Headed out for a walk after the cartoon ended. Wanted to run a few errands. Finally found boxes and bags for Christmas cookies at Dollar General, along with a much-needed bottle of Oreo Coke Zero. Bags of cough drops were way too expensive at CVS. Strolled down Newton Avenue to WaWa and tried their Peppermint Cookies and Cream Chocolate Smoothie. (Sweet, but very mint and chocolate, with candy cane bits on top.) Finally got cough drops at Family Dollar, along with butter and a pack of Christmas cards with a pretty wreath and the word "Joy" on the front.
Truth be told, I mainly went out to enjoy the gorgeous day, especially since it's supposed to get much colder by the end of the week. It was beautiful and sunny, in the lower 60's and breezy as can be. I was fine in my celery green sweater. Though a few houses already have their Christmas decorations out, most have settled for pumpkins, potted mums, and harvest wreaths or their bare dry gardens.
I saw packs of apples and peanut butter at WaWa, but I already had apples and peanut butter at home. I sliced an apple and two stalks of celery and had those and the peanut butter for lunch while watching the first two second season episodes of The Monkees. "It's a Nice Place to Visit," but you wouldn't want to live in El Montono, Mexico, as the Monkees discover the hard way when bandits kidnap Davy after he falls for the girl their chief has his eye on. Micky, Mike, and Peter pose as bandits to rescue him, then take them on in a showdown when they threaten the town.
Went downstairs next to make "The Vermont" maple sugar cookies. That's why I bought the butter. It needs two sticks. I've had that little leaf-shaped bottle of maple syrup around since my trip to visit Lauren and had been waiting to make these. They came out rather well, if not as maple-y as I would have liked. Still taste really good, though.
Listened to The Beach Boys: The Feel Flows Sessions while I worked. The Beach Boys were in a rough place when they made Sunflower in 1970. Their previous albums had not been hits, and they were considered all but through. The poor reception of Sunflower didn't help matters. Even though all the Beach Boys contributed to the album and the critics loved it, rock fans at the time found it too conventional. If anything, I think it's one of their least-conventional albums. "This Whole World," "Add Some Music to Your Day," and the laid-back "Cool, Cool Water" sounds like nothing in their catalog before or since.
Surf's Up went over much better a year later, and in fact would be their biggest hit until 1976. I had no idea one of my favorite ballads of the 1970's, "Disney Girls," was originally a Beach Boys song. I usually associate it with the Captain and Tenille or the Disney Channel Valentine's special From Disney With Love. As lovely as the studio version is, they include a live version that is absolutely gorgeous, with truly haunting harmony from the Boys.
Took my laundry downstairs and got organized while watching more Monkees. Mike, Micky, and Davy are caught in "The Picture Frame" when two crooks claim they're making a movie when they're really robbing a bank. For once, it's Peter who gets to be the hero when he has to find evidence that his three band mates are innocent.
Moved on to doing job research online. I didn't find a whole lot, though I did apply for a receptionist job at MyGovWatch in Collingswood. Finished with enough time to add The Secret Garden and Rodgers and Hammerstein's State Fair to the inventory. (Neither are recent finds. I got Secret Garden from the now-defunct FYE in Philly about a decade ago and State Fair from a CD and book store in Haddonfield that has also since vanished.)
Listened to jazz albums while I worked and as I put the laundry in the dryer. Riverside: The Soul of Jazz - 1961 is a collection of numbers from some of the most popular jazz artists from that year. I really bought this for Thelonious Monk's "I'm Getting Sentimental Over You" and Cannonball Adderly's "Del Sasser," but Wes Montgomery's "Mister Walker" and the Bill Evans Trio's "Peri's Scope" are good, too.
Brubeck Time was one of the earliest studio albums made by the Dave Brubeck Quartet in 1954; Time Further Out was their follow-up to the massively successful Time Out in 1961 that explored unusual time signals. Further Out gets more experimental, with oddities like "It's a Raggy Waltz" and "Bluette." Brubeck Time mainly covers standards like "Jeepers Creepers" and "Why Do I Love You?", though they would get their own "Audrey" and "Stompin' For Milli" in.
There's something really strange going on at Buzzr. On one hand, I'm glad they seem to have dropped the constant Great Christmas Light Fight showings. Not only is it too early for that, but it has nothing to do with vintage game shows. However, they also seem to have revamped their entire schedule. Classic Concentration was on at 7 instead of Match Game, so I went elsewhere instead.
Put on Mickey Mouse Mixed-Up Adventures on at Disney Plus while eating dinner. "Mickey's Thanksgiving Fun Race!" nearly ends in disaster when Donald and Mickey can't decide how to drive their gravy boat float. They have to rescue the other racers after Donald's rushing dumps them all in the river. "Happy Thanksgiving Helpers!" are looking forward to a huge traditional meal with all their friends. Daisy is especially nervous about making her grandmother's perfect cranberry sauce. She's horrified when, not only does she have a harder time making the sauce than she thought, but all their friends insist on bringing food that's not nearly as associated with the holiday. It's the others who finally remind Daisy that the important thing is she's spending the holiday with friends.
Finished the night back online with game shows featuring host Marc Summers, whose birthday was last week, after I finally brought the laundry upstairs. Summers began as a DJ and backstage assistant on shows like The Price Is Right and The Joker's Wild. His first major announcing assignment was Bruce Forsyth's Hot Streak on ABC in early 1986. British host Forsyth leads two groups through giving clues to a certain topic down the line. They can't repeat words...which happened quite a lot on the show. It moved too slow for most Americans and had to compete against Price and Wheel of Fortune in the ratings, though it seems to have done better elsewhere in the world (especially Germany).
Nickelodeon liked his work on Hot Streak enough to hire him as host for Double Dare. It remains the show he's most associated with, having hosted and produced the original and its spin-offs from 1986 to 1993 and announced and co-hosted the 2018 revival. My sisters and I always loved seeing him on Double Dare and Family Double Dare. He seemed to have so much energy and was really funny and great with the kids.
Double Dare is his best-known show, but it's far from his only one. He did the syndicated Couch Potatoes even as he hosted Dare in 1989. No slime needed in this trivia game, just two teams named for a TV show on a wacky living room set answering questions based around television.
He returned to Nick for What Would You Do? in 1991. An audience watches a video with a kid in an unusual or weird situation, then votes on what they think will happen before watching the rest of the short. This one also involved stunts, usually done by members of the audience. I remember watching this in 1991 and thinking it was a little strange. It is, but that's its charm. The kids in the audience are obviously having a great time, even when the segments aren't that funny.
After the demise of Double Dare in 1993, Summers created Pick Your Brain for syndication. Three kids watch another video, then answer questions on it asked by robot 2-XL. Adults joined them in the second round to either do a stunt, answer questions from a category, or answer five questions to win a prize. The third had them answering five questions and lighting up five "brains" to win. The adults returned for a Concentration-esque matching bonus round. This was really cute, but other than the robot, nothing that hadn't been seen in countless other kids shows of the era. No wonder it lasted eight months.
Summers stayed on cable for his two most recent non-Nick game shows. WinTuition on Game Show Network in 2002 had three contestants competing in a quiz show to see who could win scholarship money. History IQ on The History Channel in 2000 was somewhat similar, only this time the questions revolved around history and the sets and intense game play showed the influence of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.
He also made appearances on other people's game shows. He did very well opposite Roz Ryan on Super Password in 1988, even getting his contestant to the Super Password bonus round. He did a hilarious all-host Scrabble week the year before, even taking over hosting so Chuck Woolery could join in. Win, Lose, Or Draw had him joining fellow host Peter Marshall to help their contestant figure out what their drawing indicates.
Have the slime time of your life with the Master of Slime himself!
2 comments:
Is this the same Mark Summers who did the "Unwrapped" series?
Yes it is! :)
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