Peabody & Sherman cartoons on DVD “The Carol Burnett Show on DVD Mary Tyler Moore Show on DVD After School Specials on DVD
Please consider a donation!
TV Shows on DVD/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / Movies on Blu Ray/ / / / / / / Holiday Specials on DVD / / / / / / Classic Commercials

 

 

 

 

ad

 

 

'TVparty is hands down the best site on the Web for classic TV.'
- Discovery Channel

“Bionic

The Gong Show with Chuck Barris
by Billy Ingram

The Gong Show on NBC mornings in the 1970s"There will never, and I repeat, NEVER, be a show as askew as the Gong Show. I mean, the Chuck Barris shuffle alone was enough to tune in for... but acts like the Unknown Comic and the Popsicle licking twins (the act that got the show unceremoniously taken off the air) were just to good for words. Alas, Chuckie is in retirement in the south of France and we will never see the likes of the spontaneity that was the Gong Show."
- Regards, T.J.

By the mid-seventies, the game show genre was enjoying a popular revival, thanks to the success of 'The Price Is Right', Match Game' and others from Goodman/Todman Productions.

gong showInfamous game show producer Chuck Barris and variety show producer Chris Bearde ('The Sonny And Cher Comedy Hour') were producing 'The Bobby Vinton Show' for syndication when they sold ABC on the idea of a daily talent / game show. The acts featured would be both the best and worst they could find, with an emphasis on the bad.

Chuck Barris was responsible for some of the most popular programs of the Sixties, primetime and daytime hits like 'The Dating Game' and 'The Newlywed Game'. These pseudo-game shows fed off of an individual's willingness to do anything to be on television, 'The Gong Show' would take that premise a step further. ABC bought the show for nighttime syndication, to debut in the fall of 1976.

Filmed at KGO-TV in San Francisco, the audience reaction was enormous. "Host Gary Owens was an old friend from 'Laugh-in'," Chris Bearde said at the time, "So were most of the panelists - Arte Johnson, Joanne Worley, Dick Dawson and Adrienne Barbeau. People were literally rolling in the aisles, really out of control."

The reaction to the first filmed episode was so strong Barris was able to sell NBC on a daytime version of 'The Gong Show'. Bearde would produce the nighttime version and Barris the daytime show.

The gong show with Chuck BarrisNBC, who was having a lot of trouble finding an audience for their lame game show offerings in 1976, wanted a different host for their daytime version. Chuck Barris went on a search, trying out different people before settling on John Barbour (later of 'Real People'). Frustrated with the results, Barris fired Barbour and took over hosting duties himself because taping day for the first week was too close to hire anyone else.

Gene Gene the Dancing MachineThe NBC version actually beat the syndicated version on the air by several months and the audience took an immediate liking to the unlikely game host.

Chuck Barris eventually took over the nighttime hosting duties on 'The Gong Show' as well, firing Gary Owens and buying out Chris Bearde. Gary Owens was upset by his ousting: "You were working at a disadvantage, doing a show the producer wanted to do himself."

The show was a true phenomenon with T-shirts, a best-selling book and even a major motion picture release. It made 70's icons out of 'The Unknown Comic' and 'Gene, Gene the Dancing Machine'.

Jaime Farr The Gong Show'The Gong Show' had a simple premise: If an act didn't get the gong from one of the three celebrity panelists (usually featuring the lovely Jaye P. Morgan and Jamie Farr), then they were scored on a 1-10 scale. The contestant with the highest score wins the 'grand' prize.

Chuck Barris stated that he kept the prize amount low ($516.32) to keep it from being too important to anyone. To be fair, professionals weren't allowed to compete for the grand prize. Instead they were paid the actor's union scale for their performance - $516.32. ($712.05 was the take on the syndicated nighttime version, later an even thousand).

Taping on Saturdays and Sundays, 'The Gong Show' alone burned through 65 acts a week (out of 300 a week that auditioned). It seemed every bit actor in Hollywood in the late Seventies was recruited at one time or another to be a contestant on The Gong Show (1976 - 1980 in syndication, 1976-1978 daytime on NBC) and other subsequent Chuck Barris game shows (like the '$1.98 Beauty Contest' hosted by Rip Taylor).

Five shows were taped during the weekend, with snacks and drinks (including alcohol) between tapings. Some of the celebrities would get pretty drunk as the day wore on. During one infamous filming, Jaye P. Morman ripped open her top and exposed her boobs - but then, she had a reputation for being a wild woman.

In 1976, I was trapped for a summer in a one stoplight town in the deep South (Kenansville, NC). Every day a group of us would gather at the condemned restaurant that would open just for us to have lunch and we would eat fried pork chop sandwiches, watch 'The Gong Show' and howl with laughter.

I liked the way Chuck would nervously clap his hands together and shuffle his feet all the time. (And now I know why the Friday shows were always so over the top!)

Chuck Barris of the Gong Show on NBCChuck Barris was philosophical about the success of the Gong Show; "All I want to do is make the bread, put it in the bank and live happily ever after."

Here's a plea . . . Chuckie baby, come back, all is forgiven!!!


400th episode broacast in 1977:

STEVE MARTIN ON THE GONG SHOW PANEL

Gene, Gene the Dancing Machine died in May of 2015. It made headlines everywhere.

TVparty
Mighty, Mighty!


THE GONG SHOW

"I loved reading about Chuck Barris. I worked for him from '65-'69.

"'The Gong Show' wasn't the first project where Chuck fired the host and jumped in at the last minute. He did this on 'The Family Game' pilot (circa 1967).

"Geoff Edwards was preparing to do the "run through" and the night before, Chuck got cold feet, released Geoff and hosted himself. The network (ABC) bought the show but not Chuck. Chuck brought in Bob Barker and the show lasted less than 13 weeks.

"Seeing how much fun Chuck had that night, I just knew we hadn't seen the last of him on stage."

Regards - Pghtvguy


"Here's an interesting tidbit about one of the (semi) regulars - Carol Conners, one of the "...and here he is... Chuck Barris!" girls (the one that usually wore a bikini, very well endowed) was a porn star in the seventies.

"She was most known for her role in 'Deep Throat' as the blond nurse. She also appeared as 'Candy' in 'Candy Goes to Hollywood' and 'Candy Goes to Washington' (and others). She later on became big (prominent?) in the west coast bodybuilding scene."

- Peter

Amazon Prime - unlimited streaming
of your fave TV shows and movies!
Get your FREE 30 Day Trial!

PR4 & PR5 Pages for Advertising

 

 

Video on Demand Rent or Buy

Entertainment Collectables

 

 

Dionne Warwick was a judge on The Gong Show.

Dionne Warwick on The Gong Show 1977

 


Local Kid Shows / Movie Stars on TV / Saturday Morning Shows / Video Vault / TV Goodbyes / Fabulous Fifties / Unseen Scenes / Game Shows / Requested Forgotten TV Shows / The Super Sixties / More Modern TV Shows / The New * * Shows / 1980's Wrestling / TV Blog

TVparty is Classic TV on the internet!
Classic TV on the Internet!

TV's Embarrassing Moments / Action Shows of the Sixties / TVparty Mysteries and Scandals / Variety Shows of the 1970s / The Eighties / The Laugh Track / 1970's Hit Shows / Response to TVparty / Search the Site / Add Your Comments

REQUESTED CLASSIC
TV SHOWS!

The Virginian / Men From Shilo
The Girl with Something Extra
My World And Welcome To It
Nanny & The Professor
The Smith Family
Shazam!
The Sixth Sense
Camp Runamuck
Run Buddy Run
Pistols N Petticoats
The Young Rebels / Lawyers
The Texas Wheelers
The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis
My Living Doll / Favorite Martian
The Pruitts of Southhampton
Captain Nice & Mr. Terrific
The Ugliest Girl In Town
The Beverly Hillbillies
Saturday Night Live
Shindig! & Hullabaloo
The Mothers-in-Law
Then Came Bronson
Holmes and Yo-Yo

James Garner as Nichols
Playboy After Dark
A Touch of Grace
Blue Coronet
Second Hundred Years
The New People
McKeever and the Colonel
The Rockford Files
My Mother The Car
Get Christy Love
The Magician
The Persuaders
It's About Time
Reverend Ike
Family Affair
The Gong Show
He and She
Hootenanny
Honey West
Amanda's
Way Out
Bearcats
Quark
Shaft
Hank

Requested Forgotten television Shows!
Classic TV Commercials / 1950's TV / 1960's TV / 1970's TV / Lucy Shows / Classic Cars / John Wayne / Gene Roddenberry / Rockford Files / Sea Hunt / Superman on DVD / Toy Gun Ads / Flip Wilson Show / Big Blue Marble / Monty Hall / Carrascolendas / Mr. Dressup / Major Mudd / Chief Halftown / Baby Daphne / Sheriff John / Winchell & Mahoney / Fireball X-L5 / Mr. Wizard / Captain Noah / Thanksgiving Day Specials / Disney's First Christmas Special / Saturday Morning Cartoons / Amahl & the Night Visitors / Holiday Toy Commercials / Lucy & Desi's Last Christmas Show / Joey Heatherton / Sammy Davis, Jr / Steve & Eydie / Fat Albert / The Virginian / Bewitched / Death of John Wayne / 1974 Saturday Mornings / Chuck McCann / Rudolph Collectables / Shrimpenstein / Local Popeye Shows / New Treasure Hunt / 1966 ABC TV Shows / 1967 TV Shows / 1968 TV Shows / Ric Flair, Dusty Rhodes & Baby Doll / Fridays / TV Moms / Red Skelton / Bette Midler in the 1970s / Star Wars / KISS / Lancelot Link / Saturday Morning Cartoons / Wonder Woman / Classic Comic Books / Andy Griffith / Cher / TV Shows on DVD / Outtakes & Bloopers / 1967 TV Shows / Romper Room / ABC Movie of the Week / The Goldbergs / Daws Butler Commercials / Saturday Morning Commercials / Captain Kangaroo / Chicago Local Kiddie Shows / Boston Local TV / Philly Local TV / NYC Local Kid Shows / Amos 'n' Andy / Electric Company / Bette Davis / Judy Garland / Christmas Specials / Redd Foxx / Good Times / Sitcom Houses / What's Happening! / Winky Dink & You / big brotherSonny & Cher /  Smothers Brothers /  Commercial Icons of the 1960s / Soupy Sales / The Carpenters / Route 66 / Bozo / The Carpenters Christmas Specials / Local Kid Shows / Death of TV's Superman / Wonderama / Sesame Street / Bob Hope Specials / Little Rascals / 1980's Retro Gay T-Shirts / 1980's TV Wrestling / Fess Parker / Howdy Doody / TV Blog / Lost In Space / Pinky Lee / 1980's Punk Rock / Alex Toth Book / TV Terrorists /  Irwin Allen / The Untouchables / Carol Burnett Show / Batman TV Show / Green Hornet / Today Show History / Our Gang / Doris Day Show / 1970's Commercials For Women / Bill Cosby in the 1970s / The Golddiggers / Lola Falana / 1970s TV Shows / David Bowie on TV / Hudson Brothers / Jackie Gleason / Hollywood Squares / Match Game / Bob Keeshan / Gumby / The Flip Wilson Show / Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour / The Bobby Darin Show / The Richard Pryor Show / George Burns / Lucy's Lost Christmas Special / Classic Christmas Toy Commercials / Cricket On The Hearth / 1950's Holiday Shows / Amahl and the Night Visitors / A Christmas Carol on TV / The Yule Log / Celebrity Commercials / Rudolph / Movie Posters & More! 

Classic TV Shows on DVD

Get it here!

SAVE MONEY
ON EVERYTHING!

TV Commercials on DVD Lost In Space on DVD Mr Peabody on DVD New TV Carol Burnett Show on DVD Mary Tyler Moore Show on DVD “The
/ TV Shows on DVD / / / TV Show Reviews


Save money!