Dick Johnson - WVTV Bowling For Dollars

[John L]

On Oct. 11th former TV and Radio announcer Richard Allen Johnson a.k.a. Dick Johnson past away of Lung Cancer.  He hosted "Bowling for Dollars" and "Pins Over" in the early 1970s and "Bowling Game" which aired I think starting in 1973 or 1974 and was host of that show until he was fired in October 1975 as a result of killing 2 women in a fatal car accident due to drinking.

Before that time he worked at various radio and TV stations including WTMJ-AM and WTMJ-TV.  I recall him doing sports on WTMJ-TV filling one weekend for someone.  I seem to recall him doing a special Bowling show on WISN-TV, thou that one could have been done after the accident.  But most of his radio-TV career was before the fatal accident.

-John L.

[Scott]

Good call.....I remember as a kid watching Bowling for Dollars and the Bowling game many nights sitting in front of the TV playing with hot wheels cars, etc.

For some reason, I watched that dumb show many nights.  But, when you are 8, it seemed interesting at the time.   The Dick Johnson thing was a big scandal/tragedy at the time, but it was good to read that he started to put his life back together after the accident.

Question to any who care to respond.  Was TV better back then, or did it seem more interesting because there were only 5 real channels (4,6,10,12 and 18) to watch, and we had no other choice?

My kids today at the same age use Direct TV to basically pick which one of 6 cartoon channels to watch.  I can't imagine having those choices back then....not sure this is a good thing.

[foxeng]

Originally posted by Scott
Question to any who care to respond.  Was TV better back then, or did it seem more interesting because there were only 5 real channels (4,6,10,12 and 18) to watch, and we had no other choice?

You mileage with vary, but I think TV WAS more interesting back then because TV was new and no one knew the bounderaries and people took chances to try new things. Now the lawyers are all in it and how many times can you watch Fear Factor before it starts to get old, SSDD. (Oh yeah, "reality" TV is NOT an American invention. It is British. The Japanense have a pretty wierd reality TV as well. Remember last season FOX's "Bonzai?" That is typical Japanese reality TV.)

It should tell you something when the networks import show concepts from Europe and Asia. (American Idol started out on the UK's Channel 4 as Pop Idol and one of the judges was, .............wait for it.......... Simon Cawl!)  I know that several of the big hit shows of the 70's were British imports ("Sanford and Son" {"Steptoe and Son"} and "All in the Family" {"Man About the House"} to name just a few) but not EVERY network DIRECTLY ripping off the Brits (at least with the above mentioned 70's shows, they did AT LEAST change the name of the shows), such as "Trading Spaces" from the BBC's "Changing Rooms" (the only difference between these two shows are the BBC version is 30 minutes long and as far as we know, Paige Davis is not a former dancer/stripper like Carol Smily - check out her pix on the net if you don't believe me!). "What Not To Wear." The only difference between this show and its BBC sibling by the same name is 30/60 minutes and the two women in the opening credits are different, but it is the same opening sequence, bare breasts and all . If you have BBC America, check it out.

And the latest attempt, NBC's aborted "Coupling." The only difference in the British and US versions were the actors. The scripts were the same just modified to fit the US locations. And they wondered why the critics panned it and the viewers stayed away?! If you watch the British version on BBC America, you have already seen it and you know how it ends. DAH!

And get ready, next season NBC is taking British sitcom "The Office" and pulling a "Coupling" on it, same everything EXCEPT the actors. It will fail too. The British version is SO bad, only the Brits could like it, like they LOVE "Coupling".

Yes, I am sure now. TV WAS BETTER back then.

[Tom Snyder]

I was watching the Andy Griffith/Ron Howard reunion the other night and thinking about how, back then, the popular shows were the ones with strong, admirable father figures and stories with moral lessons...Andy Griffith, Leave it To Beaver, The Donna Reed Show, The Adventures of Ozzie ansd Harriet, Dick Van Dyke, Bonanza and Father Knows Best.  Even the goofier, comedic father figures still had their weekly serious moments to solve the episode's moral problem or dilemma by speaking some pointed words of wisdom.

I don't watch any of today's situation comedies, and I could be wrong, but I'm hard pressed to think of many shows today that present the Father (if the family even has one any more) as anything other than an incompetent buffoon.

[Scott]

Good post Tom.  But does the lack of solid father figures in TV cause the problem, or is it a reflection of the higher divorce rate and much greater incidence of single parent households?

My own thought it is something in between.  Stronger father characters would help reinforce things.  But at this point, the medium is so diverse with so many narrowcasted channels that there really isn't any way that "better TV" would have an impact like it might have years ago.  

Until the mid-to-late 80's when cable took over, you had to watch the network shows.  So TV characters both positive and negative had perhaps a greater impact on society.

I do wonder what would happen though if we went back to only 3 channels and they all could only run programming from the 1950's and 1960's?

[Tom Snyder]

I think you may be right...Although my post wasn't an attempt to draw a conclusion... It was to merely make an observation. There are many who are quick to proclaim a cause and effect with a lot of stuff like this. But the truth is often that both may be symptomatic of something else altogether.  

But that's a thread for another Web site.

As far as what would happen if we went back to only 3 channels and they all could only run programming from the 1950's and 1960's...

DVD sales and rentals would skyrocket!

[The Law]

Funny with people stating tv was better back then 'cause of all the ripoff shows from England.   When I was a lad growing up in England the best shows for me were:

Kojak
Starsky and Hutch
Dukes of Hazzard
Tom & Jerry
Star Trek

Go figure...grass is always greener.