Come on Down! It was the year 2000 and I received a letter from the Editor of Saturday Night magazine. It was an invitation to be part of a story and photo shoot involving Canadian Game Show hosts. I don’t know if you remember it, but Saturday Night was a Canadian magazine founded in Toronto in 1887 and was Canada's oldest general interest magazine. It ceased publication in 2005. The invitation to me and the others, offered to fly us to Los Angeles for the photo shoot, and meet our fellow Canadian Game Show hosts. There were 9 of us! Stu Jeffries and I flew in from the West Coast of Canada, the rest from the East, and Alex Trebek and Monty Hall both lived in L.A. so they just had to drive down the road. Who were the others? Here they are with the Game Shows they hosted up to the year 2000. From left to right in the photo (below) are: - Me, host of “2nd Honeymoon,” “Talkabout,” and “Acting Crazy.” - Fergie Olver who hosted a game show called “Just like Mom.” - Alex Trebek hosted “Reach for the Top,” “Strategy,” “Pitfall,” “The $128,000 Question,” and his crowning glory “Jeopardy.” - Pat Bullard was the host of “Baloney” and “Love Connection.” - Paul Hanover hosted “Showdown,” “It’s Your Move,” “Pay Cards,” “Big Spenders” and “Celebrity Dominoes.” - Monty Hall hosted “Split Second,” “It’s Anybody’s Guess,” and of course, “Let’s Make A Deal.” - Tino Monte hosted “Supermarket Sweep.” - Al Dubois’ shows included “Whiz Kids” and “Bumper Stumpers.” - Stu Jeffries was the host of “Love Handles.” Stu Jeffries and I knew each other from our work in Vancouver. You probably remember Stu for his years of hosting the CBC television show “Good Rockin’ Tonight.” He’s now the host of a very successful radio morning show in Toronto on Boom 973 Toronto. It would have been great to see Jim Perry, but Jim wasn’t available for the shoot, and sadly he passed away in 2015. Jim was the host of the classic game show, “Definition,” which was truly THE Canadian game show. The charm of the show was the spartan set design. It looked as though they had spent $1.49 on the set, and even less on the prizing. Having said that, it was Canada’s longest-running game show, and stayed on the air for 15 years! Viewers didn’t seem to mind what it looked like, they just enjoyed the show and the game. You might say, what about “Front Page Challenge” since it was on the air for 38 years?” Well, Front Page Challenge is considered a “Panel Show,” not a pure “Game” show. Prizing has always been the big criticism of Canadian game shows. If an American game show was giving away a car, you can bet the Canadian game was giving away a toaster oven or matching oven mitts. There were the occasional exceptions. On one of the shows I hosted, “Second Honeymoon,” a Wink Martingale production, the prizes were trips to major cities around the world, where Mom and Dad could enjoy either a second honeymoon or their first if they didn’t have one after their wedding. For the most part though, the prizing wasn’t what we saw on the American network shows. With the U.S. population of 300 million people and Canada’s 30 million or so, the math just doesn’t work for Canadian productions to match the prizing of the American shows. That was the only criticism over the years. The Canadian productions were always first class. Some Canadian shows were seen not only in Canada but also in the U.S. and Europe. “Talkabout” was seen across Canada and on all the Fox-owned and operated stations in the U.S. A version even played in Ireland for a number of years. At the photo shoot, a lot of stories were told, and many names were dropped of people we had worked with in the past. Alex Trebek was a very friendly guy who talked about his days working in Canada. Monty Hall was great to talk to but was still very bitter over the failure of a remake of “Let’s Make a Deal,” that had a Vancouver connection. The remake of “Let’s Make a Deal” was produced by Catalena Productions, at Panorama Studios in West Vancouver. The company ran into financial problems, affecting the production of the game show “Pitfall,” hosted by Alex Trebek, and the revamped “Let’s Make a Deal.” Trebek was never paid for hosting Pitfall. And with more than $200,000 owed to Monty Hall and his partner Stefan Hatos, the two ended up suing Catalina Studios. Not only were Hall, Hatos, and Trebek owed money, but so was the production crew. And many if not all of the contestants never received the prizes they had won. There have been success stories. “Talkabout” for one, “The Mad Dash” was another, “Bumper Stumpers," “Acting Crazy” and more. Canadian Game Shows have a rich tradition in this country as you can see in a special documentary on Game TV called “Search for Canada’s Game Shows.” The photoshoot in Los Angeles was quite a day. I could feel that we had a common bond. Other than the obvious one, all of us being game show hosts, we were all Canadians, who were proud of our country and our heritage. Till next week... Wayne WATCH: (above) The Search For Canada's Game Shows - Series Trailer (below) "Second Honeymoon: When Wink Martindale Came to Canada" |
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November 2024
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