The Game Show King: A Confession - Hardcover

Barris, Chuck

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0786700025 ISBN 13: 9780786700028

Publisher: Carroll & Graf Pub, 1993

Synopsis

The former host of "The Gong Show" discusses his creation of "The Newlywed Game," "The Dating Game," and other televvision programs, his fall from grace, and life in his adopted France

About this title

From Kirkus Reviews

Raunchy, disorderly memoir from the man who bestowed The Gong Show, The Dating Game, The Newlywed Game, and other entertainments on the American public. Barris devotes much--too much--space here to his recent retirement years in St. Tropez, focusing on his friendships with some eccentric Frenchman and his obsession with the game of boule. He also ventures such comments on his current hosts as, ``Frenchmen never change their clothes...And Frenchmen don't bathe, at least most of the Parisian taxi drivers don't.'' But the one-time (mostly 70's) Nielsen darling hasn't completely forgotten his audience, and in between the French sections he serves up a ribald account of his time at the top, going right for the groin on his opening page, a description of the notorious episode on The Gong Show (on which bad acts performed until a celebrity judge slammed a mallet into a giant gong) that featured the Popsicle Twins, pretty teenagers who performed fellatio on orange popsicles. Readers who venture further will learn about the early days of Barris's first show, The Dating Game, originally plagued by obscenity-spouting contestants; about the author's first big TV special, featuring rock-'n'-roller Cass Elliot, who ``was most definitely fat. And dank''; about how Barris was masturbated during dinner by a 17-year-old ``with the face of a sad horse'' while future Hollywood powerhouse Mike Medavoy danced with a lampshade on his head; and about how, back in France, Ted Kennedy cavorted on Barris's yacht. There's a bit of introspection, too (``some of those antics of mine can make me moan with embarrassment''), perhaps prompted by a 60-ish Barris's recent, failed comeback attempt, schlepping projects around L.A. to no avail. Which isn't surprising, judging from this latest Barris product, which deserves, with little ado, a big...Gong! (Photographs--not seen) (First printing of 40,000) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

From Publishers Weekly

This autobiography may surprise some readers: while Barris covers his many successful television game shows in some detail, his primary emphasis is on his retirement years in St. Tropez. (He also describes one unhappy return trip to L.A., which convinced him that he didn't want to go home again.) Starting in 1965 with The Dating Game , Barris racked up hit after hit with shows like The Newlywed Game , Dream Girls , The Family Game , The Parent Game , The $1.98 Beauty Show and his most famous and controversial effort, The Gong Show , considered sadistic by many because it featured individuals with minimal talents or skills otherwise unmarketable. Barris ruled the field until 1986, when he moved to the Riviera. France and the French irritated him considerably, but they were real--which, he discovered on his return to La La Land, Hollywood was not. Enlivened by many amusing anecdotes, this is a good read. 40,000 first printing; $40,000 ad/promo; author tour.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Carroll & Graf Pub
• Publication date: 1993
• ISBN 10: 0786700025
• ISBN 13: 9780786700028
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 301