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Show ISJgws Gr Views By GARY R. BLODGETT ) I: . SALT LAKE CITY As a veteran newspaper reporter, re-porter, I have had many unusual experiences but none as intriguing as being a part of a new show for television. - No, they didn't hire me for my acting ability. It was .a game show being produced by KSL Television called "Mind Games." I was a part of the pilot show which was taped last week at KSL Broadcast House in the Triad Center. My wife, Janice, along with her sister and brother-in-law from California, were part of about 80 chosen to be the "audience" of the first two shows. Since the format of the show is to have audience participation, we had our chance to be a "star for a day." Several from Bountiful, including Gerald and Marie George and Glade and Karen Pincock, were a part of the cast. Two of the three special guests were from out-of-town. Tom Bock was the local "talk show" guest. Michael Young was the show host and Burt Dub-row, Dub-row, producer of the TV hit, "Kids are People, Too," is also producing this series. You may think it's the host and guests who make the show a success , but it isn't . They are important , but shows o this type can't be long-running TV series without the producer and the audience. Mr. Dubrow is the best. I didn't realize the tough job of a television game show producer. For example, a Utah audience is relatively conservative conser-vative especially for a producer from Brooklyn. It took him 45 minutes to get the audience "loosened up" for the upcoming show to be taped and released later this fall. But once the audience "got into the swing of things" it was a delightful evening, even if it did take three hours to produce two 22-minute talk shows. It was intriguing to me to watch the behind-the-scene activities, the hustle and bustle that goes on between commercial breaks, and the work between be-tween the producer and the host. And just as interesting was the staging of the host and the audience to determine beforehand what was going to be said not that it will come out the way you expect. That's when the producer gives the "cut" sign and orders a retake. We had several of them, but usually usual-ly because of the host, not the audience. The audience audi-ence appeared to be relaxed and ready for anything to happen, while the host was more uptight and relying on cue cards. The audience could say just about anything they wanted, and seldom were cut. In fact, because of the nature of the shows, perhaps there was a little more freedom allowed than should have been. The theme of the first show revolved around the question: "What is more important, to have beauty, wealth, fame or power?" The question for the second show was: "What would you do if you found out that your spouse had cheated on you, but only for a one night 'fling' and that it probably would not happen again? Would you forgive that person? Would you want to know about ab-out it in the first place?" But you'll have to wait until September when the shows are scheduled to be aired to find out my response and the response of the others. 4 |