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EP26 - Is That Your Final Answer? · Oh And One More Thing

0:10
So, old friends facing our fears, laughing through the
0:13
chaos and drinking some beers. So here's to the laughs, the
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crumbs and the cheers, all the awkward moments and we're still
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here 'cause in the end, we're just doing our thing.
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It's our crazy life. 01 more thing.
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One more thing. Welcome to Oh and one more
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thing, a podcast where 2 long time friends try to figure out
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what the heck is going on with this crazy thing called middle
0:38
age. It's a mix of stories of how we
0:40
navigate our lives and maybe some questionable advice.
0:43
Some days we're wise, other days we're just trying to remember
0:46
where the heck we left our phone.
0:47
So join us as we laugh, groan, and maybe even learn a little
0:50
something about surviving in the second-half of life.
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Oh, and one more thing. Hey, I'm Robin and come on down
1:07
toe and one more. Thing Hey, I'm Brian.
1:09
It's that time again. You know, our weekly time
1:11
together shooting the shit. Love it.
1:14
What's new since I saw you last? What's new?
1:16
Well, so my wife and I had our 10 year anniversary. 10 years.
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Yes, isn't that crazy? Congratulations.
1:22
Thanks. And went out to dinner.
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We go to this really, really nice steak restaurant in
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downtown Wayzata. Gianni, I've heard of it.
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That's the one time of year I get a bottle of wine.
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Yeah, really, it's the only time to drink wine.
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I'm not a big wine person, no. No.
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What did you get? We get a Savan Blanc.
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OK. And Blanc, I get it.
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We found out from going to this restaurant for 10 years straight
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that New Zealand Savan Blancs is my fave.
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That's your favorite? That's my favorite.
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They have good wines. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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But I I prefer red wines. OK, why?
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Because they're first of all, they're delicious, no?
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And they have levels of of flavored as same.
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Same to white wines. They have levels of flavour too.
2:00
Sure, but you just like only a. Savion Blanc.
2:04
Savion Blanc. Yeah, Red wines.
2:05
They taste like toenails. OK, wait a minute.
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This brings up a couple of questions for me.
2:11
OK, first of all, when have you ever had toenails in your mouth?
2:16
Well, that's kind of a personal question.
2:17
It certainly is, because that's gross.
2:20
I don't know how you'd know that.
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It is, yeah. You know, anyway.
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But no red wine I think is is the best OK.
2:27
And I prefer Pinot noir, OK, but I do like a good Merlot, A
2:31
Suraj. OK, I can't say it right.
2:33
Sure. But anyway, yeah, I I prefer red
2:35
wine. Yeah, see, I don't like red A
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because it's warm. That's where the flavours are,
2:39
yeah. But it just no.
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And is it dry? Is that why I don't like it?
2:42
Is that? Is that what I'm?
2:43
Well, there are dry wines and that's based on the tannins in
2:45
the wine and it makes your tongue feel a little dry in the
2:48
back of throat feel a little dry.
2:50
Maybe that's the tannin thing I guess like that's the problem.
2:53
So you get a a lesser tanned red wine and I think you might like
2:57
it more. Gotcha, 'cause I think a Savian
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Blanc has less tannas in it and it's a little bit sweeter.
3:02
OK. I I like it a little sweeter.
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I don't want to go too much sweeter than that though.
3:05
I think that would be too. Much right.
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Yeah, Yeah. OK.
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So. That's kind of we should do.
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Some wine tasting. We should.
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That would be fun. Then we could see what you
3:12
really like and then test your palate, see if you like them.
3:15
Sure, sure. And you know when you when you
3:16
wine taste, you do the swirl, the sniff you get, you bring the
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aroma into your nose first before you taste it.
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Sure. And then when you actually put
3:24
it in your mouth, you're supposed to suck a little air in
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with it because it releases the flavours.
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Oh, OK. Before you swallow, it's.
3:30
Like a lot of work. No, it's it.
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It allows you to then judge the flavor of the wine and you can
3:36
then determine which ones you like better or or not.
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OK, so we need to find like a wine Costco that does a whole
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bunch of things on a Saturday. Yeah, actually a Total Wine.
3:44
They do the wine tastings like Total Wine.
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All right, so next Saturday, instead of going to Costco,
3:50
we're going to Total Wine. Well, if they have a class,
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yeah, they have the class. Or we could just plan a party.
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We could and have a a wine tasting party.
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We. Totally could.
4:00
Totally. That'd be awesome.
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I like that, too. Yeah.
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You know, when we we do go shopping with my wife and I, and
4:04
she always asked me, you know, why?
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Why do I whisper in the grocery store?
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OK, Why? Well, like I told her, I'm
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trying to avoid the prices, right?
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The price is right. So that's like a little dig on
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our our show today. It is.
4:18
It is. So today we're diving into the
4:20
world of game shows where trivia meets tension and someone always
4:24
walks away with a toaster. Or 1,000,000 bucks.
4:27
You know it. Yep.
4:28
Yep. So game shows is that perfect
4:30
mix of trivia, tension and totally unnecessary flashing
4:33
lights, Right. But what's really wild is just
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how old game shows actually are. And I didn't know any of this
4:38
until we started dig into it a little bit.
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Really. Yeah.
4:40
Did you know these didn't start on TV?
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Yes, I did know they're radio game shows.
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And I didn't know that, but yeah, like way like over a
4:46
century ago. Oh wow.
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Yeah, so back in the 20s, nineteen 20s, there was no TV,
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there was no Internet, not even a solid snack line up yet.
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I get it, we just did a snack. Just radio, jazz and spelling
5:00
bees. Can you believe that First game
5:01
shows they were spelling bees? I know, right?
5:04
How strange is that? But then again, it was very
5:06
different back then, right? So early radio stations figured
5:09
out that people loved competition, so they'd hold
5:13
spelling contests, quiz segments and even audience participation
5:17
shows. It wasn't about big prizes back
5:19
then. It was about the thrill and
5:22
being part of the of something live.
5:24
I get that. I get that.
5:25
Yeah. The live audience is the best
5:26
part, right? Yeah.
5:28
You know. The Brooklyn Eagle Quiz show in
5:30
1923 is considered a very early predecessor to the game show
5:34
airing on radio as a daily quiz show.
5:36
Oh, that's. Cool.
5:37
Yeah, though the term game show wasn't really in UC at this
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radio program featured listeners mailing in questions for prize,
5:43
laying the groundwork for future interactive programs.
5:45
Oh. That's awesome.
5:47
One of the first real standouts was NBC's Vox Pop.
5:51
Vox Pop? Yeah, Vox Pop in 1935.
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OK, They'd literally go out into the streets, grab a random
5:58
person and ask them questions for prizes.
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It was casual, unpredictable and the audience loved.
6:04
It right unless some till some weird guy with a microphone 30s
6:07
walks up to it says. Here, I think that's a talk show
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today, isn't it? Totally is.
6:11
Late night, you know that you're outside and talk to people.
6:13
Yeah. Didn't Jayla don't do that?
6:14
That the man on the street thing?
6:15
Yeah. That that was his shtick, right?
6:17
Yeah. Yeah.
6:17
So by the late 30s, these shows were all over radio.
6:20
And then here's a fun fact. The very first television game
6:24
show debuted on the BBC in 1938. And it was.
6:27
What was it? A spelling bee?
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Oh, there you go. Right spelling again.
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So clearly that was the peak of entertainment back then.
6:34
Yeah, right. Spelling.
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I I would be terrible at a spell.
6:37
Dude, I suck at that. I mean, thank God for spell
6:39
check. I know, right?
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It tells you that with a little underlying you spelled it wrong,
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tells you sometimes it corrects it itself.
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For me, I'm like thank. You that's just a visual for how
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bad you really are, right all it is.
6:50
This was cutting edge stuff though.
6:52
TV was brand new and people were amazed just to see contestants
6:56
on a screen instead of imagining them on the radio.
6:59
Right, and that's the start of us losing our imagination.
7:01
Absolutely. Once television took off after
7:04
World War Two, it was considered the golden age of game shows,
7:08
right? From 1940 to 1950.
7:09
I gotcha. And they took a major leap
7:11
forward at that point. American TV officially launched
7:15
commercially in 1941, and suddenly quiz shows were
7:19
everywhere, right? In the 1950s were what you'd
7:21
call the golden age of game shows, so this is when the
7:23
stakes got higher. Literally you had big money
7:27
programs like the $64,000 question.
7:30
That's a lot of money. And 21 that offered life
7:32
changing prizes. So and audiences were hooked.
7:35
I mean these shows brought regular people into the
7:37
spotlight, teachers, housewives, businessmen and turned them into
7:41
national celebrities overnight. It was kind of the original
7:44
reality TV in a way. Yeah, and don't forget the panel
7:47
shows like What's My Line and I've Got a Secret.
7:51
Those are the best you ever watch.
7:51
Yes, you know, and I still watch like the reruns now on like, you
7:54
know, over the air. Yeah.
7:55
They're black and white, yeah. It's all God, they're so fun to
7:58
watch. They were more about the charm
7:59
and humor. Yeah, celebrity panelists trying
8:02
to guess ordinary people's jobs or secrets.
8:05
It was a a witty, classy and way less stressful than watching
8:09
someone sweat over a $64,000 question.
8:12
Yeah, so one of the most famous celebrity panel shows is Match
8:15
Game. Oh, yeah, yeah.
8:16
I mean, I know we're talking about the 40s and 50s, but oh,
8:19
my God. Like, you never watched that
8:20
show for the contestants. It was all about the
8:22
celebrities. It was the celebrities and how
8:23
much fun they were having. It was great.
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And what's really funny is I don't know if you really pay
8:27
attention, the early, like I think was like 7374, the early
8:30
ones, it was kind of blab. But then when they got into the
8:32
Match Game 76, Match Game 77, yeah, there's lots of booze
8:35
involved. Yeah, they were drinking for
8:38
sure. It's on.
8:39
It's on TV today with Celebrity Match Game.
8:41
Yeah, and from new, new panelists on there, right?
8:44
And they're funny. Oh they, they are funny, but
8:46
nothing tops the old 70's the Oh my gosh, they were so funny
8:49
right? Hilarious right.
8:51
So let's get into the 50s and 60s.
8:53
Lots of scandals. Yeah not everything was as
8:55
innocent as it looked. So by the late 50s, Crack
8:58
started showing the so-called quiz show scandals.
9:02
Yeah, it turns out some of those hugely successful quiz shows
9:05
were rigged. Shocker.
9:07
What? Yeah, right.
9:08
Producers were feeding answers to contestants to boost drama in
9:12
ratings. Viewers thought they were
9:13
watching genuine competition, but it was basically scripted.
9:17
Yeah, And when it all came out, it was a national scandal.
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I mean, people felt betrayed. I mean, even Congress got
9:22
involved and in 1960 they passed an amendment to the
9:25
Communications Act in 1934 officially making it illegal to
9:29
fix quiz show outcomes or deceive viewers.
9:32
No, really, I did not know that. That's kind of crazy.
9:35
There was was the there was a movie.
9:37
Was it was it 21? I think that was actually.
9:38
Was it the movie 20 it? Was just the movie 21 all about
9:41
the 21 scandal. And yeah, that mean that's I
9:43
mean, it went deep. I mean, they were feeding this
9:46
guy everything and every thought.
9:48
He was just the smartest guy in the world and he honestly didn't
9:50
know Jack. That's crazy.
9:53
That pretty much killed the big money era overnight.
9:55
Sponsors pulled out, networks panicked, and suddenly quiz
9:59
shows got a reputation problem. Yep, and after that the genre
10:03
had to reinvent itself. I mean most shows move from
10:05
primetime TV to daytime TV where they became a little lighter and
10:09
family friendly. Stuff like The Price is Right
10:10
and Let's Make a deal. Lower stakes, but way more fun.
10:14
Oh yeah. So is that the thing you can be
10:16
more casual on daytime TV than you can be on Prime Time I?
10:20
Think so. I mean cause the viewership
10:21
isn't nearly as much and really as a kid the only time you ever
10:24
watch it is when you're home from school.
10:25
OK. I mean, I remember when.
10:26
You stay home stick, you get to watch the price price.
10:28
Right price, right 10:00 every every time you're sick.
10:31
And you know, I work from home. You think I could have prices
10:33
right on every day. I don't ever do.
10:35
Why don't I? I don't know, it's the bad.
10:37
I'm going to watch it. Tomorrow, I think you should all
10:40
right. So Fast forward a few decades.
10:42
By the 70s and the 80's the game shows had survived, but they got
10:47
a serious upgrade. OK, so some of the more popular
10:49
game shows, well, we already talked about The Price is Right,
10:51
which was the main host was Bob Barker, now Drew Carey, but the
10:54
actual original host was Bill Cullen when it premiered in
10:57
1956. And if you ever see those old
11:00
black and white episodes, it's not the same.
11:02
Price Is Right. It's not the same.
11:03
There's really is. It was just lame.
11:05
It wasn't fun. And they kind of revamped it in
11:07
the early 70s and that's when Bob Barker came.
11:09
And that's the Price is Right. We know.
11:11
Now, and that's when the glitz came, and the fun and the lights
11:13
and the big wheel to spin and right.
11:16
Those are the IT. Was good, yeah.
11:17
They kind of brought it all back.
11:18
Yeah, yeah. So, Speaking of wheels.
11:20
The Wheel of Fortune, right? Who does?
11:22
Pat Sajak Who? Doesn't know Wheel.
11:24
Everybody knows Wheel. I know, but of course now Ryan
11:27
Seacrest is with fan of White. Yeah, and I think he's doing a
11:29
pretty good job. He started off rocky.
11:31
So he started off top, but I mean, Pat Sajak did it for
11:33
freaking 90 years at right. Those are tough shoes.
11:36
Yeah, they are. Yeah, but we watch Wheel of
11:38
Fortune now all the time. All the time.
11:40
Yeah, Wheel of Fortune. How about Jeopardy, hosted by
11:47
the late Alex Trebek and now by Ken Jennings?
11:50
One of the biggest winners I think.
11:51
Ken does a pretty good job. I think so, yeah.
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I don't watch it that often, but I when I do watch it and I if I
11:56
can actually answer a question I feel pretty good about myself.
11:59
You know other classic game show that Alex Trebek hosted?
12:02
No. What's that?
12:02
Well, yeah, he's hosted quite a few, but I just because I see
12:05
this in reruns all the time. Classic concentration.
12:08
Oh, whatever that right. They have the panels up there
12:11
like there's like 25 panels and there's two matches, you know,
12:13
two of them, two of the numbers match, it'll claim them and then
12:15
you want the prize. And, and, and the bonus game was
12:18
unique about that show in the late 80s was the bonus game was
12:21
15 numbers. You had like 30 seconds.
12:22
And but they were always cars. OK.
12:24
They had eight cars in their studio and you had a match 7 of
12:27
the 8. And if you matched all 7 in 30
12:29
seconds or 40 seconds, whatever, you won the last car you
12:31
matched. Wow.
12:32
So they're always giving away cars.
12:34
That's cool. Funny that show didn't last very
12:35
long, really. I think the.
12:36
Budget, I think the budget kind of got a little blown.
12:40
So so also one of the most famous ones, Family Feud by
12:43
hosted by Richard Dawson. Yeah, but remember Richard
12:46
Dawson? And now Steve Harvey.
12:48
And remember how Richard Richard Dawson used to kiss every woman?
12:51
On the lips. On the lips.
12:52
Oh my gosh, it was. Now today, of course, that's
12:55
gross. Oh yeah.
12:56
But it was and it's. Creepy and it's way creepy.
12:59
But now Steve Harvey and he doesn't kiss him on the lips.
13:02
But some of the topics man. I know they're kind of crazy,
13:04
right? He's funny.
13:06
I like Steve Harvey. Right.
13:07
He is funny though. He has good humor.
13:08
How about press your luck? How about press your luck?
13:11
Yeah, don't want to forget that one.
13:12
And I don't even know what the show was about really, but all I
13:15
remember is no whammies. Yeah, I remember the host on
13:19
that. One.
13:19
No, I don't. Peter Tamarkin.
13:21
Oh my gosh. Peter Tamarkin.
13:23
I I don't even remember that. He's the one.
13:24
He's the one and done. Unfortunately, he passed away by
13:26
15 years ago. But yeah, huge scandal on that
13:29
one. I think we'll get to that in a
13:29
little bit. But yeah, huge pressure, luck,
13:31
scandal. Yeah, we're going to talk about
13:32
some scandals coming up here. Yep.
13:34
Of course, we already mentioned Match Game hosted by Gene
13:37
Rayburn, right? That was pretty fun.
13:39
I remember Hollywood Squares I loved.
13:41
Hollywood. Squares Awesome, hosted by Peter
13:43
Marshall. Yeah, the he was original, I
13:44
believe. Yeah, he was.
13:46
Yep. Yep, Yep, Yep.
13:47
And this is one of my favourites.
13:48
OK, the newlywed game. Love the.
13:50
Newlywed game hosted by Bob Eubanks.
13:52
Yes. Oh, it's great.
13:53
We used to watch that, you know, as a family, we watched the
13:56
newlywed game, and then at one time, one of our dinner club
14:00
parties we had, we played the newlywed game, Get Out, and we
14:04
played with all of our couples. It was hilarious trying to get
14:07
people to match their answers. Yeah, it was great.
14:10
It was a really good time. In high school we are.
14:12
We did like a theatre thing every year and I was like, I was
14:15
the host for the new Newlywed game.
14:18
I was the Bob. Eubanks nice high school, I love
14:20
it. Yeah, it was awesome.
14:21
Yeah. And of course, you can't forget
14:23
Love Connection with Chuck Woolery.
14:24
Oh, I love that. Yeah, do you remember his
14:26
phrase? Yeah, we'll be back in two and
14:28
two. Two and two Yep, signaling the
14:29
show return in 2 minutes and two seconds after a commercial
14:32
break. Yep, that's right.
14:33
And you know, that would be a good place to take a break right
14:35
now and talk about Spring green. So we'll be back in.
14:37
Two and two, look at all you did that.
14:39
I love it. OK, so today's topic we're going
14:44
to talk about do you need a full lawn care program?
14:46
I do need a full lawn care program.
14:49
Yes, you do, and that's all you need to know.
14:54
I think I just answered my own question right there.
14:56
All right, so, so honestly, yes, you do.
14:59
I mean the big point of a full lawn care program.
15:01
So our program is set up over there about every four to six
15:03
weeks on average. And the key to is you want to a,
15:05
you want to have consistent feeding of a lawn on a regular
15:08
basis. But the bigger thing is the weed
15:09
control. OK, the weeds, broadleaf weeds,
15:12
you can only throw dandelions, Clover, keeping Charlie, all
15:14
your leafy weeds, you can only kill them on contact or the weed
15:19
control as they're actively growing.
15:20
Like you can't prevent those from coming in the yard.
15:22
Because they're growing from underneath, from a root system.
15:24
Well, they're growing from the root system, but they also blow
15:26
in from your neighbors or from the weather or whatever.
15:28
So, but you can't prevent them. The thicker you get your turf,
15:31
the more you feed it. The thicker you get that grass,
15:34
the harder it is for those weeds to get in there and hold.
15:36
Makes sense so. That's why you want to have
15:38
those regular feedings. But yeah, the main part of that
15:40
is you want to make sure that we're there on a regular basis
15:42
to take care of those weeds for you.
15:43
So, so I know a lot of folks, they don't want to do 2 or 3
15:46
visits at a time, which is great, but it's not going to do
15:48
a whole heck of a lot for your yard.
15:49
So if you're going to invest in your yard, do the full program.
15:52
OK, I love it. There you go.
15:56
So before we go too much further on game shows, weren't you once
16:00
on a game show, Rob? As a matter of fact, Brian, I
16:03
was on a little show called The Price is Right back.
16:09
I was back in. I was actually.
16:11
It aired, We taped it in October of 96.
16:14
It aired as the first show of 1997, so January 2nd.
16:16
Actually it aired, so I do still have a copy of it.
16:19
Yes, I've seen it. You've seen it, I.
16:21
I love it I. Will find a way to get it up on
16:24
our website and put a link to it so those that want to see me
16:26
look like a fool 30 years ago. OK, that would be nice.
16:29
You don't have to do that. But yeah, you know you did.
16:32
You were sporting the shorts. I was sorting the shorts with
16:36
with I think I was wearing some sort of boots too.
16:38
And oh, I was style and dude, it was amazing.
16:40
It was awesome, Yeah. But it was kind of fun though to
16:42
watch the whole process. So when you get there in the
16:45
morning. So they tape in California and
16:47
in Hollywood. It it the CBS studios, which
16:49
they just got rid of, but so they do 2 tapings a day and we
16:52
got there at 8:00 in the morning.
16:53
Hope when we get into the noon taping, we just missed it.
16:56
And you and Marianne. Yes, me and my mother.
16:58
And so we just missed the early taping.
17:00
So we were first in line for the afternoon taping like at 5:00.
17:02
So we literally sat outside on benches for like 9 hours.
17:07
It probably picked you ahead of time and said no.
17:09
So he's not waiting here for a long time.
17:10
Gonna get to that so it's the process is cause a lot of people
17:13
know how this whole thing works. I think you show how it works
17:15
yeah. So it's super interesting.
17:16
So you wait all day these outside benches then they they,
17:18
they come they they put your numerical order from when you
17:21
showed up. So one through will hover as
17:22
like 300 people sure in the audience and they they right
17:26
give your name tag and it's your legal full name.
17:28
So I was Robert on the show, not Rob.
17:30
I asked if I could be Rob. No legal name, Gotta be Robert,
17:32
gotta be Robert. So give your name tag and then
17:34
they take in groups of 10 right before you go into the studio.
17:37
They take you in groups of 10 in front of the producers.
17:39
Oh, and they and they literally. You have to be charismatic and
17:43
fun. Right.
17:44
So they literally talk to every single person in that audience
17:47
and it's a really quick hi, who are you, where you're from sort
17:49
of thing. So I think we were, I don't
17:51
know, 2530 in line. So we watched a couple groups go
17:53
in front of us, right, OK. And everybody's like, hey, hey,
17:55
who are you? Where you from?
17:56
Hi, I'm Brian. I'm from Bogoni, Minnesota.
17:58
Well, hey, Brian, how you doing? And it's seriously that was
18:01
everybody. Right, well, I don't sound like
18:02
that. Well, yes, you do.
18:04
So, so they give it to me and my mom and they go.
18:07
So hi, who are you? Where are you from?
18:08
And I'm, hey, I'm Rob. I'm from Minnesota.
18:10
I'm so excited to be here in California, here with my mom,
18:12
big arm around her. I can't wait to be in a game
18:14
show, blah, blah, blah. Just jumping up and down, just
18:16
making a fool of myself. And that's when the producer
18:18
turned around, pointed to the person behind him, pointed and
18:21
came back and smiled at me, said great, good to meet you, Rob,
18:23
really. Did you have an idea that?
18:25
So I had an idea. So then you know, find you, you
18:28
kind of stay in line a little more they finally in and you go
18:30
sit down and sit in the audience and the show starts and they
18:33
tape it as they tape it as an hour long show.
18:35
Like it's they they put in the commercial breaks live during
18:37
the show? Really.
18:38
Yeah. They just bring they bring the
18:40
house lights down and through most of breaks, Bob Barker would
18:43
come out, he'd, you know, do a little question and answer
18:45
period sort of thing. But.
18:46
But before the show starts, you know, when the show starts,
18:49
everybody's clapping and screaming and you can't really
18:52
hear the announcers. He's calling names in the first
18:54
part of the show because it's so noisy.
18:55
So they put names on cards up in front on the stage.
18:58
OK. Right.
18:59
So they can so that he says the name, but they also they showed
19:02
the card. And I think I was a third one
19:04
called. Really.
19:05
Yeah. So I'm saying I see my name
19:06
like, oh, my God. And you gotta watch the video.
19:08
You see me look like a fool. But yeah, got up there.
19:10
So. Yeah.
19:10
So you get up there, get on stage and I think I got on the
19:13
second the second game I. Got so you get sat in,
19:16
contestants roll. Sat in contestants roll.
19:18
Yep, watch the first one, then on the second one.
19:19
I got up there in the second one.
19:21
Won the bid. I'll bid a guy by a dollar.
19:23
That's awesome kind. Of a douchey move, but I don't
19:25
care but who. You won.
19:26
Who cares? And I played ten chances.
19:29
OK, You know what game that is? No, I don't know so.
19:30
There's three prizes. That starts out really cheap.
19:33
Mine was a little hibachi grill. OK.
19:35
And then there was a wooden doll house.
19:37
And then the third prize was a car.
19:40
Yeah, A. Mercury Grand Marquis Nice,
19:42
right? You have to.
19:43
So they give you like the first one, the grill, they give you 3
19:45
numbers and two of the numbers of the price of the grill,
19:47
right. OK, so I think I think it was a
19:48
three, a 7 and a zero. So I breakdown $70, he hits the
19:51
button, it drops. I won the grill.
19:53
OK, first excited. First shot right, super excited.
19:56
Second one comes up some dollhouse and there's like a
19:58
like a A4A5A7 and A0 side to a 750 hits it boom win that yeah.
20:03
So I won the 1st 2 prizes on the 1st 2:00.
20:05
So it gives me 8 more chances to win the car right Yeah.
20:08
OK, so mind you at the time I'm 25 years old Mercury Grand
20:12
Marquis. No clue.
20:14
I have no clue about this car. I mean, I know it's an old Grab
20:16
a car. That's all I know.
20:16
Yeah, that's I I know nothing about it.
20:18
I know the price, don't know anything so.
20:21
As you're on the stage, they have three big rolling cameras.
20:24
You can't see the audience. Ohh so they're all you're seeing
20:27
is these? Cameras, these cameras, right?
20:29
I mean, I'm trying to duck and weave and Bob to see my mom to
20:31
say, give me some freaking advice, mom.
20:33
I'm like, I have no idea. So I went through that and I
20:37
think by on my on my 6th guess for the car, which is actually
20:40
the eighth out of the whole thing, but on the 6th guess I
20:43
finally got and I won the car. That's awesome, yeah.
20:46
Then you you go back and sit down for a while.
20:47
Then you come up halfway through the shoulder.
20:49
You do the whole wheel thing, right?
20:50
Yeah. So I go up and I do the wheel
20:51
and I, I was the last one to go because I won the most in the
20:54
first half. Of the show and the most you're
20:55
the last one to and spin the wheel the.
20:57
Poor guy that was asking me, he spun A-90.
20:59
Like right off the bat he got $0.90.
21:01
OK, you know you gotta get a. Dollar.
21:02
You gotta get a dollar. So I, I think the first one, I
21:04
think I was, yeah, it was 50 cents.
21:06
I just won 50. So you got to spin again and
21:08
that puppy landed on $0.45. No $0.95, you went into the
21:13
showcase. So one of the showcase.
21:14
So I'll go sit down again, go through the second-half of the
21:16
show and I got the showcase and I was there.
21:18
I can't remember Colette, I think was her name from Texas,
21:21
Colleen, Texas. I remember that to the state,
21:23
Colleen, Texas. And so I won the most.
21:25
So I got to bid or pass on the first one.
21:27
OK. The first one was like a
21:28
fireplace and a camper and like, I'm 25, what the hell am I gonna
21:31
do with a camper? So I pass on it.
21:33
The second one was. Well, it's always known the
21:36
second showcase is. Always better, always better but
21:40
what's funny so I was working retail at the time and the first
21:43
thing that comes up is this huge 53 inch screen TV yeah, I know
21:46
exactly how much that is and then with the TV is a satellite
21:48
DIRECTV literally just came out I know exactly how much that is
21:51
if. You had it in your store.
21:52
I knew I knew exactly what the retail was on these things,
21:55
right? So I'm like, I'm doing my head
21:56
OK, math, math. And then it was like a bedroom
21:58
set and how much stuff I kind of had a guess on, but so I gave my
22:02
bid. I was like 9500 bucks or
22:03
whatever. I thought it was pretty darn
22:05
good. And the audience was like, so
22:07
I'm thinking, oh crap, you're gonna loo it up.
22:10
Well, the other one she like way like underbid or overbid on it.
22:13
She's way the heck off. I was within like 1900 bucks
22:15
really. So I won.
22:16
So you're amazing you won the Showcase showdown.
22:20
And what's funny is you watch a show, you watch the end.
22:22
So you're outside in this line for 9 hours, right?
22:24
Yeah. So you get to know the people
22:25
around you, make friends. And we all made a pact, the five
22:28
of us, my mom and these three other people said any of us get
22:31
us stage at the end. We're bringing all of us up.
22:33
OK. And you did.
22:33
So you watch the show on these three random people come up on
22:36
stage with me. I couldn't tell you their names
22:38
this day. I don't know who they are.
22:39
I've never seen them again since this 3.
22:42
Randalls are up there with me on stage so.
22:44
That's awesome, yeah. It was.
22:45
It was a blast. So did you still have your your
22:47
winnings? Your gifts.
22:48
Have a couple of them sold the car right away.
22:51
So everything you win. I won.
22:54
This is about 3036 thousand, I think was a grand total.
22:57
OK, 36, thirty, $6000 including the car and everything.
23:00
So they delivered the car to the dealer, to a car dealer of your
23:03
choice. Sure.
23:03
So I picked one near my house and went there.
23:05
Literally went to the dealer, sat in the car, turned around
23:07
and said, OK, you want to buy it.
23:09
Yeah. So I sold it back to the dealer.
23:10
So I think the car was like 27,000.
23:12
I think it got 16 grand for it, which is basically their invoice
23:15
price, more or less, right. Sure.
23:16
But I used that to pay for the taxes because you have to claim
23:19
it as income on your taxes. Yeah.
23:21
So 36 grand, about 25% of that's about 9 grand.
23:24
So I had to pay straight out nine grand in sales.
23:26
To get the prizes to get the. Prizes.
23:28
So I had to break out a claim in his income.
23:30
So I took the cash from that, paid for the sales taxes, and
23:33
then kept the rest of the cash. That's awesome.
23:35
Yeah, so I still have the bedroom set.
23:37
We use that for furniture every day.
23:38
And in our kitchen we sell the Baker's rack, which I wanted to
23:41
get up on stage. So you see that every time
23:42
you're here. I do see it, yeah.
23:44
Yeah, good. From yeah, that was fine.
23:47
That's awesome. Totally do that again.
23:48
Can I have your autograph? Maybe.
23:52
But in the late 90s came the big reveal game shows.
23:56
In 1998, the UK aired Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and it was
24:00
like lightning in a bottle. At 98, everybody was that.
24:03
Old. I know, right?
24:04
This is the suspense, the music, the life lines.
24:07
It was. It changed everything in the
24:09
world of game shows. Yeah, I remember it came to the
24:11
US in 99 that was hosted by Regis Philbin.
24:13
That's right. Yep, absolutely blew up.
24:15
It revealed the big, big money format, $1,000,000 prizes, the
24:19
dramatic lighting and that famous question.
24:22
Is that your final answer? That's right.
24:24
And it was always on prime time at night.
24:25
Yeah, I mean, I won't think it was on like five nights a week.
24:27
It was a. Huge.
24:29
Big deal. Enough of it.
24:30
But that success opened the door for a new wave of game shows
24:32
like Deal or No Deal or One Versus 100, even reality hybrids
24:37
like Survivor and The Weakest Link.
24:39
Suddenly, the line between game shows and reality TV got really
24:43
blurry. Yeah, and even today, game shows
24:45
continue to evolve. From trivia apps like HQ Trivia
24:48
to social media driven formats, the basic formula hasn't changed
24:51
much. You test your lock, you test
24:53
your brain and really hope the buzzer doesn't beat you to it.
24:55
Plus, what we haven't really talked about yet are all the
24:58
game show scandals. Oh my gosh, there were a ton of
25:00
them. There were a lot of scandal.
25:02
195921 rigged it is exposed. Yes, it is.
25:06
From 1956 to 57, Charles Van Dorn captivated audiences for 14
25:12
weeks on NBC's quiz show 21, accumulating $129,000 in
25:17
winnings. 14 weeks, That's a long time.
25:20
It's a long time. However, other contestants
25:22
alleged program was rigged. In 1959, Van Dorn confessed to
25:26
congressional investigators that producers had supplied him with
25:30
the answers and coached him on his performances, as reported by
25:34
The New. He's subsequently pleaded guilty
25:37
to 2nd degree perjury for lying to the Manhattan grand jury
25:41
about the deception. In receiving a suspended
25:44
sentence, Van Dorn also lost his position as a Columbia
25:47
instructor. Admits the scandal.
25:49
He expressed deep regret, stating I would give almost
25:52
anything I have to reverse the course of my life in the last
25:56
three years. This event later inspired the
25:59
1994 film Quiz Show Oh. That's what it was.
26:02
It wasn't 21. It was quiz Show based on the
26:04
show of 21. Sure.
26:05
Yeah. That's a great movie.
26:06
If you haven't seen that, have you seen that?
26:08
I don't think I've seen it. Oh.
26:09
Yeah, seriously, I check it out. It's a great, great movie.
26:11
It it's it really goes over the scandal in great detail.
26:13
And it's amazing that how much they got away with and.
26:16
So of course we don't remember anything about the scandal.
26:18
Oh God, no, before our time. But I really want to watch the
26:21
show because it seems very interesting to me.
26:24
It's super interesting. And and that really explains how
26:27
why game shows aren't rigged today, like why there's so much
26:29
scrutiny behind the scenes of the actual prize is what you
26:33
have to give away, what you have to win.
26:34
Like it's it's they're so tenacious about it.
26:36
And This is why. So.
26:37
Yeah. So in 1978 I I I vaguely
26:41
remember this one The Dating game Hulse Killer Rodney Alcala
26:45
I. Remember hearing about it I.
26:46
Remember hearing about this? So Rodney Alcala, known as the
26:48
Dating Game Killer, appeared on the syndicated dating game show
26:51
in 1978 during his killing spree.
26:54
This period is depicted in the recent Netflix film Woman of the
26:57
Hour. Oh, I've watched.
26:58
I remember that now. I watched that.
26:59
Did you watch that? I didn't watch that.
27:01
Yeah, that's a great movie. Yeah, so I'll call It was
27:03
apprehended and received a death sentence in 2010 for the murders
27:05
of one child and four women, as reported by ABC News.
27:09
He later admitted guilt to the murders of two additional women
27:12
and was suspected in other killings.
27:14
Akala died in 2021 while on California's death row.
27:17
Oh wow. Yeah, I, yeah.
27:19
I remember watching the dating game.
27:20
Oh yeah, yeah, it was very, umm, 70s flower.
27:23
Oh my God, it was great. Yeah, the big kiss at the end.
27:27
The best in 1984, Michael Larson finds the key to press your
27:32
luck. Oh, I remember this one.
27:34
Yep, yeah. Michael Larson appeared on Press
27:36
Your Luck, where he won $110,000 a boat and vacations to the
27:41
Bahamas and Hawaii. OK.
27:43
And feels that don't you never watch your show or don't get it?
27:45
Like you'd be lucky to win like 5-10 grand on that show.
27:48
I mean this was massive man 10,000.
27:51
Yeah, huge. His secret?
27:52
He memorized 5 hidden patterns that governed the games board.
27:56
Seemingly random. Yeah, yeah.
27:59
It wasn't random at all. I know it was.
28:00
It was a plan definite pattern. And yeah, back back then, they
28:03
weren't very much into that yet, so.
28:05
Despite his ingenious strategy, CBS initially resisted paying
28:09
Larson. Michael Brockman, then head of
28:11
CBS daytime programming, recalled in a 2019 interview
28:16
with The Hollywood Reporter that the network standards and
28:19
practices department suspected cheating.
28:21
Brockman, however, countered. How did he cheat?
28:24
He beat the system. CBS ultimately relented and paid
28:28
Larson his winning well. Yeah, I mean, they pretty much
28:30
had to. I mean, he didn't technically,
28:32
he didn't cheat. He didn't, he just memorized.
28:34
He he found the key to their secret, right?
28:37
That's not cheating. And and if they can't have a
28:39
random, right, you know, that's on the process, yeah, that's
28:42
their fault. Following the incident, Press
28:44
Your Luck producers reprogrammed the game board to include 32
28:48
patterns. Larson later died in 1999 from
28:51
throat cancer, at which point he was reportedly being sought by
28:55
the SECIRS and the FBI in connection with the fraudulent
28:59
Multi Level Marketing. Wow, everybody was after him.
29:02
Yeah, you know, I, it's funny. So I way back when Game Show
29:06
Network was in its early days, they this is like the first like
29:09
original program they did. They did like an hour long
29:12
thing. I was a Poly longer than that on
29:14
this guy. And they went back and grabbed
29:16
all the actual footage from the show.
29:17
It's like CBS only aired the show once and it was a 2 day
29:19
show. OK, because it was that long.
29:21
It took him 2 days. Through this guy, sure.
29:23
At once. And they never aired it again
29:25
because they didn't want to. It shows their secrets.
29:27
Yeah, well, they didn't want to be embarrassed by this guy that
29:29
he figured out the hook, right, Right.
29:31
So, but yeah, so Game Show Network did this whole thing on
29:34
it and it was just phenomenal to watch the original footage.
29:36
And they showed a bunch of like behind the scenes unaired
29:38
footage too about what was happening.
29:40
And so the pattern is a very simple patterns like I think by
29:43
the 8th light, it always started at the same point.
29:45
And at the by the 8th light, that's when he hit the grand
29:47
prize, like win 5000 and then another spin.
29:49
Sure. So that's why he kept going and
29:50
going and going and going. Because he figured that out.
29:53
'Cause he always got an additional spin.
29:54
Yeah. He never lost his tears.
29:55
I think it took him a couple times to quite get the, the, the
29:58
buzzer down right to stop it. Yeah.
30:00
But once he did, that puppy was on a roll and he just kept
30:02
nailing it and nailing it. And they're just like, keep
30:04
going. I mean, it's nothing you can do.
30:05
Wow, that's. Crazy.
30:07
And, and there was a movie about it too.
30:08
I think it was on like Peacock or something a few years ago,
30:10
which is really good. But yeah, the original footage
30:12
was just amazing to watch this guy.
30:13
So yeah. So back in 2001, Charles Ingram,
30:18
he's declared a millionaire cheater.
30:20
Oh no. Yeah, so in 2001, Charles
30:22
Ingram, a contestant, the UK version of Who Wants to Be a
30:25
Millionaire? His wife, Diana Ingram, a fellow
30:28
contestant, and fellow contestant Teshwin Widdock were
30:31
found guilty of procuring the execution of a valuable security
30:35
by deception. What does that mean?
30:36
That's a lot of words. The accusation stemmed from
30:39
allegations that Diana and Widdock use coughs during
30:42
filming to signal the correct answers to Charles.
30:44
No, really, I hate. So the audience.
30:47
They're for their coughing so so.
30:49
As a result, the Ingrams and 1,000,000 prize was revoked.
30:51
They both received 18 months suspended prison sentences,
30:53
15,000 in fines and were ordered to pay 10,000 in costs.
30:57
According to the BBC News. The story of this scandal was
30:59
later adapted in the 2020 TV miniseries Quiz.
31:03
No, I haven't seen that either. I think I want to watch all of
31:06
these shows. Now, you know, it's funny.
31:07
I clearly I have like I have a game show on the back of my
31:09
mind. I kind of remember watching this
31:11
movie too. Yeah.
31:12
I mean, 2020, there was a lot to do during 2020.
31:14
So something new came out like we are so.
31:16
I probably watched. Well, what else is there to do?
31:18
I mean, you can only stare at each other for so long.
31:19
So let's watch something new. This looks good.
31:22
That's what we did. In 2008, a perfect Price is
31:25
Right bid raises suspicions. Near and dear to my heart, price
31:28
is. Right.
31:28
Price is right. Yeah, in a memorable 2008
31:31
episode of Price Is Right, Host Drew Carey was visibly
31:34
unenthused when contestant Terry Niece made history with the
31:39
shows first ever Perfect Showcase showdown bid of
31:43
$23,743. Kerry initially suspected niece
31:48
of cheating, as he later revealed to Esquire in 2010.
31:53
OK. However, he's clarified to the
31:55
magazine that his success was the result of months of studying
32:00
episodes and memorizing price values.
32:03
He explained that $23,000 was his calculated bid for the
32:07
showcase and the adjusted 743 dollars came from his personal
32:13
PIN number, a combination of his wedding date and his wife's
32:19
birthday. That seems like a legit story.
32:21
So it seems a little false. So so.
32:24
Despite Niece's explanation, Carrie believed the contestant
32:27
was assisted by 10 Slauson, a super fan known from memorizing
32:30
prize values and signaling correct answers to contestants,
32:33
a practice that dated back to the Bob Barker era.
32:36
Slauson's motivation was simply the enjoyment of seeing
32:39
contestants win. While Nice was ultimately
32:41
allowed to keep his prizes, Slauson reportedly faced a ban
32:44
from future tapings. Shocker, right?
32:47
Their intriguing story is chronicled in the 2017
32:49
documentary Perfect Bid. The contestant who knew too
32:51
much. OK, I see this one too.
32:53
Yeah, I've seen this. It's a documentary and it's
32:55
actually quite fast. Really good.
32:57
Yeah. So following the it's this
32:58
incident, the prices, right? Producers, producers have
33:00
adjusted gameplay to prevent viewers from memorizing prizes.
33:03
So, you know, it's funny though, because you're, I remember
33:05
watching the show and you're right, this guy, like he had
33:08
this huge spreadsheet of like every season they they had the
33:11
same prizes and prizes and the prices stayed the same for the
33:13
entire year, right. So you could memorize.
33:16
Oh, totally could. And kind of back to my stories,
33:19
OK, I didn't know the exact retail price, the prizes I was
33:22
bidding on that and that showcase showdown.
33:23
But you were lucky to actually know why the prices.
33:26
I had a really good working knowledge of what the actual
33:29
right what the manufacturer suggested retail price was
33:32
'cause. You worked in retail I.
33:33
Worked in retail and I knew those two items.
33:35
I knew the satellite dish, I knew the TV and I knew, I mean,
33:37
I, I was dead on, but I mean in my head, like I had a really
33:39
good ballpark. Had your store had bedroom
33:41
furniture you would have gotten that too.
33:43
Probably right. So, yeah, I mean, that's, it's
33:46
it's crazy that that they something, this is called a
33:48
scandal. It's like no man, it's people
33:50
work in the system. Right, just learning this
33:52
system, right? Yeah, yeah.
33:53
Wow. And those are only a few of the
33:55
scandals. But beyond the scandals, it's
33:57
crazy to think that a genre born from 1920s radio spelling bees
34:01
is still thriving today. Right, that's crazy.
34:03
Yeah, it's proof that competition, laughter and the
34:06
dream of winning something, really anything, never gets old.
34:09
It does, and I always want to win something.
34:11
Right. You got to like, you know, play
34:13
to win though. Of course, I'd have to play
34:15
first, right? Like lottery.
34:16
And if I remember Paul Tabs, I did win the trivia contest
34:20
against you. This is never going to die,
34:24
never going to die. Don't you have some tag to read
34:26
here at the end? Let me read it OK?
34:29
As always, please follow us on the socials at O1, One More
34:32
Thing Pod on Facebook and Instagram for highlights are and
34:35
news of our upcoming shows. And if you have a show idea for
34:37
us or just want to give us a feedback or just want to say hi,
34:40
we'd love to say hi to you. Send us an e-mail to
34:42
owenonemorethingpod@gmail.com. Love to hear from you.
34:45
Plus, I think, you know, we've got merchandise, T-shirts and
34:48
caps. We'd love to give you one.
34:49
Please send us an e-mail. Yeah, everybody's wearing them.
34:52
Oh, and one more thing, whether it's for bragging rights, a car,
34:55
or $1,000,000 game, shows have always been about giving
34:58
everyday people their moment in the spotlight.
35:00
And that's why, even after 100 years, we're still tuning in.
35:04
Cool. All right, bye bye everyone.
35:07
I think I we should both go on a game show together.
35:09
Oh, totally.