Come on Down!
When I find the time, one of my past times is watching game shows on television. I don’t have a good explanation for my fascination with this kind of entertainment other than maybe the thrill of seeing someone get somethin’ for nothing’. Or maybe it’s the thrill of seeing all those people with all those straight shiny teeth that game show contestants seem to have. Straight teeth and the ability to scream and squeal must be the first requirement you have to meet when applying to be a game show contestant. All the quiet, chubby, plain Janes. who’s parents couldn’t afford an orthodontist, can forget about becoming a contestant and winning it big on morning televisions biggest entertainment.
Game shows have been around for as long as I can remember a TV set adorning the livingroom. I am so old that I can remember the $64,000 Question,” when Joyce Brothers was a contestant. Do you remember when the $64.000 grand prize seemed like enough money to pay off the National Debt? Now $64.000 is barely enough money to pay the taxes on all the super duper grand prizes that they are all trying to give away. Things have certainly changed since the 50’s.
I have all time favorite game shows and I also have watched a few game shows that have aggravated the heck out of me. My all time favorite has to be ‘“The Price is Right.” What I can’t figure out about “The Price is Right” is why Bob Barker and his bosomy models don’t seem to get any older, everyone else does Another thing is that at least 75 percent of the contestants are girls who are young, pretty, dressed perfectly with perfect makeup and hairdos. This has always puzzled me, if they are picked at random, why do they look like movie starlets. I have noticed that occasionally they throw in a man or chubby little older lady from the midwest, (who is in California visiting her daughter) as contestants just to show the rest of us that when we are in California we too have a chance of winning a trash compactor.
I also enjoy watching. “Wheel of Fortune” at 6:30 every evening. This show really has some jazzy goodies to give away. Things like $12,000 clip on earrings. Now who wouldn’t want a pair of $12,000 earrings to wear to the grocery store that would have to be screwed on so tight that your ears would turn blue. They also give away red sports cars and white Cadillacs, now these are my idea of good prizes.
“Anything for Money” has to rank as one of my favorite shows too. They don’t give away new cars and dream vacations, but it is fascinating to see what fools people will make of themselves for $10.00.
In my opinion, two of the most aggravating game shows on TV are…“Press your Luck’” and “Family Feud.” “Press your Luck” contestants not only have to have straight shiny teeth, they have to be loud and obnoxious. I would like to see one of those Whammys jump down contestants throat someday instead of doing a boggie across the screen while some jerk pushes buttons to erase all the “big bucks” that these screaming idiots have supposedly earned. And on “Family Feud.” I can’t figure out how Richard Dawson can talk. He has had his mouth in a pucker position ever since the show came on the air years ago. It makes me wonder if he would be so kissy face to a homely girl suffering from fever blisters and terminal zits.
I can foresee in the future, if the game shows keep giving away more and -more cars and trips…Detroit can forget about selling the rest of us a new car to keep the auto industry in the black. and when we can finally scrape together enough cash to take that dream vacation on some island somewhere, we won’t be able to get a hotel reservation because they will be booked to the hilt with game show winners.
