![]() ![]() I am responsible for polluting the airwaves with mind-numbing puerile entertainment. In Confessions, he wrote "I have written pop songs, I have been a television producer. He then wrote his autobiography, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind. In 1986, Barris scaled down Barris Industries, and moved to Saint-Tropez with his new wife Robin "Red" Altman. By 1980, The Gong Show was falling behind in the ratings and was eventually canceled. Though critics argued that the show demeaned its contestants, The Gong Show found its audience and made the host into a star. In 1976, Barris made a comeback with The Gong Show. He spent six months writing You and Me, Babe, the fictionalized story of his marriage to Levy, which sold 750,000 copies thanks to heavy promotion. That year Barris wrote a bestselling novel. "Music changed when the Beatles arrived," David Schwartz, the editor of the Encyclopedia of TV Game Shows, explained, "and game shows changed when Chuck Barris' shows came on."īarris' formula for success began to wear thin, however, and by 1974 the last of his shows, The Newlywed Game, was dropped. Though critically panned, his shows were popular with television audiences.īarris quickly sold three more shows: The Family Game, Dream Girl of 1968, and How's Your Mother-in-Law? After he launched Barris Industries in 1968, more shows followed. The show, which involved married couples quizzed on their spouses, may best be known for the trademark euphemism: "whoopee." That same year, The Dating Game made it to prime time television. In 1966, Barris followed up his success with The Newlywed Game. The contestants' racy banter and its colorful set was a revolution for the game-show genre. The show involved three bachelors or bachelorettes competing for a date with a contestant blocked from their view. The network opted not to put it on the schedule, but after its other game shows failed, The Dating Game made its debut and became an instant hit. He borrowed $20,000 from his stepfather, developed The Dating Game and sold the pilot to ABC in 1965. Barris' first game show attempt was called People Poker, though it never sold. ABC did not want another payola investigation and forbade Barris from writing more songs.īarris was promoted to daytime programming at ABC in Los Angeles. While on the set, he wrote a song called "Palisades Park." In 1962, Freddy "Boom Boom" Cannon recorded the song and it became a big hit. He had a financial stake in publishing companies, record labels and even pressing plants whose records he promoted heavily on American Bandstand. He was laid off in an efficiency cutback.Īfter a year, unable to land a job, an ABC executive asked him if he wanted a temporary engagement: Barris was to take the train to Philadelphia every day, sit on the set of American Bandstand and keep an eye on Dick Clark, who was caught up in the payola scandal. Barris found a job as a page at NBC, and soon entered the management trainee program. He married Lyn Levy, daughter of a CBS founder. After graduating in 1953, Barris held various jobs including book salesman and fight promoter. Barris attended Drexel University where he was a columnist at the student newspaper. Charles Hirsch Barris was born on June 3, 1929, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ![]()
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