On Thu, Apr 19, 2012 at 9:20 AM, Diner <[email protected]> wrote: > > I disagree about Pyramid being Dick's "most important contribution to > American pop culture." Bandstand really is his greatest legacy. Before Dick > Clark, rock music on TV was Elvis shaking his hips while grownups > complaining indignantly. Dick may have tamed the music, but he made it > acceptable and showed its appeal to audiences and advertisers. In doing > that, he created a whole industry. And if that's not a significant > contribution to American pop culture, I don't know what is. > > Pyramid was never even the most important game show of its time. And you > could argue that Dick was not the most crucial element in its success - it > was Bob Stewart's baby, and Dick was just a hired hand. And the other > Pyramid hosts of his era (Bill Cullen and John Davidson) did fine jobs, > too. But it really was a great show, and the concern and dignity that Dick > Clark gave it helped make it refreshing and classy. He really was one of > the greatest game show hosts ever. > >
I guess I don't deny that his AB had an important efffect on Pop Culture; I just deny that it was a beneficial effect. At least by the time I was old enough to pay attention to it, I found that AB tamed and maimed rock music, rather than enhance it or make it accessible. I guess that helped lots of performers (or maybe even more, the people behind those performers) make a lot of money, but I don't think it was a particularly good influence. It may be that in the 50s and 60s AB was a ground-breaking introduction of R&R and R&B to mainstream audiences, but by the time I started watching in the 70s it was already camp and kitsch, which are terms I would apply to almost everything Clark did on television that was not Pyramid (including New Year's Eve, though my family has brought in the New Year with Clark every year since my first child was born 22 years ago). I also don't deny that other people were an important part of the success of Pyramid, but I disagree that other hosts were even close to being as good as Clark. I thought Davison was much worse, and frankly I don't have much memory of Cullen doing it (I won't even bother mentioning Donny). Clark (partly for the reasons you describe so well in the paragraphs I clipped from your above post) made a good game show much better. -- 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
