He was 91. Eerie news of his death comes one day after Brooke Burns' version of Tic Tac Dough premiered.

https://tvline.com/news/wink-martindale-dead-game-show-host-tic-tac-dough-obituary-1235435919/#comment-list-wrapper

Thanks for letting us know. I think I last saw Wink working on one of the PBS funding drives. His name was synonymous with popular game shows.

Rest in peace.

Very sad :(

Thank you icecream!!!

You know folks, I just had a thought. After all the scheduled pilots have been uploaded on YouTube. One must think, will his channel Wink's Vault "file for bankruptcy"? I mean, Martindale had various unsold game show pilots and clips that were way more interesting and fun to watch than a former Original Kings of Comedy's regular and celebrity Family Filth parody spoof where the survey questions and answers are so straight up ghetto and adult oriented that you might as well have a barf bag sitting on your side of the recliner. Hell, even Jaleel White's Flip Side had better written survey questions that this.

You know folks, I just had a thought. After all the scheduled pilots have been uploaded on YouTube. One must think, will his channel Wink's Vault "file for bankruptcy"? I mean, Martindale had various unsold game show pilots and clips that were way more interesting and fun to watch than a former Original Kings of Comedy's regular and celebrity Family Filth parody spoof where the survey questions and answers are so straight up ghetto and adult oriented that you might as well have a barf bag sitting on your side of the recliner.

Indeed-- I saw quite a few of them, and though practically none of them actually became shows, at least they hardly had anything objectionable.

He's My favorite game show host...I watched the show Trivial Pursuit when I was a kid.

Game Show Network will honor the late Wink Martindale with a four-hour marathon of "Tic-Tac-Dough" this Sunday, April 20th from 2pm-6pm.

Game Show Network will honor the late Wink Martindale with a four-hour marathon of "Tic-Tac-Dough" this Sunday, April 20th from 2pm-6pm.Ugh! Most Sundays I would be able to watch all of the marathon, but not on Easter.

It sucks that Martindale never hosted/executive produced an updated version of Debt when he was still alive and I'm pretty sure he would've been awesome at it as well. But, let's be honest here ladies and gentlemen. In today's PC society, Hollywoke would've thrown him under the bus and ran him over since obviously these drooling neanderthals from tinseltools mostly would've considered hiring a washed-up comedian (more specficially a black comedian) or actor way before him.

The original one was much better!!

WTOJ FM is airing Wink's American Top 40 Guest Host from 10/11/75

Sunday 1pm EDT

In my honest and humble opinion, Wink Martindale was, is and will always and forever be an actual game show host in real life. Not a former athlete turned morning show news anchor turned crappy game show host, not a washed-up comedian, not a washed-up actor and not somebody trying to host all of the major shows at once.

It caught me by surprise, reading of Wink’s passing. I almost always looked forward to The Vault for anything new to us.

Many pilots were absolute disasters (cough Duel in the Daytime cough), but also a few were legitimate shows that deserved longer runs. He also uploaded some episodes of “Whew!” * that BUZZR didn’t air.

Something HAS BEEN uploaded since Wink’s passing, and I don’t know who is in charge. Nevertheless, I hope that the Vault continues in the spirit that Wink intended.

[* I felt “Whew!” to have been a GREAT game show that deserved a longer run, and I think that adding celebrities caused it to jump the shark 🦈. The set was not built to accommodate twice the people. Ironically it was created by Jay Wolpert, of “Duel in the Daytime” fame above! One thing about Jay—he was all-over-the-place in his creativity!]

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With the Winkster gone, that leaves Bob Eubanks, Pat Sajak, Bob Goen, Jim Peck, John Davidson, David Ruprecht, Pat Finn, Jim Peck, Jim McKrell and Marc Summers still with us. As far as classic veteran hosts go.

P.S. Am I missing any?

With the Winkster gone, that leaves Bob Eubanks, Pat Sajak, Bob Goen, Jim Peck, John Davidson, David Ruprecht, Pat Finn, Jim Peck, Jim McKrell and Marc Summers still with us. As far as classic veteran hosts go.

P.S. Am I missing any?

Well it would depend on what’s “classic” or not!

Eubanks hosted Newlywed Game as early as 1966—and it looks as if only he and McKrell on that list did any hosting in the 70s, as McKrell hosted “Celebrity Sweepstakes.”

Speaking of Sweepstakes, “Ralph Andrews Productions” is starting to add stuff to YouTube as well. Sadly, the run of the original 1960s “You Don’t Say” (from Andrews) seems to be limited to only 6 episodes on YouTube. Although the prize money was paltry, I think it was the best version. It seemed as if the celebrities on the other versions were already supplied with clues for the players beforehand (not illegal), whereas the celebs in the 60s had to make them up on the fly.

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With the Winkster gone, that leaves Bob Eubanks, Pat Sajak, Bob Goen, Jim Peck, John Davidson, David Ruprecht, Pat Finn, Jim Peck, Jim McKrell and Marc Summers still with us. As far as classic veteran hosts go.

P.S. Am I missing any?There is Ben Stein from Win Ben Stein's Money, aired in the 90s around the same period as Supermarket Sweep.

cd637299, Ralph Andrews' channel is ok, and no offense but its not nearly as good as Wink's Vault.

There is Ben Stein from Win Ben Stein's Money, aired in the 90s around the same period as Supermarket Sweep.

Come to think of it, does Chris Hardwick, Jenny McCarthy (despite her controversies) and Carmen Electra also count icecream?

I ended up able to watch all 8 episodes of the Tic Tac Dough marathon today. Mostly good, but it bugs me how often they stop on ties with one square unused. The ninth square could easily be the tiebreaker. One way the Brooke version is a lot better is in the bonus round where it has actual trivia. Just picking numbers doesn't add anything to the show.

I'm assuming the Lt. Thom McKee run is not part of the tribute marathon on GSN.

I'm assuming the Lt. Thom McKee run is not part of the tribute marathon on GSN.It was. The first three episodes had him, including when he finally lost.

Oh good, I thought they would've forgotten about it. But of course as I and everybody here on this message board should know that the current modern day GSN will never rerun the classics ever again. Unless if your Gene Rayburn's Match Game, Wally Bruner's/Larry Blyden's What's My Line? or Steve Allen's I've Got a Secret.

Oh good, I though they would've forgotten about it. But of course as I and everybody here on this message board should know that the current modern day GSN will never rerun the classics ever again. Unless if your Gene Rayburn's Match Game, Wally Bruner's/Larry Blyden's What's My Line? or Steve Allen's I've Got a Secret.

They’re showing Trebek Jeopardy right now. Some guy named Ken Jennings is a contestant. But he’ll probably lose and we’ll never hear from him again.

To staytuned: No comparison intended about Ralph A vs Wink’s Vault. Wink has/had uncovered quite a lotta interesting content.

As to Ken Jennings as a Jeopardy contestant….

I of course cannot prove it, but I have the feeling that the game he lost, he was getting exhausted from the winning. I really think he knew the correct response, but it was getting to grow old on Ken and everybody.

But that’s me.

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I'm guessing its his 74th game and the contestant who defeated him was Nancy Zerg if I'm not mistaken.

At least Jennings didn't pull a "Herb Stemple" at the time.

With the Winkster gone, that leaves Bob Eubanks, Pat Sajak, Bob Goen, Jim Peck, John Davidson, David Ruprecht, Pat Finn, Jim Peck, Jim McKrell and Marc Summers still with us. As far as classic veteran hosts go.

P.S. Am I missing any?

Since you have David Ruprecht on the list for Supermarket Sweep, which started in 1990, we can also include Vicki Lawrence of Win, Lose, or Draw, with her hosting starting in '87. (Unless David hosted something earlier ??)

we can also include Vicki Lawrence of Win, Lose, or Draw, with her hosting starting in '87. (Unless David hosted something earlier ??)

Well biffbronson, since you mentioned Vicki Lawrence and Win, Lose or Draw. I think you can include the long forgotten Robb Weller in the mix as well.

I remember the name only...! Without looking him up, I presume he took over for Vicki?

Regardless, you were correct, there are so few of the earlier hosts still around. We lost Bob Barker, Jim Lange, Regis Philbin (from Who Wants...), Peter Marshall, Richard Dawson, Chuck Woolery...

A couple of later guys who are still with us: Donny Osmond (Pyramid) and Howie Mandel (Deal or No Deal).

Robb only did the syndicated version of WLOD, not the daytime version biffbronson. So it's obvious that he replaced Bert Convy since he had to host 3rd Degree at the time.

And along with Richard Dawson, we also lost Ray Combs and Louie Anderson as well. But then again, Louie was the most hated Feud host at the time due to the "one strike only" rule in the triple round as its undoing.

With the Winkster gone, that leaves Bob Eubanks, Pat Sajak, Bob Goen, Jim Peck, John Davidson, David Ruprecht, Pat Finn, Jim Peck, Jim McKrell and Marc Summers still with us. As far as classic veteran hosts go.

P.S. Am I missing any?

Johnny Gilbert, 96, hosted some game shows way back in the day. And not only is he still alive, he's still working!

Johnny Gilbert, 96, hosted some game shows way back in the day. And not only is he still alive, he's still working!

Facepalm! Wow how could I miss Johnny?!

I said that Eubanks may have been the only 1960s game show host still with us. Well! JG hosted Music Bingo from 1958 until New Year’s Day 1960, per a fan site.

Thanks, Opus, and hats off to Mr. Gilbert! A 1950s host, still with us, AND working!

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Speaking of Mr. Gilbert hosting game shows from the 50s and 60s, I think he also did Beat the Odds (1968-69), Fast Draw, the unsold pilot Celebrity Table Tennis and some local game show called Dialing for Dollars.

Speaking of Mr. Gilbert hosting game shows from the 50s and 60s, I think he also did Beat the Odds (1968-69), Fast Draw, the unsold pilot Celebrity Table Tennis and some local game show called Dialing for Dollars.

The shows that Johnny Gilbert hosted had short runs but he has had more success as a prolific game show announcer, still at it with Jeopardy.

Johnny Gilbert had more success as a prolific game show announcer, still at it with Jeopardy.

If you added the spinoffs of Jeopardy! such as Super Jeopardy!, Jeopardy! National College Championship, Jeopardy!: The Greatest of All-Time (GOAT), Celebrity Jeopardy!, Jeopardy! Masters and Pop Culture Jeopardy! he has a long-assiociation with the show since its comeback in 1984.

cd637299, Ralph Andrews' channel is ok, and no offense but its not nearly as good as Wink's Vault.

Bumping this…

Christian Carrion, who I only learned today runs Buzzerblog dot com, recently uploaded a BUNCH of fantastic classic game shows on YouTube* that were believed lost, including pilots—among them a celebrity edition of “The Magnificent Marble Machine,” also an Australian clip of their version of “Video Village,” and best of all, one full episode of “Dough Re Mi” with Gene Rayburn, as comments said was the 3rd episode in Feb 1958. I was getting more interested in Carrion’s stuff than Wink’s.

*That being said, after watching Dough Re Mi just the night before I’m typing this, his account was pulled from YouTube! I’m sure that Carrion knows what’s copyrightable or not. I wonder if Wink’s estate has something to do with this. GRRRR.

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Well, ranking the YouTube channels where they upload the cool unaired pilots:

1.) Wink's Vault

2.) Christian Carrion (I know his channel is defunct but he had sizzle reels and partial pilots that don't finish)

3.) Buzzerblog (good but this company does have some shady people behind-the-scenes)

Sorry to ever learn of a pulled YouTube account that had focused on classic TV.

I'm hopeful that many more "believed lost" game shows and their pilots will be recovered and made available to view, so I appreciate hearing about the discoveries.

Sorry to ever learn of a pulled YouTube account that had focused on classic TV.

I'm hopeful that many more "believed lost" game shows and their pilots will be recovered and made available to view, so I appreciate hearing about the discoveries.

Yup.

If Mr. Carrion was making a little “dough re mi” off of the videos if they belong to others, I can understand that—but for crying out loud, these are easter eggs. But I don’t believe he does that.

I live in south Florida, and I refuse to take jaunts to the Paley Center!

I think that places like the Paley Center* should have their library available to view on any PC/iPhone, and charge for each video. I would pay a fair price to view online (maybe $25 an hour….) and I would sign a pledge to NOT make copies to sell. It’s 2025! Certainly it can be done. Maybe have some watermark or something.

*That 1969 videotape Match Game at Paley with Tony Randall & Peggy Cass is my most wanted-to-view. The 1967-69 theme is now on YT with a blurry image of said episode.

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Yup.

If Mr. Carrion was making a little “dough re mi” off of the videos if they belong to others, I can understand that—but for crying out loud, these are easter eggs. But I don’t believe he does that.

I live in south Florida, and I refuse to take jaunts to the Paley Center!

I think that places like the Paley Center* should have their library available to view on any PC/iPhone, and charge for each video. I would pay a fair price to view online (maybe $25 an hour….) and I would sign a pledge to NOT make copies to sell. It’s 2025! Certainly it can be done. Maybe have some watermark or something.

*That 1969 videotape Match Game at Paley with Tony Randall & Peggy Cass is my most wanted-to-view. The 1967-69 theme is now on YT with a blurry image of said episode.

cd
Unfortunately there would be some legal issues regarding that. I read about that a whopping 15 years ago on the Honeymooners section of this site when I expressed a desire to see Honeymooners sketches that at the time haven’t seen the light of day (some of which has now seen the light of day on DVD.)

Well, at least Wink's Vault and Buzzerblog (take it with a grain of salt if you dare) are good.

Bump!

Thanks to peeking at Game Show Paradise, Mr. Carrion’s work has moved to Internet Archive:

https://archive.org/details/christiancarrion/

cd

cd637299, I've been to the archive page, and its ok.

But, regarding to the late Mr. Martindale, I don't think he has never talk to anyone that he suffered from lymphoma for years on any news entertainment magazine shows let alone radio. Also, maybe someone should start a charity for Wink in order to raise money and awareness in order to find a cure for the disease that a lot a people like Wink have suffered from before their judgment day.

But then again, I digress.