TV MYTHS AND LEGENDS
MYTH: Charles Manson auditioned for The Monkees.
TRUTH: Before he became a murderer, Manson was an unsuccessful rock musician. (Music producer Terry Melcher declined to sign him, and Manson may have had actress Sharon Tate killed because he was looking for Melcher—Tate was renting a house that Melcher had once lived in.) Public knowledge about Manson’s rock connections (he was also acquainted with Beach Boy Dennis Wilson) led to the urban legend that he’d auditioned for the Monkees in 1965. But he couldn’t have—in 1965, he was serving a jail sentence for forgery. However, among the future famous musicians who did try out for the Monkees: Stephen Stills, Harry Nilsson, and Paul Williams.
Worldwide, there are 40 different versions of Big Brother, the most of any reality show.
COME ON DOWN!
* When The Price Is Right debuted on American television in 1956 on NBC, in prime-time and daytime versions, both were hosted by former radio announcer Bill Cullen. The show went off the air in 1965, but CBS revived it for its daytime schedule in 1972, bringing in former Truth or Consequences host Bob Barker and it was a hit again. It’s been on the air ever since.
* As of the 7,000th episode, taped in November 2009, $250 million in prizes had been given out to nearly 62,000 contestants. The phrase “A new car!” had been shouted over 15,000 times; 7,000 contestants had actually managed to win one.
Highest possible cash prize playing “Plinko” on The Price Is Right: $50,000. No one has won it.
CASTING CALL
In 2001, Comedy Central aired a sitcom called That’s My Bush!, a parody of cheesy 1970s and ’80s sitcoms centered on a dumb but lovable President George W. Bush. Character actor Timothy Bottoms, a dead ringer for the president, starred. The show wasn’t very successful (it ran for only 13 episodes), but in 2003 Bottoms returned to television … in a dramatic portrayal of President Bush in DC 9/11, the first made-for-TV movie about the events of 9/11.
Jack Benny once appeared on The $64,000 Question. He won $64.
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