Please hold...

Not sure how regularly I'll blog in the weeks to come...I'm just trying to get some shtuff back together in my life, so blogging isn't really the top priority at the moment...With that in mind, here are a few random thoughts...

- Last night's Celine Dion special...I don't think my roommates and I have cracked up at anything on TV like that in a LONG while. God bless you, Celine and your freaky choreography, your endless mugging, and your hot dancers. I'm sorry, I just don't get her. I really don't...Yes, she has a strong voice, but I really, really can't take her seriously...

- What this world needs now is a nice big ol' all-star anthem much in the vein of "We Are the World." I think the last big one I remember was "Voices That Care," the one Kevin Costner put together during the first Persian Gulf War...

- The "silent treatment" SUCKS. It really does...

- My brief thoughts on the Oscar: Steve Martin funny. Happy "Chicago" won. And from a looks standpoint, Adrien Brody reminds me of somebody I used to date...

- Speaking of which, last weekend, I started to take the first baby steps back into the meeting new people/dating circuit. A few days ago, I went out for coffee with somebody I met online. Cool guy...Smart and a very dry sense of humor (a BIG plus for me always). It was a really pleasant night. We just spent a couple of hours just talking outside this local coffee place. Very relaxed. Not making any conclusions though...but it was nice to "get myself out there" again...

And finally, as promised, here's this blog's "Something to Be Happy About": The Italian Chicken Sandwich is back at Burger King! Yay...

I want my royalty check

So Bush is calling his campaign, the "Shock and Awe" campaign...I demand some residuals for that. I've been using the "shock and awe" manuever for many years... in my love life!

In my web surfing today, I found the two most gratuitous news stories about the war. The first is this one which answers the question, "Does Journey have open arms to the U.S. opening its arms in Iraq?" Quick, somebody get on the phone and call up Eddie Money and see what he thinks!

The other one is this little nugget about being careful about killing zoo animals in Iraq during the war. WHAT?!? Yes, yes, all the earth's creatures are precious and blah blah blah, but this is ridiculous. There are people dying out there in this horrible battlefield and somebody's piping up about zoo animals?? Come on! Oy...

I have to say that David Bloom is emerging as the king of reporters who take unnecessary risks. I was watching NBC news this morning and he was doing a story live from a tank that was either enroute to or near battle. I just wonder...Does it really add that much to the story when it's done from a tank with blurry nightscope vision? I actually remember him from growing up in South Florida when he was a reporter for the local Miami NBC affiliate. During Hurricane Andrew, he did live stories from the middle of the storm. As my roomie Ted said in < a href="http://animate-ted.blogspot.com">blog, there are still some constants in the world you can count on.

Anyhoo...with all this war news invading our lives, I figure it'd be nice to put up a little "Something to Be Happy About" at the end of each blog until this whole mess is finished. Tonight, my "Something to Be Happy About" is a little personal. I got my iPod fixed. Woo-hoo! Thanks to my friend Drew, I was directed to an iPod update on the Apple website. What had been happening was that my iPod wasn't recognizing that its battery was being charged. This software update helped it out. Hooray! And that, my friends, is "Something to Be Happy About"....we at least something for me to be happy about. :-)

Pro-TESTING my patience...

I dunno...but the word to describe my mood tonight: IRRITATED. Part of my drive home is near the Westwood area in Los Angeles. Now, what's in the Westwood area? The Federal Building in LA. So what did that mean tonight? Protesters! Woo-hoo! And what did that mean? Closed off streets that I usually take for my commute home! I had to do a U-Turn via the 405 highway to get back on track thanks to the anti-war protests. Now, don't get me wrong....I'm all for freedom of speech and I get what the anti-war protesters are saying, but c'mon...you're not helping out your case here, guys. You can't expect to win people over if your protest is going to block up traffic during rush hour....ESPECIALLY in Los Angeles! Ack...that sounded a bit callous...chalk it up to my general impatience as of late...

Also, testing my patience tonight was getting my dinner. Because I was late, it was off to the drive-thru again. This time, it was the KFC...the one in the North Hollywood area off of Lankershim...or as I like to call it, the most incompetent KFC in the world. These people were so slow, that the drive thru line will spilling into Lankershim Boulevard causing all sorts of havoc with traffic. At least the honey barbecue boneless wings were tasty....mmmmm....but you gotta wonder, how can they be wings if they're boneless? I mean, they're nothing but overside chicken nuggets. But damn, they're tasty.

In any case, I've just felt like there's been this wave of weird, surreal things over the past couple of days...Tonight, there was a fleet of helicopters hovering above the Wilshire-Sepulveda area on my drive home. Sadaam Hussein is giving speeches wearing glasses that look like they came out of Sally Jessie Raphael's old drawer. Computerized renderings of weapons on the nightly news that look like they came out the latest Nintendo game. Oh yeah, and Monica Lewinsky's just been signed on to host a new reality show. Oy...

At least Liza Minnelli's back in rehab to reassure us that there is some level of normalcy in this crazy world...And that, my friends, was callous remark #2 of tonight's blog!

My roomie Ted now has his own blog. You can find it on his web page. This should be very interesting once we start referring to things he and I do together just to see if there are any different perspectives on things.

Oh...for those of you who read this blog regularly and watch "Whammy..." Bill (a.k.a. the "money man") is the new character I was referring to in a previous blog. He serves as the new foil to the Whammy. He pops up in a good number of the twenty or so new Whammy animations we have this year.

:-)

Thanks again to all of you who've sent me E-mails and posted such nice things on the message boards about the new season of "Whammy!" I know there are other pressing issues that we're all dealing with at the time right now, so the fact that you guys took the time out to watch "Whammy!" and say such great things about the show really means a lot!

And remember this is just the beginning. While the one that aired tonight was a spectacular game, we've got even more that top that one. Tonight's show was one we taped on the first day of taping. This was one of the shows that had me practically jumping out of the my seat. It's tonight's show that really shows why I LOVE this game. There's a "rollercoaster" aspect to "Whammy!" and "Press Your Luck" that few other games (if any) have. You get contestants that get on a roll and build and build and build to a peak (like Amie did tonight and Janie did last night) but then you get that plunge when they hit a Whammy...and in the case of Amie, that was one big dive! And as you can see the Big Bank can lead to situations with even bigger peaks and valleys.

A congrats to my friends over at the Game Show Network (since I know some of them read this...heh) on the big success of the "Big Bucks" documentary. A well deserved victory for the network...

It was Tuesday night tonight so that meant the usual suspects over to watch "American Idol." Was it just me or was there not an awful performance in tonight's bunch? Granted, a few people were clearly weak and there were three clear top contenders, but there wasn't anything that was horrendous. On tonight's show, they showed some clips of that Academy of Television live "Idol" event that my friends and I attended a couple of weekends ago. If you get out a magnifying glass during those clips, you can see me clapping...a really really really big magnifying glass...one with very good resolution as well...ok, maybe not... :-)

Just because "Whammy!" has started doesn't mean the pics are going to end. I've got a few more in the iPhoto album that I'll dig out every now and then...Here's the next one....



This is one last look at our St. Pat's set. We put green M&Ms in some of those "pots o' gold."

So my iPod is on the fritz...the battery doesn't seem to charge. I've been digging through the CDs to satiate my music appetite which leads me to my Random Music Comment of the Night to conclude my blog..."Scenes from an Italian Restaurant" is a damn good song...

"Luck"-y guy

Last night, I was fortunate enough to attend a viewing of the "Big Bucks" documentary with some of the Game Show Network and Whammy bunch. It was great! Both Peter Tomarken and Todd Newton were there. Had another "I can't believe I'm here" moment when I drove up to the party location and saw that the car up ahead of me was Peter's! The makers of the documentary were there as well as some of the peple interviewed. The coolest part was noticing how many people interviewed in the documentary I've crossed paths with out of the "Whammy/PYL" world. For instance, Darlene (the CBS S&P person interviewed for the doc) was our S&P person for "Greed" at FOX. I worked with Michael Brockman on a couple of game show projects a couple of years ago. And I see Bob Boden constantly because of our work with Game Show Network. Bob was actually one of the people who helped to give me my first job in the biz. It's things like last night and seeing the buzz about the season premiere of "Whammy" that make me feel so lucky. I'm really glad I made the move out here to LA over 3 years ago. Geez, I can't believe it's already been that long!

Just another word of warning...If you don't want to know ANYTHING about what happened in tonight's "Whammy" Larson rematch, avoid tvgameshows.net until you watch the show tonight.

And here's one more pic to hold you guys over until the season premiere...



My favorite of the pics I took on set this year. Such a neat behind-the-scenes action look to it...All righty, enjoy the show tonight! TWO episodes air back-to-back from 8 PM - 9 PM Eastern and 5 PM - 6 PM Pacific on Game Show Network. They rerun later in the evening at 3 AM on the east coast and Midnight on the west coast. Please E-mail me with your comments. I'd love to hear them!

Whammy warning when websurfing! (Revised blog...w/pics!)

Be careful when you go to tvgameshows.net today. There is a write-up about Whammy with screengrabs (with spoilers) from the Larson rematch. I'm a bit surprised that such a screengrab was posted. So, if you do not want to know what happens during the gameplay on the Larson rematch, do NOT go on the site. Hopefully, Professor Steve will realize the "spoiler-ness" of his write-up and change the screengrab. Thanks!

And now...those St. Patty's Day pics:







The season premiere episodes (two of 'em, count 'em two!) air tomorrow (March 17th - St. Patrick's Day!) at 8 PM and 3 AM on the east coast and 5 PM and 12 AM on the west coast.

Soggy

I'm all wet and soggy...Damn the rain...

Took a friend to the dentist today since he was having his wisdom teeth pulled out. Hung around for a bit just in case something popped up. But as I heard some of the things he was to expect during the procedure, I had to go...proving what a wimp I am and how much the dentist skeeves me out and also showing why I never went to med school. Well that and the fact than I can be a bit of a hypochondriac...

More slammy Whammy pics...





A bit closer-up and clearer full shots of the game board in the first and final round configurations...

Tomorrow...More of some "Press Your Luck of the Irish" shots...

Cue Rod Serling here...

Submitted for your approval...A geeky game show fan who landed a job helping to develop a revival of one of the most memorable game shows from the 80s is suddenly planted in the position of hosting a camera/tech rehearsal on the last day of the second season...How in the hell could something possibly like this happen?!?

Take a look and see...

* SLAP * Sorry about that...had a black and white fifth dimension moment there...Here are the pics from the morning of our last tape day. They were taken when I was given the opportunity to host a tech rehearsal of the show. The first three pics were courtesy of our lighting director, Michael Veerkamp, who happened to be taking pics that day. The last pic is courtesy of my friend, Nathan, who also worked on our staff this year in the prize department. Behoooooold.....



Me trying my damndest to be like Todd Newton. Somehow, it's just not happening... :-)



A truly "behind-the-scenes" shot taken as we were about to rehearse the final round. Playing as contestants were visiting game show fans John and Chris and their friend Lisa. I have no idea what the hell I'm doing there...Calisthenics, anyone?



An even more "behind-the-scenes" shot...



And here it is...a shot from the audience bleachers. I believe this is the first pic on the 'net to show the full board in action. You can now get a sense of how big the board is compared to the contestants and what they have to face when playing the game for real.

We're in the home stretch...Just a few more days before Whammy has it's new season premiere on Monday night on Game Show Network! There will be even more pics over the weekend...

Wasting away again in Whammy-rita-ville

After a very busy day at work today, I went out with Sharon, Gord, Nathan, and Lisa from the "Whammy" staff and our "Whammy" exec producer, Michael, for a few drinks. It was awesome and it was just what I needed after a somewhat stressful week so far...Just a nice laid-back night hanging out with some great people. It made me realize yet again, why I loved helping out with "Whammy." Not only do they do good work, but they're also fun to be with. They really are like another family to me. I know a lot of the "Whammy" gang reads this site. So, if you're reading this, thanks again, guys...thanks for another fun season. I hope we can all do it again sooner than later! :-)

And speaking of "Whammy," here it is...another pic for all of you to peruse:



It's Whammy as he gets in the St. Patty's day mood by donning a little green. BTW, our special St. Patrick's Day-themed show will be one of two episodes airing as part of our season premiere night on Monday. Go ahead...I know you wanna say it...I'm such a publicity whore...

Pop

Had a long day today so I did the fast-food thing for dinner and stopped by the KFC. While I was waiting for the drive-thru cashier to take my order I perused the menu. In doing so, I noticed that KFC now sells a half-gallon mega jug of soda. A HALF-GALLON of soda. I think that honestly breaks the record for a size of soda sold at a fast-food drive-thru. As I sat there amazed at how big of a size of soda they were selling, I realized that I probably drink that much soda in a day. I then realized that I drink a hell of a lot of soda. After that, I realized that I'm pretty damn lucky that my teeth haven't fallen out from all the liquid sugar that I've consumed. At that point, I realized that I've been thinking too much about soda and that I've been waiting too damn long for the cashier to take my order. Soon after, the cashier's voice crackled through the speaker and all was well...mmm...chicken strips...

Well, it looks like my prediction for the final two for "American Idol" is now half-wrong since Vanessa is gone. Dammit, America...get your act together... :-/

And now, it's time for the "Whammy" pic of the day...



Gaze at the revamped contestant podium featuring the "Big Bank" display. And then gaze at my big honking feet...

Music to my ears

Did something the other day which I hadn't done in quite some time...I was at the Wherehouse store in Burbank with my roommate Ted. He was there to buy some show tickets. While he was dealing with that, I went over to the bargain bin and just started riffling through the CDs. Picked up a couple of CDs...Cheap Trick's "Heaven Tonight" and Owsley's self-titled debut. I seem to have this knack of "discovering" bands I like long after they've broken up or long after their CD has come out. Such was the case with Jellyfish, such was the case with Kara's Flowers, and such is the case with Owsley. If you can find this one online or in the clearance aisle...get it. Good stuff, especially if you're into Guster or Ben Folds. (I think Owsley is tangentially related to Ben Folds Five.) I just love how I've gotten "into" this CD six years after the fact. And thanks to my friend Drew, I got a chance to sample some tracks from a CD called For the Kids. Cute, cute stuff. I just love "The Rainbow Connection"...makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside... :-)

Okay...some random comments now...

- I'll say it again..."Blockbusters" rocks and Bill Cullen was one of the best. Thanks GSN, for rerunning "Blockbusters." It's such a great "get ready for work" show.

- My new favorite candy bar. Cadbury "Crunchie." It's this chocolate-covered honeycomb bar. I've only been able to get it in the imported candies section at Cost Plus World Market here in LA. Nummy....

- Aside from game shows, TV, and music, one of my other passions is theme parks. One site I love going to is Jim Hill Media. Check out the archives site for an article about "Project Gemini," the rumored proposal for a revamp of EPCOT Center. If this ever came to be, it would be the end of an era for me. I remember going to EPCOT Center with my family in 1982 right after it opened. All these utopian visions of the future complete with cheezy uplifting songs (which I love and actually have on my iPod) to show us that "Hey, things are going to pick up from the malaise of the me decade!" I think the most striking change will be that of Spaceship Earth (aka "the giant golf ball"). It was one thing when they dropped "Tomorrow's Child" as the closing theme song, but totally redoing it as a thrill ride?!? A very big change...it'll actually be cool to see some of the proposed changes come to light, but much like my feeling with classic game shows, there will still be a part of me that "yearns for the old days" when you'd ride through the dinosaurs and then hear the rockin' sounds of the "Universe of Energy" or sit and listen to the strains of "Veggie Veggie Fruit Fruit" at "The Land."

And now...the "Whammy" pic of the day:



Whammy...party of one...Here I am during the lunch break sitting all by myself (cue Eric Carmen) in the "Whammy!" audience bleachers. Note the new audience backdrop features for season two...

Maybe this is how Elvis felt when he shot that television set...

There are few TV personalities who really irk me. A recent addition was made to the list...Michael Essany. Maybe part of it is jealousy that this kid's hosting a national-televised show and I'm not, but something about him just bugs the hell out of me. The real tip of the iceberg was this recent article from Yahoo news. The quote that particularly yanks my chain is this one:

"Pat Sajak is a game show host. There's a difference between telling people to spin the wheel and entertaining audiences like Johnny Carson."

This was in response a question he was asked to comment about failed talk show hosts including Chevy Chase and Pat Sajak. All right, on one degree yes, his quote is true. I'll give him the benefit that there IS a difference and that Pat Sajak didn't do the greatest job hosting his late-night talk show. But I sense there being an implication that what Pat Sajak does and what game show hosts do in general are irrevleant and do not constitute entertainment.

I'm sorry, but there is a lot more to Pat Sajak's job than telling people to just spin the wheel. There's playing the role of the cheerleader when people win, the empathy man when a player loses, the comic relief when a moment needs some humor, and the traffic cop to guide the audience and players through the game. I'm sick of people belittling the role of the game show host and thinking that all it consists of is just reading off questions, explaining rules off of cue cards, and grinning and looking pretty. I'd go as far as to say that failure rate of newbies to the game show host world to newbies trying the talk show hosting thing is higher. As I quickly discovered when hosting my rinky-dink game show in college, it's NOT an easy job and a lot of the good game show hosts don't get the respect they deserve. In the three or so years I've been in the game show industry, I've seen a number of good hosts' work up close and personal and these guys are putting everything they've got into it. There's a lot of homework and quick thinking that needs to be done to get the job done right. In my opinion, Essany's quote was quite an arrogant, ignorant, and dare I say, assholic comment to make...

Forgive me for being all rantish there...but I dunno, reading that particular quote from Michael Essany makes me have an even greater yearning to kick my TV in when I see his grinning face on it. Ugh...But I vent...

In other things...Somebody on one of the message boards commented that this website has turned into a "Whammy" PR site...I admit it, it's been a bit Whammy-fied as of late, but I believe in the show. In a way, it's kinda been like my baby, since I've probably had more input in this show than any of the shows I've worked on. So why not do a little plugging for it? Here's the latest pic:



This pic answers the question as to how we can do six (sometimes seven a shows day) and manage to keep things looking all nice and tidy despite the Double Whammys. :-)

Just like Bogey and Bacall

So I was up late last night watching TV and flipped the station over to "VH1 Classic." I happened to switch over when they were starting their "All Request" hour. I think I've found my new "insomniatic distraction." Lots of rare stuff...stuff I never knew even existed. The video for Bertie Higgin's "Key Largo?!?" The weird Atari meets Tron video for The Rolling Stones "Emotional Rescue?" Sure it was cheese, but it reminded me of the days when MTV played videos. For those of you young people reading this site...There was a time when MTV played these things called music videos...24 hours of them! And there were these people called VJs who'd provide little in-between bits introducing videos... :-) Now, to see if I can write in to VH1 classic and place a request for Elton John's video for "Ego...."

Quite a thrilling Sunday for me so far...Went to Target to do some shopping...Woo-ha...Did some clothes shopping there...underwear to be exact. What I want to know is when did Hanes make so many kinds of underwear? There are your briefs, your boxer briefs, your ribbed briefs, your string bikini briefs, your briefs with pouches...It's freakin' underwear!

As promised...it's a new day, so that means a new pic from behind-the-scenes at Whammy:



Now, it looks like the podium from last year, but do you "Whammy" fans notice a subtle difference. Here's a hint, look at the title of the pic.

By the end of the day today, I'll have some new updated links on my links page. Enjoy!

Idol hands

Today was a bigger day than I anticipated. I went along with a bunch of people to the Academy of Television to watch the "American Idol - LIVE!" presentation. It was a Q&A/panel discussion-type event. All twelve of this year's finalists were there along with the Ryan, Randy, Paula, and of course Simon. On top of that a couple of the producers were on the panel along with one of my bosses, the president of Fremantlemedia. It was a fun show and in addition to the Q&A there were a couple of performances by the finalists as a group. My roommate Ted was one of the people I was with and I have to agree with his sentiment that as a group, this year's finalists sing better than last year's top ten. And after seeing both how they perform and more of their personalities through the Q&A portion of the show, I'm pretty sure I've got my favorites. And even this early in the competition, I can sense which ones will be there for a while based on the applause and response certain finalists received from the audience. I'll just leave it at that and those who know me well can probably guess who my #1 pick is of the group. :-)

After the "Idol" event (which ran a bit longer than I anticipated), we all headed out to dinner which had a 'twee bit of drama. We went to the Olive Garden first but when we arrived we found out that there was a 2 1/2 hour wait. Crikeys...So we re-directed the caravan to Fuddrucker's. But alas, there was drama to be had there. Horrible drivers along the way, no parking to be found, and one of our wallets was missing. Fortunately, the wallet was found, but alas, it was additional drama that wasn't needed. We didn't get back from dinner until 10:30-ish...oy....

Since it's just a little over a week away from the season premiere of "Whammy!," I figured I'd do a little something different. Over the next week or so, I'll be posting a pic a day as a little preview of what to expect. These pics come from the ones that I took on the set over the past month-and-a-half or so. This first one kinda answers the question...How big is the board?



I'm about 5 foot 7 so that whip out the calculators and that should give you an idea of how tall the board is. :-)

A memo to Bush

"Nuclear" is pronounced "NOO-cleer" not "NOO-cu-ler." Grrrrrr....

Still coming down from the buzz of "Whammy." I see that some of you on the boards have figured out one of our Tournament of Losers players. Very clever you are young Jedis...

So I dropped by the McDonald's for a quick bite to eat last night and ordered a McChicken. I don't know what's up with the McChicken, but in the past few years, it's taken a turn for the worse. I took a bite of the McChicken last night and there were pickles on it. PICKLES! McChicken's don't have pickles on them!! If it's McDonald's attempt to be Chik-Fil-A, it ain't working. Oh how I miss Chik-Fil-A...mmmmm waffle fries.....

I don't normally do this, but this is for a very good cause. Here's a link to a site to sponsor a co-worker of mine who's riding in the Aids Life Cycle run. Definitely check it out and help out if you can!

65 Love Affair

Well, we did it...another 65 episodes done. The second season of "Whammy!" is all taped and what a season it's been. Tuesday was our final day of taping. The day got off to an interesting start. I got to host the rehearsal and in doing so re-defined the term "winging it." Without cue cards to aid me, I gave Bob Newhart a run for his money with all the stammering that I did. Nevertheless, it was a hell of a lot of fun. It gave me a better appreciation for the work Todd does and really any other game show host does. It also showed me why I shouldn't quit my day job. :-)

The shows we taped on our last day were phenomenal. The last five shows we taped were our special tournament week of shows. The first of the tournament shows was a special "Losers" edition of Whammy featuring three of our most memorable losers, one of which (depending on whom you ask) is one of the most well-loved or much-hated contestants from our first season. The last four shows of tournament week were our tournament of champions shows. We brought back nine of our most memorable big winners. They played three at a time in the three semi-finals shows and the winners of the semi-finals played in the finals match on Friday. The winner of the Friday show got to take home a brand new car in addition to the winnings they gathered along the way. The finals show also features a board that should please many classic "Press Your Luck" fans. You'll all see what I mean when the show airs at the end fo the season. It was a really great way to end a great season. What I loved about the tournament shows is that we had some of the best players from the two seasons. Also there was a great vibe amongst the contestants, especially the champs. Everybody seemed to be rooting for each other. Finally, we had some great games, especially the "losers" show. I literally jumped out of my seat at the production table many a time on Tuesday. The games were THAT good. In looking back at this second season, I can truly say that it blows away the first season. This is a testament to the hard work of the producers, the staff, the crew, the execs, and of course Todd and Gary. This past month and a half taping Whammy has been quite a happy experience and defintely one I'll never forget. I'm just sad that it went by so quickly...

In addition to the fact that it was the end of the season, there was a bittersweetness to Tuesday's taping because of some terrible news that we received that morning. We received word that Bill Carruthers, the executive producer and creator of "Press Your Luck," had passed away over the weekend. In thinking about Tuesday's taping and how great the games were that day, I can't help but wonder if we were paid a visit by the spirt of Bill Carruthers that day. Thanks Bill, wherever you are, for making one hell of a game show...And to answer a question that I saw on one of the boards, from the rough cut that I saw, Bill Carruthers did an interview for the "Big Bucks" documentary that's airing on Game Show Network in a couple of weeks.

So with "Whammy's" second season done, where does that leave me? Back in the world of development trying to come up with hopefully the next big idea. In just 11 days, all of you will see the new season of "Whammy." I hope that all of you will enjoy watching the shows as much as I did in helping to make them.

Oh, one last thing...A few of you who read the site and frequent the game show boards dropped by many of our tapings this season. A big, big thanks to you guys and for the kind words you've been posting on the message boards. Being a die-hard game show fan myself, it means a LOT to hear compliments from my fellow game show fans!