Game Show Congress V Rundown

Alrighty, for those of you drooling for details as to what happened at Game Show Congress V, here it is...

Thursday, July 13: The Congress begins with a tribute video to Nipsey Russell, Jan Murray, and Peter Tomarken; three fallen legends in the game show industry. Following the moving tribute, the crowd is treated to a special performance by The Ceramic Dalmatians. This group, formed of former and present game show insiders, plays only game show theme and incidental music. Starting off with a rocking version of The Price is Right theme, they move into prize cues, then into Match Game, Press Your Luck, and many others. After their performance, the weekend's Game Show Tournament MC's have a little introductory speech before we kick off with the night's Price is Right icebreaker kickoff. Dave calls down the first four and the Dalmatians play me in. The show went alright with all retired games, only two wins. Match Game and Deal or No Deal finish off the night, and we crash out at Midnight.

Friday, July 14: Day 2 begins with an early call for the tournament MC's. Games begin at 8, and while I'm not hosting anything till 10, I still have to run some software. The games that were designed around software blew people away. Hit Man, Sale of the Century, and Monopoly on the first day brought people directly into the game experience. Later that night, we move upstairs into the hotel for Match Game/Hollywood Squares Hour, another Deal or No Deal, and the first Press Your Luck game of the weekend. To wind down the night, J. Keith Van Straaten and the crew from ACME come to the Congress with the last What's My Line? LIVE on Stage. Your panel: audience warm-up comic and video archivist Stuart Shostak, co-host of The Better Sex Sarah Purcell, host of Street Smarts Frank Nicotero, and I've Got A Secret mainstay Betsy Palmer. The night's first guest: Price is Right model Gabrielle Tuite and her line: "Owns Tanning Salon." A pleasant shock to us all, thank you Gabby for coming to the Congress. The Mystery Guest: Shirley Jones (complete with Marty Ingalls after stumping the panel). Later that night, Ben, Gordon, and I play Buzzer Battle in practice for the charity event tomorrow night.

Saturday, July 15: Today will be big. Not only will this finish the Game Show Tournament, but we have special guests in the house. A few rousing rounds of The Joker's Wild and some confusing board configurations in Blockbusters (Jason Block was the only one to connect top to bottom AND side to side), we go to the jewel of the day...the Tic Tac Dough Reunion! Special guests: Wink Martindale, Thom and Jenny McKee, and Executive Producer Ron Greenberg. Interesting insights from "Behind The Dragon" were extoled upon the masses, including the "heartbreak" that Wink felt when Thom finally ended his 46-episode, $312,700 run. Following the panel, Steve Beverly lets us all in on "The State of The Games." You can read all about it at his site, tvgameshows.net.

Next, the MC's get together to plan out next year's tournament while everyone else goes to the Hosts and Announcers panel discussion. Following the panel, we go back to the Big Board and go nuts for Press Your Luck. Starting with Ben, we add three members to "Whammy Theater." Whenever someone hit a Whammy on the board, Ben, Jason Block, Mike Klauss, and Jason Hernandez took it upon themselves to act out the numerous Whammy animations for the unfortunate player. All this goofiness brought chuckles and bursts of applause from the gathered masses. Our top winner: BJ Brown, after hitting "Add A One" in the first round, with $122,700. Take that, Mike Larsen.

That night, Buzzer Battle for the Aids Research Alliance. Our team, "The East-West Connection," got the privilege of going up against Dr. Kevin Olmstead ($2.18M winner on Millionaire) and, needless to say, lost horribly.

Sunday, July 16: One more early day with the live WLTI show, with me running the software for the mini-games. Much fun, gents. Following that, the "Insiders" panel; consisting of DoND executive producer Scott St. John, People's Court executive producer Stu Billett, and Wheel & Jeopardy executive producer Harry Friedman. They tell us practically everything they like and everything they know about putting a game show together. As soon as we come out of the panel discussion, the lobby is full of luminaries prepared to speak at the Legends Luncheon. Among them: honoree and Master of The Hollywood Squares Peter Marshall, permanent top center square Rose Marie, Price is Right announcer Rich Fields, Davidson Price is Right announcer Burton Richardson, GSC regulars Tom Kennedy and Jack Narz, and creator of Sale of the Century and Supermarket Sweep Al Howard. The luncheon begins and ends ON TIME, to everyone's amazement. I manage to get my picture taken with Peter, Rose, Ronnie Greenberg, and Steve Beverly, with the assistance of Tom Gauer. Thanks, Tom!

Following the luncheon, we go to the Game Show Tournament semi-finals and finals. The Semis: Hot Potato and Family Feud. Both games took a total of 30 minutes, moving directly to the finals and Mike Burger's Game Show Machine. After an All-Star Game and the Finals, the MC's take on any challengers. The team we faces lost to us 267-62...a 205 point deficit. Maybe next time. With enough time for one more game, I stay seated in my chair and let Mike K, Tom, and James Dinan join my team. We also take that game by a sharp margin.

With the Congress over, we retreat to bed for the "Pilgrimage" to 7800 Beverly Blvd. in the morning. More on that later...

Here we go...

Well, I've currently been in Los Angeles for 11 days. I'd have to say this is probably the most unusual and the COOLEST experience I've had so far in my life. Let me take you thru all I've been thru in the past week and a half.

Monday, July 10: Day 1. I fly into Los Angeles and I'm already hit with the first of many good surprises to come. I'm in line at the taxi stand at LAX. A guy in a suit comes up to me and asks if I need a taxi. I say, "Yes, but I'm going to Glendale." (For those of you that don't know, Glendale is about 25 miles away from LAX) He says, "No problem," then takes me into the parking garage. Do I see a cab? No. I see a long, sleek, black LINCOLN TOWN CAR!! My first thought is, "Oh, no. What happened?" But, I go along with it, because I know I've got enough cash on hand just in case. This guy, name Jafar, was originally an aerospace technician. How do I know? He talked to me the entire 25 miles of the trip. Had to have been the quickest trip from LAX, and the most enjoyable. After that, I move into Ben's apartment for a 3-night stay and crash.

Tuesday, July 11: Got my first taste of fast food Chinese that's not $3.75. Panda Express. Try the specialty Orange Chicken. I recommend it. Also, I get my first taste of British game shows The Crystal Maze and Knightmare. Also, I have to crash early that night, because I plan to make "The Pilgrimage" to Television City that night.

Wednesday, July 12: Arrival at CBS Television City. Because of my early arrival, I manage #002 in line!! (Thanks to Gus's arrival at 12:30 AM) Following a long night in line, we had breakfast at Johnny Rocket's (A Pilgrimage tradition), donuts at Bob's in the Farmer's Market (a NEW Pilgrimage tradition), and a stop at the CBS gift shop. Upon arrival in the studio, we discovered one new thing right off the bat. The doors will change for Season 35. That's all I'm gonna say. The show went well, but I'm not giving out any spoilers, unless you really want to know. That night, we connected with the rest of the Game Show Congress gang and enjoyed What's My Line? LIVE On Stage at the Acme Comedy Theater. J. Keith Van Straaten and the crew at Acme has made the show amazing, and I'm sorry to see that was the last show...outside of the live performance at GSC this weekend.

Thursday, July 13: GSC Day 1... But first, we all have to go to Wheel of Fortune. Upon arrival at Sony, we link up with the remaining GSC bunch; Andrew Greenstein (150 lbs less, thanks to Gastric Bypass), and everyone's favorite Scotch-a-holic, Tom Gauer. We had tickets to get in, but the possessors of the tickets were late in getting to the studio. However, we said we were with Game Show Congress. That was the secret word. We all got yellow "Production Guest" stickers and moved to the FRONT OF THE LINE!! What does that mean? Front row seats with great views of the Wheel, the Board, the Pat, and the Vanna. Three shows later (the first three episodes of season 24), and we motor out of Culver City for a taping at CBS of The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. Bob Barker's supposed to make an appearance, so 9 of the GSC bunch goes, with the rest going to Burbank. Barker does make an appearance, with Rich, Gwendolyn, Brandi, Shane, and Gabby. Why? To help Craig destroy his set. Barker took one karate chop wallop to the desk and BOOM, it's in two!!

More details on GSC and all the rest on the next post. Life is still kinda slow, so there probably won't be much news for a while.

The final weekend...

Ladies and gentlemen, this will be my last weekend in the Mid Ohio Valley until December. If you don't already know, I am about to embark on an exciting adventure.

On July 10, I will be flying out of Columbus to Los Angeles for the fifth annual Game Show Congress. It's the annual convention of game show superfans, former contestants, and insiders. This will also be the first year that I fit all three categories.

On August 22, I will start my internship at The Price is Right. I will be spending four months studying under the tutelage of the legend, Bob Barker, and his staff.

I'm all packed, with three days to go before I fly out. Keep checking back to the blog for more info as this newest chapter in my life opens.