Jack Narz, R.I.P.

Former game show host Jack Narz, who hosted numerous game and quiz shows in the 1950s and 1960s, including Dotto, the show which touched off the Quiz Show Scandal, passed away on Wednesday morning at Cedars-Sinai Hospital at Beverly Hills, California at age 85.

I have a sister (who has a couple of web blogs) who remembers watching Dotto when she was three years old.

Mr. Narz was the brother of fellow former game show host Tom Kennedy (You Don't Say, the original version of Split Second, one of the various revivals of Name That Tune, amongst others).

Before he became a game show host, Jack was a regular on the old Space Patrol show, in which he hawked the sponsor's products, Ralston cereals such as Wheat Chex and Rice Chex, as well as special offers associated with the products, as seen here in this clip from 1953.




The daytime Dotto episode which touched off the quiz show firestorm was the episode in which one of the contestants (Marie Winn, who later became an author) had been given the answers in advance. A standby contestant spotted an open notebook in the contestants' dressing room, found the answers, ripped out that page from the notebook, and showed the page to the contestant's opponent. After receiving $1,500, this standby contestant was ready to forget the whole thing until the losing contestant received $4,000, the same amount as the winning contestant. Having felt double-crossed, the backup contestant, a part-time actor and butler by the name of Edward Hilgemeier, lodged a complaint with the Colgate-Parmolive Company, the show's sponsor. Shortly afterward, both the daytime (CBS) and nighttime (NBC) versions were cancelled by the respective networks.

Jack Narz did not know of the nafarious practice used on that show.

Nice Going, Pacman

The National Football League on Tuesday suspended indefinitely without pay (at least four games) Dallas Cowboys defensive back Adam Jones because of an alcohol-related fight with his team-appointed bodyguard last week.

It appears that NFL commissioner Roger Godell was not going to screw around with the man who dropped his nickname "Pacman."

Yep, it looks like Cowboys owner Jerry Jones took a roll of the dice and crapped out. Another defensive back, Terrance Newman, is out with an injury, quarterback Tony Romo is expected to be out four weeks because of a broken pinky suffered in the Sunday loss at Arizona, their punter, Mat McBriar, is lost for the season after suffering a broken foot while getting a punt blocked that was returned for the Cardinals' game winning touchdown in overtime, and running back Felix Jones (no relation) is also injured.

UPDATE: The Dallas Cowboys, at the trade deadline, picked up wide receiver Roy Williams (and a 2009 7th round draft pick) from the Detroit Lions in exchange for three draft picks for 2009: A first, third, and sixth rounder.

VooDoo To Call It Quits

It was announced on Monday that the New Orleans VooDoo of the Arena Football League will cease operations.

It's TV Promo Time, Boys and Girls

Here is a collection of promos for ABC Television Network programs that aired during the 1960-61 season.


For some of you, these might bring back some memories.