Right now, in the afterlife, Chuck Barris is meeting Chuck Berry. Oh, if only David Letterman could have introduced them. “Chuck Barris, Chuck Berry. Chuck Berry, Chuck Barris.”
Crappy TV show creator, songwriter, novelist and possible CIA assassin, Chuck Barris, died at the spry age of 87.
Barris’ first game show was “The Dating Game” (precursor to the far superior “Love Connection”).
The show was a woman on one side of a wall asking questions to three men on the other side and her picking a date without seeing them. There were always double entendres and dirty jokes and everyone hoped that she would pick the uggo just to see her expression when he was revealed at the end.
He next show was The Newlywed Game where three sets of Newlyweds were quizzed on how well they knew each other. There were always double entendres and dirty jokes and someone would win a washer and dryer at the end.
Then there was “The Gong Show.” Possible the worst TV show this side of Molly Dodd.
The show was basically the early episodes of an “American Idol” season. You know, where
Yeah, this guy was a national treasure.
you watch to see how awful people are.
Barris hosted the show because the planned host was treating the show as a talent show and not as a parody of one.
A bad act would perform and it was truly awful, someone like Jamie Farr would bang a giant gong to end it all.
They developed running characters in the show. Like The Unknown Comedian who was a stand-up who told intentionally corny jokes while wearing a paper bag over his head. And Gene Gene the Dancing Machine, the show’s prop master who would dance to “Jumpin’ at the Woodside” while people off stage threw random props at him.
But mostly, the show was just crap.
Baris wrote an autobiography called Confessions of a Dangerous Mind which was made into a George Clooney movie in 2002.
In the book, Barris claimed that he worked for the CIA as an assassin in the 1960s and the 1970s.
A CIA spokesman at the time said “It sounds like he has been standing too close to the gong all those years.”
Plus, they were too busy bugging the phones of Presidential candidates (as they are known to do).
This hit goes to: Josh! Josh takes the lead with 120 points! With seven months left, can he hold onto his lead?
Happy pooling,
SPMI
Current Standings:
Josh: 120 – (Florence Henderson – 20, Grant Tinker – 10, Gordie Tapp – 10, Terry Edwards – 60, Chuck Barris – 20)
Jami: 100 – (Fidel Castro – 10, Bernard Frost – 20, Zsa Zsa Gabor – 10, George Michael – 50)
Wes: 90 – (Holly Dunn – 50, John Glenn – 10, Debbie Reynolds – 20, David Penrose Buckson – 10)
Morrigan’s Mirror: 60 – (William Christopher – 20, Mary Tyler Moore – 20, Moulton “Pete” Marston – 20)
Lee Kwang Soo!: – 50 (Alice Drummond – 20, Dr. Henry Heimlich – 10, Hashemi Rafsanjani – 20 )
Tailgating w/ Jesus: 50 – (Ralph Branca – 10, Craig Sager – 40)
M: 30 – (Sir John Hurt – 30)
Team Sushi: 30 – (Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka – 30)
Gianna: 20 – (Leonard Cohen – 20)
Mary: 10 – (Chuck Berry – 10)
Joanne: 10 – (Judge Joseph Wapner – 10)
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