As a game show fan myself, I can tell you whoever wrote the Joker's Wild column was a fan themselves -- Bullseye was also a Barry & Enright show (and one that was basically a knockoff of certain Joker elements, at that), there really was a kids' version called Joker! Joker! Joker!, and I'm surprised he prefers the Cullen version, as consensus among other fans is that age and the game's straight-forward nature slowed Cullen down a lot during his time on the show.
(The aforementioned Jim Peck, who was a guest host, was intended by Barry as his permanent replacement; Barry died unexpectedly and Dan Enright brought in Cullen, who'd been hosting another B&E show, NBC's Hot Potato; Enright feared the show wouldn't sell without a big name hosting. This wound up being a bad idea in hindsight -- many people at B&E were angry with Enright for defying Barry's wishes and left, and Joker only lasted two seasons with Bill before the age of the format and Wheel of Fortune caused cancellation.)
The most surprising thing is the reference to The Magnificent Marble Machine. This was a mid-70s NBC show that revolved around a giant pinball machine (from the Hollywood Squares people, Heatter-Quigley, so they had experience with big squares, dice and cards). It really sucked though, and yet (perhaps because of them wanting to recoup the money spent on the giant pinball machine) soldiered on for a while, even despite cancellation, because the replacement show wasn't ready yet. NBC had a bad habit of erasing and reusing videotape at the time, so only one episode is known to exist in full. The intro alone even has a "YOU'LL LOVE IT, TRUST ME" message visible, implying someone's sarcasm towards the show wasn't picked up on. If you want to see Florence Henderson and Roddy MacDowell make fools out of themselves (and get a headache from the intro), be warned: https://youtu.be/56d49ynfktg
this is fantastic, thank you! I wasn't alive for most of Joker's Wild's heyday, and barely alive for Cullen's run. While I love the challenge of digging into these old pop culture bits, it helps to have the reference points you do.
The pet tip about stopping your pets from growing reminded me of, and was perhaps inspired by, this vintage Internet hoax: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonsai_Kitten
Oh good lord. Yeah, that being in December 2000 almost certainly makes it the inspiration for that Onion joke. Great catch!
As a game show fan myself, I can tell you whoever wrote the Joker's Wild column was a fan themselves -- Bullseye was also a Barry & Enright show (and one that was basically a knockoff of certain Joker elements, at that), there really was a kids' version called Joker! Joker! Joker!, and I'm surprised he prefers the Cullen version, as consensus among other fans is that age and the game's straight-forward nature slowed Cullen down a lot during his time on the show.
(The aforementioned Jim Peck, who was a guest host, was intended by Barry as his permanent replacement; Barry died unexpectedly and Dan Enright brought in Cullen, who'd been hosting another B&E show, NBC's Hot Potato; Enright feared the show wouldn't sell without a big name hosting. This wound up being a bad idea in hindsight -- many people at B&E were angry with Enright for defying Barry's wishes and left, and Joker only lasted two seasons with Bill before the age of the format and Wheel of Fortune caused cancellation.)
The most surprising thing is the reference to The Magnificent Marble Machine. This was a mid-70s NBC show that revolved around a giant pinball machine (from the Hollywood Squares people, Heatter-Quigley, so they had experience with big squares, dice and cards). It really sucked though, and yet (perhaps because of them wanting to recoup the money spent on the giant pinball machine) soldiered on for a while, even despite cancellation, because the replacement show wasn't ready yet. NBC had a bad habit of erasing and reusing videotape at the time, so only one episode is known to exist in full. The intro alone even has a "YOU'LL LOVE IT, TRUST ME" message visible, implying someone's sarcasm towards the show wasn't picked up on. If you want to see Florence Henderson and Roddy MacDowell make fools out of themselves (and get a headache from the intro), be warned: https://youtu.be/56d49ynfktg
this is fantastic, thank you! I wasn't alive for most of Joker's Wild's heyday, and barely alive for Cullen's run. While I love the challenge of digging into these old pop culture bits, it helps to have the reference points you do.