Wednesday, April 18, 2012

THE WORLD'S OLDEST TEENAGER:  It's hard to think of folks who touched as many aspects of mainstream American popular culture as Dick Clark, who passed away this morning at the age of 82.

From American Bandstand to $100,000 Pyramid, from Rockin' us into each new year to TV's Bloopers & Practical Jokes (the predecessor of FailBlog, kids) to creating the American Music Awards, Dick Clark was the safe face of rock and roll, the gatekeeper, the icon, the dipper of dipthongs, the man who introduced the acts, stepped into the background, and counted the money.

There's not an adult in America who needs to be told who Dick Clark was, and that, perhaps, is his greatest accomplishment.

Added: The NYT obit suggests another angle: with Bandstand, was Dick Clark responsible for creating a national youth culture? Before that show happened, what national television show was targeted towards this audience?

17 comments:

  1. I was a big fan of the short-lived "The Challengers," a current-events driven quiz that Clark hosted for a year--kind of Jeopardy! with current events, which they could do because they only filmed a week in advance.  RIP, Dick--he made it seem effortless, which is incredibly difficult to do.

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  2. StvMg4:44 PM

    Nice post. It's got a good beat, and you can dance to it. I'll give it an 85.

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  3. Melissa R.4:47 PM

    Re: "There's not an adult in America who needs to be told who Dick Clark was, and that, perhaps, is his greatest accomplishment."

    Someone in my office announced that Dick Clark died and a 25 year old guy asked, in all seriousness, "Who is Dick Clark?" 

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  4. StvMg4:59 PM

    Here's a stunning nugget Sepinwall just retweeted, for those of you who haven't already seen it. Dick Clark was the subject of a This Is Your Life episode - in 1959.


    http://www.youtube.com/v/07uPyot8k-A" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="170" height="140

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  5. You'll either fire him within a month or he'll rule us all within 10 years.

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  6. Anonymous7:39 PM

    The parallels between Seacrest and Clark are uncanny. But Clark never had a Dunkleman.

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  7. Nancy8:24 PM

    PYRAMID! Best game show ever.

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  8. Aww. Eighty-two doesn't seem so old these days but I guess with his health issues it's not so surprising.

    Anyone else remember the show American Dreams? I loved when they'd show clips of the real American Bandstand. Just kind of neat to see. 

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  9. isaac_spaceman9:29 PM

    Ergo, not an adult

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  10. They could bring that back any day.  I watch it on GSN still.

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  11. There was an effort to bring back Pyramid a few years ago with Donny Osmond which lasted two seasons.  The problems with it are two-fold:

    1.  A syndicated half-hour gameshow is very tough to sell in the current market.  Court shows do better in the daytime, 7 PM (EST) hour is local news and ET/Wheel depending on market, and there hasn't been a successful syndicated gameshow launch since Millionaire.  Stations would generally rather have local news, which is CRAZY lucrative.

    2.  The traditional sources for celebrities are drying up--most of the regular players were third string soap stars (both daytime and primetime), recognizable faces who were looking for exposure, and a small group of celebrities (NPH would be the one for this era) who just liked playing the game.  Do you really want Kim Kardashian attempting to give clues?

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  12. Adam C.10:33 PM

    And of course, Pyramid was the clear inspiration for Jackie Rogers Jr.'s $100,000 Jackpot Wad (and hey, this also teaches us that Myspace still exists).

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  13. Fred App8:41 AM

    Not to speak ill of Dick Clark (whom I admire) or the New York Times, but let's be specific: "American Bandstand" created a national WHITE youth culture. In and of itself, that's still an achievement. But even Clark admits that he aimed for middle America because he didn't think he could get away with anything more radical, and by doing that, a huge section of the youth culture was ignored or marginalized.

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  14. I think there's a lot to be said about Bandstand and race; I've had a post in draft mode for a month on a recent book on the topic, on how Clark's subsequent recollections don't jibe with the facts.  It just wasn't appropriate in my day one post.

    Clark said that he didn't create culture, he packaged and sold it.

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  15. Genevieve4:10 PM

    I loved all the Pyramid parts of When You Reach Me (Newbery winner from a couple years ago, marvelous).  All the things I'd forgotten about the show came rushing back.  Holds up so well.

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  16. StvMg9:37 PM

    American Dreams also had maybe my favorite TV theme songs of any show from the last decade. 


    http://www.youtube.com/v/s2SgRD0opKo" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="170" height="140

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  17. Maddy2:10 AM

    Hey, my advisor at Scripps wrote that book!  (Unless there are two recent books on American Bandstand and race.  The one by my prof is called "The Nicest Kids in Town.")

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