How about Richard Dawson as Richard Dawson on Match Game? 
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Which formerly lovable TV hero became too much of a jerk?
- Thread starter benwolf
- Start date
Mark said:
To me, anyway....the whole "fish-out-of-water" premise of the show worked best during the first few seasons (the b & w years). Once the show moved to color....it's almost as if the writers simultaneously had run out of clever and interesting ways to write for the characters.
And...as much as "Jethro" changed for the worse over the years....what's even more incredible was how the other Clampetts hadn't changed AT ALL.
As for "Happy Days"....it was observed by a humorist of the day that most parents wanted thier sons to grow up to be "Richie Cunningham".....that most boys of the day wanted to grow up to be "The Fonz"....but that the sad reality was that most of them grew up to be "Ralph Malph and Potsie Webber".... ;D
;DIf nobody has mentioned him then I will: Fonzie. I adored him from the age of 10 to about 14. When I was 12, I used to wear my Fonzie T-shirt to school, but by 14, I wished that Tom Hanks HAD kicked his ass more in their fight! ;D I totally got fed up when Mad and Cracked magazine just loaded their magazines with Fonzie this, and Fonzie that. ENOUGH!
Two more shows that pulled a "Hawkeye" around the same time were "Quincy" and "Lou Grant". Each drifted from intricate yet interesting stories revolving around the occupation to a "cause a week" format.
Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner right here! If Dawson did not want to continue to appear on Match Game after he started hosting "the Feud," then he should have negotiated his release from Match Game. His behavior right before leaving Match Game was unacceptable. Of course, the stupid "star wheel" just LOOKED cheap, but about the only advantage was that it offered contestants a chance to double their winnings.Wright County Guy said:How about Richard Dawson as Richard Dawson on Match Game?
I only saw about two weeks' worth of the Match Games with the sulking Dawson, when they were shown on GSN.
Ward Cleaver. Where in the early seasons of "Leave It To Beaver,"
he tried to be a pal to Wally and the Beav, even wearing sports clothes
when not working, by the last season (1962-63) he never seemed to
either take off his business suit nor give the wrong advice to the boys.
He also seemed to spend more time in his den in the last couple of seasons.
Richard Dawson became a real jerk on the "Feud," especially offstage, having
staff members fired for reasons never clear. His successor, Ray Combs, also
proved to be a jerk; when Dawson decided he wanted to come back to the
show (the disastrous 1994-95 season), Combs stalked off the set after his
last taping, not even bothering to say goodbye to anyone. A year or so later,
a combination of losing his job and his marriage pushed him over the edge and
he committed suicide.
he tried to be a pal to Wally and the Beav, even wearing sports clothes
when not working, by the last season (1962-63) he never seemed to
either take off his business suit nor give the wrong advice to the boys.
He also seemed to spend more time in his den in the last couple of seasons.
Richard Dawson became a real jerk on the "Feud," especially offstage, having
staff members fired for reasons never clear. His successor, Ray Combs, also
proved to be a jerk; when Dawson decided he wanted to come back to the
show (the disastrous 1994-95 season), Combs stalked off the set after his
last taping, not even bothering to say goodbye to anyone. A year or so later,
a combination of losing his job and his marriage pushed him over the edge and
he committed suicide.
How about when Hulk Hogan went from good guy to heel? (Not that he was ever lovable.)
Ward gave a lot bad advice to his kids, as did June. "Leave it to Beaver" was not a clean and wholesome as people remember.
They covered lots of topics from drinking, to bad relatives, to bullies, to smoking, to kids leaving home, running away (both Beaver and Lumpy), to stealing (Larry).
I think they attempted to make Fonzie grow but it didn't work. He graduated high school, got a responsible job, had a girlfriend with a kid, to make him a father figure. But at the end Fonzie had a pseudo-supernatural feel about him.
Most people disagree with me on this one but I found Debra on "Everybody Loves Raymond" to be more unlikeable with every passing season. She was a total shrew by the time the series ended.
They covered lots of topics from drinking, to bad relatives, to bullies, to smoking, to kids leaving home, running away (both Beaver and Lumpy), to stealing (Larry).
I think they attempted to make Fonzie grow but it didn't work. He graduated high school, got a responsible job, had a girlfriend with a kid, to make him a father figure. But at the end Fonzie had a pseudo-supernatural feel about him.
Most people disagree with me on this one but I found Debra on "Everybody Loves Raymond" to be more unlikeable with every passing season. She was a total shrew by the time the series ended.
Mark said:
I seem to remember an episode about a lonely kid that was visiting Beaver whose parents were divorced and he often had to eat alone in hotel restaurants, sometimes the only person he would talk to was the piano player.
It seemed to me a 1950's very careful allusion to a child molester. Or maybe I'm reading too much into it.
Joe
joeybabe25 said:
I think you may be reading too much into it. I don't recall the episode, but it sounds more like an object lesson in the damage to children caused by divorce.
Mark said:
Well, I agree with you. Debra was awful. I find her Frankie Heck character on The Middle much more likable, and Frankie is supposed to be a bad parent and wife...in a can't help it, loving kind of way.
She didn't understand that you cannot keep cheese in a suitcase!
Joe
Joe
bpatrick said:
And here is the final 4 1/2 minutes of Ray's last Feud episode, starting with Fast Money. The two contestants did really really REALLY badly and Ray was particularly condescending towards them. Then, after Gene Woods' last promo, Ray says goodbye and walks off the set, leaving the family all alone.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKJxAfanSBU
Combs was a sick and troubled man. He committed suicide not long after this last show.
Joe
Joe
joeybabe25 said:
It was about 2 years after his last family feud episode, but only a few months (if not weeks) after the last taping of a "Family Channel" game show he hosted called "Family Challenge"
Tim-In-Houston said:
Watching those episodes of Family Challenge were painful. I could see it all over Ray Combs' face -- "It's come down to THIS?"
He made some questionable decisions (for one, giving up a job -- when he had a family to support -- just so he could roll the dice on stardom in Hollywood. Yeah, yeah, I know it paid off, but STILL.....). In any case, finale aside, he was a very likeable host for "Feud." And, IMO, bringing back "Kissy-face" Dawson wasn't such a good idea in retrospect.
Personal issues/"sickness" aside, he seemed a genuinely good person.
--Russell
Combs might have kept the Feud job except there were perceptions that he was working hard to turn the Feud into "The Ray Combs Show." Combs wasn't nearly as vindictive as Dawson was said to be backstage but I think Combs' main problem was fear of what was coming.
I must say Combs did a better job on "Family Challenge" than his successor did. "Family Challenge" was a "Double Dare" rip-off to start with, let's just tell it like it is. And unlike "Double Dare," "Family Challenge" had a much smaller prize budget, which didn't help matters any.
In retrospect, I think Mark Goodson (who died in '92) would have never fired Combs and brought back Dawson. In fact, it's been told that this is why Jonathan Goodson (who let Combs go and rehired Dawson) sold Mark Goodson Productions because he blamed himself to a certain degree for what happened to Combs, on top of the fact that Dawson continued showing his rear although not so much when he came back.
I must say Combs did a better job on "Family Challenge" than his successor did. "Family Challenge" was a "Double Dare" rip-off to start with, let's just tell it like it is. And unlike "Double Dare," "Family Challenge" had a much smaller prize budget, which didn't help matters any.
In retrospect, I think Mark Goodson (who died in '92) would have never fired Combs and brought back Dawson. In fact, it's been told that this is why Jonathan Goodson (who let Combs go and rehired Dawson) sold Mark Goodson Productions because he blamed himself to a certain degree for what happened to Combs, on top of the fact that Dawson continued showing his rear although not so much when he came back.
With regards to the comments about Richard Dawson, personally I never thought he was a lovable individual on TV to begin with.
He seems to ooze this air of arrogance when hosting those game shows.
Now if people are referring to Dawson’s role on “Hogan’s Heroes” I look at that of him playing a character and not himself. Big difference there.
He seems to ooze this air of arrogance when hosting those game shows.
Now if people are referring to Dawson’s role on “Hogan’s Heroes” I look at that of him playing a character and not himself. Big difference there.
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