The rain slowed enough by noon for me to head out and run a few errands. Mainly needed laundry detergent at Dollar General, though I also bought a birthday card for my nephew Collyn. Didn't like the price of toothpaste at CVS, but I did get a gift for my sister Rose and her husband Craig and a Cherry Coke Zero. Though the rain was gone by the time I got out of CVS, it remained wet, cloudy, and warmer than it has been, in the lower 50's. I thought of going for a longer walk, but I didn't trust the weather and ended up just going home.
Had lunch and put the laundry in the washer while watching Christmas Past, one of three holiday documentaries Linda Young sent me way back in 2007. We learn about Christmas history in England, via narration describing how pagan holidays evolved into Christmas in more modern times. I especially loved hearing stories told by older people who were around in the early 20th century, like the Lord who remembered his childhood Christmases in a manor house, the female Father Christmas, the Scots who recalled their first real Christmases after World War II, and the woman who spoke of her first big Christmas after being evacuated to the country.
Spent the next few hours after I ate working on my Christmas cards. I'm hoping to get everything that needs to be mailed out by the end of this week. I'll hand out the cards that get delivered to people who live in the area the week of Christmas, but the others will be going out tomorrow or in packages on Thursday or Friday.
Christmas Unwrapped is a History Channel documentary from the late 90's. This one gives us more general holiday history from the American point of view, from how December 25th ended up being chosen for the date to why the Victorians loved Christmas trees and mistletoe. It also goes further back in holiday history, discussing medieval Christmases and how the Puritans tried to outlaw the holiday in the 1670's, and how it was revived in the US during the early 19th century.
TV Guide Looks at Christmas, a USA Network special that's also from the late 90's, gives us the history of the holidays on the tube. My favorite segment discusses Christmas variety specials. The homey hour-long extravaganzas with crooners and their families singing heartfelt carols were just starting to go out of fashion during my early childhood. The only one I remember from when I was a kid was Peewee's. I'm glad they've started to turn up on YouTube and elsewhere in the past decade, giving me a glimpse of what the holidays were like on TV for my parents when they were younger.
Switched to White Christmas as I put the laundry in the dryer and worked on the Seasonal inventory. I went further into this classic holiday musical featuring Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog way back in December 2018.
Got a lot done with the inventory today. Added all of the children's Christmas albums, the Care Bears and Pac-Man and the Cabbage Patch Kids and Looney Tunes, plus two soundtrack albums. I've had the Looney Tunes Holly Daze and Disney Nutcracker Suite albums for so long, I have no clue where they came from anymore. The Care Bears and Pac-Man were freebies I rescued from a box on the side of the road in 2019. No idea where Charlie Brown Christmas came from, either. It's the original release, not the deluxe re-release from when they started putting out the other Peanuts soundtracks.
Watched Match Game PM during dinner. Buzzr is honoring birthday boy Bob Barker all week, so the episodes all featured him. The first one from 1977 was the episode where Eva Gabor insisted that Barker is considered a sex symbol in her native Hungary. There was also the one from 1978 where Barker kept whispering in Loni Anderson's ear.
Finished the night after a shower with game shows featuring another beloved host who had a birthday this month. Peter Tomarken got his start not in TV, but in advertising. He worked in the advertising departments of several magazines before doing commercials for his own advertising firm. He proved to be so personable in front of the camera, his agent suggested he try hosting game shows.
Peter did a few pilots that didn't get picked up before producer Jay Wolpert hired him for Hit Man in 1983. Tomarken narrated two mini-documentaries for three contestants, who would then answer questions about what they saw in the segments. The third round played like a video game of the time, with the contestants answering questions to eliminate their men. Winner went to the bonus round, where they'd have to make rows of "hit men" by answering questions, sort of like a trivia-oriented Connect 4.
Hit Man barely lasted four months, but that freed up Peter for what would become his biggest hit. Producer Bill Carruthers tagged him as the host for Press Your Luck. It would be far and away the show Tomarken remains the most identified with. He always seemed to have so much fun hosting, whether he was reacting to the Whammies' antics or the players not answering his questions right in the quiz rounds or reading those final poems sent in by viewers.
Tomarken never had another hit on that level after Luck ended in 1986. He hosted the pilot for Wordplay in 1986, but not only did Tom Kennedy host the regular series, it barely lasted a year on NBC. Bargain Hunters was a poorly-received Wheel of Fortune clone that ran on ABC during the summer of 1987. It was so bad, Tomarken himself was said to have hated it. The syndicated trivia show Wipeout from 1988 had players answering questions to eliminate all but the wrong answers. Not only was it on the cheap side, but game shows were starting to fall out of fashion by 1988.
Tomarken would never host another network series. After attempting a series of failed pilots (including the version of Monopoly that eventually aired during summer 1990), he gave up hosting entirely except for one Fox Family game show Paranoia that barely lasted a month. His last appearance before his untimely death in 2006 was hosting one of the pilots for Whammy! The All New Press Your Luck on Game Show Network in 2002 and a special on the Michael Larson Press Your Luck scandal.
Chase down hit men and learn word meanings with this advertising executive turned master of the Whammies!
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