Square deal
I have just come back from game show heaven...Today, I attended the "Game Show Week" taping of "Hollywood Squares." To say it was phenomenal would be an understatement. As some other people put it, it was a "game show geek's wet dream." The five episodes taped today were shows that truly had the game show fan in mind.
Here was the lineup: Wink Martindale, Chuck Woolery, Bob Eubanks, Jim Lange, Brett Somers, Charles Nelson Reilly, Jimmie Walker, regulars Martin Mull and Kathy Griffin, and center square Peter Marshall. Rod Roddy served as announcer and did the announcing live on-stage. Modeling the prizes for the Secret Square and bonus rounds was Carol Merrill. Everybody was "on" and did a fantastic job. Not only that, but all the game show legends looked pretty damn good. Carol Merrill especially looked stunning. I cannot begin to list the number of great moments that happed both during and in -between the tapings. There were two big treats...One was seeing Brett and Charles together again and catfighting with each other. It's like they never stopped. Brett actually looked better today than she did during her apperances on Match Game '90! And their bickering carried through during the breaks and while taping promos. It was fantastic! As for the other big treat...the biggest one of all, I won't spoil for you. Somebody on the newsgroup or elsewhere on the 'net might spill, but I'll just say this: WATCH THE THURSDAY EPISODE OF GAME SHOW WEEK ON "SQUARES!!!" What happened that show is something that I never thought I'd see in my lifetime.
What else, what else...through the miracle of video tape, Monty Hall was there participating during the Secret Square questions. There were some modifications to the set which helped in giving the show a "classic" game show feel. It was something I will never forget. Kudos to the "Squares" production team for doing such a loving homage to "classic" game shows. They really nailed it!
And pretty much everybody from the L.A. area who was a game show fan or had some tie to the classic genre was there...Everybody from the authors of the "Encyclopedia of TV Game Shows" to Randy West to Bob Boden to the rest of the game show gang was there. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to talk any of the celebs in the grid, but I did speak briefly with Henry Winkler. And I must say, Henry Winkler seems like such a nice guy. Without a doubt, this was the best "Squares" taping, I've been to. A HUGE HUGE thanks to the "Squares" people especially to Brian Conn and Steve Radosh for a great day and one I will surely remember forever! :-) And from what I've heard, these soon-to-be-classic episodes will air the week of December 9th.
Now you'd think this would be enough to talk about in one weblog entry...but there's more! Last Thursday night, I went with Matt and Gigi to Santa Monica Boulevard for the Halloween madness in West Hollywood. In the three years I had been out here, I had never been down to WeHo for Halloween. It actually was a lot fun We met up with Drewby and his friends over there. It was a visual feast...so many different costumes and so many people (a good portion of which were easy on the eyes). Yet again, it proves that I can actually deal with the craziness of West Hollywood when I don't have to do the driving and when I'm go down there with a good group of friends.
Finally, last night, Ted, Larry, Caleb, and I had our big Scooby-Doo Halloween bash. Yes, we had our Halloween bash on November 1st. Don't ask me why...It just ended up being that way. Part of it was that we figured we'd be conflicting with a lot of our other friends' parties if we had done it the weekend before. Also, the Friday before last was totally out for me since I was in Anaheim for the Paul McCartney concert. In any case, in spite of the anachronism, it was a big success. Caleb dressed up as Fred, Ted dressed up as Velma, Larry was Daphne, and I was Shaggy with a perm. Everybody else had to dress up as a villain or special guest star from an episode of "Scooby Doo." The main feature of the party involved a giant "Clue"-like game to find out who kidnapped Scooby. Matt dressed up as the Gypsy Carlotta handing out clue cards to all the guests. Tom dropped in from Palmdale dressed up as the dirty vicar (insert jokes here...). And Drew came as the mad scientist's "creation" complete with an electrifying costume. Our friends Sara and Dani ended up being the big winners in the big "Scooby Doo Clue" game. It was a good mix of people. A lot of friends of guests showed up so we met a lot of new people that night. Pictures will be forthcoming tomorrow. Be afraid...be very afraid...
I have just come back from game show heaven...Today, I attended the "Game Show Week" taping of "Hollywood Squares." To say it was phenomenal would be an understatement. As some other people put it, it was a "game show geek's wet dream." The five episodes taped today were shows that truly had the game show fan in mind.
Here was the lineup: Wink Martindale, Chuck Woolery, Bob Eubanks, Jim Lange, Brett Somers, Charles Nelson Reilly, Jimmie Walker, regulars Martin Mull and Kathy Griffin, and center square Peter Marshall. Rod Roddy served as announcer and did the announcing live on-stage. Modeling the prizes for the Secret Square and bonus rounds was Carol Merrill. Everybody was "on" and did a fantastic job. Not only that, but all the game show legends looked pretty damn good. Carol Merrill especially looked stunning. I cannot begin to list the number of great moments that happed both during and in -between the tapings. There were two big treats...One was seeing Brett and Charles together again and catfighting with each other. It's like they never stopped. Brett actually looked better today than she did during her apperances on Match Game '90! And their bickering carried through during the breaks and while taping promos. It was fantastic! As for the other big treat...the biggest one of all, I won't spoil for you. Somebody on the newsgroup or elsewhere on the 'net might spill, but I'll just say this: WATCH THE THURSDAY EPISODE OF GAME SHOW WEEK ON "SQUARES!!!" What happened that show is something that I never thought I'd see in my lifetime.
What else, what else...through the miracle of video tape, Monty Hall was there participating during the Secret Square questions. There were some modifications to the set which helped in giving the show a "classic" game show feel. It was something I will never forget. Kudos to the "Squares" production team for doing such a loving homage to "classic" game shows. They really nailed it!
And pretty much everybody from the L.A. area who was a game show fan or had some tie to the classic genre was there...Everybody from the authors of the "Encyclopedia of TV Game Shows" to Randy West to Bob Boden to the rest of the game show gang was there. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to talk any of the celebs in the grid, but I did speak briefly with Henry Winkler. And I must say, Henry Winkler seems like such a nice guy. Without a doubt, this was the best "Squares" taping, I've been to. A HUGE HUGE thanks to the "Squares" people especially to Brian Conn and Steve Radosh for a great day and one I will surely remember forever! :-) And from what I've heard, these soon-to-be-classic episodes will air the week of December 9th.
Now you'd think this would be enough to talk about in one weblog entry...but there's more! Last Thursday night, I went with Matt and Gigi to Santa Monica Boulevard for the Halloween madness in West Hollywood. In the three years I had been out here, I had never been down to WeHo for Halloween. It actually was a lot fun We met up with Drewby and his friends over there. It was a visual feast...so many different costumes and so many people (a good portion of which were easy on the eyes). Yet again, it proves that I can actually deal with the craziness of West Hollywood when I don't have to do the driving and when I'm go down there with a good group of friends.
Finally, last night, Ted, Larry, Caleb, and I had our big Scooby-Doo Halloween bash. Yes, we had our Halloween bash on November 1st. Don't ask me why...It just ended up being that way. Part of it was that we figured we'd be conflicting with a lot of our other friends' parties if we had done it the weekend before. Also, the Friday before last was totally out for me since I was in Anaheim for the Paul McCartney concert. In any case, in spite of the anachronism, it was a big success. Caleb dressed up as Fred, Ted dressed up as Velma, Larry was Daphne, and I was Shaggy with a perm. Everybody else had to dress up as a villain or special guest star from an episode of "Scooby Doo." The main feature of the party involved a giant "Clue"-like game to find out who kidnapped Scooby. Matt dressed up as the Gypsy Carlotta handing out clue cards to all the guests. Tom dropped in from Palmdale dressed up as the dirty vicar (insert jokes here...). And Drew came as the mad scientist's "creation" complete with an electrifying costume. Our friends Sara and Dani ended up being the big winners in the big "Scooby Doo Clue" game. It was a good mix of people. A lot of friends of guests showed up so we met a lot of new people that night. Pictures will be forthcoming tomorrow. Be afraid...be very afraid...
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