For some reason, mentioning the Candyland board game the other day caused me to remember an early game show I often watched when I was ten or so.  It was Seven Keys hosted by Jack Narz — an ambitious production by KTLA Channel 5, a local independent TV station in Los Angeles.

According to the usually-but-not-always-right Wikipedia, Seven Keys ran in L.A. on Channel 5 from September 12, 1960 to April 28, 1961.  Then — and this didn't happen very often — it was picked up by a network.  ABC began running it as of April 3, 1961 and note the brief overlap in dates.  It did well for ABC in some time slots, not so well in others.  After being moved around a lot on the schedule, its last network airing was on March 27, 1964.  Seven Keys then moved back to being a local show on KTLA as of April 6 and lasted there until January 15, 1965.

The episode below — one of the few surviving ones — aired on July 12, 1962 so it was from the network version. I remember when the show transitioned from KTLA to ABC, the prizes they gave away suddenly went from meager to impressive. And then when it went back to being a local show, contestants were no longer winning cars and mink coats.

The host was Jack Narz, a pleasant-enough gent who hosted oodles of game shows in his day. I have a vague memory of him hosting one called Dotto when I was around six and of the show being taken off the air because it came out that it was rigged. Apparently, it really was. It wasn't like Donald Trump claiming that any election that doesn't go his way is rigged. Dotto really was but the scandal did not touch Mr. Narz and he went on to host, among many others, some incarnations of Top Dollar, Concentration, Beat the Clock and many more.

And readers of this blog will write to tell me, like I didn't know, he was the narrator on the "origin" episode of the George Reeves Adventures of Superman TV show. And that his brother Tom also hosted a lot of great game shows under the name Tom Kennedy.

My friend Stu Shostak and I have an occasional friendly debate. He thinks that successfully hosting a TV game show is more of an achievement than I do. I'm not putting it down. I just think what Johnny Carson or David Letterman accomplished was a lot tougher — by, like, a magnitude of twelve — than what Bob Barker or Alex Trebek did. Still, what Mr. Narz's job was not easy and he did it smoothly and efficiently. Here — watch at least a little of that episode of Seven Keys and you'll see what I mean…

Each year, Walmart offers its many customers a Thanksgiving package of food items that can feed a family of 8-10 people.  Last year's was $55 and it included a pecan pie, two kinds of potatoes, two cans of soup, corn muffin mix, etc.  In assembling this year's, the folks at Walmart considered that their customers have less money so they left out the pecan pie, one kind of potato, one can of the soup, the corn muffin mix, etc., and also swapped out a lot of brand name items for their generic "Great Value" items.  They also added a couple of items but it's priced at $40.  And to Donald Trump, this is a study of the current economy that proves prices are down on everything.  The guy at CNN explains.

Trump also claims that voting in California is "rigged" while Elon Musk claims the vote was rigged in New York. Both are, of course, wrong.

If you're planning to attend Comic-Con International next year, you might need a hotel room for some or all of it. The two main ways to secure lodging — not that there aren't others — are through two sales that the convention arranges. One is the Early Bird hotel sale which offers mainly hotels that are situated some distance from the convention center and may involve some walking or Ubering, and some of them have shuttle service. They're also generally cheaper. Later on comes the General Sale which covers hotels near the action.

The Early Bird Sale should occur soon and I would expect an announcement of its date in the next week or so. Watch the con website in case I don't notice when they post it. The General Sale usually occurs in or around April. The format of the General Sale is changing so (same link:) consult the con website.

This article about the change thinks it'll be a fiasco. I'm not sure of that but if you do try to snag a room that way, make sure you use a credit card that's not close to its expiration date.

---

As I've said before here, I think the secret to having a great time at Comic-Con is to plan ahead. You should also plan ahead, plan ahead and it's a real good idea to plan ahead. Don't start wondering a few weeks in advance how you're going to get there, where you're going to say and especially how you're going to get a badge if you don't already have one. And when the programming schedule becomes available and all the specials and signings are announced, figure out which ones interest you. Oh — and did I mention you should plan ahead?

Years ago, I knew a guy — a low-level exec at one of the Big Three TV Networks back when there were Three Big TV Networks. He was a nice-enough fellow even when strutting around, acting way more important than he was. This was on Saturday and he decided then and there to stay over. He asked me where would be a good place to get a room. I told him to try Ensenada, Mexico.

He laughed a bit and refused to accept that the hotels of San Diego were sold out. He had that "the rules don't apply to me" bravado and he announced okay, they might have been  sold out for others…but not for him. I'm not sure if it was his imaginary important stature at his network or his "If you act like you're important, people will treat you like you're important" attitude. Either way, he refused to believe he couldn't get a room for the night…and off he went to catch a panel he wanted to see.

An hour or three later, I was in the lobby of the Manchester Grand Hyatt when I ran into him. "Find a room yet?" I asked him — to which he replied he was just about to get one. I watched as he swaggered up to the desk, put his wallet and his elbow on it and told the clerk, "Room for tonight." The hotel employee told him, ever so politely, "I'm sorry, sir. There are no rooms available."

He chuckled and said, "No rooms for most people but you can find one for me." He handed the guy a business card that showed he was with his network. It displayed his title with the company which I recall as being one notch above "Viewer." The hotel guy was oddly unimpressed.

"I'm sorry, sir. We're full up. In fact, we've been full up for months." At that point, a piece of U.S. currency was thrust across the counter at the clerk who thrust it back and said, "I'm sorry, not at any price."

At this point, I edged away. I thought not getting a hotel room would be less embarrassing for the network guy if he didn't not get it in front of me. He stayed there arguing for five or ten minutes. A higher-ranked Hyatt employee came by and confirmed the unavailability of anything. Finally, the guy came over to me and said, "Well, Evanier. Looks like I'm bunking with you tonight." I told him that was not going to happen because, among other reasons, the lady who was bunking with me just might mind. There was a brief argument and he walked off, telling me he was going to find a place to stay that night…

…and he did. The next day when I ran into him, he told me where it was: His home back in Burbank, California, roughly a three-hour drive each way. Ensenada would actually have been closer.

In 2017, the National Theatre way off in Great Britain staged a production of the musical, Follies. One highlight was one of the great musical performers of this era (in my opinion) Imelda Staunton performing one of Mr. Sondheim's best compositions. I've never heard anyone sing this song better…

Hey, here's an episode of the popular podcast, Bronze and Modern Gods and you'll never guess who their guest is. It's ninety minutes and the first part is me talking about my new book about Charles Schulz, the round-headed kid, the dog who sits on his doghouse shooting down World War I planes, the kid with the blanket, etc. Then later, we talk a lot about other stuff I've done. If you wanna order the book from Amazon, scroll up or down on this page and I bet you'll find a link to do that.

Or better still, get yourself over to your local Costco where they might have copies for sale (might!) and even if they don't, you can get yourself a hot dog and Coca-Cola or a slice of pizza that looks like a triangular area rug. You'll enjoy the following conversation more if you have something from the cheapo Costco Food Court…

Somewhere on this site, I must have said at least once that I'm always skeptical of the folks who listen to the oral arguments in Supreme Court cases and then confidently predict how SCOTUS will rule. Those forecasters have been wrong an awful lot of the time.

That said, I'm amazed at how everyone — everyone!, it seems — who covered today's argument about whether the President of the United States has the power to impose tariffs has the same observation. Read here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and probably other places.

They're all saying it was a disaster for Trump's guys who were there insisting he does and that the final ruling will probably be 6-3 against Donald. I remain skeptical of such predictions but Trump has to be a pretty unhappy person today.

As mentioned here, there will be a national tour of Boop! The Musical. It will run fifty weeks starting at the West Herr Auditorium Theatre in Rochester, New York in the fall of 2026. Additional cities will be announced but I bet it'll play the Pantages in Hollywood and I bet I'll go see it there. (Actually, if someone is smart and the right theater is available, they oughta book one of the several possible houses in San Diego to coincide with Comic-Con. Just a suggestion.)

Also unannounced so far is any casting but rumor has it that Jasmine Amy Rogers, who was so acclaimed in the title role on Broadway, won't be part of the tour. What has been announced is that all the same backstage contributors — director, costumer, etc. — will be so it'll probably be the same production but with the sets modified for easy traveling. A 50-city tour, if that's what this will be, is not going to play for very long in any one city. Can't wait to see it even though I probably have considerably more than a year to worry that I've set my expectations too high.

Well, that was nice. I see an awful lot of folks online and on my TV trying to come up with a solid explanation for last night's Democratic victories. I haven't seen or heard it but someone must be suggesting what seems to me like the most obvious one: A lot of people — and not just Democrats — really, really hate Donald Trump and what he's doing to this country. This was a way to express that.

Amazon has dropped the price of my new book to $53.45 and a lot of you have sent me photos of a stack of them on sale at your local Costco. It wasn't until my old pal Jeff Wasserman sent me this pic that I could read the price tag and find out what it's going for there. In case you can't make out the price tag, it's $46.99. I believe that's the same amount Costco charges for a 50 lb. bag of Phillips head screwdrivers.

If I understand the reports correctly, Paramount has committed to another year of The Daily Show and with Jon Stewart continuing at the helm of most Mondays. Folks of some political leanings probably consider that bad news but I'm delighted. I think that's one of the most important and well-written TV shows ever and if you only watch when Mr. Stewart's there, you're missing some very good political satire. I especially like it when hosted by Jordan Klepper, Desi Lydic, Michael Kosta and a relatively new guy, Josh Johnson. I also like Seth Meyers when he's doing political humor and Stephen Colbert when he's not.

Lastly for now: It was just a formality but I have officially accepted the invite to be a Special Guest at next year's Comic-Con International in San Diego. Under a little noticed provision of Proposition 50, I will be able to reapportion all the panels at the con and to make them all be about Groo the Wanderer. That's except for the ones in Hall H which will all be about Jack Kirby or the Garfield and Friends cartoon series. I will, of course, host all of them and also any dinner parties within a five-mile radius of the San Diego Convention Center during the con.

Dick Cheney, you may have heard, has died. Fred Kaplan and David Corn both have good articles up that remind us of the many good reasons to dislike this man and what he did to this country, especially with regard to the disastrous (for everyone) Iraq War. In his last years, Cheney seems to have changed into the kind of person who would have mightily opposed the previous Dick Cheney but by then, as now, nobody cared what he had to say.

It's Election Day (sort of) in the U.S. and I'll make this safe (sort of) prediction.  There will be a number of races where the outcome will royally piss off Donald J. Trump.  And he will respond to them by charging cheating, fraud, provable theft, prosecution of those responsible (because he always has incontrovertible proof we'll never see) and as much non-compliance as he can get away with.

Because when Trump doesn't get the outcome he craves, it's always rigged.  If you beat him at a game of Candyland, he'd scream that was only because you slipped an extra Gingerbread Man card into the pack.

This clip is not from Your Show of Shows. It's from the next series Sid Caesar (and some of the same supporting cast) starred in — Caesar's Hour. This is from the April 25, 1955 with Sid, Carl Reiner and Howard Morris as The Haircuts. It'll give you a pretty good idea of the way America viewed most of the rock 'n' roll groups then in that pre-Beatles era. And no, apart from Sid's solo spots, I don't think that's them singing…

I care about baseball about as much as I care about [FILL IN NAME OF SOMETHING I DON'T CARE ABOUT IN THE LEAST]. Still, most years I'll peek in on the World Series. I don't care which team wins, having followed neither nor have I ever had a dime riding on the outcome of any sporting event. I also have no civic pride in which team wins.

A triumph by the Los Angeles Dodgers affects my life as much as [FILL IN NAME OF SOMETHING THAT DOESN'T AFFECT MY LIFE IN THE SLIGHTEST]. If "my team" wins, I don't win a thing. The players get huge bonuses, offers for appearances and a really ugly-but-expensive ring that will wind up being sold on some future episode of Pawn Stars or one of those shows that imitates it. I get zip.

Still, I peek because the drama of the event intrigues me. In the series just completed, I tuned in for the interesting parts, which for me were the moments in the final innings when one team — and it doesn't matter which one — stood within reach of winning. Its fans were thinking, "We've got this" and then suddenly, thanks to some wholly unpredictable moment, they didn't have it; not for certain.

I felt a bit sorry for those who had pledged their hearts to the Blue Jays, thinking they were watching a game that would end with its players pouring Gatorade over each other and bouncing with joy. At other moments, I felt a bit sorry for those loyal to the Dodgers but, of course, they went through the same up-and-down feelings but got what they wanted.

But I only feel a bit sorry for the Blue Jays fans because, just as they personally stood to gain nothing, they also stood to lose nothing. If their spirits were crushed, it's only because they made them crushable.

I understand the appeal of baseball especially when you have, as each World Series offers us, two teams of great athletes in their prime. There were some amazing performances in this series but I wasn't interested enough to watch an entire game.

But then, I never was. My dad loved baseball and I went to games with him, mostly as a kind of father/son bonding experience. Alas, every single game we ever attended at Dodger Stadium was boring. No exciting moments. No suspense. Usually, the outcome at the end of the ninth was 1-0 and there were few moments when it looked like either team might score. Sometimes, even my father the baseball buff didn't want to stay 'til the end — which was fine with me.  I increasingly wanted to get home to things like my comic books and my favorite TV shows and other things that came to interest me more.

He. meanwhile, increasingly wanted to watch the games from home. He could sit in his favorite chair, get snacks from my mother instead of a vendor selling overpriced Dodger Dogs, be closer to the bathroom, not have to pay for parking and then walk what seemed like miles to and from the cheap seats he bought, deal with the traffic getting in and getting out, etc. Best of all, he could listen to Vin Scully call the play-by-play and when something exciting happened on the field, there was an Instant Replay on the screen.

So my interest in baseball — never great — fizzled down to nothing. Did I miss out on something? I still don't think so. And each year, I watch a teensy bit of the World Series and enjoy it because, I guess, it seems to matter so much to some people, plus there's a higher likelihood of something exciting happening than in a non-Series game. I look forward to watching a tiny bit of next year's World Series.  It's really all the baseball I need.

Here's a CNN fact check on some of the outrageous/far-from-true things D.J.T. said in his recent 60 Minutes interview. A lot of folks online have harsh words for interviewer Norah O’Donnell for not challenging him more on some of what he said. That might have been nice but I think there's a value to just letting the guy spout garbage that even his most loyal supporters can't defend or believe is true. As his crimes grow larger, his defenses grow more transparently false.

Fred Kaplan has a good article up about all these wars Trump claims to have settled and especially the Israel/Gaza conflict where the fire has already stopped ceasing. Short summary: Trump is taking bows for the first step, which was the easy one to do. But it's pretty meaningless without the next dozen-or-so steps, some of which seem insurmountable. And even if a lasting settlement is possible, there would be a lot of hard work to do and Trump doesn't even seem remotely interested in doing it.

One of Mr. Stewart's better takedowns of you-know-who…

The other day, I showed you one of the private jet planes that a Vegas casino might send to pick you up if you had a ton o' money you wanted to gamble (i.e., lose) at their establishment. They would also probably put you up in one of what they informally call their "high-roller" suites. These are luxurious hotel suites that would cost zillions a night to rent but bupkis if they expect you to leave a lot of cash in their coffers when you check out.

The Harrah's organization owns or controls eight casino resorts in Las Vegas: Harrah's, The Linq, Caesars Palace, Nobu, The Horseshoe, Planet Hollywood, The Cromwell and The Flamingo. On this page, you can partake of 360° tours of some of their "high roller" suites. They vary a lot in size and lushness but the most impressive ones are probably at Caesars Palace. Check out the Hadrian Villa, which has four bedrooms, a grand entrance with stylish interiors, a baby grand piano and an aquarium. It's 11,850 square feet, probably at least thrice the size of wherever you live.

In my entire life, I have logged a grand total of one night in one high-roller suite in Vegas. It was at what was then called the MGM Grand before it was renamed Bally's when the MGM people built a new MGM Grand a few blocks down The Strip and sold the old place. Bally's has recently been renamed The Horseshoe and you can "tour" the fancy suites at The Horseshoe on that page but I don't recognize the room that a lady friend and I inhabited there in, I'm guessing, 1983. It was on a night when the casino was dead and I had a rare lucky streak and won a lot of money on Blackjack. (Don't be envious. I eventually gave much of it back though not all to that particular casino.)

My "win" for that night was way, way below what it usually took to earn such a room but a Casino Host gave it to us on a whim. I remember it was on a floor with tight security and a 24/7 staff of tuxedoed butlers. You walked into our suite and in the middle of the front room, there was a bathtub that could have housed ten people. My date vetoed my suggestion that I run out and find eight more ladies to join us. Instead, the two of us bathed, then slept no better and no worse than we would have in any room in the place, had breakfast served to us and checked out.

I think they said the room, if we'd paid for it which almost no one ever did, would have been $3,000 a night. That was a lot of money in '83…and really a lot of money for a bath, seven hours of sleep and a couple of omelets and juice. My companion decided later we should have found someone rich in the casino to sublet it to, charged them $2,000, rented a $60 room for ourselves that night and made $1,940 off the experience. If for some insane reason, Caesars Palace ever comps me the Hadrian Villa, I intend to do what she suggested but the rent will be a little higher…five figures instead of four.