Friday, June 2, 2017

sitcom characters appearing on game shows

For the hell of it, here are some of my favorite appearances by TV sitcom characters on game shows. If you have favorites that I didn;t include, please comment to let me know:

1) Cliff Claven on Jeopardy
This is one of the best. I occasionally hear oblique references to this. People will say something along the lines of "Those are three people who have never been in my kitchen." Maybe I just hang with a dorky crowd. One question: In the audience, in front of Norm and Woody, is that Mark Margolis (who is best known for playing Uncle Ring-a-Ding in Better Call Saul)?

2) Ralph Kramden on The $99,000 Answer
My father loved The Honeymooners, and imparted that to me. This was one of my favorite episodes. I will sometimes say "I Brive a Dus."

3) The Griffin Family on Family Feud
Kids today may not recognize this incarnation of FF, but it's what I grew up with

4) Eunice Higgins on The Gong Show


This is kind of a rule-bender, since Eunice was really not a sitcom character. She was a character (played by Carol Burnett) in a recurring sketch on Burnett's eponymous variety show. But I'm willing to include it because I thought it was hilarious, and I'm using the loophole that the recurring sketch was eventually adapted for a sitcom, Mama's Family. Now, Eunice wasn't actually a regular on the series, but...whatever. Also, I acknowledge that this is a poor quality video. But it's the best I could do.

5) Felix Unger and Oscar Madison on Password


The writers at The Odd Couple worked Felix and Oscar into a number of shows, including Password and Let's Make a Deal, as well as several talk shows and a football broadcast. It was generally premised on the fact that Oscar was a semi-celebrity, and he brought Felix along for the ride. This was my favorite of those segments.

As a note, I wanted to include a segment from Happy Days. In one episode, Richie Cunningham appears on the game show, Big Money. Because of his all-American good looks, the producers give him the answers. This was a direct commentary on the game show scandal of the 1950s. I'm not including a clip here because I couldn't find it on Youtube.

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