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.

Deal or no deal? That is the question.

I was looking at the write up for “Deal or No Deal” today on wikipedia.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deal_or_no_deal” I know it’s not the most accurate of sites but I’ll run with their numbers anyway. According to the site, there are versions of the show televised in 70 different countries including Malta, Zimbabwe and Armenia. For my money the version hosted by Hassen Rojoa in Mauritius is the most compelling. i guess the fact that this show is popular all over the world in many languages shows that when you have a good idea for television, it can be recreated just about anywhere.

Lack of Creativity

It seems like every game show that’s on anymore is a re-invention of a past show or a rip-off of a popular overseas game show. I was looking through the schedule of the GSN and it is full of these recreations. (http://www.gsn.com/cgi/onair/program_schedule.html) Look at this webpage and you might recognize quite a few familiar titles. Shows like Card Sharks, Tic Tac Dough and Family Feud are classic favorites that are jazzed up with new sets and recycled for the masses. Approximately 80% of the shows I see in their lineup have been around since at least the 1980’s. Why can’t they create a new game show worth watching that doesn’t involve people eating llama testes or midgets jumping through holes in a wall?

Who wants to be a……… recycled game show???

I was doing some research on the internet tonight and found a list of the top rated shows of each year since 1951. Of the fifty-eight seasons of television since then, only two game shows have ever been the number one rated show for a whole year. I’m ignoring American Idol and Survivor because I consider them more a part of the reality show genre. The two game shows to have the #1 spot are the $64,000 Question and Who Wants to be a Millionaire. I know “Millionaire” quite well but I had only heard of the 64K Question so I decided to read about it. It turns out the rules are very similar to “Millionaire” and I found that incredibly interesting. The number one show in 1956 was partially copied in 2000 and led to a new craze for prime-time game shows. The similarities consist of answering trivia questions, increased money prizes in pre-set increments, and milestones that can be reached so that if you answer a question incorrectly you don’t fall back to zero winnings. I wonder what else I’ll learn in my research.

Back in My Day

I was thinking about what topic I wanted to write about on here for a few days. During those days I saw numerous commercials for the most ridiculous shows that I guess would be considered in the game show genre. I started thinking about how I loved to watch game shows when I was a kid while I was home all summer from school. I would watch Family Feud and The Price is Right almost every day. When I wasn’t out playing sports or causing mischief, I would sit in and watch shows like Press Your Luck, Hollywood Squares and the $10,000 Pyramid. You could say Wink Martindale and me were good friends. So as a child I would cheer when I got to see a whammy or laugh when I saw a big X on the screen following a stupid answer from somebody’s elderly uncle on the Family Feud. After seeing the commercials for these new game shows I couldn’t help but realize that a genre of television I once cherished had changed into one that I ignored or despised. So I’ve decided to blog about the history of game shows and try to understand whether game shows have changed, whether I have changed, or just maybe I think my era of game shows was the best and view current shows with a bias. I think current music is terrible so maybe I’m like my dad criticizing my musical selection when I look down at current game shows. Well I hope you enjoy reading about my little evaluation of game shows and encourage you to respond and tell me what you think.