On Wed, Apr 18, 2012 at 12:53 PM, Kevin M. <[email protected]> wrote:
> My former boss, Dick Clark, passed away. Guessing he didn't leave the > $3,000 he owed me in his will. > > > http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/dick-clark-entertainment-icon-nicknamed-americas-oldest-teenager/story?id=16076252#.T48an0gccQ8 > I flipped to Good Morning America when I woke up specifically to see their coverage of DC's death. I was surprised by how unimpressive it was - little more than a standard video obit they probably put together most of 5 years ago. Aside from Seacrest's comments (which were just from what looked like a pres conference after his show last night) I don't think there was anything in the way of really personal reflections from friends or close associates. Maybe the most insightful comment came from George, who noted that Clark had been voted "Most Likely To Sell You the Brooklyn Bridge" in his high school yearbook. I have not seen any other coverage, I wonder if most of it has been similar, and with a similar under-emphasis (to my mind) of The Pyramid. GMA gave it only the most passing of references, focusing mostly on AB and the Rockin New Year's Eve (and even talking more about Bloopers than about the game show). I was not born and then too young for probably the most influential period of Bandstand, but it was pretty popular when I was a teenager still, and I hardly ever watched it and never liked it. To me and my friends at least it always seemed corny and square and late, though my older girl cousin used to try to tell us how cool it was, or at least had been, when she was young. Her theory was that it stopped being cool when it went to color (she had an older friend who said it stopped being cool when it left Philadelphia, so I guess it is all relative). We always preferred Soul Train. I always found the Bloopers show to be obnoxious and unwatchable, as well as made up awards shows like the American Music Awards (apologies to Kevin if he worked on these, I am not referring to the production values, just the concepts of the shows). But Pyramid was a really good game show - I mean really good, probably one of the best ever, at least top 5, maybe higher. The game itself was good (I am talking about the original, morning version), the mix of game play and celebrity chit chat and hi jinx just about right most days, and most of the celebs really seemed to care about how they did, and getting the contestants to win. And a hell of a lot of the success was Clark, who was never, ever more likable than when he hosted that show. I guess most people have forgotten the era of morning broadcast game shows (aside from Price is Right, which is a horse of a different color to me), and how important they were, especially for those of us who had prolonged illnesses as children, or had to watch a lot of tv in the summer for various reasons. If it had been up to me I would have made at least half of DC's TV obit focus on the Pyramid, which showed him at his most urbane, and represents in my mind easily his most important and classy contribution to American pop culture. -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
