm in right now. Thanks for that.
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Welp, I guess that they potrayed Jack Barry very well when Christopher McDonald played him, I guess he was slick in real life eh?
Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't the character limited to just the hosting appearances on Twenty One? I've seen Quiz Show a bunch of times and do enjoy the film in spite of some of the liberties it took, and as far as I remember the larger focus was placed on Enright's behind-the-scenes tinkering.
(That plus Barry wasn't as complicit in the entire exercise as his partner was.)
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The movie made me a lifetime fan of David Paymer. He was totally convincing as Dan Enright.
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Les Roberts, who produced HS, told us at GSC that he didn't think Quiz Show portrayed Jack Barry accurately, but Dan Enright was right on the money. When I interviewed Sarabeth Rothfeld a few years ago, she also said that Dan was a bit creepy. He made her pull her hair back because it was blocking too much of her face when she was on Tic Tac Dough. Geoff told me he didn't have any problems with Dan, but as mentioned Jack Barry disliked him, and Geoff told him that if he wanted to replace him after the first 13 weeks (the standard for one season at the time) that was fine by him. Of course, the show was cancelled anyway. For those that don't know, Betty White was originally considered to host Hollywood Connection.
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Quiz Show cast the parts of Jack Barry and Charles Van Doren very poorly. Ralph Fiennes is a Brit who wasn't true to the Charles Van Doren part at all.
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I'm reminded suddenly of another role Chris McDonald played that really wasn't portrayed well. Granted, the blame for his Jack Barry has to rest mostly on the production staff of Quiz Show, but if you've ever seen 61* where he played Mel Allen he was not particularly good in that because he didn't sound anything like him.
(For those who don't remember, Mel Allen was the long time voice of the Yanees and hosted This Week In Baseball up until his death in 1996. He was brought back in claymation form for a couple years when Fox took the program over. 61* of course was an HBO movie made about the 1961 home run record chase.)