Rant #1,867: Palisades Park

Chuck Barris, the creator of numerous game shows, hit songwriter, star of "The Gong Show," and supposed American spy during the Cold War, died yesterday.

He was 88 years old.

It is hard to pin down just exactly what Barris was, because as you can see, he wore so many hats.

Although he was probably most famous as the host of "The Gong Show"--most obituaries list him as its sole creator, which is incorrect--he personified what television was in the 1960s and early 1970s, at least on the game show level.

His most famous shows under the Chuck Barris Productions monicker--"The Newlywed Game" and "The Dating Game"--could only have been created in the 1960s, when you had to talk around certain subjects, not talk directly about them, and the main subject on these shows was, ta da, sex.

Today, you can speak about just about anything on TV, but back then, with the censors hounding your every move, TV had to be more creative, and on these two shows in particular, sex had to be handled very carefully. Thus, the term "making whoopee" became a popular phrase all over again, in particular, on "The Newlywed Game," even more ubiquitous than Bob Eubanks' "hurry please" phrase to meandering brides and grooms.

And Jim Lange on "The Dating Game" had to be something of a cop when things were moving in a more sordid direction on that show.

These shows were so popular that not only did they have five-days-a-week versions on daytime TV, but they also had nighttime versions and syndicated versions.

With numerous revivals and replays of the original shows, both of Barris' most famous game shows will probably last forever on TV.

And then we have "The Gong Show" ...

This show was actually the creation of Chris Beard, one of the writers on "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In," who took the show's "New Talent" segment--whose most famous participant was Tiny Tim--and expanded that segment to a half hour show.

Originally featuring another host--I believe his name, if memory serves me correctly, was John Barbour--Barris wanted a true comedic feel for the show, thought his original choice as host was too stiff, and took on the reins himself--and made the show one of the funniest, off the wall shows in TV history.

It also ran afoul of the censors quite often for what it did show as opposed to what it couldn't show, made national stars of Gene Gene the Dancing Machine and Jaye P. Morgan (all over again for her), and not only had an impressive daytime and syndicated run, but also spawned a film.

But Barris was more than just a producer of popular game shows, not all of which became iconic--remember "The Generation Gap"?--he was also a one-shot songwriter who had a hit with his self-written "Palisades Park" tune, with Freddy Cannon scoring one of the biggest hits of his career with the song about the New Jersey amusement park--and he was also a spy ...

Or he at least wanted you to believe that.

In his book and the subsequent movie of "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind," he claimed that all during his years of TV success, he was a CIA assassin.

Most people would write this off as just another "game show moment" from Barris, but this guy was so creative that you almost had to believe him--

Almost.

Whatever the case, Barris' life was an incredible one, filled with more ups and downs than any roller coaster at "Palisades Park" could ever hope to muster.

He was, at the very least, one of the most creative minds ever to hit the TV medium, and he will be missed.