December 31, 2024 • 41 mins
Morgan White Fills In On NightSide with Dan Rea:
Roger Dobkowitz is a television producer best known for his work on the game show The Price Is Right. Dobkowitz also worked on other game shows, such as Family Feud, Double Dare, Now You See It, and Match Game. Morgan welcomed Dobkowitz and discussed what it’s like producing game shows!
Ask Alexa to play WBZ NewsRadio on #iHeartRadio and listen to NightSide with Dan Rea Weeknights From 8PM-12AM!
Roger Dobkowitz is a television producer best known for his work on the game show The Price Is Right. Dobkowitz also worked on other game shows, such as Family Feud, Double Dare, Now You See It, and Match Game. Morgan welcomed Dobkowitz and discussed what it’s like producing game shows!
Ask Alexa to play WBZ NewsRadio on #iHeartRadio and listen to NightSide with Dan Rea Weeknights From 8PM-12AM!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
It's Nightside with Dan Ray on WBZ Boston's news video.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Emma, thank you very much for my intro. Good evening, everybody,
we are about to wave goodbye to I'm just gonna
say the year twenty twenty four is gonna try to
come up with an adjective to fit it, but no
adjective that crossed my mind would fit an apt descriptions
(00:28):
for this year. But we've only got four hours or
so left to twenty twenty four, and let's open our
arms and welcome in twenty twenty five. First hour of Nightside, Dan,
it's off. He'll be back tomorrow. As a matter of fact,
we're gonna talk about game shows. And I don't know
(00:50):
if you have noticed what I have noticed a lot
of people who just don't belonging a game show are
m seeing a game show, and the game shows that
they're creating new ones just kind of lack pizzazz. They
(01:13):
figure just keep offering large chunks of money and that
will do what game shows have always done, which is
went over the American public. And that's wrong. And as well,
they keep bringing back game shows. They had their time,
(01:35):
they were great while they were here, but they keep
bringing them back, and obviously Peter Marshall has passed on.
So you have Hollywood Squares, the whole new bunch of performers,
all nine stars, and the word stars is the operative word.
(01:56):
So I decided to get a professional, a gentleman who
did his doctorate in college and game shows, who got
a chance to sit down with the legends Mark Goodson
and Bill Toddman. They gave him a gig, started as
(02:17):
an intern, worked his way up, and most recently, for
over thirty years, he was the executive producer of The
Price Is Right. Please welcome form a guest of mine
and friend Roger, Doctor Roger, Happy New.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
Year, Happy New Year to you, Morgan. Is always a
pleasure to be on your show.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Well, thank you very much. And did you agree with
some of the things I said?
Speaker 3 (02:48):
I agreed one hundred percent what you said I do.
It's very, very sad the game show industry on TV
right now. It's it's you know, when when I was
working and I've left about fifteen sixteen years ago, there
were Mark Goodson was a game show factory. They knew
(03:12):
what they were doing. You had previous companies had Heater Quig,
you had Bob Stewart Productions, you had jack Berry Productions,
and these were they were involved with game shows. They
would work on a game show and make it perfect
and find the right MC. None of them are around anymore.
All these new game shows are produced by people have
(03:35):
no experience.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
In games, don't know what they are doing.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
No, that's right, they don't know what they're doing. They
don't understand the whole complexities of making an interesting game
that pulls you in that you want to watch every week.
It's on every day, that's on. It's and when they
you brought you mentioned, they bring back old game shows.
They bring them back and they're not quite right either.
You know, they do little changes quirks to it, and
(04:01):
they get the worst they get the worst mcs. It's
it's terrible right now.
Speaker 4 (04:09):
It is sad.
Speaker 3 (04:09):
I find it very sad. I find it very sad.
I have a question to ask you, Morgan. Can you
think of any game show in the last fifteen to
twenty years that was a breakaway game show that became
a big hit that people really like, that that was
on more than thirteen weeks or twenty nine weeks? Can
(04:30):
you say any which one I want.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
To deal or no deal.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
That's right, that's right, y'are absolutely right. I didn't think
was that.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
I think I think Carr and Howard Carr, excuse me,
the Boston radio personality. Howry Mandel was a great choice
to run that game show. He ran it well. He
had what you were called before that game show gene.
(05:00):
You're born with it, and it's not easy to develop
if you don't have it. And I think the drama
of will he hit the button and take whatever the
banker offers, or will he go for another couple of
briefcases hoping that one of the big briefcases on left.
You know, I liked that game show and I cannot
(05:26):
think of any of the game show that was new
then the perimeters that you put to me over the
past fifteen twenty years that lasted and held my interest
to watch it the whole hour through. Let me do it.
(05:46):
And they're bringing it back with some new confilated plot
line of deal and o'deal island, and I don't know
what that's all about, but I wish them luck.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
That's so comical they have to put it on an island.
And yes, I'm going.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
To read a list to you. I wrote down the
game show hosts. And this isn't every single one, It's
only about eight nine ten names that knew how to
do the game show of which they hosted. And I
let off with Bob Barker, Need I say more, Bill Cullen, Peter,
(06:33):
Peter Marshall. And this is in no particular order. It's
just as in the order that I thought of them
when I leave off. Peter Marshall, Peter Tamarkan, Chuck Woolery,
Richard Dawson, Jim Perry, here's the name, grout Show, and
Bob Eubanks. They all were well known for doing a
(06:59):
game show show or game shows, and they did a
superb job. And whether you got get right, let me
say you win your way up on the price is
right stage and you're playing ten chances, and you start
off not ending in a zero for the Clippers. Bob
(07:24):
knows and the audience knows that every single prize up
there for the ten chances ends in a zero, but
the poor contestant doesn't, and Bob doesn't ridicule them. He
plays along and hopes that they will stumble upon the
right formula and eventually get to play for the car
and win it. That's the game show host right right,
(07:49):
And basically he was the best in the business, right.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
A game show host on the old school game shows,
the old Once again, I'm going to go back to
the problem with digital editing. But these old shows were
taped live to tape, mainly because tape was hard to edit.
And these game show hosts, they were in charge of
the show. When the show went on, they were in
charge and were blunders. They were in charge of the blunders.
(08:16):
If they had a bad contestant, they had to take
care of the band contestant. They were in charge of
the shows. Now with digital editing, you don't. The producers
are back in charge. They can put anybody in there.
They can stop tape at any time and say, you know,
there's a mistake here, We've got to redo this. They
can tell the contestant please react better. They can stop
(08:38):
the show anytime. They're in charge now, not the game
show hosts. The producers are back in charge, and that's
what we're missing. We have these robots up there now
just following the directions of the producers. They're not in
charge of the show anymore.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
Alec doesn't have the game show Gene Anthony Anderson doesn't
have the game show gene. I could keep going and
I'll go to the opposite. The man who did not
have it when he first got the job with family Feud,
Steve Harvey did not have it, but he has developed
(09:19):
it and he has made it his own. Let me
take a break. When we come back, maybe we'll get
some phone calls. You are if you want to call
in and let me hear your opinion of game shows
six one, seven, two, five, four, ten thirty or eight eight, eight, nine, two, nine,
ten thirty, You're welcome to join. Roger Doptgotz and I
(09:40):
and I'm gonna have Roger give his backstory so you'll
understand he knows of what he speaks. Time here on
night Side eight sixteen, temperature forty four degrees.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
Now back to Dan Ray Mine from the Window World
night Side Studios on w b Z News Radio.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
Dim is off tonight. He will be back tomorrow eight o'clock.
This will be his microphone. It's always his microphone, whether
he takes vacation days off or not. I'm Morgan filling
in and my guest Roger Dopkowitz. Roger, could you give
you a backstory so people know the history of a
man who's talking about game shows.
Speaker 3 (10:23):
Oh well, okay, I go back. I studied. I studied
television in college, and after I was done with my
regular degree, I decided to go for a master's degree
and I have to write a thesis. So I wrote
a thesis on game shows, a pretty comprehensive thesis. And
(10:46):
I use that thesis to try to get a job,
and I hooked one with Mark Goodson, who got my thesis.
I sent it to him and he liked my thesis
and he's at My favorite part of this story is
I was in New York and I went to him
(11:06):
for an interview and he turns to me and he said, Rajah, Okay,
when are you planning to fly back to California? And
I said, I'm not flying, I'm driving. And his eyes
bugged out and he said, you're driving. You drove here?
I said yeah, And I think that sold him on
(11:28):
me that I would drive all the way to New
York for a game show interview, which I did, and
I got a job on The Price Is Right as
a production assistant, and I slowly worked my way up
and Mark Goodson then funny made me producer of the show,
and I say.
Speaker 5 (11:49):
With the show.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
Right right, And I was fortunate. I was very fortunate
to be in Mark Goodson had a select group of
people that he always had meetings with. You know this
this he had six or seven eight people that he
trusted with game shows, talking about them, developing them. And
I was very, very fortunate for him to include me
(12:13):
in that group. I was one of the youngest in
the group, and now I'm one of the last that
was in the group that's still wrapped. We'll tell you
what because I was one of the youngest and now
I'm the last one.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
My producer, the man who called you, his name is
Rob Brooks, and we talked periodically during the commercial break,
and he said his favorite game show was Match Game,
and I wanted to kick myself in the head. Why
didn't I add Gene Rayburn's name to the list?
Speaker 3 (12:42):
I gave, oh, yeah, one of the band.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
You began a match Game even before you went to
the Prices, right, So can you talk a bit about No.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
No, I sat on the Price first. I started on
Price first, and then match Gin was brought back, and
I actually asked for a job on the show. I
went to Goods and I said, I like the work
in the show too, and so I worked on both shows,
on Price and Max Game, and on Match Game, I
was merely merely a que card person. I made up
(13:14):
the que cards and held them up for Jean. But
I learned a lot from that position. I learned a lot,
but made a good game shows because I could. I could.
I could just observe the show. I could have observed
the chemistry. I could observe what was needed to make
that show the big hit it was.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
I mean I just periodically you would get camera time,
nothing would happen in the joke or whatnot.
Speaker 6 (13:43):
And I would not.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
I was not a very good speller, and Jean Raymond
will always pointed out that I was not a good speller,
but I didn't. I'm a ham. I love being on camera.
I was a ham. I knew I was going to
be on cameras, so I had a good time. Even though.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
Even though you just did the queue cards, I don't
think I ever saw you without a tie on, and
you always.
Speaker 3 (14:15):
I did. I always try to look the best. Yes
I did, I did.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
I do. You're wearing a jacket and tie right now.
We just can't see it.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
Right, now right now, with my broken leg, I'm wearing
a tie.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
I'm going to ask one more prices, I mean, excuse me,
one more match game question. Then I'm going to take
some calls.
Speaker 6 (14:37):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
It was obvious if you watch TV that once they
brought in the celebrity wheel, you had to spend that
in order to see which celebrity you would have to
match and for how much money. Richard dawson't was not
happy about that. No, I don't know how much.
Speaker 5 (15:02):
Oh.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
I recall that he was not happy. You could see
it in him. And that was and that was the
start of him thinking about maybe I should leave this show.
And eventually he did, of course, which was it was
very when he left the show, is very detrimental to
the show. And they just shot themselves in the foot
(15:25):
there when they thought, well we've got you know, the
press were thinking, well, we've got to let the other
stars have a chance. This is not fair that they're
always picking on Richard.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
You know, every now and then they would pick one
of the other five, but primarily oh, I'll take Richard please.
Speaker 3 (15:43):
Yeah, because Richard played. Everybody loved Richard. He took the
game very seriously. He knew and they head to head.
It wasn't time to make jokes or make a funny
answer just for a laugh, and the contestants could really
count on him.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
And for a contestant to win between five and ten
thousand dollars depending on what Richard Dawson said, that was
important to them.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
Yes, yes, we're some of the other people. It didn't
happen often, but I could see they were going for
the joke. They were right, that seriously right.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
All right, tell you what. Let's take a phone call
before you have to do a news hit. Let's go
to Beverly Manson. Speak to Jolene Jet, Roger Dopkowitz.
Speaker 7 (16:33):
Hello, good evening, Roger and Morgan Ah love object. One
of my favorite game shows was The Newlywed Game, and
so often my husband and I will do something our
interactions will remind me of that game. We were discussing
(16:54):
the way I cut hamburgers when I make them at home,
and it turned into rather an argument. And I think
for myself, so many times when stuff like this happens, Man,
they ought to make a new newlywed game and call
it They're not so newlywed game because so many people
(17:18):
in their sixties and fifties, and I think would really
bring that back.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
Roger germans an idea for you, they're not so.
Speaker 7 (17:32):
Yeah, I love to see that. But another favorite of
mine was Video Village that had a piano.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
Monty Hall before Let's Make a Deal. I remember that
game show so well.
Speaker 7 (17:48):
It was so interesting. It was different with that piano
game show. But what I'm looking at right now is
something I got from the Post Office and it is
commemorative stamps regarding Alex Trebec. Yes, and there's a bunch
(18:12):
of commemorative Forever stamps and it says on the stamp.
This naturalized US citizen hosted the quiz show Jeopardy for
thirty seven years seasons.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
And he he hosted several game shows before he struck
gold behind the podium on Jeopardy high Rollers, there's another
one that escapes for the moment moment. But he had
that mc gene, Roger, do you agree about Alex Trebeka?
Speaker 3 (18:54):
All right, Oh, exactly. No. Alex Trebek was part of
that pool of great mcs that you could if you
had a game show, you could choose one of those people,
and Alex Trabik was right up there.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 7 (19:10):
But they're going to change the format. I heard somewhere
where it's going to be a traveling trivia show. I
just heard about it once. I'm not sure. But Ken
Jennings I believe is going to replace him.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
Well, Ken Jennings has replaced Alex passed away two or
three years ago. But Ken Ken Jennings was a duel
host with Miami be Aleck and then they decided just
to go with Ken Jennings all the way through, and
last I heard, he is still comfortably hosting Jeopardy.
Speaker 7 (19:53):
Okay, Well, I'm looking to see if there changes its
format would be interesting. Well, I'd love it, gentlemen.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
Work Juline, thank you for your call and happy to
you to you. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
That's my key with game shows, and that's why some
of the game shows you see ol there now have
been tinkered with and it has not improved situations for
Jimmy and Boston. You'll be next anyone else who wants
(20:26):
to call during the news six one, seven, two, five, four, ten,
thirty eight, eight, eight, nine to nine, ten thirty. Roger Doptkowitz,
former executive producer of the Price Is Right, is here, time,
eight thirty one, forty four degrees.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
You're on the night side with Dan Ray. I'm w BZ,
Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
Let's go right back to the telephone in Boston with Jimmy, Jimmy,
Happy New Year. You've got Roger Dopkowitz.
Speaker 6 (21:00):
I years ago, my cousin, can you hear me? Can
you hear me? Years ago, was on the Prices Right
and and she was trying to be an actress out
in California, And so my aunt and uncle went out
to visit her, and she got one of the contestants
(21:22):
on Prices Right, and she ended up winning the showcase.
But it was lucky that she won the showcase. But
but she was picked because she was miss I don't
want to say the the state, but he used to
be the host of What the USA Right of Connecticut? Okay,
(21:45):
and so but so it wasn't chance that she got
called to get Tessa's row. But it was chance that
she won the showcase, you know what I mean, because
they interviewed her coming into the show, and they knew
the connection between Bob Baker her, so that's why they
take her to be a contestant. But then, like I said,
it was a chance that she won the showcase even
(22:08):
though she couldn't afford it at all.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
And we hold one second, Roger, explain to my audience, when, however,
many people show up to see the price is right?
If I'm not mistaken, I think it's three hundred people
in the audience. How do we whittle that down to nine?
Speaker 3 (22:30):
We interview everybody in line. We give them all like
a thirty second interview, and from that little interview we
decide whether they're they're good enough and or an interesting
enough person to be a contestant. We did, I can
(22:51):
I can say right now we had no idea of
the connection between that girl and Bob Barker. There was
no way we would the connection. She was picked because
she was an interesting person. Uh, she must have had
a wonderful personality, one of the reasons maybe she won
her contest and we picked him because we found her interesting.
(23:14):
And and if Bob and we would even if we
knew the connection, we would not tell Bob because that
would that would influence the show and it would be
wrong because you have should have no connection with person connection.
So I can assure the caller that we had no
idea and Bob probably had no idea either until unless
(23:37):
she said at the end of winning, I won, you
know the big contest, Bob, and that would have been
the only Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 6 (23:46):
Yeah, well that's that's great.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
But when it comes down to you and another person
of the last two, and you each get a showcase
that gives you three or four things of which to
bid upon, you have to come up with a figure
you think would be the total of all of those things,
and the person who is the better bidder wins. And
(24:15):
there have been some interesting circumstances over the years. I'm
gonna have Roger speak to that. But Jimmy, I'm gonna
say good night to you. But Happy New.
Speaker 6 (24:26):
Year, Happy New Year, you too, Happy New Year, Boldians, Thank.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
You, Bye bye, Jimmy. Anyone else who wants to do
what Jimmy did and the call before Jimmy, you want
to speak to Roger Darpka, which you want to tell
us about your favorite game show and or your favorite
game show host. Give us a call six one, seven, two, five,
four ten thirty eight eight, eight nine to nine, ten thirty.
(24:52):
For the rest of this hour, we're talking about game shows.
We'll move on to something else during the nine o'clock hour.
But Rob the perfect good I know, you know that
whole story. Tell me about the perfect bid episode.
Speaker 3 (25:12):
Well, okay, first of all, for the thirty five years
I worked with Bob, Bob and I always we always said, someday,
somebody's going to get the showcase right on the nose.
And then Bob and I we talked about something that's
going to happen that's going to be so exciting. Somebody
(25:33):
guesses it right on the nose. Well, it happened, but
not under my producership, and after Bob had left the show.
It happened during Drew Carey's rain and somebody got it
right on the nose. Okay, And this person got it
(25:57):
on the nose because we had there was a person
in the audience who knew the prices so well he
memorized them, and he came to a total. He saw
the prizes in the show. He came to the total,
and he started screaming it out, and the wife of
(26:20):
the contestant on stage was sitting right next to him,
and the wife then screamed it out to her husband
up and stage, and the husband up and stage got
it right on the nose. And when that happened, they
went to commercial break. You know, go to you make
(26:42):
your bids, and then you go to commercial break. You
come back from the commercial break and you reveal the differences.
So they went to commercial break, and of course the
show is now I'm sorry to say, run by inexperienced people,
and they stopped down. They think, oh my god, this
is there must be some shenanigans going on. And they
(27:05):
stopped down apparently at thirty to forty minutes I've heard
trying to figure this out.
Speaker 6 (27:10):
Try.
Speaker 3 (27:11):
They think something's wrong here. Somebody probably gave this guy
up the answers, and they got all nervous and everything
like that, and they came back from commercial break to
reveal the differences. And they were so nervous about this.
Drew didn't make a big deal at all about it.
He says, there's a real price of the show kids
thirty seven and eight forty five for a difference of zero.
(27:34):
And that was it. That was the end of the story. No,
there was no hoopla, there was nothing now. Bob and I,
if that happened to us, we would have we would
have embraced it. We would have made it the biggest thing. Ever,
the show would have gotten publicity. Bob would have been interviewed,
(27:54):
the contestant would have been interviewed. It would have made
all the news. It would have made the newscasts and
the news papers. But this new regime blew it. And
and see, Bob and I would have turned it into
a win win situation. Okay, we got the publicity from somebody,
got it right and knows we made a big hoopla
(28:15):
about it, and it was so excited. It would have been
so exciting. And now, okay, let's let's say three months
later we do an investigation and we find out there
was some shenanikus. This guy got the got the totals
from somebody backstage. Well, we would have made a big
deal about that.
Speaker 1 (28:31):
We would have.
Speaker 3 (28:32):
Said, hey, we found out this was this was there
was a shenanigans. Somebody cheated. This person's not going to
get the prizes. We're taking away the prizes. And that
would have been a because it would have shown everybody
how honest we are. See, we would have had a
win win situation where Drew carry and those inexperienced people
(28:52):
made it the lose lose situation. They got no pulpacy
from that, and they blew it. And this is where
you know, I hate to brag about me or people
like me, but we're experienced. We know about how to
deal with game shows. We know how to do game shows.
And now you have these people not they don't know
how to do game shows and they things like this. Yes,
(29:15):
they don't. They don't get it. They don't get the
show business. There's a show business element that they're they're
not getting anymore. You know, show business is hard to
you know, explain exactly what shows.
Speaker 2 (29:28):
I hear how draining this is for you to recall. Yes,
we're the current regime messed up. Didn't know, No, not
messed up, but did didn't embrace the situation that could
have been win win for everybody.
Speaker 3 (29:43):
Yes, yes, it's it were so aggravated. Bob and I
wanted that moment. Bob and I wanted to have a
content zero difference, but we didn't get it.
Speaker 2 (29:55):
Oh dear, Now I'm going to mention something that is
an offshoot of the example you just gave. Okay, do
you remember in the late eighties there would be a
recurring prize, a pearl grandfather clock. Now it was usually
(30:18):
the same clock every now and then. It might have
been a bit taller, bit shorter. Nuances are slightly different,
but for the most part it was the same clock.
The price of that clock I tell you now as
we waved combut a twenty twenty four was seven hundred
(30:38):
and fifty dollars. So whenever, because I used to play,
two of my friends, Warren and Marker come over to
my house and we'd play the Price is Right. We'd
play along. I'm sure a lot of people did across
the country. So whenever a pearl grandfather clock was involved,
(31:00):
if it was the one big price, or if it
was in a showcase, whatever the case may be, we
knew it and nailed it every single time until inflation
a couple of years later. I guess up the price,
and then it would be a bit more of a fluctuation.
But I knew that price, and I if I were
(31:23):
on and the upshoot of that story, when you invited
me out and I witnessed a shooting of the price
is right, there was a pearl grandfather clock, and I
did not. We had become friendly with a guy who
(31:43):
wanted to putting his way on stage, and did I
help him no, because Roger Topowitz had invited me as
a guest, and I would not. Now I yelled out
guess as the prizes for all the other things. But
when the program the clock came up, I shut my
trap because that would not have been right.
Speaker 3 (32:06):
Yeah, you were a good boy.
Speaker 2 (32:07):
Yes, I tried, tried to make sure I follow the rules. Anyway,
let me take another break. Paul and Winthrop, be patient.
You'll get a chance to speak to Roger after a
few commercials. Here on night's side. Dan is off, He'll
be back tomorrow. Our Morgan time and temperature eight forty
seven forty four degrees.
Speaker 1 (32:27):
Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World
Nightside Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2 (32:34):
Dan is off tonight. He will be back tomorrow and
you can make book on that. I have as my guest,
mister Roger Dopkowitz, former executive producer of The Price Is Right,
the iconic morning game show. And if you want to
(32:55):
call in, I'll try to squeeze you one, but I've
got a couple of callers ahead of you, like Paul
in Winsor Paul. Good evening, and welcome tonight's side.
Speaker 5 (33:06):
Good evening, gentlemen, I had a question, if you win
the prizes, do you have to pay taxes on those?
And if you win a car and you live in Massachusetts,
do they ship the car to you or do you
get to pick the car from a Massachusetts dealership.
Speaker 7 (33:24):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (33:24):
Okay, that's that's the easy question. Easy questions to answer it.
You have to pay taxes. It's considered whatever you win,
it's considered income. So you take the value of whatever
the prize is and you add it to your income
for the at the end of the year. The car
situation is, we would arrange for a local dealership for
(33:48):
you to go down and pick up your car from
a local dealership. Okay, if we were nice people, we
made we try to make it easy for our contestants.
Speaker 5 (34:00):
Okay, if I win and I really don't want the
prize that was like a camp or a boat, am
I able to trade it in for a cash equivalent?
Speaker 3 (34:09):
No, you would have to. You would decline the prize then, Oh.
Speaker 5 (34:13):
So you would lose them. You wouldn't get that then.
Speaker 3 (34:16):
Yes, there were some situations, Okay, there there were some
situations like if if you want let's say you want
a trailer and it was worth ten thousand.
Speaker 2 (34:26):
Dollars, and.
Speaker 3 (34:31):
If the company was charging US ten thousand dollars, sometimes
we were able to give you part of the cash value,
but that didn't that didn't happen too often.
Speaker 5 (34:48):
Okay, what is the best Yes.
Speaker 2 (34:53):
If you want a trailer and you didn't want the trailer,
my yeah, tell it, take take the take the trailer
and sell it yourself. You could probably make even more
than the ten thousand dollars. Put an add in the
paper and say brand new Winnebago for sale, best offer accepted,
(35:14):
and go from there.
Speaker 5 (35:16):
Right, Okay, you could do it. Just one other quick question.
If the show is based in California and I'm from Massachusetts,
do I have to pay taxes to California as well
as Massachusetts.
Speaker 7 (35:28):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (35:28):
No, that I don't know. That's really getting that's get
really getting the income tax details that I don't know.
Speaker 5 (35:37):
Yeah, okay, don't good enough, Thank you very much. Okay,
take he Hey.
Speaker 2 (35:42):
Bye bye and Roger. After we take this next call,
I want to tell a story them involved, the two
of us and one of my listeners, Jane and Shrewsbury.
You're next on Night.
Speaker 4 (35:57):
Side, Hi, Morgan and Roger. I'll be quick. Just two questions.
Take time, go ahead, Okay, Well, when you were giving
a list of hosts earlier, it occurred to me that
there were no women. And I know you mentioned myambiolic
and I might have missed a couple of minutes of
the show, but I was just curious what your thoughts
were as to why there haven't been more women on
(36:20):
game shows. I know there's the Game Show Network now.
I saw it when I was at the dentist, which
kind of surprised me. And there's some women on that,
but I've never watched it otherwise. And my other question,
just so I don't run out of time, has there
ever been a game show played on the radio?
Speaker 2 (36:39):
Oh? Yes, A lot of great game shows came from
radio exposure. Roger, don't you want to speak to the
women aspect?
Speaker 3 (36:48):
Yes, Okay. Now, I'm not saying it's right or it's
or anything like that, but I believe the fact that
there have been women. MC's Betty White once one time
hosted a game show, and what's her name was hosting
Jeopardy for the while there.
Speaker 2 (37:09):
And I.
Speaker 3 (37:11):
Think it's a cultural thing. I'm not saying it's right,
so don't get mad at me, but I believe. I
believe subconsciously most people sort of prefer a male MC
only because in our culture there's this impression that a
(37:33):
male is more in control, more like the father figure,
the more setting down the rules that you know, it
comes from in our families, even you know, the dad is, oh,
be careful, the dad's coming home, and I was bad
and I better be careful. He's more of a a
you know, it has more a feeling of authority. And
(37:56):
I think that's one of the reasons why. And I'm
not saying is right or I'm not saying it is wrong,
so don't get mad at me, but I think it's
part of our culture.
Speaker 2 (38:06):
And Jane does ever to answer your question, yes, and
I'm not mad.
Speaker 4 (38:10):
I started laughing also when you did, Morgan. But I
think it might also be like we have this idea
somehow that the hosts actually know all the topics that
they're addressing, you know, like Alex Trebek seemed really smart,
but obviously he didn't know everything just off the top.
Speaker 6 (38:28):
Of his head.
Speaker 4 (38:29):
So maybe people are i mean, part of it a
habit and like you said, people are used to it.
But there might be some opportunities for women to play
the same role someday, hopefully Jane.
Speaker 2 (38:42):
Right now, in one week, you could turn your channel selector.
Raven Simone is hosting a game show. Meredith Vieira has
hosted several game shows, The Millionaire Game Show and twenty
five Words or Less. Melissa Peterson, who was on Bothriba
(39:05):
and Young Sheldon, has a game show currently. So there
are more examples of women hosting a game show than
there used to be.
Speaker 4 (39:17):
Okay, sounds good, Happy New Year to you, same to you.
Speaker 2 (39:23):
Take care, bye bye. All right, Roger, I'm gonna remind
you of something. Okay, one of the times I had
you as a guest, a caller called in and said
he had gotten tickets to go see a priceless Right
episode and what should he do in hopes of becoming
one of the nine people chosen? And you and I
(39:46):
both gave him advice of how to look, what to say,
how to act present himself, and lo and behold, he
did it, and he chosen and he got up on
stage to have a chance to win a car, and
(40:12):
believe it or not, what's the game where you have
up to four chances out of five to pick the price.
Speaker 3 (40:20):
Tag five Price tags.
Speaker 2 (40:24):
Yes, yes, yes, he picked you only had two choices,
two picks, and on his last choice, his second choice,
he won a twenty two thousand dollars car.
Speaker 3 (40:40):
Oh I'm so. I'm glad to.
Speaker 2 (40:43):
Hear that, Morgan. Thank Roger for me. And anyway, I'm
out of time. Roger, I know your legs broken state,
put relax, get better. You have a happy twenty twenty five,
do you hear me?
Speaker 5 (40:57):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (40:57):
Yeah, and same to you. If I can be a
great year for all.
Speaker 2 (41:01):
Of it, yes, it will. You take care, byebye, all right, everybody,
we're going to take a break the news. When we
come back, ken Meyer and I are going to play
a game with you. Time in temperature eight fifty eight
forty four degrees
It's Nightside with Dan Ray on WBZ Boston's news video.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Emma, thank you very much for my intro. Good evening, everybody,
we are about to wave goodbye to I'm just gonna
say the year twenty twenty four is gonna try to
come up with an adjective to fit it, but no
adjective that crossed my mind would fit an apt descriptions
(00:28):
for this year. But we've only got four hours or
so left to twenty twenty four, and let's open our
arms and welcome in twenty twenty five. First hour of Nightside, Dan,
it's off. He'll be back tomorrow. As a matter of fact,
we're gonna talk about game shows. And I don't know
(00:50):
if you have noticed what I have noticed a lot
of people who just don't belonging a game show are
m seeing a game show, and the game shows that
they're creating new ones just kind of lack pizzazz. They
(01:13):
figure just keep offering large chunks of money and that
will do what game shows have always done, which is
went over the American public. And that's wrong. And as well,
they keep bringing back game shows. They had their time,
(01:35):
they were great while they were here, but they keep
bringing them back, and obviously Peter Marshall has passed on.
So you have Hollywood Squares, the whole new bunch of performers,
all nine stars, and the word stars is the operative word.
(01:56):
So I decided to get a professional, a gentleman who
did his doctorate in college and game shows, who got
a chance to sit down with the legends Mark Goodson
and Bill Toddman. They gave him a gig, started as
(02:17):
an intern, worked his way up, and most recently, for
over thirty years, he was the executive producer of The
Price Is Right. Please welcome form a guest of mine
and friend Roger, Doctor Roger, Happy New.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
Year, Happy New Year to you, Morgan. Is always a
pleasure to be on your show.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Well, thank you very much. And did you agree with
some of the things I said?
Speaker 3 (02:48):
I agreed one hundred percent what you said I do.
It's very, very sad the game show industry on TV
right now. It's it's you know, when when I was
working and I've left about fifteen sixteen years ago, there
were Mark Goodson was a game show factory. They knew
(03:12):
what they were doing. You had previous companies had Heater Quig,
you had Bob Stewart Productions, you had jack Berry Productions,
and these were they were involved with game shows. They
would work on a game show and make it perfect
and find the right MC. None of them are around anymore.
All these new game shows are produced by people have
(03:35):
no experience.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
In games, don't know what they are doing.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
No, that's right, they don't know what they're doing. They
don't understand the whole complexities of making an interesting game
that pulls you in that you want to watch every week.
It's on every day, that's on. It's and when they
you brought you mentioned, they bring back old game shows.
They bring them back and they're not quite right either.
You know, they do little changes quirks to it, and
(04:01):
they get the worst they get the worst mcs. It's
it's terrible right now.
Speaker 4 (04:09):
It is sad.
Speaker 3 (04:09):
I find it very sad. I find it very sad.
I have a question to ask you, Morgan. Can you
think of any game show in the last fifteen to
twenty years that was a breakaway game show that became
a big hit that people really like, that that was
on more than thirteen weeks or twenty nine weeks? Can
(04:30):
you say any which one I want.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
To deal or no deal.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
That's right, that's right, y'are absolutely right. I didn't think
was that.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
I think I think Carr and Howard Carr, excuse me,
the Boston radio personality. Howry Mandel was a great choice
to run that game show. He ran it well. He
had what you were called before that game show gene.
(05:00):
You're born with it, and it's not easy to develop
if you don't have it. And I think the drama
of will he hit the button and take whatever the
banker offers, or will he go for another couple of
briefcases hoping that one of the big briefcases on left.
You know, I liked that game show and I cannot
(05:26):
think of any of the game show that was new
then the perimeters that you put to me over the
past fifteen twenty years that lasted and held my interest
to watch it the whole hour through. Let me do it.
(05:46):
And they're bringing it back with some new confilated plot
line of deal and o'deal island, and I don't know
what that's all about, but I wish them luck.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
That's so comical they have to put it on an island.
And yes, I'm going.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
To read a list to you. I wrote down the
game show hosts. And this isn't every single one, It's
only about eight nine ten names that knew how to
do the game show of which they hosted. And I
let off with Bob Barker, Need I say more, Bill Cullen, Peter,
(06:33):
Peter Marshall. And this is in no particular order. It's
just as in the order that I thought of them
when I leave off. Peter Marshall, Peter Tamarkan, Chuck Woolery,
Richard Dawson, Jim Perry, here's the name, grout Show, and
Bob Eubanks. They all were well known for doing a
(06:59):
game show show or game shows, and they did a
superb job. And whether you got get right, let me
say you win your way up on the price is
right stage and you're playing ten chances, and you start
off not ending in a zero for the Clippers. Bob
(07:24):
knows and the audience knows that every single prize up
there for the ten chances ends in a zero, but
the poor contestant doesn't, and Bob doesn't ridicule them. He
plays along and hopes that they will stumble upon the
right formula and eventually get to play for the car
and win it. That's the game show host right right,
(07:49):
And basically he was the best in the business, right.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
A game show host on the old school game shows,
the old Once again, I'm going to go back to
the problem with digital editing. But these old shows were
taped live to tape, mainly because tape was hard to edit.
And these game show hosts, they were in charge of
the show. When the show went on, they were in
charge and were blunders. They were in charge of the blunders.
(08:16):
If they had a bad contestant, they had to take
care of the band contestant. They were in charge of
the shows. Now with digital editing, you don't. The producers
are back in charge. They can put anybody in there.
They can stop tape at any time and say, you know,
there's a mistake here, We've got to redo this. They
can tell the contestant please react better. They can stop
(08:38):
the show anytime. They're in charge now, not the game
show hosts. The producers are back in charge, and that's
what we're missing. We have these robots up there now
just following the directions of the producers. They're not in
charge of the show anymore.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
Alec doesn't have the game show Gene Anthony Anderson doesn't
have the game show gene. I could keep going and
I'll go to the opposite. The man who did not
have it when he first got the job with family Feud,
Steve Harvey did not have it, but he has developed
(09:19):
it and he has made it his own. Let me
take a break. When we come back, maybe we'll get
some phone calls. You are if you want to call
in and let me hear your opinion of game shows
six one, seven, two, five, four, ten thirty or eight eight, eight, nine, two, nine,
ten thirty, You're welcome to join. Roger Doptgotz and I
(09:40):
and I'm gonna have Roger give his backstory so you'll
understand he knows of what he speaks. Time here on
night Side eight sixteen, temperature forty four degrees.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
Now back to Dan Ray Mine from the Window World
night Side Studios on w b Z News Radio.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
Dim is off tonight. He will be back tomorrow eight o'clock.
This will be his microphone. It's always his microphone, whether
he takes vacation days off or not. I'm Morgan filling
in and my guest Roger Dopkowitz. Roger, could you give
you a backstory so people know the history of a
man who's talking about game shows.
Speaker 3 (10:23):
Oh well, okay, I go back. I studied. I studied
television in college, and after I was done with my
regular degree, I decided to go for a master's degree
and I have to write a thesis. So I wrote
a thesis on game shows, a pretty comprehensive thesis. And
(10:46):
I use that thesis to try to get a job,
and I hooked one with Mark Goodson, who got my thesis.
I sent it to him and he liked my thesis
and he's at My favorite part of this story is
I was in New York and I went to him
(11:06):
for an interview and he turns to me and he said, Rajah, Okay,
when are you planning to fly back to California? And
I said, I'm not flying, I'm driving. And his eyes
bugged out and he said, you're driving. You drove here?
I said yeah, And I think that sold him on
(11:28):
me that I would drive all the way to New
York for a game show interview, which I did, and
I got a job on The Price Is Right as
a production assistant, and I slowly worked my way up
and Mark Goodson then funny made me producer of the show,
and I say.
Speaker 5 (11:49):
With the show.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
Right right, And I was fortunate. I was very fortunate
to be in Mark Goodson had a select group of
people that he always had meetings with. You know this
this he had six or seven eight people that he
trusted with game shows, talking about them, developing them. And
I was very, very fortunate for him to include me
(12:13):
in that group. I was one of the youngest in
the group, and now I'm one of the last that
was in the group that's still wrapped. We'll tell you
what because I was one of the youngest and now
I'm the last one.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
My producer, the man who called you, his name is
Rob Brooks, and we talked periodically during the commercial break,
and he said his favorite game show was Match Game,
and I wanted to kick myself in the head. Why
didn't I add Gene Rayburn's name to the list?
Speaker 3 (12:42):
I gave, oh, yeah, one of the band.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
You began a match Game even before you went to
the Prices, right, So can you talk a bit about No.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
No, I sat on the Price first. I started on
Price first, and then match Gin was brought back, and
I actually asked for a job on the show. I
went to Goods and I said, I like the work
in the show too, and so I worked on both shows,
on Price and Max Game, and on Match Game, I
was merely merely a que card person. I made up
(13:14):
the que cards and held them up for Jean. But
I learned a lot from that position. I learned a lot,
but made a good game shows because I could. I could.
I could just observe the show. I could have observed
the chemistry. I could observe what was needed to make
that show the big hit it was.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
I mean I just periodically you would get camera time,
nothing would happen in the joke or whatnot.
Speaker 6 (13:43):
And I would not.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
I was not a very good speller, and Jean Raymond
will always pointed out that I was not a good speller,
but I didn't. I'm a ham. I love being on camera.
I was a ham. I knew I was going to
be on cameras, so I had a good time. Even though.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
Even though you just did the queue cards, I don't
think I ever saw you without a tie on, and
you always.
Speaker 3 (14:15):
I did. I always try to look the best. Yes
I did, I did.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
I do. You're wearing a jacket and tie right now.
We just can't see it.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
Right, now right now, with my broken leg, I'm wearing
a tie.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
I'm going to ask one more prices, I mean, excuse me,
one more match game question. Then I'm going to take
some calls.
Speaker 6 (14:37):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
It was obvious if you watch TV that once they
brought in the celebrity wheel, you had to spend that
in order to see which celebrity you would have to
match and for how much money. Richard dawson't was not
happy about that. No, I don't know how much.
Speaker 5 (15:02):
Oh.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
I recall that he was not happy. You could see
it in him. And that was and that was the
start of him thinking about maybe I should leave this show.
And eventually he did, of course, which was it was
very when he left the show, is very detrimental to
the show. And they just shot themselves in the foot
(15:25):
there when they thought, well we've got you know, the
press were thinking, well, we've got to let the other
stars have a chance. This is not fair that they're
always picking on Richard.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
You know, every now and then they would pick one
of the other five, but primarily oh, I'll take Richard please.
Speaker 3 (15:43):
Yeah, because Richard played. Everybody loved Richard. He took the
game very seriously. He knew and they head to head.
It wasn't time to make jokes or make a funny
answer just for a laugh, and the contestants could really
count on him.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
And for a contestant to win between five and ten
thousand dollars depending on what Richard Dawson said, that was
important to them.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
Yes, yes, we're some of the other people. It didn't
happen often, but I could see they were going for
the joke. They were right, that seriously right.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
All right, tell you what. Let's take a phone call
before you have to do a news hit. Let's go
to Beverly Manson. Speak to Jolene Jet, Roger Dopkowitz.
Speaker 7 (16:33):
Hello, good evening, Roger and Morgan Ah love object. One
of my favorite game shows was The Newlywed Game, and
so often my husband and I will do something our
interactions will remind me of that game. We were discussing
(16:54):
the way I cut hamburgers when I make them at home,
and it turned into rather an argument. And I think
for myself, so many times when stuff like this happens, Man,
they ought to make a new newlywed game and call
it They're not so newlywed game because so many people
(17:18):
in their sixties and fifties, and I think would really
bring that back.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
Roger germans an idea for you, they're not so.
Speaker 7 (17:32):
Yeah, I love to see that. But another favorite of
mine was Video Village that had a piano.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
Monty Hall before Let's Make a Deal. I remember that
game show so well.
Speaker 7 (17:48):
It was so interesting. It was different with that piano
game show. But what I'm looking at right now is
something I got from the Post Office and it is
commemorative stamps regarding Alex Trebec. Yes, and there's a bunch
(18:12):
of commemorative Forever stamps and it says on the stamp.
This naturalized US citizen hosted the quiz show Jeopardy for
thirty seven years seasons.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
And he he hosted several game shows before he struck
gold behind the podium on Jeopardy high Rollers, there's another
one that escapes for the moment moment. But he had
that mc gene, Roger, do you agree about Alex Trebeka?
Speaker 3 (18:54):
All right, Oh, exactly. No. Alex Trebek was part of
that pool of great mcs that you could if you
had a game show, you could choose one of those people,
and Alex Trabik was right up there.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 7 (19:10):
But they're going to change the format. I heard somewhere
where it's going to be a traveling trivia show. I
just heard about it once. I'm not sure. But Ken
Jennings I believe is going to replace him.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
Well, Ken Jennings has replaced Alex passed away two or
three years ago. But Ken Ken Jennings was a duel
host with Miami be Aleck and then they decided just
to go with Ken Jennings all the way through, and
last I heard, he is still comfortably hosting Jeopardy.
Speaker 7 (19:53):
Okay, Well, I'm looking to see if there changes its
format would be interesting. Well, I'd love it, gentlemen.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
Work Juline, thank you for your call and happy to
you to you. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
That's my key with game shows, and that's why some
of the game shows you see ol there now have
been tinkered with and it has not improved situations for
Jimmy and Boston. You'll be next anyone else who wants
(20:26):
to call during the news six one, seven, two, five, four, ten,
thirty eight, eight, eight, nine to nine, ten thirty. Roger Doptkowitz,
former executive producer of the Price Is Right, is here, time,
eight thirty one, forty four degrees.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
You're on the night side with Dan Ray. I'm w BZ,
Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
Let's go right back to the telephone in Boston with Jimmy, Jimmy,
Happy New Year. You've got Roger Dopkowitz.
Speaker 6 (21:00):
I years ago, my cousin, can you hear me? Can
you hear me? Years ago, was on the Prices Right
and and she was trying to be an actress out
in California, And so my aunt and uncle went out
to visit her, and she got one of the contestants
(21:22):
on Prices Right, and she ended up winning the showcase.
But it was lucky that she won the showcase. But
but she was picked because she was miss I don't
want to say the the state, but he used to
be the host of What the USA Right of Connecticut? Okay,
(21:45):
and so but so it wasn't chance that she got
called to get Tessa's row. But it was chance that
she won the showcase, you know what I mean, because
they interviewed her coming into the show, and they knew
the connection between Bob Baker her, so that's why they
take her to be a contestant. But then, like I said,
it was a chance that she won the showcase even
(22:08):
though she couldn't afford it at all.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
And we hold one second, Roger, explain to my audience, when, however,
many people show up to see the price is right?
If I'm not mistaken, I think it's three hundred people
in the audience. How do we whittle that down to nine?
Speaker 3 (22:30):
We interview everybody in line. We give them all like
a thirty second interview, and from that little interview we
decide whether they're they're good enough and or an interesting
enough person to be a contestant. We did, I can
(22:51):
I can say right now we had no idea of
the connection between that girl and Bob Barker. There was
no way we would the connection. She was picked because
she was an interesting person. Uh, she must have had
a wonderful personality, one of the reasons maybe she won
her contest and we picked him because we found her interesting.
(23:14):
And and if Bob and we would even if we
knew the connection, we would not tell Bob because that
would that would influence the show and it would be
wrong because you have should have no connection with person connection.
So I can assure the caller that we had no
idea and Bob probably had no idea either until unless
(23:37):
she said at the end of winning, I won, you
know the big contest, Bob, and that would have been
the only Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 6 (23:46):
Yeah, well that's that's great.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
But when it comes down to you and another person
of the last two, and you each get a showcase
that gives you three or four things of which to
bid upon, you have to come up with a figure
you think would be the total of all of those things,
and the person who is the better bidder wins. And
(24:15):
there have been some interesting circumstances over the years. I'm
gonna have Roger speak to that. But Jimmy, I'm gonna
say good night to you. But Happy New.
Speaker 6 (24:26):
Year, Happy New Year, you too, Happy New Year, Boldians, Thank.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
You, Bye bye, Jimmy. Anyone else who wants to do
what Jimmy did and the call before Jimmy, you want
to speak to Roger Darpka, which you want to tell
us about your favorite game show and or your favorite
game show host. Give us a call six one, seven, two, five,
four ten thirty eight eight, eight nine to nine, ten thirty.
(24:52):
For the rest of this hour, we're talking about game shows.
We'll move on to something else during the nine o'clock hour.
But Rob the perfect good I know, you know that
whole story. Tell me about the perfect bid episode.
Speaker 3 (25:12):
Well, okay, first of all, for the thirty five years
I worked with Bob, Bob and I always we always said, someday,
somebody's going to get the showcase right on the nose.
And then Bob and I we talked about something that's
going to happen that's going to be so exciting. Somebody
(25:33):
guesses it right on the nose. Well, it happened, but
not under my producership, and after Bob had left the show.
It happened during Drew Carey's rain and somebody got it
right on the nose. Okay, And this person got it
(25:57):
on the nose because we had there was a person
in the audience who knew the prices so well he
memorized them, and he came to a total. He saw
the prizes in the show. He came to the total,
and he started screaming it out, and the wife of
(26:20):
the contestant on stage was sitting right next to him,
and the wife then screamed it out to her husband
up and stage, and the husband up and stage got
it right on the nose. And when that happened, they
went to commercial break. You know, go to you make
(26:42):
your bids, and then you go to commercial break. You
come back from the commercial break and you reveal the differences.
So they went to commercial break, and of course the
show is now I'm sorry to say, run by inexperienced people,
and they stopped down. They think, oh my god, this
is there must be some shenanigans going on. And they
(27:05):
stopped down apparently at thirty to forty minutes I've heard
trying to figure this out.
Speaker 6 (27:10):
Try.
Speaker 3 (27:11):
They think something's wrong here. Somebody probably gave this guy
up the answers, and they got all nervous and everything
like that, and they came back from commercial break to
reveal the differences. And they were so nervous about this.
Drew didn't make a big deal at all about it.
He says, there's a real price of the show kids
thirty seven and eight forty five for a difference of zero.
(27:34):
And that was it. That was the end of the story. No,
there was no hoopla, there was nothing now. Bob and I,
if that happened to us, we would have we would
have embraced it. We would have made it the biggest thing. Ever,
the show would have gotten publicity. Bob would have been interviewed,
(27:54):
the contestant would have been interviewed. It would have made
all the news. It would have made the newscasts and
the news papers. But this new regime blew it. And
and see, Bob and I would have turned it into
a win win situation. Okay, we got the publicity from somebody,
got it right and knows we made a big hoopla
(28:15):
about it, and it was so excited. It would have been
so exciting. And now, okay, let's let's say three months
later we do an investigation and we find out there
was some shenanikus. This guy got the got the totals
from somebody backstage. Well, we would have made a big
deal about that.
Speaker 1 (28:31):
We would have.
Speaker 3 (28:32):
Said, hey, we found out this was this was there
was a shenanigans. Somebody cheated. This person's not going to
get the prizes. We're taking away the prizes. And that
would have been a because it would have shown everybody
how honest we are. See, we would have had a
win win situation where Drew carry and those inexperienced people
(28:52):
made it the lose lose situation. They got no pulpacy
from that, and they blew it. And this is where
you know, I hate to brag about me or people
like me, but we're experienced. We know about how to
deal with game shows. We know how to do game shows.
And now you have these people not they don't know
how to do game shows and they things like this. Yes,
(29:15):
they don't. They don't get it. They don't get the
show business. There's a show business element that they're they're
not getting anymore. You know, show business is hard to
you know, explain exactly what shows.
Speaker 2 (29:28):
I hear how draining this is for you to recall. Yes,
we're the current regime messed up. Didn't know, No, not
messed up, but did didn't embrace the situation that could
have been win win for everybody.
Speaker 3 (29:43):
Yes, yes, it's it were so aggravated. Bob and I
wanted that moment. Bob and I wanted to have a
content zero difference, but we didn't get it.
Speaker 2 (29:55):
Oh dear, Now I'm going to mention something that is
an offshoot of the example you just gave. Okay, do
you remember in the late eighties there would be a
recurring prize, a pearl grandfather clock. Now it was usually
(30:18):
the same clock every now and then. It might have
been a bit taller, bit shorter. Nuances are slightly different,
but for the most part it was the same clock.
The price of that clock I tell you now as
we waved combut a twenty twenty four was seven hundred
(30:38):
and fifty dollars. So whenever, because I used to play,
two of my friends, Warren and Marker come over to
my house and we'd play the Price is Right. We'd
play along. I'm sure a lot of people did across
the country. So whenever a pearl grandfather clock was involved,
(31:00):
if it was the one big price, or if it
was in a showcase, whatever the case may be, we
knew it and nailed it every single time until inflation
a couple of years later. I guess up the price,
and then it would be a bit more of a fluctuation.
But I knew that price, and I if I were
(31:23):
on and the upshoot of that story, when you invited
me out and I witnessed a shooting of the price
is right, there was a pearl grandfather clock, and I
did not. We had become friendly with a guy who
(31:43):
wanted to putting his way on stage, and did I
help him no, because Roger Topowitz had invited me as
a guest, and I would not. Now I yelled out
guess as the prizes for all the other things. But
when the program the clock came up, I shut my
trap because that would not have been right.
Speaker 3 (32:06):
Yeah, you were a good boy.
Speaker 2 (32:07):
Yes, I tried, tried to make sure I follow the rules. Anyway,
let me take another break. Paul and Winthrop, be patient.
You'll get a chance to speak to Roger after a
few commercials. Here on night's side. Dan is off, He'll
be back tomorrow. Our Morgan time and temperature eight forty
seven forty four degrees.
Speaker 1 (32:27):
Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World
Nightside Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2 (32:34):
Dan is off tonight. He will be back tomorrow and
you can make book on that. I have as my guest,
mister Roger Dopkowitz, former executive producer of The Price Is Right,
the iconic morning game show. And if you want to
(32:55):
call in, I'll try to squeeze you one, but I've
got a couple of callers ahead of you, like Paul
in Winsor Paul. Good evening, and welcome tonight's side.
Speaker 5 (33:06):
Good evening, gentlemen, I had a question, if you win
the prizes, do you have to pay taxes on those?
And if you win a car and you live in Massachusetts,
do they ship the car to you or do you
get to pick the car from a Massachusetts dealership.
Speaker 7 (33:24):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (33:24):
Okay, that's that's the easy question. Easy questions to answer it.
You have to pay taxes. It's considered whatever you win,
it's considered income. So you take the value of whatever
the prize is and you add it to your income
for the at the end of the year. The car
situation is, we would arrange for a local dealership for
(33:48):
you to go down and pick up your car from
a local dealership. Okay, if we were nice people, we
made we try to make it easy for our contestants.
Speaker 5 (34:00):
Okay, if I win and I really don't want the
prize that was like a camp or a boat, am
I able to trade it in for a cash equivalent?
Speaker 3 (34:09):
No, you would have to. You would decline the prize then, Oh.
Speaker 5 (34:13):
So you would lose them. You wouldn't get that then.
Speaker 3 (34:16):
Yes, there were some situations, Okay, there there were some
situations like if if you want let's say you want
a trailer and it was worth ten thousand.
Speaker 2 (34:26):
Dollars, and.
Speaker 3 (34:31):
If the company was charging US ten thousand dollars, sometimes
we were able to give you part of the cash value,
but that didn't that didn't happen too often.
Speaker 5 (34:48):
Okay, what is the best Yes.
Speaker 2 (34:53):
If you want a trailer and you didn't want the trailer,
my yeah, tell it, take take the take the trailer
and sell it yourself. You could probably make even more
than the ten thousand dollars. Put an add in the
paper and say brand new Winnebago for sale, best offer accepted,
(35:14):
and go from there.
Speaker 5 (35:16):
Right, Okay, you could do it. Just one other quick question.
If the show is based in California and I'm from Massachusetts,
do I have to pay taxes to California as well
as Massachusetts.
Speaker 7 (35:28):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (35:28):
No, that I don't know. That's really getting that's get
really getting the income tax details that I don't know.
Speaker 5 (35:37):
Yeah, okay, don't good enough, Thank you very much. Okay,
take he Hey.
Speaker 2 (35:42):
Bye bye and Roger. After we take this next call,
I want to tell a story them involved, the two
of us and one of my listeners, Jane and Shrewsbury.
You're next on Night.
Speaker 4 (35:57):
Side, Hi, Morgan and Roger. I'll be quick. Just two questions.
Take time, go ahead, Okay, Well, when you were giving
a list of hosts earlier, it occurred to me that
there were no women. And I know you mentioned myambiolic
and I might have missed a couple of minutes of
the show, but I was just curious what your thoughts
were as to why there haven't been more women on
(36:20):
game shows. I know there's the Game Show Network now.
I saw it when I was at the dentist, which
kind of surprised me. And there's some women on that,
but I've never watched it otherwise. And my other question,
just so I don't run out of time, has there
ever been a game show played on the radio?
Speaker 2 (36:39):
Oh? Yes, A lot of great game shows came from
radio exposure. Roger, don't you want to speak to the
women aspect?
Speaker 3 (36:48):
Yes, Okay. Now, I'm not saying it's right or it's
or anything like that, but I believe the fact that
there have been women. MC's Betty White once one time
hosted a game show, and what's her name was hosting
Jeopardy for the while there.
Speaker 2 (37:09):
And I.
Speaker 3 (37:11):
Think it's a cultural thing. I'm not saying it's right,
so don't get mad at me, but I believe. I
believe subconsciously most people sort of prefer a male MC
only because in our culture there's this impression that a
(37:33):
male is more in control, more like the father figure,
the more setting down the rules that you know, it
comes from in our families, even you know, the dad is, oh,
be careful, the dad's coming home, and I was bad
and I better be careful. He's more of a a
you know, it has more a feeling of authority. And
(37:56):
I think that's one of the reasons why. And I'm
not saying is right or I'm not saying it is wrong,
so don't get mad at me, but I think it's
part of our culture.
Speaker 2 (38:06):
And Jane does ever to answer your question, yes, and
I'm not mad.
Speaker 4 (38:10):
I started laughing also when you did, Morgan. But I
think it might also be like we have this idea
somehow that the hosts actually know all the topics that
they're addressing, you know, like Alex Trebek seemed really smart,
but obviously he didn't know everything just off the top.
Speaker 6 (38:28):
Of his head.
Speaker 4 (38:29):
So maybe people are i mean, part of it a
habit and like you said, people are used to it.
But there might be some opportunities for women to play
the same role someday, hopefully Jane.
Speaker 2 (38:42):
Right now, in one week, you could turn your channel selector.
Raven Simone is hosting a game show. Meredith Vieira has
hosted several game shows, The Millionaire Game Show and twenty
five Words or Less. Melissa Peterson, who was on Bothriba
(39:05):
and Young Sheldon, has a game show currently. So there
are more examples of women hosting a game show than
there used to be.
Speaker 4 (39:17):
Okay, sounds good, Happy New Year to you, same to you.
Speaker 2 (39:23):
Take care, bye bye. All right, Roger, I'm gonna remind
you of something. Okay, one of the times I had
you as a guest, a caller called in and said
he had gotten tickets to go see a priceless Right
episode and what should he do in hopes of becoming
one of the nine people chosen? And you and I
(39:46):
both gave him advice of how to look, what to say,
how to act present himself, and lo and behold, he
did it, and he chosen and he got up on
stage to have a chance to win a car, and
(40:12):
believe it or not, what's the game where you have
up to four chances out of five to pick the price.
Speaker 3 (40:20):
Tag five Price tags.
Speaker 2 (40:24):
Yes, yes, yes, he picked you only had two choices,
two picks, and on his last choice, his second choice,
he won a twenty two thousand dollars car.
Speaker 3 (40:40):
Oh I'm so. I'm glad to.
Speaker 2 (40:43):
Hear that, Morgan. Thank Roger for me. And anyway, I'm
out of time. Roger, I know your legs broken state,
put relax, get better. You have a happy twenty twenty five,
do you hear me?
Speaker 5 (40:57):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (40:57):
Yeah, and same to you. If I can be a
great year for all.
Speaker 2 (41:01):
Of it, yes, it will. You take care, byebye, all right, everybody,
we're going to take a break the news. When we
come back, ken Meyer and I are going to play
a game with you. Time in temperature eight fifty eight
forty four degrees
Popular Podcasts
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.