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Most of us know that Richard Dawson's behavior on Match Game '7x was very intolerable in his final years. A lot of it was because of the inflated ego he got by being practically a permanent fixture on the show and the fact that he was practically the 'go to guy' on the first generation Super Match.
Even on Family Feud, Richard was a little bugger at times.
Brings me to my question: In his earlier game show years, when he was considered a 'regular' (the 2 shows that I remember him being a regular on was "Rhyme & Reason" and the 70's version of "I've Got A Secret"), was his attitude & demeanor the same on those shows as on MG? Or was he easier to get along with since "Feud" was still a twinkle in Mark Goodson's eye and Dickie's ultimate fame was yet to be seen?
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Richard was never on "Rhyme and Reason," save the pilot. Nipsey Russell was the only regular panelist on that show. I would cut him some slack, by 78 he was doing two strips on network daytime and two nighttime shows in syndication, that had to be a taxing schedule.
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[quote name=\'Jimmy Owen\' date=\'Apr 13 2005, 08:42 AM\'] I would cut him some slack, by 78 he was doing two strips on network daytime and two nighttime shows in syndication, that had to be a taxing schedule.
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Yeah, a ten-hour work week, how draining. Richard wasn't tired, he was just a baby.
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[quote name=\'Adam Nedeff\' date=\'Apr 13 2005, 09:11 AM\'][quote name=\'Jimmy Owen\' date=\'Apr 13 2005, 08:42 AM\'] I would cut him some slack, by 78 he was doing two strips on network daytime and two nighttime shows in syndication, that had to be a taxing schedule.
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Yeah, a ten-hour work week, how draining. Richard wasn't tired, he was just a baby.
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MGPM was only a once a week show, and in 1978, nighttime Feud still was only airing once a week; it didn't go to twice a week until early 1979. Ergo, he was only doing 12 shows a week at the end of the MG7x tenure.
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Adam:
Shows that air for 30 minutes do not take 30 minutes to tape. There are stopdowns, breaks, etc. that lengthen taping schedules. Additionally, 30 minute game shows are frequently taped five episodes per day, and multiple days like that every week can be quite taxing.
Also, you don't know about things that may have gone on between Dawson and Goodson behind closed doors, so don't assume that someone was being "a baby."
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Recalling the E! THS, when Richard demanded more money or he wouldn't come back to work...
I never understood why he got heat for getting a hefty raise. I mean if he can manipulate management and get what he wants, more power to him. Management can only blame themselves for giving in, not for Richard asking/demanding.
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[quote name=\'cmjb13\' date=\'Apr 13 2005, 10:15 AM\']I never understood why he got heat for getting a hefty raise. I mean if he can manipulate management and get what he wants, more power to him. Management can only blame themselves for giving in, not for Richard asking/demanding.
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Ask Chuck Woolery. Rumor has it he left some show in the early-80s for something like that. ;-)
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[quote name=\'fostergray82\' date=\'Apr 13 2005, 12:33 PM\']
Ask Chuck Woolery. Rumor has it he left some show in the early-80s for something like that. ;-)
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I don't ever remember him leaving "Love Connection"...............;)
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[quote name=\'jmangin\' date=\'Apr 13 2005, 09:25 AM\']Adam:
Shows that air for 30 minutes do not take 30 minutes to tape. There are stopdowns, breaks, etc. that lengthen taping schedules. Additionally, 30 minute game shows are frequently taped five episodes per day, and multiple days like that every week can be quite taxing.
Also, you don't know about things that may have gone on between Dawson and Goodson behind closed doors, so don't assume that someone was being "a baby."
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Yeah, four days every two weeks, how draining.
I understand all that, but it's still a BIT tough to feel sorry for a guy making a truckload more money than some of us combined for a fraction of the work. Hell, if Richard's not happy, give ME that job. I can read from index cards and for an extra $10 I'll try to smile every ten minutes or so. If somebody from Goodson-Todman Productions approached me in the 70s and offered me Richard's paycheck, my first question would be "What part of Mister Goodson would I have to touch?"
Richard was damn lucky, and considering the workload he and a lot of other people had as a sitcom actor in the 60s you'd think he'd consider the workload/paycheck combo Goodson was giving him a privilege. Maybe he could have noticed that if his head wasn't so far up the ol' crumpet chute.
Also consider that in the real world, nobody would put up with what Richard was doing. Imagine not participating actively in some part of your job and when your boss confronts you, saying "I used to like this part of the job, but now I'm tired, so I'm just making everybody around me uncomfortable until I alienate them." You'd be fired so fast people ten blocks away could hear your butt bounce off the sidewalk.
Consider on the other hand McLean Stevenson, who had every reason to be miserable as he saw the worst career move EVER completely backfire on him during the late 70s and really had nowhere to go. Rather than bringing that misery with him to the panel when he became a regular, he...get this...had fun with it and acted pleasant. What a revolutionary mind.
Sorry, I have no sympathy for Richard, and if he's trying to find sympathy, he can find it in a dictionary between "s#!+" and "syphillis." And as far as saying I shouldn't call Richard a baby, hey, if the booty fits...No, I don't know what was going on behind closed doors, but unless Richard had to mow lawns for the entire G-T staff on his days off, I really can't figure out why he's miserable.
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[quote name=\'Adam Nedeff\' date=\'Apr 13 2005, 12:50 PM\']
Consider on the other hand McLean Stevenson, who had every reason to be miserable as he saw the worst career move EVER completely backfire on him during the late 70s and really had nowhere to go. Rather than bringing that misery with him to the panel when he became a regular, he...get this...had fun with it and acted pleasant. What a revolutionary mind.
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Might I say that the 1981-1982 season of syndie MG is my favorite out of all of them, because of his presence. IMHO, he added a lot to the show and made it really funny. I laughed out loud at a good deal of MG's with him on it.
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[quote name=\'Adam Nedeff\' date=\'Apr 13 2005, 11:50 AM\']Yeah, four days every two weeks, how draining.
I understand all that, but it's still a BIT tough to feel sorry for a guy making a truckload more money than some of us combined for a fraction of the work. Hell, if Richard's not happy, give ME that job. I can read from index cards and for an extra $10 I'll try to smile every ten minutes or so. If somebody from Goodson-Todman Productions approached me in the 70s and offered me Richard's paycheck, my first question would be "What part of Mister Goodson would I have to touch?"
Richard was damn lucky, and considering the workload he and a lot of other people had as a sitcom actor in the 60s you'd think he'd consider the workload/paycheck combo Goodson was giving him a privilege. Maybe he could have noticed that if his head wasn't so far up the ol' crumpet chute.
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Sorry, I have no sympathy for Richard, and if he's trying to find sympathy, he can find it in a dictionary between "s#!+" and "syphillis." And as far as saying I shouldn't call Richard a baby, hey, if the booty fits...No, I don't know what was going on behind closed doors, but unless Richard had to mow lawns for the entire G-T staff on his days off, I really can't figure out why he's miserable.
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Post of the day.
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Save for the baby-name calling, Adam has hit this perfectly on the head. As someone who is on live tv for 15 hours a week, my job calls for me to be a happy go lucky weatherman/feature reporter. If i'm on the air, unless i'm reporting tornaders or a deadly accident (you get the picture), i'm smiling. Doesn't matter what bill collector just came to the door, or which wife just went out the door for good, i'm smiling. Why? Cause that's my job.
And that was Richard's job, to convey a good time. Which, at the end of his stint on MG, he didn't. So screw him. And that's probably what Goodson did. Dickie should thank his lucky stars that Goodson didn't dump him of the Feud too....A pouting lesser host would be back to the comedy circuit in a flash. And then, given the lesser security of a paycheck, Dawson would have had somehting to pout about.
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[quote name=\'tvwxman\' date=\'Apr 13 2005, 01:32 PM\']Save for the baby-name calling, Adam has hit this perfectly on the head. As someone who is on live tv for 15 hours a week, my job calls for me to be a happy go lucky weatherman/feature reporter. If i'm on the air, unless i'm reporting tornaders or a deadly accident (you get the picture), i'm smiling. Doesn't matter what bill collector just came to the door, or which wife just went out the door for good, i'm smiling. Why? Cause that's my job.
And that was Richard's job, to convey a good time. Which, at the end of his stint on MG, he didn't. So screw him. And that's probably what Goodson did. Dickie should thank his lucky stars that Goodson didn't dump him of the Feud too....A pouting lesser host would be back to the comedy circuit in a flash. And then, given the lesser security of a paycheck, Dawson would have had somehting to pout about.
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Which is exactly what Dawson had for a decade after "Feud" ended the first time.
However, let me bring up something from an article Art James wrote for TV Guide sometime in the late 70s. James said that he preferred doing live television to five-a-day taping because with live television you came into the studio at 10, flirted with the models, went on the air with "Say When!" at 10:30, went off at 11 and started drinking in Hurley's bar in Rockefeller Center at 11:15. On the other hand, he said that a host has to commit to a strict regimen before a taping session of not drinking, not going to the track, getting plenty of rest, etc., because of the intensity of the taping schedule. Of course, the money and the time off does offset everything, but he still has a point. However, the booze was still waiting for him at the Smokehouse in Burbank if and when taping was completed...
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[quote name=\'jmangin\' date=\'Apr 13 2005, 09:25 AM\']Also, you don't know about things that may have gone on between Dawson and Goodson behind closed doors, so don't assume that someone was being "a baby."
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Are you a personal friend of Richard's or something? You seem to have taken a great deal of offense to Adam's comments.
I think he was a baby too--one need only look at the TV Guide debacle for that.
For the game....show me.....PAMPERS!
[clang!]
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Typical Match Game taping day for Richard Dawson:
00:00 to 00:30 -- Make up
00:30 to 01:00 -- Show #1
01:00 to 01:10 -- Wardrobe change
01:10 to 01:40 -- Show #2
01:40 to 01:50 -- Wardrobe change
01:50 to 02:20 -- Show #3
02:20 to 02:50 -- Audience change
02:50 to 03:20 -- Show #4
03:20 to 03:30 -- Wardrobe change
03:30 to 04:00 -- Show #5
04:00 to 04:15 -- Wardrobe change
04:15 to 04:45 -- Show #6 (nighttime)
He was in and out of the studio in less than five hours
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[quote name=\'Modor\' date=\'Apr 13 2005, 02:10 PM\']For the game....show me.....PAMPERS!
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OF THE
DAY
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Wasn't there a time when MG would double up on the tapings (perhaps do 10 shows over a couple days) so Gene wouldn't have to fly from NY so often? I don't remember the exact time when Richard left MG. Was it before or after the death of Bob Crane?
The introduction of the "Star Wheel" probably didn't help matters. Why fix something that wasn't broken?
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Let's say that maybe the taping went a little long and took them 6 hours to get done. I assume that Feud taped 5 or 6 episodes a day in 1978...is that correct (5 ABC shows + 1 nighttime show). We know that they would tape two weeks worth of Match Game episodes in a 2 day weekend to better accommodate Gene. Say each taping day took 6-7 hours and he would work up to 3 days taping a week regularly, he'd only be working 21 or so hours a week. Even lower on the weeks that Match Game didn't tape. Heck, I'm one of the biggest Dawson fans but I don't think he really had anything to complain about...even on his busiest week, he still worked fewer hours than most "normal" people work in a week on a full-time job. Tell me that I only had to work 21 hours for the kind of salary Richard was getting and I'd be there smiling!
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Wasn't there a time when MG would double up on the tapings (perhaps do 10 shows over a couple days)
The schedule I just posted gives you six shows in one day. Doing the math, you get 12 shows in one weekend. That's the regular schedule, not a "doubled-up" schedule. Subtract one show per taping day prior to MGPM. Gene Rayburn's decision to maintain his residence on Cape Cod was not factored into the taping schedule.
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[quote name=\'Jimmy Owen\' date=\'Apr 13 2005, 04:58 PM\']I don't remember the exact time when Richard left MG. Was it before or after the death of Bob Crane?
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Crane died on 6/29/78, and Richard's last MG shows taped around August or September I think.
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[quote name=\'TV Favorites\' date=\'Apr 13 2005, 04:59 PM\']Heck, I'm one of the biggest Dawson fans but I don't think he really had anything to complain about...even on his busiest week, he still worked fewer hours than most "normal" people work in a week on a full-time job. Tell me that I only had to work 21 hours for the kind of salary Richard was getting and I'd be there smiling!
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I agree totally...I'm sure that 95% of Americans would be smiling 24/7, IF, for 21 hours a week:
1) They were making Dawson's salary then (or even now -- still probably more than what some of us make today without adjustments for inflation),
2) They didn't have to answer a phone, make copies, do door to door sales, or meet & exceed monthly quotas.
3) Get paid to play a game for nearly 5 years and nothing else!!!
Hell, I'd be smiling if I had to work *42* hours a week doing all of the above!!! Plus, I wouldn't be hiding in seclusion in a large house surrounded by a 15 foot wall in Beverly Hills, either.
--Tim
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[quote name=\'whoserman\' date=\'Apr 13 2005, 04:17 PM\'][quote name=\'Modor\' date=\'Apr 13 2005, 02:10 PM\']For the game....show me.....PAMPERS!
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OF THE
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I had something much funnier to say but I wouldn't want to get kicked off this board. But, I don't think that pampers would ever be on the board since it's a specific name of a manufacturer. <picky picky picky>
For the game....show me.....DIAPERS! Who knows... maybe pampers would've been accepted :)
Going back on topic, yes Richard was untolerable and things didn't get better as we look back 25 or so years ago. Backgammon was a last resort to make Richard happy. Since Richard loved to play backgammon, members of the MG crew would play backgammon matches with him.
Can we say, the plan didn't pan out? :)
And, we can all say that the rest is history.
Saussage
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[quote name=\'saussage\' date=\'Apr 13 2005, 10:06 PM\']I had something much funnier to say but I wouldn't want to get kicked off this board. But, I don't think that pampers would ever be on the board since it's a specific name of a manufacturer. <picky picky picky>
For the game....show me.....DIAPERS! Who knows... maybe pampers would've been accepted :)[/quote]
Sorry to do this but whooooooooosh! ;-)
As for your caution for getting kicked off, don't worry. It's not much that can't be said, just don't say "Ottinger" and "cue ball" in the same sentence. ;-)
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[quote name=\'fostergray82\' date=\'Apr 13 2005, 10:22 PM\']As for your caution for getting kicked off, don't worry. It's not much that can't be said, just don't say "Ottinger" and "cue ball" in the same sentence. ;-)
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Or call someone a F-wit.
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These are all great points and perhaps I was wrong in my initial post. I guess what I'm really trying to emphasize is that while most of the blame can be placed on Richard, some must fall elswhere with Goodson.
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[quote name=\'Modor\' date=\'Apr 14 2005, 01:58 AM\'][quote name=\'fostergray82\' date=\'Apr 13 2005, 10:22 PM\']As for your caution for getting kicked off, don't worry. It's not much that can't be said, just don't say "Ottinger" and "cue ball" in the same sentence. ;-)
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Or call someone a F-wit.
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Or "AGREE :D :D :D" with someone.