The problem for Bob Barker wasn’t getting up early every day for his new TV gig.
On the morning of Dec. 31, 1956, he had bowed as host of NBC’s weekday game show, “Truth or Consequences.” And he was thrilled.
But here was the hitch: Viewers in the Eastern U.S. tuned in for his show at 11:30 a.m. It aired live — which meant each zany, stunts-filled 30-minute telecast had to originate from its studio in Hollywood at what, for Barker and his fellow Californians, was a not-so-chipper three hours earlier than that.
“I liked live television,” says Barker. What he didn’t like was trying to rouse sleepy-eyed contestants who were still digesting breakfast.
“Can YOU imagine doing an audience-participation show at 8:30 in the morning?” Barker, 93, laughs, speaking by phone from his home just a few blocks from the theater that, 60 years ago, summoned early passers-by with the lure of free coffee and seeing a TV host in the flesh. (After a couple of weeks, Barker recalls, he persuaded his bosses to give him billing above “FREE COFFEE” on the marquee, which, he jokes, “was my first step to stardom.”)
Read more at http://www.sfchronicle.com/entertainment/television/article/Bob-Barker-a-pioneer-of-videotape-marks-its-10808343.php
No comments yet. You should be kind and add one!
The comments are closed.