Saturday, April 30, 2016

It's Gonna Be May.



I hate making that joke, but it's true. It's the end of the month already, and what do I want to talk about?

Not much this time. I don't NEED to post once a month, but I want to keep this blog somewhat alive, and my OCD really wants to see an entry on every month.

But lately, I've been watching a new game show channel called Buzzr. It's fairly new and you might not have it, but if you do I highly recommend changing your tv to it right now. Like the Game Show Network of old, it shows nothing but old game shows. And while you have staples like Match Game and Card Sharks, there's OLD ones here, too. Like What's My Line and To Tell The Truth in all their black and white glory. Hell, all the shows from the 50s have all their in-studio commercials intact! Remember when Suave shampoo was in glass bottles and advertised to people that looked like Marilyn Monroe? Well, all the people that did are dead by now, so it's all fascinating to watch.

But the shown that's been sucking me in lately is Let's Make A Deal. For those not in the know, Monty Hall goes through the audience playing games with people. You could win a box full of money, or you could trade it for whatever was behind the curtain. And behind the curtain could be ANYTHING. Expensive appliances, a trip to some exotic country, color televisions, or even new cars. But nine times out of ten, the curtain would have a "zonk," some real dumb prize like a sled pulled by a donkey and you'd be stuck with that. Or if you were smart enough to stick with the box full of money, that box could have anything from a thousand dollars to ten cents. That was the fun of it, and screaming "KEEP THE GODDAMN MONEY" at a forty year old tv show was the more reasonable choice to make most of the time. Monty Hall was the perfect host for this sort of thing, he was a master troll that could charm you into going for the curtain, then make you regret it hard for falling for his tricks.

And the best part of all of this are the people in the audience. In the early days of the show people just dressed in their fancy suits, like you would back then. But then one day someone decided to dress up in a ridiculous costume to get Monty's attention so EVERYONE started doing that and the rest is history. And people got really creative with it. People held up signs, gave Monty gifts, dressed up like carrots, farmers, giant flowers, someone on fire, a slot machine, or my personal favorite, Creepy Mickey Mouse.


Turning down a wall full of appliances "for the woman of the house" was the smartest decision she made that day. Also, what the hell Seventies, what are you making Monty Hall wear?! That was a decade where style truly stopped giving a shit and I absolutely love that aesthetic in a cheesy sort of way. Take Gene Rayburn, the host of Match Game.


Lot of yellow, beige and brown in that decade, and from the look of things Let's Make A Deal was the exception and not the norm when it came to game shows. And people say the style of this decade is full of piss and shit, they smeared it right on the walls, on their cars, and even their clothes. Seriously, I saw a Firebird on Let's Make A Deal last night whose color I can only describe as the color of a cup of water after a middle school art class was done with their painting lesson.

And thanks to the magic of high definition, those awful color schemes pop better than ever these days. If you have Buzzr or a channel like it on your tv I highly recommend watching it right this second.


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