Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Quizmaster

I grew up on the TV game shows of the 60's and 70's.  Before you scoff, I have to tell you this.  They actually help make me smarter.

Password, Now You See It, and Pyramid helped me understand words and improve vocabulary.

Card Sharks and High Rollers were daily lessons in math and probability.

Split Second and Jeopardy were filled with history, science, and assorted other information.

Concentration was a memory and puzzle solving exercise.

Match Game, Tattletales, and The Price is Right were just plain fun.

Having built the foundation, I grabbed my e-reader when I stumbled across a note that a new book has been written about Bill Cullen, the greatest TV and radio game show host of all time.

While Bill Cullen was clearly an intelligent man, his main skill was simply being a nice guy.  Viewers liked him.  Contestants trusted him.  Producers liked his broadcasting skills, and how he was able to move a game along.

I'll admit that not everyone will be interested in the subject matter, and the fact that I started reading the book seconds after I learned it existed is testament to my geek status.  But, I'm also "in" to the history of broadcasting, and Bill Cullen is one of the guys who helped build the business.

There were some unanswered questions, like how Cullen worked for competing game show producers at the same time.

Overall, there's a lot of new information here, and I devoured the book.

I liked Bill Cullen before.  I like him even more after reading the book.