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