...OR LACK OF IT: JOHN LEGUIZAMO'S FAIRBANKS VISIT
Good evening. Before I get started, a sad note: The ultimate Whammy came for Peter Tomarken, as he was killed in a small plane crash outside Los Angeles this afternoon. He was 63.
Tomarken was best known as host of the 1980s game show "Press Your Luck" as well as "Hit Man" and "Wipeout" during that decade. He and two other passengers were aboard a Beechcraft 36 when it crashed on the Pacific Ocean near the Santa Monica Pier. Of those three, Tomarken's and his wife's bodies were recovered from the crash site.
Now like most of you, I grew up watching Tomarken host "PYL" from 1983-86 both originally and in reruns. Of course the biggest highlight from the show was when contestant Michael Larson literally cracked the code when he discovered the game board's pattern and broke the $110,237 bank in 1984. As a result, random patterns were reprogrammed on the board. Larson died himself in 1999 from throat cancer. Another was from 1985, when Jim Hess mouthed off after hitting a Whammy that cost him the game. Since it was audible and the foghorn sound effect sort of half-censored it, you could barely hear him spew those obscenities on national television.
Peter Tomarken will be missed by many game show nuts like myself who thought "Press Your Luck" was a cult classic. It's too bad that he has stopped at a Whammy himself.
Now...the news of Tomarken's untimely death came 24 hours after John Leguizamo's grand visit in Fairbanks to promote "Ice Age: The Meltdown" by opening the ice park named after the upcoming movie. But today, as far as press coverage was concerned...it was more like a letdown than a meltdown.
In print, the "Fairbanks Daily News-Miner" ran a story on the Local section, "'Ice Age' star gets warm reception"; there was also a handful of photos at Wire Image. There weren't any radio reports, but on TV? Nothing but soundbites from Leguizamo on the KATN, KTVF, and KXD evening newscasts, but KTVF also included Governor Frank Murkowski's while KXD had longer footage including a clip from "Ice Age 2."
That's on the local side, but as for the entertainment news shows? Of all of them, only "Entertainment Tonight" ran a few seconds of video with Mark Steines saying "Meanwhile in Alaska, John Leguizamo was promoting his new movie 'Ice Age: The Meltdown' which opens March 31" over it. Their footage was provided by 20th Century Fox according to the end credits, and the studio was hired by local video production company Moving Images of Fairbanks to cover it. By the way, the other shows -- "Access Hollywood", "Extra", and the new "E! News" with Ryan Seacrest as Giuliana Depandi's co-host -- completely ignored it.
So in the end, it was the "News-Miner" as always that provided the best coverage...proving that once again, when it comes to a big-name celebrity like John Leguizamo coming to town, the TV news seem to go into "Who cares?" mode.
And last but not least tonight...Jeff King's final push to Nome continues; he checked in in Koyuk at 11:24 am and out 3:51 pm. Doug Swingley still follows him, leaving Koyuk at 7:16 while Paul Gephardt, Dee Dee Jonrowe, and John Baker round out the top five. With just four more stops to go before the big finish on Front Street in Nome, King may well be on his way to a fourth Iditarod win as he expects to reach the Burled Arch sometime around tomorrow evening.
With all that said...nighty-night!
Good evening. Before I get started, a sad note: The ultimate Whammy came for Peter Tomarken, as he was killed in a small plane crash outside Los Angeles this afternoon. He was 63.
Tomarken was best known as host of the 1980s game show "Press Your Luck" as well as "Hit Man" and "Wipeout" during that decade. He and two other passengers were aboard a Beechcraft 36 when it crashed on the Pacific Ocean near the Santa Monica Pier. Of those three, Tomarken's and his wife's bodies were recovered from the crash site.
Now like most of you, I grew up watching Tomarken host "PYL" from 1983-86 both originally and in reruns. Of course the biggest highlight from the show was when contestant Michael Larson literally cracked the code when he discovered the game board's pattern and broke the $110,237 bank in 1984. As a result, random patterns were reprogrammed on the board. Larson died himself in 1999 from throat cancer. Another was from 1985, when Jim Hess mouthed off after hitting a Whammy that cost him the game. Since it was audible and the foghorn sound effect sort of half-censored it, you could barely hear him spew those obscenities on national television.
Peter Tomarken will be missed by many game show nuts like myself who thought "Press Your Luck" was a cult classic. It's too bad that he has stopped at a Whammy himself.
Now...the news of Tomarken's untimely death came 24 hours after John Leguizamo's grand visit in Fairbanks to promote "Ice Age: The Meltdown" by opening the ice park named after the upcoming movie. But today, as far as press coverage was concerned...it was more like a letdown than a meltdown.
In print, the "Fairbanks Daily News-Miner" ran a story on the Local section, "'Ice Age' star gets warm reception"; there was also a handful of photos at Wire Image. There weren't any radio reports, but on TV? Nothing but soundbites from Leguizamo on the KATN, KTVF, and KXD evening newscasts, but KTVF also included Governor Frank Murkowski's while KXD had longer footage including a clip from "Ice Age 2."
That's on the local side, but as for the entertainment news shows? Of all of them, only "Entertainment Tonight" ran a few seconds of video with Mark Steines saying "Meanwhile in Alaska, John Leguizamo was promoting his new movie 'Ice Age: The Meltdown' which opens March 31" over it. Their footage was provided by 20th Century Fox according to the end credits, and the studio was hired by local video production company Moving Images of Fairbanks to cover it. By the way, the other shows -- "Access Hollywood", "Extra", and the new "E! News" with Ryan Seacrest as Giuliana Depandi's co-host -- completely ignored it.
So in the end, it was the "News-Miner" as always that provided the best coverage...proving that once again, when it comes to a big-name celebrity like John Leguizamo coming to town, the TV news seem to go into "Who cares?" mode.
And last but not least tonight...Jeff King's final push to Nome continues; he checked in in Koyuk at 11:24 am and out 3:51 pm. Doug Swingley still follows him, leaving Koyuk at 7:16 while Paul Gephardt, Dee Dee Jonrowe, and John Baker round out the top five. With just four more stops to go before the big finish on Front Street in Nome, King may well be on his way to a fourth Iditarod win as he expects to reach the Burled Arch sometime around tomorrow evening.
With all that said...nighty-night!
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