A Digression

This post doesn’t fit into the game show theme I’ve been writing about but I thought it was interesting. I read this story in today’s Philadelphia Inquirer. http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/33431444.html  The writer, Phil Sheridan, blasts Major League Baseball for bowing to Fox TV with their coverage of the World Series. He even goes as far as to call Fox a pimp. So take a look, interesting stuff.

Dotto host dies

Longtime game show host Jack Narz dies at 85

The Associated Press

October 18, 2008

LOS ANGELES – Jack Narz, a longtime game show host who was an early victim of the quiz show scandals of the 1950s when a show he was hosting was canceled, has died. He was 85.

Narz died Wednesday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center from complications of a stroke, his wife, Delores, said Friday.

Among the shows he hosted over the years were “Video Village,” which began in 1960, “Seven Keys,” 1961, “I’ll Bet,” 1963, and “Now You See It,” 1974, according to the book “TV Game Shows!” by Maxene Fabe.

He also guest-hosted many shows and did updated 1970s versions of older shows such as “Concentration” and “Beat the Clock.” He was the brother of veteran game show host Tom Kennedy.

He was host of “Dotto,” a televised connect-the-dots game, when it was abruptly taken off the air in August 1958. Audiences didn’t know it at the time, but a contestant had gone to authorities after he found a notebook backstage that indicated that another contestant was given answers in advance.

A few weeks after “Dotto” was canceled, Narz was questioned by investigators in the New York district attorney’s office and told reporters later he knew nothing of any irregularities on the show.

Politics and TV

In the presidential race in 2004 over 121 million votes were cast in the election. http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2004/pages/results/president/  The debates this year between Barack Obama and John McCain have drawn between 47 million and 63 million viewers. http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/media_entertainment/565-million-watched-mccain-and-obama%e2%80%99s-final-debate/  Assuming that voter turnout is similar this election year as in 2004, that would mean that a very large number of voters, approximately 50 million,  will be making their decision without watching a single debate.  One has to wonder why so many people would skip out on watching these debates.

Hail King Barker!

Everybody knows that Bob Barker finally stepped down last year as the host of The Price is Right. He was replaced by Drew Carey. I caught a few of the first shows with Drew and despite a decrease in the creepy factor, I found it less entertaining. Drew didn’t have the charisma to match the 80 year old man with a fake tan. The ratings apparently took quite a dip as well. http://hollywoodinsider.ew.com/2008/03/carey-versus-ba.html I like Drew but it’s hard to top a legend.