TV Game Show Hosts

Chuck Barris

Bill Thompson

Do you remember The Dating Game? Or The Newlywed Game? How about The Gong Show?

They and many other TV game shows were all created by the same man: Chuck Barris. He was the king of game shows for many years until he retired in the 1980s and moved to France.

A few years later, he wrote a memoir called The Game Show King. And that’s when I met him and interviewed him.

So here now, from 1993, Chuck Barris.

Chuck Barris died in 2017. He was 87.

------------------------------------------------------

You may also lik these episodes:
Alex Trebek

Kitty Carlisle Hart

Bill Thompson

Regular listeners of Now I’ve Heard Everything know that I don’t often get starstruck. But this was one of those times.

If you grew up in the ’60s, as I did, you may best remember Kitty Carlisle as a panelist on the game show “To Tell the Truth.” But her acting career went back many decades before that.

In fact, Kitty Carlisle was a featured performer in the 1935 Marx Brothers classic “A Night at the Opera.”

In 1988, Kitty Carlisle Hart Road an autobiography. That’s what I met her.

So here now, from 1988, Kitty Carlisle Hart:

Kitty Carlisle Hart died in 2007 at age 96.

Alex Trebek

Bill Thompson
Photo: ANDERS KRUSBERG / PEABODY AWARDS

By now you’ve heard the sad news that Jeopardy host Alex Trebek passed away early Sunday.

So today, we’ll be revisiting my interview with him from some 30 years ago. He was promoting a book called, appropriately enough, The Jeopardy Book.

And get ready for some real Insider information about the show he hosted since 1984.

So here now, from 1990, Alex Trebek:

Vanna White

Bill Thompson

Vanna White has been turning the letters on TV’s “Wheel of Fortune” since 1982.

But viewers of the show know that Vanna is much more than just a letter turner.

Soon after joining the show, she rose to nearly the prominence of host, Pat Sajak.

I met Vanna White in 1987. She had written a memoir called “Vanna Speaks,” and I interviewed her at the convention of the American Booksellers Association.

So, here now, from 1987, Vanna White.

Vanna White is 63 now. She is signed to co-host “Wheel of Fortune” through 2022.