December 8, 2004
Chico: From somewhere in
America. The old-school edition of WLTI... is on.
Gordon: We're kicking it on the East Coast / West Coast
trip... From the East Coast - Gordon Pepper and Chico
Alexander
Chico: Both with you on this beautiful Saturday
morning.. and you know something.. Jeopardy! just ain't
the same anymore... We'll get to that later, but first,
the intros of semi-regs and other assorted guests.
Gordon: From the West Coast - Robert Seidelman, Joe Van
Ginkel and OUR VERY SPECIAL guest Tim Hsieh.
Rob: You know I would freestyle, but I wouldn't want to
embarrass myself.
Tim: Glad to be here. When Jeff Suchard was on in the
past, I suggested that next time he bring some Ritalin
for the crew. I hope I have enough for everyone.
Chico: No need. I'm chill enough as it is =p
Gordon: and then there's....where would you consider
yourself to be, Ryan?
Ryan: Yeah, lets go with the North, eh?
Chico: And then there's Ryan Vickers from the North.
Gordon: The Great White North bring the snow - and the
smack down.
Ryan: We don't have snow! Yet.
Gordon: Would you believe the West Coast got the first
snowfall?
Rob: Yeah.
Ryan: Really?
Chico: Wha? No snow in NC, but it's mighty cold.
Gordon: It's already snowed in California - and many
people think that it would have snowed in California
before Ken Jennings lost, but.... he did.
Rob: Ah, so hell does freeze over.
Chico: And Bob Dylan does an interview with 60 Minutes.
I'd say so.
Ryan: Next you're going to tell me Thom McKee's not on
Tic Tac Dough anymore!
Gordon: Well, I knew Tic Tac Dough had to be still
playing somewhere.
Ryan: Maybe in France? Le tic et le tac fait le dough?
Gordon: What do you think about Jennings and his legacy?
Ryan: I'm thinking that's going to be hard to match, for
starters.
Chico: He changed up the game, but not in the way that
everyone's clamoring for their own Ken Jennings. So in
the grand scheme of things, it was probably another
smart guy with another great run. If this was the 50s,
I'd say, hey, the guy cheated.
Rob: Ken did what Thom McKee did, completely change the
landscape and made a classic game show make front page
news again.
Ryan: I'm actually getting sick of hearing accusations
of him "throwing" the last game or it being rigged!
Chico: I've heard some stuff, and it all just sounds
like paranoid nonsense, really.
Ryan: But you're right, it's hip to be a game show
junkie again. We're going to roll in the dough, guys!
Imagine though if he would have lost on something like
"What is 1949?"... no tax return preparation then.
Tim: Ken was clearly getting tired the last few days.
The one thing that made a little suspicious is the
thought that the show schedule coincided to end with
Sweeps, and the next show had December 1 as a category.
Gordon: I dont think he would throw away a continual
cash stream. Why would he throw the game?
Ryan: I don't think he threw it either... but that's
just some peoples' thinking.
Rob: At least he gets that 1.3 million back thanks to
his new talent contract.
Chico: And free taxes for life.
Rob: 182 calendar days he was champion.
Chico: That's exactly half the year. Well... Almost.
Ryan: And all Weird Al needs to do know is bring back
that old song and call it "Ken lost on Jeopardy, baby!"
Gordon: I don't think he did it intentionally. Is
Jennings the best trivia player ever?
Rob: Honestly, no.
Chico: I don't think so...
Gordon: Who is?
Ryan: You know we could discuss if Jennings is the best
trivia player ever, but I think it's more of the fact
that he's one of the best players that J! has ever seen.
Rob: it's a toss-up between Thom McKee and I'm gonna go
out on a limb and say someone who was more courageous
than Ken, Blockbuster's John Hatten.
Chico: I'll see your John Hatten and raise you a pair of
Blockbusters - Pat & Liz McCarthy.
Think of the two as "the female team version of John
Hatten"
Ryan: Excellent. I'll take the "W", Chico.
Rob: I may get laughed at also, but my honorable mention
goes to Thomas Van Dyke and Stan Newman. Stan Newman was
the over $124,000+ winner on Challengers and Thomas Van
Dyke was on The Joker's Wild - 1990 and won over
$55,000. Im waiting for GSN to repeat his 2nd reign of
terror.
Gordon: TJW '90 isn't a real show. Newman was a great
player and I'd rank him up there with the best.
Ryan: It really depends... different shows show
different skill sets, don't they?
Chico: But going back to my original question, it's cool
to be a quiz show junkie... but is it cool to be a quiz
show?
Gordon: As long as you aren't TJW '90, it's cool to be a
quiz show
Rob: Geez I'm probably the only one who liked The
Joker's Wild 90.
Ryan: I think it's now a hard time to be a quiz show...
a lot of expectations now want to see consistency... we
could easily get into a returning champions' discussion.
Tim: ESPN Trivial Pursuit obviously didn't make the cut.
Gordon: Uh....no. What an awful show that was.
Rob: That would need its own big board for reasons why
it didn't make the cut
Ryan: There's never really been a good format for
Trivial Pursuit, has there?
Rob: Nope. Not even Wink 'Winker' Martindale could have
saved that show.
Chico: Well, this one was pretty good, but I don't think
enough people warmed to it.
Gordon: I liked the version with Wink Martindale.
Joe: So did I.
Gordon: The ESPN version lacked direct competition and
no prizes. Why compete on a show where if you win, you
win nothing and you get dethroned if you don't complete
the bonus round?
Tim: It certainly had flaws, but without hockey to fill
a number of hours, I'm surprised ESPN didn't pick it up
for more shows. The budget wasn't that big for the show.
Ryan: You don't have to remind the Canadian on the panel
about the lack of hockey!
Gordon: Too many flaws, not enough ratings.
Rob: I woulda preferred more Poker Tournaments.
Chico: It's good for what it was. It could've been
better, but it was good for what it was.
Joe: I'm with Rob.
Chico: I liked it because it was different.
Tim: I liked it because I was in the contestant pool.
Gordon: Different isn't necessarily good. Speaking of
different trivia shows, and Tim being in contestant
pools, On The Cover was on last night.
Ryan: Yes, let's talk about On the Cover!
Rob: Okay, one of the decent shows from Pax.
Gordon: On TV's own inadvertent battle of the high money
champions, we have Tim Hsieh (Million dollar winner on
It's Your Chance of a Lifetime) Vs. Catherine Rahm
($500,000 winner in Winning Lines and $100,000+ winner
in $ale of the Century).
Chico: We had a Catherine Rahm, we had a Tim Hsieh, and
we had an Andy Martinez Jr. Guess which one shouldn't've
had a hope in hell?
Ryan: Ooh! Ooh! Andy?
Rob: Catherine Rahm.
Joe: ROFL
Tim: I learned about On The Cover from craigslist.org,
auditioned in May, but didn't get the call for the show
until after they had (thankfully) retooled it after the
first 2 shows had obvious problems.
Chico: It seemed like everyone learned about On The
Cover through Craigslist.org.
Ryan: Apparently I must sign up to this craigslist.org...
:-)
Tim: Catherine and I were among 20 contestants they
called for a taping day of 6 shows. I did not know
Catherine other than be reputation, but we chatted for a
little bit before we got to the green room.
Ryan: Was it an enjoyable day, Tim?
Tim: After 5 shows were taped, Catherine, Andy and
myself were left (plus one alternate). At that point we
"outted" each other to Andy that we had been on shows
before. He was clearly intimidated.
Chico: Yeah, clearly. So much that he kind of pinned you
to the wall at the end of the On the Cover round.
Gordon: Do you think that Andy's hyper jumping in was
because you told him all that info?
Tim: Andy knew that he had to ring in quickly,
especially after I dominated round 2. I think he was
just employing proper strategy.
Rob: Was Mark L. Walberg fun to hang out with on the
show?
Tim: The show's staff were very nice, Mark is a fun host
on screen and off.
Ryan: Cool.
Joe: Mark L. rules.
Rob: Who do you plan to take with you to that Roseland
Ranch trip.
Ryan: Catherine Rahm? lol.
Chico: I've been there. It's not that bad a place.
Gordon: Well, Tim, apparently, you have some volunteers
for that extra ticket. Of course, I think you should
probably give your wife first dibs.
Rob: nah, I have to start school in 2 days, so I have no
time.
Tim: I declined the prize. I checked out the place's
website, and asked someone who lives in the area about
it. My wife and I decided that it was not our cup of
tea. Plus, I don't need an additional 1099 tax form if
it's not for a trip overseas (as some other contestants
have won).
Joe: Awwww.
Chico: Could've been worse.. Could've been some lame CD
Gordon: So what did you get instead? Did you win
anything?
Tim: I got nothing except another show to add to my
resume. No set of Time-Life CDs. No local trip that is
given to contestants who miss the final cover.
Chico: Now that's love right there.
Gordon: So you went on the show and won nothing? Why
bother going on the show if it's going to cost you
eligibility for other shows?
Tim: I had the chance to win a trip overseas. It was
"randomly determined" which shows were awarded which
trips. Besides, I don't have any other shows that I'm
aware that I would want to try to be a contestant.
Gordon: So when you heard the prize that was announced -
and you realized that since it wasn't on overseas trip,
you weren't going to accept it, what went through your
mind?
Ryan: I'm guessing you're like most of us... prizes
second, experience first?
Tim: I was thinking "do I really want to win this, or
see if the local trip is more attractive". But I have my
pride, so I went for the win. I actually didn't realize
it was Angelina Jolie until the last second.
Chico: Well, my brother got it from the lips.
Joe: lol
Gordon: Did you win anything for winning the game, I
mean.
Tim: I received lunch at Glendale Studios. That's it.
Ryan: Did you take them to town for that? I had a
grilled cheese at the Sony Studios Commissary...
Tim: They brought in stuff for the contestants and crew.
I wisely chose the brownie dessert instead of the
"Mystery Pudding" which no one could identify, but
everyone agreed was absolutely vile.
Joe: ROFL
Chico: Never go with the mystery pudding.
Rob: just a disaster waiting to happen
Ryan: Was the "mystery pudding" worth any prizes though?
Gordon: Maybe on Fear Factor
Joe: Never go with the mystery anything...unless it's
the Mystery 7.
Gordon: How surprised were you that Catherine didn't put
up more of a challenge?
Tim: Since we had been there for about 7 hours prior to
taping our show, everyone was getting tired. Catherine
was feeling some of those effects. Plus, she had tasted
the mystery pudding.
Rob: Ah, that's why she ended up in 3rd place.
Chico: It'll get you every time.
Gordon: Catherine Rahm - The tragedy of the poisoned
pudding.
Ryan: Not even Mystery money or pick again?
Gordon: Mystery Pudding or Vomit Again.
Chico: And speaking of tragedies... You notice that
George Gray hasn't had one decent gig since Weakest
Link? I'd Do Anything notwithstanding, of course.
Gordon: I don't understand it. He is an excellent host -
but he has gotten stunk is some clunker of shows.
Ryan: You mean Todd TV wasn't a hit?
Chico: I was shocked, too.
Gordon: The problem was that they needed to change it to
Chico TV - or Tim TV - or ANYONE who wasn't as much of a
whining brat as Todd, the person who tormented our sets
for 7 weeks..
Rob: Do we include Extreme Gong to his list of clunkers
of show?
Chico: Yes we do... it's time to go to the five stages
of George Gray.. And you know what we need for that...
Rob: As Jack Narz would say, let's bring up, the big
board.
Gordon: Let's go to the board.
Chico: Points to the Seidelman and to the Pepper.
Tim: Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance?
Chico: Good starting point, yeah. Points to Tim.
Joe: Indeed.
Gordon: That could be George's reactions when he saw the
shows he was going to host.
Joe: So what constitutes "denial" then? Extreme Crap?
Rob: Denial that he ever done Extreme Gong.
Chico: First: denial. We first saw George in Extreme
Gong... Which many fans denied. If not flat-out "didn't
accept".
Ryan: And then EG took a shot at the fan (-atics).
Joe: Which, as George himself said on the first show, "suuuuuuuuuuuucked."
Chico: You deny your audience, you set yourself up for
failure.
Rob: 1800-(^_^)-7(^_^) call that number to make them go
away.
Gordon: The performing acts or the show?
Rob: Can I say both?
Chico: It's a common law.
Joe: Common law? More like law of nature.
Rob: and only 50 cents per call.
Joe: ROFL
Chico: 50 cents for a 1-800 number? Someone got cheated
out of 50 cents :-)
Joe: They later made it a 900, IIRC
Gordon: I think he'd also like to deny that he was in
the movie classic 'Robot Holocaust'
Chico: Second, anger. Anyway, obviously he had to vent
about Gong's failure, so he did Junkyard Wars, which
wasn't that bad. The US version, that is.
Ryan: Agreed.
Rob: I liked it.
Joe: Never saw it. I'm sure I'd have like it if I did.
Gordon: On to the third stage. What sort of bargaining
are we talking about?
Chico: The bargaining that got him what would be his
magnum opus... The Weakest Link.
Ryan: His raison d'etre.
Joe: WHOOOOO! I actually saw him host that show in
person. That was the day I met Randy West, too.
Rob: Yeah George Gray at his Wise-ass finest
Chico: Favorite line: "Who's waiting for some British
woman to start asking them questions?"
Joe: Indeed.
Ryan: Brilliant!
Joe: Who think George was better on that show than Anne
Robinson?
Rob: Here.
Gordon: Agreed.
Chico: Yup.
Tim: Same.
Ryan: He was good in a different way.
Chico: He was the bully that picked on your in school..
which is basically our version of the feared schoolmarm.
Gordon: George was a perfect fit for the show.
Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end.
After the show ended, he must have been so depressed
that he wen.t on a binge of bad shows
Chico: Greek Games... check.
Rob: Todd TV...Check
Chico: $25M Hoax... check
Joe: Todd TV? Was that with Todd Newton?
Gordon: We could only wish.
Joe: :-D
Rob: Exactly.
Gordon: That was with Todd Santos, who showed us that
not everybody deserves their 15 minutes of fame.
Chico: We had lost all hope in George... and perhaps
humanity as a whole
but then came stage 5. Acceptance.
Joe: I'd Do Anything.
Rob: Perfect title for a George Gray show.
Joe: ROFL
Chico: Yep. You are a game show host who loves to act
like a wise ass. Perfect fit, I'd say.
Rob: I like that show.
Chico: Me too.
Gordon: Hopefully, that will turn the corner for him as
he can go back to the valley of good game shows.
Rob: Don't watch it regularly, but it's good.
Chico: We can hope... Well, it's time for a break. When
we return, more fun with Tim as we go old-school for
Accuracy or Idiocy...
Ryan: Ooh! I work at an old school.
Gordon: And then we all put on our best poker faces
on... as we take a class - in acting.
Ryan: I teach acting too :-)
Gordon: Well, there you go.
Chico: This is the We Love to Interrupt program. Anyone
tell you any different, they're telling you dead wrong.
See you soon!
(Brought to you by the Milk Gun, good for babies,
mommies, and Regan Burns)
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