August 27, 2005

Chico: Yo! I'm Chico Alexander, and while I was in LA, I think I saw the single most disturbing thing ever!
Gordon: This is Gordon Pepper, and...you saw Jason Block naked?
Jason: Whoa whoa whoa. Wait just a second. That was not right.
Chico: http://www.towerrecords.com/product.aspx?pfid=3272687 The Jasmine Trias CD. The cover alone is stereotypically Hawaiian.
Gordon: Oh...ack!
Jason: The most disturbing thing I saw in LA was a 28" pizza. That was insane. We ate it too.
Mike: Dammit, Jason stole my thunder. This whole show should be sponsored by www.36pizza.com
Jason: Bless their greasy hearts.
Chico: Damn that's a big ass pizza.
Mike: The cardiologists in Glendale must be glad that Big Mama's is around.
Jason: I only had about 4 pieces...they were small.
Chico: It's good eatin'. Okay, Gordon... Show'em my motto!
Gordon: From somewhere in Los...oops, that was last week. From somewhere in America, WLTI...is...on!
Chico: (applause) And joining us this morning is Jason Block, Mike Klauss, and the man who made it all possible, the grand master of Game Show Congress, Paul Bailey!
Jason: We did it gentlemen...our first live broadcast!
Mike: And we weren't forcibly removed from the premises!
Paul: A well attended live broadcast, in fact.
Gordon: Thank you for the support and love =)
Jason: To everyone who showed up...thank you so much.
Chico: Yes! It really meant a lot to us, given that it was our first broadcast.
Gordon: Joining us is Mr. Game Show Congress himself, Paul Bailey.
Jason: (standing ovation)
Mike: *does the "We're not worthy" hand waving*
Chico: Yay!
Paul: My mom says thank you for your help on Monday morning, securing a spot in line, assisting with various elements of the process for TPIR - she is at her 50th High School Reunion this weekend, and will have a tidbit to talk about.
Chico: I couldn't give a list of people to thank because I know I'd forget someone, but Paul would be at the top of that list.
Jason: Paul, the congress was unreal. Better than last year. Thanks again.
Gordon: Paul, Thank you for giving us a venue to speak at and for putting up an excellent congress.
Mike: What they already said. It was a phenomenal event. I can't wait for next year.
Chico: Yeah, I just wish someone recorded it.
Jason: Next year. I am looking into webcasting...it may be expensive...but who knows :P
Gordon: Excellent. I noticed that you also part of WLTI, did you not? I know there was a guy working the camera while we were talking. I don't know how much he taped of it.
Paul: We should have that - just have to start the dubbing process and getting it to Steve and Matt, who can then throw students at editing projects.
Gordon: Could you do me a favor and send both me and Chico a DVD with as much WLTI as you got?
Chico: Free labor. And I thought we weren't going to touch that until Brainvision :-)
Paul: Certainly will copy you with any raw video when we get it.... maybe a month or two out...
Gordon: I sense New Year's Present...=)
Paul: We are trying to build this up one step at a time, and we got great profs from the industry folks this time, and many have offered to help, which will be great in securing even more of them to attend.
Jason: We are coming up on the big 5 next year...that's a big number!
Gordon: I was very impressed by the number of industry people who not only showed up, but who supported the congress, like J Keith Van Stratten from What's My Line, Frank Nicotero from Street Smarts, Guillermo Huesca from Trato Hecho, and more.
Jason: Guillermo Huesca is my new hero. He is an amazing guy.
Chico: You know, you had a lot of industry dudes this year, and a lot of recognition, too... Monday, we were at TPIR, Rich pointed us out, and all I could say was "Uh oh, busted."
Paul: Did you guys go to TPIR any other days?
Jason: No we didn't.
Chico: Nope. We were too tired.
Gordon: We also saw all of the main geeks from Beat the Geeks, as well as Rich Fields and a number of producers.
Chico: I saw (and met) the entire geek army.
Jason: And of course the Concentration reunion with Norm Blumenthal, Buddy Piper and Ruth Horowitz.
Chico: Those were class acts right there, especially Buddy Piper, who we sat next to with the industry roundtable. We had a nice rapport. And he shared a pearl of wisdom: "In order to teach others how to act, we must first teach ourselves."
Jason: And we saw a ton of J! veterans like Jeff Suchard, Bob Harris, Dan Melia, and others.
Chico: I liked Steve Chernicoff's shirt: "I got Ruttered at the UTOC". Classic.
Mike: The Concentration panel was amazing. Just as amazing was the variety of clips Stu Shostak used throughout the presentation.
Jason: And Stu thanked me personally. Thank you Stu for everything as well.
Chico: I echo that.
Gordon: My new hero has to be Norm Blumenthal. After the Industry Panel, I saw Norm deconstruct someone's game that Norm was shown. I understand why Norm is one of the best in the business. I think in those 10 minutes when I saw Norm do that, I learned more there than I did at the panel.
Jason: Wow.
Chico: Because you're a natural born deconstructor, I take it?
Gordon: I have to continue to pick up the good work habits =)
Chico: Oh definitely =p
Gordon: Speaking of deconstructing, if you paid attention at the congress, you were able to see new games, view pilots and pitches and help people with their own ideas.
Chico: There was another event at the convention, Steve Beverly's State of the Games address, which I will admit had me giving equal amounts of head nods and eye rolls. More in the extra later this week.
Gordon: The important part of this is the retiring of a game show journalism legend, the illustrious Professor Steve Beverly. Any thoughts?
Jason: Stunned. But he has been pushing himself in ways that very few people have.
Chico: I certainly didn't expect that.
Jason: But he has been a friend for many years, and I wish him well.
Chico: We have had differences, but to do what he did for the last five years is nothing short of amazing.
Gordon: There are many people who like his opinions. There are others that don't. regardless of what you think, we will be missing a legend and it's going to be a hard task for websites such as ours to pick up the slack for him.
Mike: I was at a similar crossroads about 2 years ago. It wasn't for the same reasons that Steve's retiring, but there are parallels. I have the utmost of respect for Steve, and I told him that after his announcement.
Gordon: And as one of the Steve-proclaimed 'torch bearers', we will try to do what we can to do meet the expectations that you have for his website.
Jason: Agreed.
Mike: Naturally, one's family, health, career, etc. are higher priorities than running a web site. Steve put in a ton of work into his site, and it certainly has not gone unappreciated. A tip of the hat goes to Steve.
Chico: Agreed. I told him this before, and I'll say it again, "People like him breed people like us."
Gordon: Sure does. Beverly's site was the first ever game show internet site that I ever visited.
Jason: And I believe his was one of the first internet interviews I ever did for Millionaire. I even did his radio show.
Gordon: So Steve, we'll try to carry the torch as well as we can.
Jason: Switching gears, Gordon....we have to thank you, Joe Van Ginkel, Travis Schario and Mike Burger for the Game Show Tournament.
Gordon: It was our pleasure to run it. There were a number of classic moments in the tournament that will stay with me for awhile. The moments ranged from the funny to the amazing.
Jason: Hey Chico....Rodeo....
Chico: Drive!
Jason: LOL.
Chico: That was an instant classic, as was the J. Keith slaughter of the Gauntlet of Villains in Whew!.
Jason: J Keith was amazing.
Mike: Even though J. Keith didn't wait for the full question to be read, per the rules... Randy would not be impressed :-P
Jason: May he rest in peace.
Chico: Yep. He was the only person to clear the Gauntlet.
Mike: I was shocked Steve Leblang couldn't defend his title. Nice guy, BTW.
Gordon: Steve Vs. Super Millionaire $100,000 Winner Wayne Forrester was an incredible match.
Jason: Travis Schario did an amazing job with all his computer programming.
Gordon: Travis did a great job.
Chico: Yep. He deserves his props, man.
Jason: And all the teams were great.
Gordon: Another classic moment - Maddie Suchard, an 11 year old (and the youngest of the competitors) being the only person to match everyone on Match Game.
Jason: That was a great feat.
Chico: I believe you made a quote about that, Jay.
Jason: "I have seen the future of game show fandom, and her name is Maddie Suchard." I stand by that. She earned a lot of people's respect.
Chico: She did. I think she's going to be a force to be reckoned with on J! in October.
Gordon: Then, there were the sillier moments - like this tidbit from Match Game.... "Joe - Show me your rake. Gordon - Would you rather see my Hoe?"
Jason: LOL.
Chico: Heh.
Mike: *rim shot*
Jason: It was not easy to be a celebrity. But it was a blast to do.
Mike: At least you didn't wear the pearls.
Gordon: The 4 teams that made the play-offs, by the way, was the Gauntlet (David Whitley, David Schnell, Steve McClelland and John Corbet), Flexors Policus Citius (Jeff Suchard, Julie Suchard, Tim Hsieh, Dave Legler), The Chairman's Noble Army (Chico, Mike, Jason Hernandez, Ryan Vickers), and the Parking Spaces (Tim Connolly, Josh Guers, Paul Paquet, and Rob Royko).
Chico: Ah, the team named after a running gag.
Mike: It wouldn't be a running gag if it was parked. Our team missed out on the finals by a stinkin' Countdown conundrum...
Chico: Damn you, Richard Whiteley. :-)
Jason: Countdown...a great game.
Chico: How the hell was I supposed to know "Dismantle"?
Mike: We've only called Fremantle "Dismantle" for 2 or 3 years.
Chico: And for those who were not playing the tourney, you have the viewings of rare eps, and in the other room, we have Bill Schantz' Jeopardy! simulator.
Mike: Schantz' J! simulator rocks. And I won my J! game in a runaway, which rocks too.
Jason: Hey Chico...who won your game? :P
Chico: Yeah, Mike. You weren't up against Maddie or Burns Cameron.
Mike: With all respect to both of them, I could've smoked 'em. :-P
Chico: None of us got our Final Jeopardy! round right. I think Maddie was closest with "What is [insert correct answer here]?"
Jason: LOL
Chico: Of course, she won.
Mike: One thing I'll remember is how the number 69 kept popping up. Ryan Vickers' final score in Jeopardy! was $69, as was another person's J! score. When I played the Game Show Round, we lost 69-0. *grumble* Damn whammy.
Chico: Har har har. =p
Gordon: Teams that didn't make the playoffs included both teams that made the finals last year - The Whammies (Travis Schario, Ben Ziek, Dave Pfeffer and Matt Martin) and the defending champion Veteran Game Show team (including original members Jason Block and James Dinan), as they got knocked out of the playoffs on the last game =(
Chico: Ow. So two champion teams were knocked out. Wow, it's like Extreme Dodgeball all over again.
Paul: Something to consider would be to get Bill Schantz's Jeopardy simulator into the mix for next year, along with his game "buzzer battle"
Mike: I think a weekend-long Jeopardy! tourney might be interesting. I'm sure you'd have no problem getting 27 participants, and then playing 13 games, or however you'd want to set it up.
Gordon: In the finals, The Gauntlet wins their first title, as they defeated the Flexors in a well-played match.
Chico: Also should be noted that "Friends of Matt Martin" won the all-star game. That would be Matt, Ryan, myself and Paul. Wait, Paul, Ryan, Matt and me... we should've named ourselves Born American Canadians.
Gordon: Then there was the media challenge match, between Me, Joe, Travis and Ben Vs. Lori Bailey, Wayne Forrester and 2 others, which was also well-played - by one team. We won - 175-5. That is NOT a typo.
Chico: That was a disaster =p
Jason: That was a butt whipping.
Gordon: That was...quite enjoyable =)
Chico: I bet.
Gordon: I have now been on the winning teams of two of the biggest routs in Game Show Round history at the GSC.
Mike: In the final game of the night, my team (yours truly, Jason Hernandez, Jason Block, and Mitchell) had a 100+ point lead over a team with the esteemed Paul Bailey and Jerome Vered...
Jason: Although Mike Burger did something really naughty to me and Mr. Klauss.
Mike: ...and then Mitchell hit a whammy.
Gordon: Poor Mitchell. Thats the first time that I have ever seen anyone hit a Whammy on the Game Show Round. Then there was Mike Burger and his silliness.
Chico: What did Burger do again?
Mike: The gag Winner's Circle.
Gordon: There was a gag winner's circle with subjects such as 'Things Found on Neptune', 'Words that Sound Like 4' 'Presidents named Buchanan', 'Mediocre Foods and '7 Digit Prime Numbers'.
Chico: I guess I would've gotten the razz on Neptonians.
Mike: Jason, on Buchanan: "James......James.........James...."
Jason: I was really trying. And then I got the gag. And I hit Mike. :P
Mike: You did. Too bad there wasn't a Shecky Buchanan in the White House.
Chico: At least there wasn't a Pat Buchanan in the White House.
Mike: I got the gag once we got to Things Found on Neptune.
Chico: Neptonians!
Jason: :-)
Chico: Aliens! Luggature!
Mike: I loved Jason's clues--Io, The Great somethingerother, The Sea of whatever... And I named every planet except Earth and Neptune.
Jason: The Great Eye..
Mike: Yes, The Great Eye
Chico: Some ring... thing.
Gordon: A great time was had by all, as we played it until midnight.
Jason: And then got ready for our big broadcast.
Chico: Yep, which, for a dry run, went off without a hitch. BTW that time I played "Ohio" by Bowling for Soup, Mike? That was for you =p
Jason: Love that track.
Mike: I missed that.
Chico: One of the rotate tracks was "Ohio".
Gordon: What I was surprised about was the number of people who weren't regulars who decided to come up and talk at the table. I knew Jason Hernandez and Mike Klauss were going to get up there. I was thrilled that people like Tom Gauer, Matt Martin, Ben Ziek and Bill Schantz went up and talked too. Also in attendance was David Legler and Fox Reality's Bob Boden, amongst others.
Chico: I really loved Roleplay. That was classic.
Mike: Ron Greenberg was there too. We talked about Lin Bolen after WLTI.
Jason: She who must not be named.
Chico: Lin Voldemort =p We had Tom Gauer's reflection of "I've Got a Secret with the all-gay panel" "GSN's gonna be the network for gays. We're going to have Gay I've Got a Secret, Gay Scrabble, Gay Lingo..." I was rolling.
Mike: GSN: They put the "gay" in games.
Chico: And then there was Ben's impersonation of Shandi after I asked if we could fit her with an off switch.
Jason: That was nuts.
Chico: The answer, by the way.... we could, but she runs on reserve power.
Mike: 38 for a Lingo!
Chico: I could say something to that... but I'm not going to.
Gordon: We had some priceless moments, which will be taped and hopefully put on the site next year.
Jason: Amen.
Gordon: I am on the phone with Jason Hernandez, who says hi.
Chico: Hi, Jason.
Jason: Hi Jason.
Mike: Hey Jason! Thanks for letting me crash on a couch for a week.
Gordon: Jason wants to say something on GSC. Jason had a blast, he wishes that we were back in L.A. He thanks Paul for setting up the event and he has greetings for everyone. He also says that it was great meeting Chico for the first time, and that the whole idea of GSC is to not only go to the event, but to meet people and hang out with them and spend as much time as possible with them. He can't wait until next year, and he invites everyone to come, enjoy the madness, and walk out of there with a profit in their pants.
Mike: I say we print up an "I survived being in line at TPiR for 15 hours with the game show goons" t-shirt for Jason. Profit in their pants? That has nothing to do with a chasco, I hope.
Chico: Speaking of which, Another one of the highlights was the Legends Luncheon. Aside from a great risotto, we were served with three greats. Although I have to say that "Bingo at Home" is probably one of the most boring concepts ever devised for television.
Mike: And a heaping helping of Shelley Berman.
Gordon: Shelly Berman and his anecdotes was worth the price of admission.
Chico: Indeed.
Paul: And we checked the video on Berman - the sound is good, and perhaps even funnier the 2nd time.
Chico: Meanwhile, a hearty congrats to the three honorees, Monty Hall, Tom Kennedy, and Jack Narz, who were thrilled to have their pictures taken with guys like us... which is more than what I can say for Elayne Boosler, who hightailed it out the back once the awards on Saturday were done.
Gordon: She had to get back to her Balderdash tapin....uh....hmm. After the Luncheon, we all split up and went our merry ways - until the TPIR taping on Monday. I won't spoil anything, but I will say that we all populated the first 2 rows - and there may have been someone called up from there...=). One last question - what was your favorite part of the GSC week that
we didn't touch on?
Chico: Just meeting everyone.
Mike: That's like picking your favorite child. This entire week was full of moments I will remember for a very long time.
Jason: Yodeling on Jurassic Park the Ride.
Gordon: We sang/yodelled the Cliffhangers Theme while riding up the ride - what was great is that the people on the ride knew what we were doing and sang in too.
Chico: I mean, you guys are a cool bunch, and I'd hang out with youse again in a heartbeat.
Jason: Much Obliged.
Mike: Cool. Let's fly down to North Carolina and spend a week at Chico's place!
Gordon: My favorite part that we didn't touch on was the Casino. Playing Blackjack and banking with Ed Toutant on Thursday was a blast - and then banking again with Chico and making over $150 with him was sweet.
Chico: I made my parking money back =p And I made it out of RDU without getting my kneecaps hammered in.
Gordon: From what you were telling me, Chico, you left L.A. with more money than you came in with, right?
Chico: $40 more. Which I spent on dinner that night. Thanks, Gordon.
Gordon: No prob =) Chico made around $200 and change on the casinos. I picked up $310. Next year, Chico and I will play the Pepper System again and make MORE money =) BWA HA HA HA HA.
Mike: <Charlie Brown> I got a rock.
Jason: So did I. I lost rocks.
Chico: Okay.
Gordon: You guys didn't play with us. Anyways, to finish this up, when we came back and posted pictures, etc., A bunch of people on Live Journal saw how cool it was and they want to come next year. Well, start saving up for it. GSC5 will be next year in lovely Burbank California. If you thought this year was great, next year will be even better and we're already working on it. At GSC 5, we'll have more 'stuff', trips to game shows, activities, GSC tournaments, and MORE!
Mike: 51 weeks and counting. That's more than enough time to save up some coin.
Gordon: $20 a week. $1,000 and change.
Mike: $1000+, and only $850 of that will be spent at casinos by Gordon. :-)
Gordon: And I'll make you a lot more than $850. The registration isn't up yet, but you will be kicking yourself if you miss this one. You have been warned.
Chico: On that, it's time to break while we save up for GSC5 (I'm sure Steve'll be around for that). When we return, a lot happened over the last two weeks, and we'll go through a great deal of it in Brainvision News and We the Jury. Stick around, this is the thing and we're the guys.

(Brought to you by Big Mamas & Papas Pizza. Serving GSC with 36 inches of meat, cheese, crust and grease since 2004. Check out the website at www.36pizza.com)

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